A TRIP report released Nov. 24 found poor roads and congestion in Connecticut costs urban residents an estimated $5.1 billion per year in the form of vehicle operating costs, lost time, wasted fuel, and the financial repercussions of traffic incidents. Thirty-three percent of urban roads and 25 percent of rural roads are considered to be in poor condition, and 9 percent of the state’s bridges are structurally deficient. Vehicle travel in the state is projected to increase 15 percent over the next 15 years. More
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will receive nearly $10 billion for Fiscal Year 2016-2017 in Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) proposed “Florida First” budget released Nov. 23. The funds are aimed at making strategic transportation investments statewide and maintaining the state’s “world-class transportation system.” While $84.87 million less than FY 2015, the amount represents the third straight year Gov. Scott has allocated approximately $10 billion for FDOT. More
An additional $48 million was diverted from Louisiana’s roads and bridges by Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and lawmakers on Nov. 27 in order to fill Louisiana’s budget deficit. The bulk of the funds – $46 million – was taken from the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, in which motor fuel tax revenue is deposited, with the remaining $2 million coming from vehicle registration and license taxes and fees. Earlier in 2015, $45 million was diverted from the state’s transportation revenue in order to pay for state police operations. A legislatively-commissioned report released Aug. 5 found an estimated $12 billion in additional revenue is required in order to provide necessary maintenance and modernization for transportation infrastructure.More
Despite recent legislation to increase the state gas tax, Utah’s updated Unified Transportation Plan on Nov. 18 identified a projected transportation funding shortfall of approximately $7.3 billion over the next 35 years. Previous estimates of an $11 billion shortfall were decreased by $3.7 billion after the passage of a comprehensive transportation funding bill on March 27. More
A University of Tennessee report released Nov. 25 outlined several options for increasing revenue to fund needed transportation construction and improvements, including increasing the state gas tax, indexing it to inflation, charging a sales tax on the purchase of motor fuel, a vehicle-miles-traveled tax, and general fund transfers. More
The North Carolina Department of Transportation has been able to schedule or move up 168 transportation construction projects thanks to the recent infusion of recurring funding passed earlier this year. More