http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/55a6bc44e4b0896514d03214
WASHINGTON -- In 15 days, the federal fund that pays for the nation’s highways, roads and bridges will run out of money. Lawmakers need to find $100 billion if they want to meet infrastructure needs for another six years, but Congress will likely delay, again, by passing a short-term fix.
The Highway Trust Fund has been repeatedly patched up with short-term fixes ever since the last time it ran out of money in 2009. With a July 31 deadline looming, state officials aren’t hopeful Congress will find a long-term solution this year either. The result, they say, is an infrastructure system that has reached its “breaking point.”
The biggest problem for the highway fund is that there isn’t enough money coming in to pay for all the infrastructure needs it must cover. The 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax that provides over 60 percent of its funding has not been increased since 1993, leaving a roughly $16 billion gap that must be filled by other sources. Despite a fast-approaching deadline and a major shortfall, there’s very little interest in Congress in raising the gas tax. In lieu of a federal solution, 16 states -- half of them Republican-led -- have elected to raise their own gas tax in order to repair crumbling infrastructure.
