At Congressman Peter Welch’s press conference Monday morning, the Vermont Agency of Transportation provided a list of the most critical Vermont transportation projects that are in jeopardy if Congress fails to reauthorize the Highway Trust Fund. You can find that list here. The House is expected to take up a short-term reauthorization early this week.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation will have to put $100 million worth of bridge, road and rail projects on hold if Congress does not shore up the federal highway trust fund by August 1. In all, the VTrans list released by Welch covers 51 projects that could be affected. The agency was counting on $195 million from the trust fund this year. Unless Congress transfers $9.7 billion from the General Fund to the federal highway trust fund by the end of the month, all states will be forced to cut projects. The trust fund is running out of money because gas tax revenues have declined; Americans are driving less and using more efficient cars. The national gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon and has not been increased since 1993. The House of Representatives is opposed to raising the gasoline and diesel taxes. Welch supports raising fuel taxes to help fund the transportatin costs.
Story: $100M in Vermont highway projects stalled
