	MAP-21: Overview

Surface transportation authorization acts authorize spending on federal highway and public transportation programs, surface transportation safety and research, and some rail programs. The most recent multi-year authorization for federal surface transportation programs, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 st Century Act (MAP-21; P.L. 112-141 ), reauthorizes federal surface transportation programs and activities through September 30, 2014. MAP-21 authorizes roughly $105 billion for FY2013 and FY2014 combined. It also extended FY2012 surface transportation authorizations to the end of the fiscal year, raising the act's total authorization to approximately $118 billion. The highway trust fund (HTF) has provided most of the funding for surface transportation authorization bills since its creation in 1956. The HTF is supported mostly from taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, but a sluggish economy and improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency have reduced fuels tax revenues below projections. In the end, Congress chose to transfer money from the general fund to the HTF to fund a two-year authorization. Congress also made major changes in the structure and formula of the highway and transit programs. The number of highway programs was reduced by roughly two-thirds. The number of discretionary programs, formerly under the control of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), has been reduced. Instead, MAP-21 sets each state's share in the initial distribution for FY2013 and FY2014 based on the apportionment it received in FY2012, adjusted in FY2014 to assure that each state receives 95% or more of its highway tax contribution to the HTF. The act provides for a major expansion of the Transportation Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and some modest changes in federal tolling provisions. MAP-21 also seeks to accelerate transportation project delivery by altering the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance process and other environmental reviews. The finance provisions of MAP-21 met the need, providing general fund transfers of $6.2 billion and $12.6 billion for FY2013 and FY2014 respectively. Federal-Aid Highways

MAP-21's highway and research titles authorize $81.99 billion over two years, $40.96 billion for FY2013 and $41.03 billion for FY2014 (see Table 1 ). MAP-21 creates the Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program that, like the Appalachian Development Public Transportation Assistance Program, mirrors an existing highway program.
On July 6, 2012, President Barack Obama signed the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21; P.L. 112-141). The act authorized spending on federal highway and public transportation programs, surface transportation safety and research, and some rail programs and activities through September 30, 2014. MAP-21 authorized roughly $105 billion for FY2013 and FY2014 combined. It also extended FY2012 surface transportation authorizations to the end of the fiscal year, raising the total authorization to approximately $118 billion.
Most of the funding for surface transportation bills has been drawn from the highway trust fund (HTF) since its creation in 1956, but the HTF, which receives revenue mainly from federal motor fuel taxes, has, due to a sluggish economy and improvements in fuel efficiency, received revenue substantially below projections. For the past several years, HTF revenue has been insufficient to finance the government's surface transportation programs, leading Congress to delay reauthorization for 33 months following expiration of the last multi-year reauthorization. Although Congress was unable to agree on a long-term solution to the HTF revenue issue, MAP-21 did provide for the transfer of sufficient general fund revenues to the HTF to fund a two-year bill.
MAP-21 made major changes in the programmatic structure for both highways and public transportation and included initiatives intended to increase program efficiency through performance-based planning and the streamlining of project development. Among its major provisions, MAP-21 included:
for the federal-aid highway program, research, and education, authorizations for FY2013 of $40.96 billion and for FY2014 of $41.03 billion; for public transportation, authorizations for FY2013 of $10.58 billion and for FY2014 of $10.7 billion; for the Transportation Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act (TIFIA), which provides credit assistance for surface transportation projects, a significant expansion that could provide credit support of up to $6.9 billion for FY2013 and $9.2 billion for FY2014; major program restructuring, which reduced the number of highway programs by two-thirds and consolidated public transportation programs as well; more distribution of funding via apportionment to the states and less discretionary funding via the Department of Transportation (DOT) to individual projects; no project earmarks; no equity program, instead basing the distribution of highway funding on the FY2012 distribution such that each state will likely receive as much federal highway funding as its highway users paid to the highway account of the HTF; and changes in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance process intended to accelerate project delivery.