This week the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced it was making $15 million available for grants to test alternative revenue mechanisms to address the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.
The program, known as the Surface Transportation System Funding Alternatives (STSFA) grant program, was created in last year’s long-term highway & transit bill, the FAST Act, and is intended to fund state (or groups of states) pilot programs that test user-pays as an alternative Highway Trust Fund revenue mechanism – including mileage-based user fee pilot programs. AGC pushed hard for the measure during our successful reauthorization campaign last year as a way to ensure Congress addresses the program’s long-term funding needs. A link to FHWA’s press release can be found here. Detailed information on the availability of funds can be found here.
AGC and our coalition partners in the Mileage Based User Fee Alliance have been closely monitoring the STSFA and working with other stakeholders - including states - to ensure the success of this new program.
For more information, please contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892.