On the road again: states take the wheel on transportation funding as Congress sputters along.

• Author: Pula, Kevin
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

Tired of the uncertainty and lack of movement at the federal level, state legislatures passed a variety of transportation funding bills this year, leaving Congress stuck in the slow lane, failing to get beyond yet another short-term extension of the federal bill. More than one-third of the states found ways to increase investments in transportation this year; at least 24 states have done so since 2012.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, federal spending on transportation and water infrastructure was $96 billion in 2014, down 21 percent from a high of $122 billion in 2002, adjusted for inflation. As federal spending on highways has waned in recent years, states and localities have had to increase spending, forcing lawmakers to look deep and wide for new funding sources.

"We cannot wait indefinitely for support from the federal government," says Washington Representative Judy Clibborn (D), who led the Washington House Transportation Committee as it passed a $16.1 billion funding package this year. Conversations regarding new transportation revenue began in 2012, after "we learned more about the need for additional state funding," she says.

Clibborn believes "the longer Congress waits, the more limited states' options become," and this affects long-term planning for transportation infrastructure vital to state economies and public safety, recreation and health.

The funding changes lawmakers made were not limited to any particular region or political party and were about as diverse as the states themselves.

Gas Taxes Adjusted

Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah and Washington this year enacted gas-tax increases ranging in size from 6 cents per gallon to 11.9 cents.

South Dakota lawmakers passed one of the more broad-based packages. Along with a 6-cent increase in the gas tax, it includes higher vehicle and truck registration fees and more options for counties to raise transportation revenue. The law also requires the secretary of transportation to report to lawmakers annually "so we know what is going on," says South Dakota Senator Mike Vehle (R). Before the package was ever considered, however, Vehle needed "to know if it was really necessary to raise more revenues."

Subsequent studies found 11 percent of the state's roads rated either poor or fair. But the real game changer for Vehle was that by 2025 that portion was estimated to increase to more than half. And the future for bridges didn't look any brighter. Vehle...