Dive summary:

• The Congressional Budget Office said in July that the Highway Trust Fund will be able to take on no new projects after Fiscal 2014, which is the year that starts, or will try to start, next week.
• ARTBA President Pete Ruane told a congressional hearing that the least any state depends on the fund for its highway budget is 35%, and it makes up 70% of the program in 11 states.
• Spending already is down from pre-recession levels, and contractors have 16% fewer people working, and Ruane said tens of thousands of jobs with contractors and suppliers will disappear if state have to slash their programs.

Dive Insight:

The worry of insolvency a year from next week is the fifth time in seven years that the trust fund has been to the brink, so clearly there's a systemic problem. Ruane told Congress that it's not wasteful spending or even income from fuel and truck taxes that are the problem – income is back to pre-recession levels. The problem is that the funding mechanism is 20 years old, and it just does not work today to bring in what's needed.