- Transportation Funding Shortfalls
With South Carolina ranked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as having some of the deadliest roads in the country, the state’s Department of Transportation knows it needs to make major safety improvements to the state’s roads to save lives. But finding an estimated $943 million transportation funding shortfall to fix the deteriorating roads remains elusive. Read More>>
The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s 2018-2037 State Highway Investment Plan update on Aug. 27 found the state is facing an $18 billion shortfall over the next 20 years, an increase of $6 billion from a previous 2014-2033 update. The department attributed the increase to deferred maintenance, more accurate assessment of program and project delivery, a rise in transportation funding needs, and rising inflation. Read More>>
- New Transportation Revenue in Action
South Dakota saw a $99 million increase in state transportation funding during the 2016 fiscal year, thanks to March 2015 legislation that increased the state’s gas tax by 6 cents-per-gallon and gradually raised vehicle registration fees. With the final phase of registration fee increases fully implemented on July 1, that number is expected to rise in the next fiscal year. Read More>>
The Texas Transportation Commission approved a 10-year, $70 billion Unified Transportation Program on Aug. 26. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called it an historic investment in the state’s transportation infrastructure, with a large amount of the funding coming from two measures approved by voters in 2014 and 2015 that allocated portions of the state’s oil and gas severance taxes, general sales taxes, and motor vehicle sales taxes to the transportation fund. (Read more about the ballot measures, including what they contained and how they were passed, in TIAC’s Texas Case Study.) Read More>>