Title: Highway Trust Fund Basics: A Primer on Federal Surface Transportation Spending | The Heritage Foundation
Headings: Highway Trust Fund Basics: A Primer on Federal Surface Transportation Spending
Highway Trust Fund Basics: A Primer on Federal Surface Transportation Spending
Highway Trust Fund Overview
Condition of the Nation’s Roads and Bridges
State Action on Transportation Funding
Proposed Approaches to Address the Highway Trust Fund Budget
Conclusion
Authors

Content: 17] Under current law, any funds transferred into the Highway Trust Fund from the general fund after the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 expires at the end of FY 2015 would be subject to sequestration through 2021. Condition of the Nation’s Roads and Bridges
While the common perception is that America’s infrastructure is “crumbling” and thus requires more federal expenditures, the reality is not nearly as bleak. Some infrastructure certainly requires maintenance and updating, as congestion is a major concern in many metropolitan areas. Indeed, the federal government provides perverse incentives for states to spend billions on new, unneeded projects instead of maintaining existing systems. [ 18]
Yet taken as a whole, the nation’s infrastructure performs well and is improving. The percentage of bridges that are structurally deficient—meaning that they require extensive maintenance, but are not necessarily unsafe [19] —has declined from 22 percent in 1992 to 10 percent in 2014. [ 20] Highways and roads have also improved: The Federal Highway Administration notes that the percentage of vehicle miles traveled on the National Highway System with “good” ride quality rose from 48 percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2010, while the share with “acceptable” ride quality increased from 91 percent to 93 percent. [ 21]
Indeed, a Reason Foundation study of infrastructure performance from 1989 to 2008 concluded that, while individual elements of the system “are continuously deteriorating over time, the overall condition of the state-owned highway system appears to be improving, and has possibly never been in better shape. In short, the U.S. highway infrastructure is not ‘crumbling.’” [