Title: Federal Highway Policies | Downsizing the Federal Government
Headings: Federal Highway Policies
Federal Highway Policies
Privately Built Roads in the 19th Century
The Rise in Federal Intervention
Fuel Taxes and the User Pays Approach
Five Disadvantages of Federal Highway Aid
Public-Private Partnerships
New Directions for Infrastructure Policy
Conclusions

Content: The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) within the Department of Transportation will spend $43 billion in 2017, mainly on aid to state and local governments. 1 FHWA activities are funded by a combination of federal fuel taxes and general federal revenues. Congress implements highway policy through multiyear authorization bills. The last such bill was passed in 2015 as the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act. The act authorized spending of $305 billion over five years, of which $226 billion was for highways and the rest was for urban transit and other activities. 2
With the Trump administration now in office, highway policies might be changed before the current highway bill runs its five-year course. The administration's 2018 budget proposes new directions for transportation policy, including cutting regulations to speed the completion of projects and attracting more private financing for infrastructure investments. 3
This study reviews the history of federal involvement in highways, describes the inefficiencies of federal aid and regulations, and discusses possible reforms to highway policies. Americans would be better off if federal highway spending, fuel taxes, and related regulations were cut. The states can tackle their own transportation needs without federal intervention.