Dive Brief:
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The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) last week authorized $690 million in funding, allowing 32 major transportation projects to move forward a year ahead of schedule, the agency reported.
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The projects cover pavement repairs, bridge upgrades and replacements, and the installation of traffic management systems designed to reduce roadway congestion.
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The funds come from the state's Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. Last month, Caltrans authorized more than $285 million through the legislation in accelerated road repairs.
Dive Insight:
As states await word from the White House on President Donald Trump's long-touted $1 trillion infrastructure plan, they continue to move forward with their own improvements. Yet the funding to back them remains in short supply.
Facing a $130 billion backlog in highway, bridge and infrastructure repairs, California lawmakers earlier this year passed a 12-cents-per-gallon increase to the state's gas tax to back a $52 billion infrastructure program. The Golden State isn't alone in such measures. Indiana, too, raised its gas tax this spring to help fund $4.7 billion in infrastructure spending.
According to a recent Bloomberg poll, a majority of Americans would support an increase in the federal gas tax, and the idea has been floated to help pay for Trump's infrastructure proposal.
Many lawmakers are reluctant to put forth a gas-tax increase at the state or federal levels, prompting states to look at other ways to foot their hefty infrastructure bills. Oregon lawmakers passed legislation in July that would put $5.3 billion toward state road and bridge repairs over a 10-year period with money generated through a new payroll tax, a tax on vehicle and bicycle sales and an increase in the state gas tax.
What projects will get federal dollars are still being determined. So far, the Trump administration has compiled a shortlist of projects deemed to be of national importance. Those are expected to be first in line for federal funding.
Yet his administration has sent mixed messages about its plans for infrastructure funding. The president's 2018 budget proposal calls for a 13% reduction in the Department of Transportation's budget, a $1 billion cutback for the Army Corps of Engineers, and the elimination of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program and the Federal Transit Administration's capital investment program.
Lawmakers are pushing back. A U.S. Senate appropriations subcommittee voted last month to reverse Trump's proposed cuts and increase the budget for some of those programs. Partisan differences will likely continue to guide funding discussions, with Democrats saying they will not support the use of private funds for a national building program and Republicans rejecting stimulus-like spending.