This week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously passed S 1647, their bipartisan surface transportation bill known as the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act, to provide $278 billion for a six-year reauthorization of MAP-21. The DRIVE Act includes a new priority on funding locally-owned on-system bridges; however, the language in the bill appears to be problematic for the broader category of bridges. RCRC will support the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) efforts to amend the Senate language related to on-system and off-system bridge funding, which we have advocated for since the elimination of the Highway Bridge Program when MAP-21 was enacted. Additionally, the DRIVE Act includes a new grant program for projects of strategic and national significance, addresses the backlog associated with the Interstate and National Highway Systems, and provides a formula-based funding program for freight corridors to strengthen goods movement. While the DRIVE Act does not include any dedicated revenues for High-Risk Rural Roads safety projects, the measure includes a significant but minor change in language that would result in states spending more of their safety funds on rural roads. The measure still has several hurdles to overcome, mainly the issue of developing a long-term funding mechanism, which continues to be a roadblock that Congress has been unable to overcome. The current surface transportation program is scheduled to expire at the end of July. In the absence of an agreement over a long-term surface transportation program, Congress will likely continue to provide short-term extensions.
