The negotiations are finally over. Congress has moved forward to approve a new transportation bill that allocates $305 billion in spending over the next five years to fund transit infrastructure throughout the nation. Obama signed the bill into law on December 4, 2015, just hours before the funding was due to expire.
The new law includes 1,300 pages of measures designed to ensure that road repairs throughout the country happen on schedule. Other provisions include a plan for maintaining gas prices, allowing pets on trains, and helping milk producers increase production.
Safety Enhancements
Anyone using highways, bridges, and tunnels throughout the country probably has concerns about potential safety issues, and while the passing of this bill may not ensure stress-free travel for all commuters, state and local governments should have the funding necessary to take care of ongoing repairs. These repairs will likely mean some amount of reduced congestion on the roadways, as well as improved designs and fewer potholes.
Train safety also gets a significant boost with passage of this law, which allocates $200 million for the installation of safety technology improvements in the nation’s railways.
Financial Benefits
The new law reauthorizes collection of the gas tax at 18.4 cents per gallon without raising it. This gas tax is responsible for funding transportation projects, and it covers a sizable deficit in funding that has grown in recent years due to increased fuel efficiency in U.S. automobiles. The means used to control the gas tax include reducing the dividend rate on Federal Reserve payments and contracting out tax collection services for the IRS.
The law guarantees five years of federal funding for local and state governments to focus on infrastructure repairs, allowing them to begin planning the projects that will benefit commuters and travelers over the course of the next few years.