BACKGROUND PAPER

Highway Assistance Programs:

A Historical Perspective

February 1978 (Reprinted June 1978)

Congress of the United States

Congressional Budget Office

HIGHWAY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS:

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

The Congress of the United States

Congressional Budget Office

in nil i IT
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PREFACE

In 1978 the Congress will face important highway legislation.

Authorizations for most federal highway programs expire at the end of fiscal

year 1978; the major exception is the Interstate System. In addition, the

Highway Trust Fund, the mechanism through which most federal highway

assistance has been financed for the past two decades, is scheduled to expire

at the end of fiscal year 1979. Thus, the questions of new authorizations and

financing method must both be addressed in order to continue most highway

programs beyond 1979.

The Congressional Budget Office has prepared this Background Paper,

Highway Assistance Programs: A Historical Perspective, at the request of

the Senate Budget Committee. The paper gives a comprehensive description

of the history of federal support for highways, particularly since the 1956

legislation that established the Highway Trust Fund and authorized major

federal assistance for the Interstate Highway program. The rationale

underlying the present highway program and the way that program has been

modified over the past two decades will be important ingredients in the

debate over future highway legislation. In keeping with CBO's mandate to

provide objective analysis of issues before the Congress, this report offers

no recommendations.

The author of this paper is Porter K. Wheeler. It was prepared in

CBO's Natural Resources and Commerce Division under the supervision of

Damian J. Kulash. Research assistance was provided by Steve Richman.

Data were provided by the Federal Highway Administration and the Office

of Transportation Economic Analysis within the Department of

Transportation, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Department

of Interior. Valuable review comments were made by James McCarthy of

the Federal Highway Administration, by Sidney Goldstein, and by CBO's

Richard Mudge. Robert L. Faherty edited the manuscript and Laurie Dye

prepared it for publication.

Alice M. Rivlin

Director

January 1978

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CONTENTS

PREFACE iii

SUMMARY ' ix

CHAPTER I. BACKGROUND TO THE 1956 LEGISLATION . 1

Introduction 1

Federal Aid Before 1956 . 2

Building the Case for an Expanded

Highway Program 7

CHAPTER II. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIGHWAY

TRUST FUND. . . 12

The 1956 Legislation 12

Congressional Determination on Major Issues . 18

The Program for 1957 28

CHAPTER III. THE EVOLUTION OF HIGHWAY ASSISTANCE

AFTER 1956 30

The Search for More Receipts 30

The Period of Program Proliferation 44

Scheduled Expiration of Trust Fund 65

CHAPTER IV. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AFTER 1956 ... . 69

Authorizations 70

Obligations. 71

Outlays 75

Status of the Highway Trust Fund 75

Twenty-One-Year Totals 76

APPENDIX A. EXPLANATORY NOTES FOR TABLE 4. ... 78

APPENDIX B. FEDERAL LEGISLATION RELATED TO THE

HIGHWAY PROGRAMS 82

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TABLES

TABLE 1. EXCISE TAXES DEDICATED TO THE HIGHWAY

TRUST FUND BY THE 1956 ACT 17

TABLE 2. FEDERAL TAX PAYMENTS TRANSFERRED TO THE

HIGHWAY TRUST FUND BY THE FEDERAL-AID

HIGHWAY ACT OF 1961 36

TABLE 3. EXCISE TAXES AFTER SCHEDULED TERMINATION

OF THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND 67

TABLE 4. HIGHWAY PROGRAM LEVELS FOR TRUST FUND,

GENERAL FUND, AND ALL PROGRAMS, MEASURED

BY AUTHORIZATIONS, OBLIGATIONS, AND

OUTLAYS 72

vn

SUMMARY

In 1978, the Congress will consider important highway legislation.

Federal aid for the limited-access Interstate System is the only major

highway program authorized beyond fiscal year 1978. Most other highway

programs will require new authorizing legislation for fiscal year 1979 and

beyond. Furthermore, the program financing mechanism for almost all

federal highway aid, the Highway Trust Fund, is currently scheduled to

expire at the end of fiscal year 1979. This expiration would affect the

Interstate System as well as those non-Interstate programs that are also

funded from the Highway Trust Fund. At present, about 90 percent of

federal assistance to highway programs is financed through the Trust Fund.

Thus, issues related to both new authorizations and financing method must

be addressed in order to continue most highway programs beyond 1979.

Federal involvement in highway programs has a long history. Several

elements of current federal highway policy have remained unchanged for 60

years or more. The present financing mechanism has been in place for 20

years, albeit with considerable alteration of detail. Thus, a review of past

legislation is a key to understanding both the existing highway program and

some of the pressures to change that program. This paper gives a

chronological survey of the federal highway legislation, concentrating on the

formation and evolution of the Highway Trust Fund. This summary

highlights the major characteristics of previous highway legislation and

identifies trends in program specification and funding.

ELEMENTS OF FEDERAL POLICY

The federal government has played a significant, continuing role in

highway development since early in this century. The Federal-Aid Road Act

of 1916 provided the basic building blocks for federal assistance in highway

construction. Several elements of federal policy that were established at

that time continue to be embodied in present-day programs, especially:

o The federal-state relationship, whereby federal assistance is

channeled through state highway departments that take direct

responsibility for implementation;

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o A federal-state matching ratio, whereby the state must participate

directly in program funding;

o Distribution of funds among the states by an apportionment

formula, originally based on area, population, and road mileage.

Other elements evolved during the decades leading up to the mid-1950s,

including:

o System designation, whereby federal aid has to be expended on a

coordinated and connected network of roads;

o Imposition of federal excise taxes on fuel, along with other federal

taxes related to highway use (early receipts went into the general

fund and were only loosely linked to highway expenditures);

o Financial support for planning, for research and development, and

occasionally for specific studies requested in legislation.

THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

A major juncture in federal involvement came in 1956, when the

Highway Trust Fund was established. In the mid-1950s, there was

considerable agreement about the need for an expanded highway program

because of the rapid growth in vehicle registration and traffic levels, the

wartime deferral of highway programs, and civil defense needs. A consensus

about the method of financing an expanded program, however, proved

difficult to achieve. Bonds, tolls, and general revenue funding sources were

widely debated. Despite the incumbent Eisenhower Administration's

commitment to fiscal restraint, the original proposal of the Administration

involved the issuing of off-budget bonds that would be serviced from existing

tax sources.

Extensive testimony on the Eisenhower proposal was taken in

committee, and eventually the Congress enacted the 1956 legislation. The

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 accelerated the pace of highway

construction through expanded federal assistance. In particular, a separate

funding category was established for the Interstate System to allow prompt

completion of the system, and long-term authorizations for Interstate

construction were provided on an annual basis over a 13-year period

(previously, two-year authorizations had been normal).

The key feature of the 1956 legislation was the financing package. In

the Highway Revenue Act, the Congress evolved a funding method very

x
different from that originally proposed. Some existing excise taxes, such as

those on motor fuel and tires, were increased, and some new taxes were

imposed, particularly the use tax on heavy trucks. These excise taxes, which

were related to highway use and to ownership of highway vehicles, were

channeled into the newly created Highway Trust Fund and dedicated to

federal highway programs. The main thrust of the legislation was to create

a closed, assured mechanism of highway assistance in order to assure

completion of the Interstate System over a definite period of time. The

Trust Fund was scheduled to expire with the expected completion of the

Interstate System.

Not all highway-related taxes were put into the Trust Fund, however,

and not all federal assistance for highway construction was financed from

the Trust Fund. For example, the already existing 10 percent excise tax on

new autos was not treated as a user charge and it continued to flow into the

general fund. The programs that continued to be financed from general

funds were primarily for developmental and recreational access to public

lands such as national parks and forests and Indian reservations, though some

of these roads also served as links in the designated federal-aid systems.

Nevertheless, in 1958, about 95 percent of highway authorizations were

financed from the Highway Trust Fund.

Informal linkage between fuel tax receipts and highway programs had

existed in the past, inasmuch as the Congress had long used fuel tax

revenues as a benchmark to determine highway authorizations, but creation

of the Highway Trust Fund imposed official, statutory dedication. The

dedication concept arose rather late in the legislative process leading to the

1956 act. It served two important purposes:

o It provided a long-term funding source against which the Interstate

System could be planned and completed;

o It reassured highway users that aid programs would be expanded

and thereby weakened resistance to the accompanying increases in

highway-related taxes.

The existence of the Trust Fund and its dedicated receipts makes highway

funding more reliable, but the Trust Fund is simply an accounting device—it

does not constitute the federal highway program.

The 1956 legislation made two declarations of policy regarding the

Trust Fund. First, the total receipts and total expenditures should be

balanced. A related restriction, known as the Byrd Amendment, required

that the amounts available in the Trust Fund should be sufficient to defray

highway expenditures in each year. The second policy declaration was that

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the distribution of the tax burden among various classes of highway users

should be approximately proportional to the costs attributable to them.

Three broad cagetories of highway programs can be identified in the

aftermath of the 1956 legislation:

o Construction of the Interstate System, funded through the Highway

Trust Fund with a 90 percent federal share;

o Construction of the three traditional systems—that is, the primary,

secondary, and urban extension systems, which are known as the

ABC systems—funded through the Highway Trust Fund with a 50

percent federal share; and

o Other construction-oriented highway assistance programs, funded

from general funds.

EVOLUTION OF FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

Almost every feature of the highway programs and the financing

provisions in the 1956 act has undergone at least some modification over the

past two decades. Federal-aid systems have been redefined and new ones

introduced; new program categories have been created; matching ratios have

changed; the excise taxes going into the Trust Fund have been increased and

other taxes included; programs that were formerly financed from the

general fund have been financed from the Trust Fund; and the scope of

qualifying expenditures has been substantially broadened. Yet, despite the

changes that have occurred, the highway program still resembles that of

1956, and the Trust Fund still receives a large stream of revenue primarily

designated for highway construction programs.

Finance and Taxation

Changes in the finance and taxation aspects of the Highway Trust

Fund were made almost immediately after the Fund was created. Highway

spending was used as an antirecession weapon of federal fiscal policy in the

late 1950s through higher program levels, a higher federal share, and the

suspension of the no-deficit provision of the Byrd Amendment in fiscal years

1959 and 1960. This temporarily broke the closed relationship of use-related

tax receipts to program levels, although the relationship was reestablished in

the early 1960s by a combination of reduced authorizations and increased

tax levels. Later, during the Nixon Administration, the relationship of tax

receipts to program levels was broken in the opposite direction through the

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impoundment of highway funds; program levels were held below what was

authorized and could be financed from Trust Fund receipts, resulting in the

accumulation of a surplus balance in the Fund.

Taxation. Escalation in the costs of the Interstate System soon

required higher program levels if completion of the system was to be assured

within the time frame established. The estimated cost of the entire

Interstate System rose from $27 billion in 1956 to about $41 billion in 1958,

and it reached $89 billion in 1975, just before the most recent highway act.

The prime cause for the increases has been cost inflation, but added

mileage, design changes, relocation payments, and other factors have also

been important. The most recent estimate, submitted to the Congress in

1977, indicated a total cost of $104 billion, with $40 billion being the

estimate to complete the remainder.

Higher program levels in turn required additional revenue to sustain

the financial integrity of the Trust Fund. In the face of escalating program

costs and the real possibility that Interstate funding would have to be

curtailed, the tax on motor fuels was increased "temporarily" in the late

1950s to four cents a gallon, and the auto excise tax was scheduled to be put

into the Trust Fund. As cost estimates for the Interstate System continued

to climb, however, it became clear that permanent increases in Trust Fund

receipts were required to sustain the program. Thus, the increased fuel tax

was made permanent at four cents in the mid-1960s. Also, the remaining

highway-related excise taxes, excepting the automobile excise tax, were

transferred into the Highway Trust Fund and dedicated to federal highway

assistance. The excise tax on passenger cars never went into the Trust

Fund; it remained in the general fund and was eventually repealed in 1971.

The list of excise taxes accruing to the Trust Fund and their rate

levels have been stable since the mid-1960s, except that the excise tax on

lightweight trucks was repealed in 1971 at the same time as that on

passenger vehicles. The revenues generated, however, have increased

steadily with greater highway use, slowing only in the mid-1970s as a result

of the critical problems regarding energy. The Highway Trust Fund has thus

allowed and even encouraged a growing federal highway program.

As costs for completion of the Interstate continued to escalate, and

with all highway-related taxes in the Trust Fund and no sentiment for raising

tax rates, the completion date began to be moved out in time. The duration

of the Trust Fund has also been extended several times, although the

completion date for the Interstate System and its accompanying

authorizations have often been extended without simultaneous action to

extend the Trust Fund and its tax revenues. In part, this reflects the fact

that revenue changes required action by the House and Senate revenueXlll
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raising committees which have not always chosen to ratify the extended

Interstate authorizations approved by the Public Works Committees. At

present, the Interstate program has a long-term authorization to 1990, but

the Trust Fund expires at the end of 1979.

Cost Allocation to Trucks. At the time that tax rates were being

increased in 1961, a debate arose over the distribution of the tax burden

among user classes. The Kennedy Administration proposed much heavier

taxes on trucks. In the studies mandated by the 1956 act, several competing

allocation methods were presented. Although all the methods showed that,

based on the tax rates set in 1956, trucks were underpaying, no resolution

emerged concerning the proper cost allocation to trucks. The Congress

decided to increase truck taxes a moderate amount. More important,

whereas in the past only one-half of the excise tax on new trucks was

dedicated to the Trust Fund, now the whole tax was dedicated. This

increased the contribution of trucks to highway-dedicated funds without

changing substantially the amount actually levied.

More recent highway cost allocation studies show that diesel-powered

trucks and heavier trucks in general are still underpaying. Further rate

increases have been proposed for heavy trucks, but they have not been

enacted. On a related issue, size and weight restrictions on vehicles using

the Interstate System have been liberalized, potentially increasing the cost

burden that might properly be allocated to trucks.

Program Features

Federal-State Relationship. The federal-state relationship has

remained basically unchanged. Projects are initiated and constructed by

state highway departments (usually under contract) subject to federal

standards and approval by the Secretary of Transportation. As the number

of specific-purpose programs has grown, however, federal influence over

spending has increased. Moreover, when the Department of Transportation

was formed in 1966, the Secretary was instructed to develop standards and

criteria for federal investment in transportation facilities. Despite this

growth of the federal role, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 reaffirmed

that the highway program is a federally assisted state program, that is, the

states should determine which projects will be federally financed.

Federal Share. Apart from the introduction of a 90 percent federal

share on Interstate System projects at the outset of the Highway Trust Fund,

there has been only one major change in matching ratios over the past two

decades. That was the increase from 50 to 70 percent in the federal share

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for most non-Interstate projects contained in the 1970 act and effective

from fiscal year 1974 onward. (In certain states the federal share is

increased substantially above the norm because of exceptions for public

lands acreage.)

Apportionment. The apportionment of federal highway funds among

the states continues to be based largely on the traditional apportionment

formulas for the three ABC systems coupled with completion costs for the

Interstate system. (The traditional formulas include factors for area,

population, and road mileage.) Significant changes in apportionment

practices began in 1970 and took two forms. First, changing system

designations resulted in changed apportionment formulas. For example, the

introduction of an urban system (known as the D system) in 1970 carried

with it a new formula based entirely on population of the urbanized area.

Later, when program coverage was expanded, this formula was amended to

include population for all urban areas of more than 5,000 population. Other

changes in system coverage have resulted in adjustment of the population

factor used to apportion funds. Second, minimum bounds have been set on

apportionments for the important programs. The most important minimum

is the guaranteed apportionment of 0.5 percent of Interstate System funds to

each state; this was introduced in the 1970 act (effective fiscal year 1972)

and has continued to date. Although these funds were originally a temporary

measure to soften the impact of decreased funds as the Interstate System

was completed, in recent years they have been made transferable to other

programs and have required increased authorizations.

Qualifying Uses for Federal Assistance

As highway assistance expanded, the projects that qualified for

federal aid gradually encompassed more than construction alone. In fact,

federal funds have been authorized (or required) for some nonconstruction

uses since the time of the 1956 act. For example, relocation payments were

qualified for federal aid, and planning funds, which had qualified for aid

since 1934, were required to be used for that purpose and could not be

transferred to construction uses. Since 1973, some public transportation

projects have qualified; these uses are discussed separately below.

Generally, these new uses have been financed from the Trust Fund.

The definition of "construction" has been gradually broadened to

include more resurfacing and reconstruction activities. This has somewhat

weakened the traditional distinction between federal aid for construction

and state responsibility for maintenance. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of

1976 made the greatest change of this sort when it qualified resurfacing,

restoration, and rehabilitation of portions of the Interstate System for

federal assistance and financed these activities from the Trust Fund.

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Other expenditures related to the federal-aid system have gradually

been qualified for federal assistance and Trust Fund financing. Most

prominent among these are expenditures on highway safety programs.

Although these programs were originally financed from the general fund,

they have been transferred to the Trust Fund. Forest and public lands

highways that serve as links in the federal-aid system have had federal

assistance for some time, but this aid now comes from the Highway Trust

Fund. Generally, these changes reflect a trend toward providing federal

assistance for most, if not all, nonmaintenance expenditures on the federalaid highway system, and toward financing this aid from the Highway Trust

Fund.

Social Concerns. A number of social concerns are evident in the

rapid broadening of the focus of highway legislation and spending in the late

1960s. A variety of urban development problems together with a reaction to

some adverse effects of urban renewal programs (especially dislocation)

stimulated vocal, antagonistic opposition to certain highway programs. As a

result the programs were reexamined. Many new program categories were

added, including urban traffic projects, expanded relocation assistance, and

a new federal-aid system for urban arterials. Rural problems also forced

some reevaluation of programs. Safety and beautification programs grew in

number. Highway planners were mandated to consider social and environmental impacts in addition to economic ones.

The Urban Controversy

The evolution of highway programs in terms of broader, more flexible

uses for Trust Fund expenditures is most clearly exemplified by the results

of the confrontation between mass transit advocates and highway

supporters. The problems of the cities in the late 1960s and early 1970s

were often attributed to the predominance of highway interests and the

ready availability of highway assistance from the Trust Fund. Also, the

dedication of the Trust Fund to highways was attacked.

Highway legislation responded to urban problems in two ways. The

first was to direct more assistance for urban roads and traffic

improvements, including legislative attempts to force construction of

delayed urban Interstate segments. The second was to broaden the potential

application of highway funds for substitute, public transit uses. Attention to

public transit began with the early "continuing, comprehensive, cooperative"

(CCC) planning regulations in 1962, and financial aid was extended by

provisions for fringe parking lots to serve carpools and bus patrons in 1968.

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1970 incorporated further highway-related

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transit uses, such as exclusive bus lanes and other non-rail public

transportation facilities, that were allowed as substitutes for new urban

highway facilities.

In 1973, the substitution of mass transportation projects (including

rail systems) for unwanted, withdrawn segments of urban Interstates was

permitted. These substitute projects, however, were financed from general

revenues. Funds for the urban highway system (D system), which was

established in 1970, could also be used for transit projects at local option,

though the amount transferred has been small to date. Further, additional

funding solely for public transportation aid was included as one title of the

1973 act. On the whole, these provisions did not substantially reduce the

funds available for highway assistance, but they did markedly increase the

assistance level for transit projects. These provisions for substitution of

transit projects were further refined and liberalized in the 1976 act.

Program Categories and Transferability

In the mid-to-late 1960s, a major set of highway beautification and

safety programs were authorized. Expenditures were made to control

billboards and junkyards, and to improve roadside landscaping. In addition, a

large program of development highways was authorized for the Appalachian

region. These programs were originally financed from general funds, though

safety programs are now financed from the Trust Fund.

These new programs represent the first wave of major proliferation in

categorical programs that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Fifty-five separate authorizations for highway-related projects were made

for fiscal year 1974. In addition to the beautification and safety programs,

new projects were authorized for economic development growth centers

(predominantly rural in nature), bridge safety, rail grade crossings, scenic

highways, hazardous locations, and removal of roadside obstacles. Most

recently, a program to resurface older Interstate segments was introduced.

The trend has been to finance the new program categories from the Highway

Trust Fund, for example, 38 of the 55 programs authorized for 1974 were

financed from the Trust Fund. Moreover, several previously existing

programs, such as forest highways, have been transferred to the Trust Fund.

In spite of this numerical trend, the level of general fund financing has

increased as a proportion of all highway programs, primarily because of

spending for the Appalachian Development Highway System. The newest

major program for safer off-system roads is also financed from general

funds.

As a part of this tendency toward program proliferation, a sizable

number of location-specific projects have been authorized, generally as

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demonstration projects. This represents a change from the thrust of earlier

highway legislation; in the past, generalized programs were financed and

specific projects avoided. The demonstration projects for rail crossings are

a good example of location-specific projects put forward in recent highway

acts.

Running somewhat counter to this trend of proliferating, specified

programs has been the substantial increase in the allowable transfer of funds

between programs. Transfers between the three traditional highway

programs—primary, secondary, and urban extensions—have been allowed for

some time, and the proportion of funds allowed to be transferred has now

been increased to 40 percent for many programs. Unwanted Interstate

segments can now be withdrawn from the designated system, and either

transit or other highway projects can be substituted. Transferability

between safety programs has been increased in recent years, and a few

programs have been consolidated. Thus, although a listing of program

categories would make it appear that the application of funds is strictly

prescribed, the transfer provisions allow a substantial amount of locally

directed flexibility. Nonetheless, the net effect of these various trends has

been to increase the number of local restrictions compared with the highway

programs of 15 or 20 years ago.

THE ISSUES OF TOMORROW

The current highway program is characterized by considerable

flexibility among a large number of categorical authorizations that are

financed predominantly from the Highway Trust Fund. Qualifying

applications for federal assistance have been broadened considerably to

include not only highway construction but also resurfacing and other "nonmaintenance" tasks on all federal-aid systems. Further, public

transportation uses can be substituted fairly liberally, and in some cases

they are financed from the Highway Trust Fund.

The impending expiration of both the authorizing legislation for most

highway programs other than the Interstate System and the financing

mechanism itself (that is, the Highway Trust Fund) suggests that the

following issues will be considered by the Congress:

o Should the highway program authorizations be renewed at current

levels or increased? Or, should the level of assistance authorized

be reduced or eliminated?.

o Should the financing mechanism embodied in the Highway Trust

Fund be continued? (The Fund is now used to finance about 90

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percent of program authorizations.) Or, should the Trust Fund be

allowed to expire, thus transferring the financing burden for all

programs to the general fund? Or should the highway financing

mechanism be combined in some way with the mechanisms used for

other transportation modes?

o Should the existing highway-related excise taxes, whether

deposited into the Trust Fund or the general fund, be continued at

current rates or increased? Or, should the scheduled reductions be

allowed to take place?

o Should the matching ratio for federal and state contributions be

increased, continued at the current 70 percent contribution, or

reduced?

o Should the distribution of the tax burden be modified toward higher

levies on heavy trucks, reflecting more closely the results of the

cost allocation studies? Or, should the current tax structure be

maintained? Or, should private auto levies be increased?

These issues are among those that the Congress may be asked to determine

this fiscal year. CBO intends to address several of these issues in future

reports.

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CHAPTER I. BACKGROUND TO THE 1956 LEGISLATION

INTRODUCTION

The federal government has played a significant role in the

development of highways in the United States since early in the twentieth

century. Of particular importance has been the Highway Trust Fund, which

was formed in 1956 as a mechanism for long-term financing of highway

programs and which has continued in importance as the assistance programs

evolved. The Trust Fund, however, is scheduled to expire at the end of

fiscal year 1979.

This paper provides background on federal assistance programs for

highway transportation. It attempts to identify the important programs and

the details of their financing. The paper focuses on the formation of the

Highway Trust Fund and the changes since it was established. This

background and identification of recent trends should be useful when the

Congress considers the future of highway programs and the Trust Fund

itself.

Before 1916, federal programs for highways were virtually

nonexistent. In 1916, however, legislation containing many of the basic

elements of the current program was enacted. These elements were refined

by subsequent legislation and new elements were acquired in stages over the

next 40 years. In the mid-1950s, a case was built for an expanded highway

program by means of special studies and commission reports. Then, in 1956,

the Congress enacted the legislation establishing the Highway Trust Fund.

The subsequent sections of this chapter describe the buildup to the 1956

legislation.

Chapter II concentrates on the legislative decisions in 1956. It notes

the underlying rationale for Trust Fund financing, the nature and sources of

tax revenues received by the Trust Fund, and the restrictions placed on the

uses of the Trust Fund. The chapter attempts to identify the details of the

funding and the Congressional intent or determination behind those details.

Chapter III treats the major changes in federal highway assistance

since 1956. It describes the effort to transfer more tax receipts into the

Trust Fund and identifies the uses made of these revenues during the period

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from 1956 to the present. It discusses the rationale put forward for

modifying the Trust Fund mechanism. The chapter also examines the

attacks on the Trust Fund in the 1970s and the use of the Trust Fund to

support mass transit.

Finally, Chapter IV summarizes the financial aspects of federal

assistance to highways since 1956. The chapter briefly treats the

authorizations for highway programs, the obligations incurred, and the

outlays or actual expenditures.

The paper is primarily a descriptive, historical document. It attempts

to link developments and changes in highway programs and the use of the

Trust Fund to the extent that a coherent policy shift is identifiable. A

forthcoming background paper by the Congressional Budget Office will

identify and analyze the principal alternative mechanisms that are available

for financing various modes of transportation.

FEDERAL AID BEFORE 1956

The federal role in highway construction dates back to the earliest

days of the republic, but this role was not constant or significant until 1916.

Prior to the twentieth century, post roads had been established and

improved, the Cumberland road was constructed, and federal assistance in

what might be termed demonstration projects was undertaken. Some

beginnings of the present program of federal aid were visible in 1912 when a

small amount of direct matching aid (one-third federal share) was made

available for construction and improvement of post roads, but very little

mileage was in fact completed because few states raised the required

matching funds.

The Early Years

The 1916 Act. The Federal-Aid Road Act of 1916 provided the basic

document for federal policy. Many of its provisions have continued to this

day, though they have undergone frequent amendments. The 1916 act

established the following elements which continue to be basic to federal

policy:

o The requirement for a state highway department;

o The federal-state relationship, whereby the construction,

ownership, and maintenance of highways were the responsibility of

the states;
o The federal-state matching ratio of 50:50 to obtain federal funds,

which persisted intact until 1954 (and for some time thereafter for

parts of the program) and which stimulated the imposition of state

gasoline taxes to generate the matching funds; and

o An apportionment formula, whereby each state's share of total

federal funds was based on area, population, and post-road

mileage. I/

System Designation (1921). The Federal Highway Act of 1921

included an important provision not found in the 1916 act. The 1916 act had

failed to require that federal-aid funds be spent on a designated system of

interconnected roads. The 1921 act required the state to designate a system

and gave preference to those projects among the candidates for federal aid

that would complete an adequate and connected system of interstate

highways. This was to avoid the haphazard development of roads. The

routes so designated formed the basis for what became known as the

federal-aid primary system.

Contract Authority (1921-1922). An important feature of

Congressional funding provisions for highway programs evolved from the

Federal Highway Act of 1921 and the Post Office Appropriation Act of 1922.

These acts gave the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to approve

projects and, most important, translated such approval into a contractual

obligation of the federal government. The 1921 act required the Secretary

of Treasury to set aside and then pay amounts certified by the Secretary of

Agriculture on approved projects. The 1922 act provided:

That the Secretary of Agriculture shall act upon projects

submitted to him . . . and his approval of any such project shall

be deemed a contractual obligation of the Federal

Government. 2/

This legislation essentially granted budget authority in the form of

contract authority prior to an appropriations act. This form of budget

I/ Apportionment refers to the legislatively prescribed division of federal

funds among the various states. A lump sum is authorized, then

apportioned to the states by formula.

y 42 Stat. 660. At the time of this legislation in 1922, federal activity

regarding highways was administered by the Bureau of Public Roads

within the Department of Agriculture.

MI •»¥»"" I
authority has continued to be a characteristic of highway programs. Once

the amount authorized has been apportioned and projects approved, the

states can obligate funds and then apply for reimbursement through

liquidating appropriations. This effectively insulates major parts of the

highway program from review and oversight by the Appropriations

Committees of the Congress. Liquidating appropriations are made later to

reimburse state highway agencies for federal obligations already incurred.

(Commitments for highway programs were thus not dependent on the normal

appropriations process even before the Highway Trust Fund was established.)

The 1930s

A number of legislative changes affecting highways were made in the

1930s, and during this decade the list of basic elements that are embodied in

the current federal highway policy was completed. These additional

elements are a federal fuel tax, the federal support of state planning, and

the statutory request for reports to the Congress.

Fuel Tax. The Revenue Act of 1932 established an excise tax of one

cent a gallon on motor fuels. This tax was to go into the general fund.

Although motor fuel tax receipts were not formally dedicated to highway

programs until the Highway Trust Fund was established in 1956, considerable

evidence suggests that even in the 1930s the level of highway programs was

closely related to the level of federal receipts. Indeed, the HaydenCartwright Act of 1934 declared:

... it is unfair and unjust to tax motor-vehicle transportation

unless the proceeds of such taxation are applied to the

construction, improvement, or maintenance of highways. 3/

This provision is still codified in Section 126 of Title 23, U.S. Code, although

the 1934 act itself applied the principle only to state receipts from taxation

of motor vehicles.

This close relationship can be seen from a comparison of program

authorizations and federal receipts for the period 1932 to 1939. During

these early years of gasoline taxation, direct authorizations for highway

programs totaled $2.0 billion. 4/ For the same eight-year period motor fuel

3/ 48 Stat. 995.

4/ National Transportation Policy (Doyle Report), Report prepared for the

Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 87:1 (1961).
and oil taxes netted federal receipts of $1.6 billion, and total highwayrelated federal receipts, including taxes on vehicles and auto products, were

$2.2 billion. If automobile excise taxes are deleted from the receipts total

(such taxes have never been dedicated in the Highway Trust Fund), then the

federal receipts come to approximately $1.9 billion, compared with the $2.0

billion authorized for highway programs.

The highway program in the 1930s included some emergency, countercyclical authorizations for highway construction, but many programs related

to the Depression (such as projects of the Public Works Administration)

would not be included in the direct highway authorizations. Other

countercyclical measures adopted during the 1930s include temporary waiver

of the state's matching share arid the extension of federal aid to secondary

or feeder roads (both included in the National Industrial Recovery Act of

1933).

Planning and Research and Development. The Hayden-Cartwright

Act of 1934 authorized up to 1.5 percent of each state's highway funds (with

state matching provisions) for planning and surveys toward future

construction projects. Originally, the planning was not required, and the

funds could be used for construction at state option. Over the years, the

plans and surveys funded in this manner have strengthened the basis of

program development.

Reports to the Congress. Highway legislation has often required that

the appropriate administrative agency submit studies or reports to the

Congress. A particularly important request was made in the Federal-Aid

Highway Act of 1938. The report that resulted from this request advocated

the construction of a comprehensive system of free highways with strict

controls on the access to the right-of-way. The 26,700-mile system

recommended in this report provided the original concept behind today's

Interstate System. The report, entitled Toll Roads and Free Roads, was

submitted in 1939; it was subsequently reviewed and revised several times

during the war years. j>/ These further surveys, especially those directed in

the Federal-Aid Highway Amendments of 1943, provided the planning base

for the Interstate System and set the stage for its official authorization as a

system in the following year. An ensuing; report, entitled Interregional

Highways, proposed a controiled-access network of about 39,000 miles. £/

5/ House Documents, Volume 20, Number 272, 76:1 (1939).

§J House Document 379, 78:2 (1944).

IMW11
_ _ L JILMUIIMJUI

The 1940s and Early 1950s

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 provided greatly expanded

funding and established separate, proportional authorizations for three

categories of highways—the primary system, the secondary system, and the

urban extensions of the primary system—which became known as the ABC

programs. The proportions authorized for each system—45 percent for the

primary system, 30 percent for the secondary system, and 25 percent for the

urban extensions—remained constant until 1974. Somewhat different

apportionment formulas were established for each of the ABC programs.

The designation of what we now know as the Interstate System was1

authorized in the 1944 act, with the length now stipulated at 40,000 miles.

This designation was made in 1947, but progress on construction was slow.

No specific authorizations or apportionments of funds were made to the

Interstate System, because it was incorporated in the primary road network

and its urban extensions. Further, since the matching ratio remained 50:50,

there was no financial incentive for the states to give priority to

construction of the Interstate System.

Legislation in the years immediately before the pivotal Federal-Aid

Highway Act of 1956 provided further developments, including:

o Under the Revenue Act of 1951, the imposition of an excise tax of

2 cents a gallon on diesel fuel;

o In the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952, specific, separate

authorization of $25 million a year for the Interstate System,

apportioned by the formula for the primary system;

o In the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1954, a major increase in the

authorization for the Interstate System to $175 million a year,

apportioned by a new formula more heavily weighted by

population, with an increase in the federal share for the Interstate

to 60 percent (the first change in a matching ratio since the 1916

act);

o Also in the 1954 act, allowance for the transfer of up to 10

percent of the ABC funds among the three system categories;

o Again in the 1954 act, a significant boost in the level of research

support.
These shifts in the highway program were all small but important. They

were the response of the Congress to a mounting postwar problem of

congestion and highway deterioration. Moreover, the research on highway

needs that was performed as a result of the 1954 act became a critical input

into the deliberations about the 1956 act.

BUILDING THE CASE FOR AN EXPANDED HIGHWAY PROGRAM

During World War II, highway construction and maintenance had

largely been deferred, and automobile and truck manufacturing for the

civilian market had virtually ceased. The postwar period brought a booming

market in automobiles and trucks. Also, construction of suburban housing

expanded rapidly, aided by government-guaranteed VA and FHA mortgages.

As highway traffic became greater and as trucking expanded, the wartime

deferments became more burdensome. Even the increased levels for

highway programs proved inadequate as construction costs escalated. The

growth in economic activity during the Korean War years and the concerns

about civil defense in the emerging nuclear age created further support for

accelerated highway construction.

The Clay Committee Report (1955)

In mid-1954, President Eisenhower put forward a proposal for a vastly

expanded program of federal aid for highways. 1J Then in September of that

year, the President established a President's Advisory Committee on a

National Highway Program which was chaired by Lucius D. Clay and became

known as the Clay Committee. The Clay Committee was to look into the

President's proposal and, in general, make recommendations for federal

assistance toward the provision of adequate highways. The committee

issued its report, A Ten-Year National Highway Program, A Report to the

President, in January 1955. Two general topics were covered: first, the

inadequacy of current highways and the need for a greatly expanded

program; and second, specific recommendations about how to finance an

expanded program.

Several reports on highways and proposals for a new system had been

published in previous years. These included 1939 and 1955 reports on toll

7/ "The President's Highway Proposal" (speech delivered to the Governor's

~ Conference, Lake George, New York, July 1954.)
1

roads, the wartime studies by the Federal Coordinator of Transportation and

the Public Roads Administration, and a 1944 report on interregional

highways. Although these earlier studies provided much of the groundwork

for the Clay Committee, it was the proposal of the committee, which was

brought forward as a legislative proposal by the Eisenhower Administration,

that stimulated the highway legislation of 1956 and resulted in the formation

of the Highway Trust Fund.

The committee offered four basic lines of argument to justify an

expanded highway program:

o Traffic growth and congestion in the face of accelerating

population growth rates;

o Civil defense needs, particularly the need to evacuate people from

cities;

o Highway deterioration resulting from increased traffic and,

particularly, increased weight and axle loadings, magnified by the

moratorium on construction during World War n.

o Safety and accident: statistics that favored upgraded, limitedaccess highways.

The committee adopted the tentative conclusions and estimates of

the Highway Needs Study that had been mandated by the 1954 act and was

being prepared by the Bureau of Public Roads. The preliminary estimates of

this study showed that the highway program required overall expenditures of

$101 billion over a 10-year period. The committee projected that—given the

existing tax structure and other highway revenue sources, and allowing for

growth in vehicles and usage—$47 billion would be available for

construction. This revenue figure includes nonfederal sources; total

estimated federal tax receipts for the period amounted to only $29 billion.

Financing the $54 billion gap was the purpose of the recommendations

presented in the Clay Committee report.

The committee proposed that the federal government assume primary

responsibility for the development of the Interstate System and its urban

extensions, providing about 90 percent of the anticipated $27 billion in

construction costs. The 90 percent federal share was based on the

committee's desire to keep the state contribution at approximately the same

level that would have been required to match the $175 million authorized by
the 1954 act for the Interstate System in 1956 and 1957. If adopted, the

cost to the federal government for the Interstate System alone would be

$2.5 billion a year.

Another recommendation of the committee was that the federal

contributions for the remainder of the federal-aid program be continued at

the rates authorized by the 1954 act: approximately $525 million a year for

primary and secondary programs; about $75 million a year for urban

programs; and about $22.5 million a year for forest highways. Funds for

public land roads would also be continued, but this responsibility would be

transferred to other federal agencies. The regular programs would thus

require approximately $623 million a year in federal aid.

Finally, the committee proposed the creation of a Federal Highway

Corporation that would issue bonds to finance the accelerated completion of

the Interstate System. The bonds would be serviced and retired using

receipts from federal taxes on gasoline and lubricating oils (after the $623

million a year for regular programs was first covered). The existing 2-cent

tax on motor fuels plus the 6-cent tax on lubricating oils were projected to

be adequate to retire the bonds issued for a 10-year construction program—

generally assuming maturities of 20 years at an interest rate of 3 percent.

Thus, the proposal was to borrow funds for present construction and then

employ user-related tax receipts accruing in the future to retire the debt.

The report refers only to gasoline taxes, although the tabulations

presented appear to incorporate receipts from all motor fuels, including

diesel and other special fuels. No reference is made to other highwayrelated revenue sources already in place at that time such as excise taxes on

automobiles, trucks, and buses.

Two interesting sidelights on the committee report bear mentioning.

First, although the committee avoided calling for a dedicated trust fund, it

specifically compared construction costs to gasoline and oil tax receipts

over the period and suggested a contract between the proposed Federal

Highway Corporation and the Treasury Department for annual amounts

approximately equivalent to federal tax receipts on gasoline and lubricating

oils.

Second, the committee specifically discussed and rejected tolls as a

method of financing the Interstate System. It pointed out that plans for

several thousand miles of toll roads had been drawn up that would coincide

with the proposed Interstate System. But it also rioted that studies disclosed

that some portion, apparently about 10 to 20 percent, of the proposed

iHiiiBiir
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mileage would not be economically feasible under a toll road method. Thus,

"toll financing on a sound financial basis" could meet only a portion of the

needed Interstate System. The committee concluded that neither toll road

financing nor state financing would be adequate for the Interstate System as

it should be constructed, and that the additional federal support was thus

needed.

Debate over the Clay Committee Proposal and Other Events Leading to the

1956 Highway Act

Extensive hearings focused on the Clay Committee proposals for the

National Highway Program were held by the Committee on Public Works in

both the House and the Senate during 1955. Few objections were raised to

the proposed expansion of highway construction. Traffic growth, congestion,

and the need for improved facilities seemed to create virtually unanimous

support for an expanded highway program. As George M. Humphrey, the

Secretary of the Treasury, said at one hearing, "Everyone wants roads—more

and better roads." 8/ Or, as Congressman John J. Dempsey of New Mexico

said in discussing tfie various financing provisions, "I would vote for any bill

at this time that would give us roads." 9/

Several aspects of the proposal were, however, strongly criticized

during the 1955 hearings. Major objections were raised, for example, to the

following five points:

o The high interest cost (approximately $11.5 billion) required to

finance the bonding proposal. This reflected a general objection

to debt financing versus a pay-as-you-build method supported by

Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia.

o The overwhelming federal role implied by a 90 percent share and

final approval rights on the location of the Interstate routes.

o The lack of Congressional review and the off-budget, off-debtlimit nature of the financing proposed by the Clay Committee.

87 National Highway Program, Hearings before the House Committee on

Public Works, 84:1 (1955), p. 1189.

9/ Ibid., p. 1106.

10
This led Senator Byrd to say that the committee's proposals would

"destroy sound budgetary procedure." 10/

o The implied ceiling on the growth of the regular (ABC) federal-aid

programs, which were credited with a fixed amount in current

dollars from the existing tax revenues.

o A generally conservative reaction to the overall funding proposal,

which was relatively innovative insofar as it created off-budget

debt, proposed informal earmarking of highway tax revenue, and

stretched the burden over about 32 years.

General Clay in his testimony tended to support the highway program

provisions more strongly than the financing provisions. With respect to the

financing provisions, however, he argued that the bonding proposal was more

conservative than adding to the national debt and that informally dedicating

the highway taxes to service the bond issue was substantially different from

using general revenues to service the national debt. These arguments were

attacked frequently, and numerous questions arose regarding the revenuebond nature of the proposal and the federal government's obligation under

this corporate structure.

The Congress made little progress toward the enactment of an

expanded highway program in 1955. The Administration's bill (H.R. 4260),

which incorporated the Clay Committee proposal, was delayed in getting to

the Congress and met with little success there. The Senate did pass a bill

(the Gore Bill; S. 1048) along fairly traditional highway bill lines. The House

considered several bills but was unable to pass any of them.

One of the House bills (H.R. 7072) wais put forward by Congressman

George H. Fallon of Maryland, the ranking majority member of the House

Public Works Committee, who presided at the 1955 hearings. The Fallon bill

contained sharp increases in the traditional highway taxes and an even more

notable jump in truck taxes—a 6-cent tax on diesel fuel and a 50-cents-perpound tax on large tires. This bill was a substitute for the Clay proposal and

would have relied on current user taxes, not bonds, to finance the expanded

program. The proposed higher truck taxes were also a clear attempt to jar

the resistance of trucking interest groups who continued to oppose any

highway-related taxes at all.

10/ National Highway Program, Hearings before a subcommittee of the

Senate Committee on Public Works, 84:1 (1955), p. 497.

11

IBM HIT
CHAPTER H. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

Although the Congress had considered highway matters extensively in

1955, it had not enacted new legislation. The Administration's proposals,

and especially the bonding provisions, had met with resistance, but so had

alternative proposals that relied on increased gasoline and other highwayrelated taxes for financing. The case for more and better roads had been

made, and the 1956 session of the 84th Congress brought a compromise on

the financing issues. The compromise included the establishment of the

Highway Trust Fund.

THE 1956 LEGISLATION

The House Bill. The House acted promptly in the 1956 session,

considering two separate but complementary bills (H.R. 8836 and H.R. 9075).

One of these bills contained the tax provisions, and it was assigned to the

Committee on Ways and Means. After hearings and committee approval, the

two bills were joined as two titles of a single bill (H.R. 10660), which was

introduced, reported, and passed in a period of nine days. The bill provided

long-term (13-year) authorizations for the Interstate System, and it

increased tax levels related to highway use. The bill also incorporated

controversial provisions ensuring the payment of prevailing wage levels for

highway construction; these were known as Davis-Bacon provisions. The

taxes were

designed to raise sufficient revenue from new and existing

highway user taxes to approximately match estimated federal

highway expenditure. I/

The House bill also provided that all of the newly imposed taxes along with

some existing taxes be placed in a special Highway Trust Fund.

The Senate Bill. The Senate considered the House bill sequentially:

first, Title I was referred to the Committee on Public Works and then, after

I/ Federal Highway and Highway Revenue Acts of 1956, H. Rept. 2022,

84:2 (1956), p. 37.

12
that committee reported, Title II was referred to the Committee on

Finance. The Senate had passed the Gore Bill in 1955 and insisted on

retaining its basic provisions. Although the Senate bill incorporated longterm authorizations for the Interstate System, it differed from the House

bill on several points:

o On the apportionment formula for the Interstate System, the

Senate bill adopted a variant of the primary system formula,

whereas the formula in the House bill involved estimated cost of

completing the system in each state;

o On the level of authorization for the ABC programs, the Senate

bill was higher;

o On size and weight restrictions for vehicles, the Senate bill

proscribed increases in state limitations above the standards of

the American Association of State Highway Officials for

dimensions and total weights (apparently for all public highway

mileage), whereas the House bill restricted only axle loadings on

the Interstate System;

o On Davis-Bacon wage provisions, the Senate bill did not include

them, y

The financing provisions were referred to Senator Byrd's Committee

on Finance where strong resistance developed to the feature of deficit

financing in the early years of the Trust Fund. This led to insistence on a

"pay-as-you-build" program which was incorporated into the Byrd

Amendment. The amendment provided that apportionments would be

limited "to give assurance that no deficit will develop in the highway trust

fund." 3/ Other differences specified that additional taxes were for highway

use only, omitted the mass transit tax exemption, and imposed a different

use-tax schedule on heavy vehicles.

Passage. The Senate bill was debated and passed on May 29, 1956.

The House did not agree to the Senate amendments and a conference was

held. In conference, the House accepted the Byrd Amendment, restricting

2/ Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, S. Kept. 1965, 84:2 (1956).

3/ To Amend and Supplement the Federal-Aid Road Act . . . , S. Kept.

2054, 84:2 (1956), p. 18.

13

29-792 O - 78 - 3

mmrmrT
Ill

the highway program to a pay-as-you-build pattern of expenditures.

Otherwise, the provisions of the House bill were generally accepted. Major

points of the final legislation are discussed below. The conference report

was submitted and agreed to on June 26, 1956, in both the House and the

Senate, and the act was signed by the President and became law (P.L. 627)

three days later. 4/

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 (Title I)

The 1956 act kept the highway assistance programs essentially

separate from the financing mechanism; federal aid for highway programs

was provided in Title I of the act. Although there had been no Highway

Trust Fund before the 1956 legislation, there had been an on-going program

of federal assistance for highway construction. Title I of the 1956 act

simply expanded the federal role and in particular boosted support for the

Interstate System.

The basic elements of the federal-aid highway program were all in

place before the 1956 legislation, although many modifications were made at

this time. These elements—together with the year they were establishedcan be categorized as follows::

o Federal-state relationship (1916);

o State highway departments (1916);

o Matching ratios and apportionment by formula (1916);

o System designation (1921);

o Contract authority (1921-1922);

o Motor fuel taxes (1932);

o Planning, research, and development (1934);

o Reports to the Congress (1938).

4/ Conference Report on H.R. 10660, H. Kept. 2436, 84:2 (1956).

14
The primary focus of Title I of the 1956 act was to expedite completion of

the Interstate System and in general to accelerate all federal highway aid,

including assistance to the ABC programs.

Interstate Provisions. The Interstate System, which had been

authorized as a system in the 1944 act and designated as a system in 1947,

was increased to 41,000 miles and was specified for an accelerated

completion over a 13-year period through 1969 (Section 108 of the 1956 act).

Two features of special note were incorporated in the 1956 act.

First, substantially increased authorizations for the entire 13-year

period were incorporated in the legislation. The Interstate System had

received its first specific funding authorization in the Federal-Aid Highway

Act of 1952. The early authorizations (fiscal years 1953-1955) were at a

level of only $25 million a year. The 1954 act increased the Interstate

authorization to $175 million for the next two years (fiscal years 1956 and

1957). The 1956 act then authorized an additional $1.0 biUion for fiscal year

1957 and gradually increasing amounts for the subsequent 12 years. Thus,

the authorized program level for the Interstate System jumped from $25

million in 1955 to $1,175 million in 1957. The new authorizations totaled

almost $25 billion, sufficient to pay the federal share of the $27 billion

projected cost.

Second, the federal-state matching ratio for the Interstate System

was changed. The traditional matching ratio of 50 percent federal and 50

percent state had been uniformly applied to all the various system

classifications until 1954. In 1954, the federal share for the Interstate

System was increased to 60 percent. The 1956 act further encouraged early

completion of the Interstate System by providing for a 90 percent federal

share (except for public land provisions for all federal-aid programs that

could increase the federal share in some states to a ceiling of 95 percent).

ABC Systems. The primary, secondary, and urban-extension systems

(ABC systems) received a less dramatic boost in program level, and the

normal two-year authorization period was retained. The authorization level

of $550 million for fiscal years 1953 to 1955 had already been boosted by the

1954 act to a level of $700 miUion for 1956 and 1957. The 1956 act further

boosted the ABC authorizations by adding $125 million for 1957, giving a

level of $825 million, and then adding another $25 million a year for 1958

and 1959 (that is, giving $850 million and $875 million). A continuing $25

million increment was a policy goal of the House Public Works Committee.

15

ninmiir
1 ILJLfflliJIil

Highway Revenue Act of 1956 (Title II)

Title H of the 1956 act, termed the Highway Revenue Act of 1956,

increased some existing excise taxes and created several new taxes. These

taxes were then channeled into the Highway Trust Fund in varying

percentages (see Table 1). Although most of these taxes had previously been

collected and deposited in the general fund, they had not flowed to a

dedicated trust fund for use in highway programs. Only taxes on rubber

retreads and on heavy-vehicle use had not been previously imposed. Insofar

as motor fuel taxes provide the major share of receipts for the Trust Fund—

89 percent in 1957—the increase in fuel taxes from 2 cents a gallon to 3

cents represents the 1956 act's most significant change in tax rates. The

taxes established or increased in 1956 were to revert to a reduced rate at

the beginning of fiscal year 1973, which was then foreseen as the end of the

construction program for the Interstate System. Rate reductions are still

part of the existing law, although the reversion date has now been extended

to the end of fiscal year 1979 and no longer coincides with anticipated

Interstate completion.

Two distinctions among users of the highway system and their

taxation are worthy of note. First, the new tax on heavy-vehicle use was

established in part to create a more equitable relation between the user

charges paid and the costs incurred for construction to accommodate heavy

vehicles. This user tax, assessed by gross vehicle weight, generates only a

small amount of revenue relative to the fuel tax, but it reflects

Congressional concern over the equity of highway financing across different

types of users. Equity was a stated goal of the act, and further study of the

issue was mandated. Second, truck and bus excise taxes were incorporated

as Trust Fund receipts, whereas automobile excise taxes (which had been

collected since 1951 at a rate of 10 percent of manufacturer's wholesale

price) were not.

The separation of revenue provisions into a separate title is

significant because programs and financing are traditionally prerogatives of

different committees of the Congress and continue to require a different

legislative process. The Highway Trust Fund is not a federal assistance

program for highways; it was created as simply a holding device for

dedicated funds. The Trust Fund receipts need bear little relationship to the

current or future requirements for highway assistance, although the tax

levels were set (and have been adjusted) with the Interstate program in

mind. The receipts do, of course, put a tentative ceiling on federal

assistance levels, though several programs are also financed from general

revenues. On the other hand, the existence of the Trust Fund does make the

financing of highway programs more straightforward or mechanical up to the

16
TABLE 1. EXCISE TAXES DEDICATED TO THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

BY THE 1956 ACT a/

Tax Previous Rate b/

Rate in

Fiscal Year 1957

Motor Fuel

Gasoline

Diesel

Special motor fuels

Rubber

Tires

Tubes

Retreads

New Trucks and Trailers

New Buses

Annual Heavy-Vehicle

Use Tax

2 cents per gallon

2 cents per gallon

2 cents per gallon

5 cents per pound

9 cents per pound

None

3 cents per gallon

3 cents per gallon

3 cents per gallon

8 cents per pound c/

9 cents per pound

3 cents per pound

8 percent of manu- 10 percent of manufacturer's whole- facturer's wholesale price sale price d/

8 percent of manu- 10 percent of manufacturer's whole- facturer's wholesale price sale price d/

None e/ $1.50 per 1,000 pounds

when gross weight

exceeds 26,000 pounds

SOURCES: Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, 70 Stat. 374; and U.S.

Department of Transportation, Federal Highway

Administration, Highway Statistics, 1974.

a/ Taxes on parts and accessories and lubricating oil continued to be levied

but were not put into the Highway Trust Fund until 1966.

b/ Before the Highway Trust Fund, these taxes were deposited in the

general fund.

c/ Only 3/8 accrued to the Highway Trust Fund in fiscal year 1957, and 100

~ percent thereafter.

d/ Only 20 percent accrued to the Highway Trust Fund in fiscal year 1957,

and 50 percent thereafter. Transit buses were generally exempted.

e/ The previous federal use tax was repealed in 1946.

17

MIliMlM
I ll

level of receipts lodged in the Trust Fund itself. At any rate, if the Highway

Trust Fund were terminated,, this would not necessarily change highway

expenditures or the level of federal assistance for highways; the procedures

by which those levels are determined, however, would be changed.

CONGRESSIONAL DETERMINATION ON MAJOR ISSUES

In this section the major policy issues identified during the legislative

debates on the 1956 act are examined. The 1956 policy is stated first,

followed by a discussion of the background and the underlying positions

taken in the legislative debates on the issue.

Linkage of User Taxes

The 1956 act created a direct "linkage" between highway program

levels and the user-generated receipts put into the newly created Highway

Trust Fund. The specified taxes were earmarked and set aside for use only

in highway programs.

Until 1956, these taxes were general revenues to the U.S. Treasury

with no legally specified dedication or allocation. Their dedication to

highways was extremely controversial. Much of the discussion at the

hearings in 1955 and 1956 focused on this issue. It was the general issue of

earmarking, however, and not the Highway Trust Fund itself that was

debated. No specific Trust Fund proposal was included in the revenue bill

considered by the House Ways and Means Committee in its February 1956

hearings. Rather, the proposal came out of committee markup.

The linkage of federal assistance to highway-related tax receipts had

a considerable history, so it is rather amazing that the 1955-1956 legislative

proposals and hearings did not address the issue early on and directly.

Instead, only indirect reference and rather peremptory discussion took place.

There was an evident aversion to the earmarking of federal revenue because

of a fear that this would open the door for other programs to request similar

treatment, thereby generally tying the hands of the Congress in its spending

deliberations. Yet, gas taxes imposed by many states had long been

earmarked for highway programs. Indeed, the Hayden-Cartwright Act of

1954 contained a policy statement that diversion of highway taxes was

18
unfair. The statement was general, though sanctions were specified only for

states. The Doyle Report found evidence of a growing movement toward

linkage from 1934 onward. 5/

Bills incorporating linkage had been introduced since at least 1948,

and the subject had been debated on the floor of both chambers in 1952. In

1954 the House had passed a bill (H.R. 8127) that linked highway

expenditures to user-tax receipts. In the following year, Congressman

Hubert B. Scudder of California stated:

In the past few years the moneys that we have authorized from

this Committee (House Public Works) for highway matching

funds have been geared very largely to the receipt of funds

from the gas tax. 6/

Objecting primarily to linkage of receipts from nonhighway users of

fuel, the Senate did not accept the 1954 House provision, and the provision

was not included in the 1954 act. In its 1954 report, however, the Senate

Committee did say that federal aid then provided was approximately equal

to the tax revenues from motor fuels and lubricating oils. 7/ Thus, informal

linkage apparently was accepted in both the House and the Senate in the

early 1950s. In fact, in 1953 Senator Warren G. Magnuson of Washington and

Congressman John C. Kluczynski of Illinois had introduced bills (S. 216 and

H.R. 3637) specifically calling for the establishment of a trust fund.

Although the Administration proposal, which was based on the Clay

Committee Report, did not incorporate the trust fund concept directly, it

did establish a linkage. The taxes on motor fuels were to be pledged

informally to service the proposed bond issue. The first witness at the

House hearings on the Clay report, Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks,

used the term "earmarking revenue" to describe the Clay proposal and

compared the proposed Highway Corporation funding with other trust funds.

5/ National Transportation Policy (Doyle Report), Report prepared for the

Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 87:1 (1961).

6/ National Highway Program, Hearings before the House Committee on

Public Works, 84:1 (1955), p. 34.

7/ S. Rept. 1093, 83:2 (1954).

19

mrmrwir
He specifically mentioned as similar programs the funding provisions under

the Social Security Act, the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, and the

"duck stamp" program. 8/

During the House hearings, Secretary of the Treasury Humphrey also

compared the proposed highway funding provision with the earmarked

receipts for the Social Security fund. Further, Secretary Humphrey clearly

insisted on a financing plan that would levy taxes sufficient to pay for the

authorized expenditures and not deplete general revenues. 9/ In the Senate,

Secretary Humphrey made clear his view that the Clay proposal "provides

for the dedication of certain revenues to certain purposes," but without the

bookkeeping trouble of technical earmarking to a specific fund. 10/

During the 1956 hearings on the revenue portion of the bill, Secretary

Humphrey again resisted technical earmarking, while seemingly supporting

the concept:

This is not earmarking.... I would not recommend

earmarking. I am talking about handling this about the same

way as we handle the trust funds... .

What is technically earmarking I do not think is required, or

desirable, ll/

The only direct proposal for formally dedicating highway-related receipts

came from Mayor Charles P. Taft of Cincinnati, Ohio. He pointed out that

8/ National Highway Program, Hearings before the House Committee on

~ Public Works, 84:1 (1955), p. 24. A "duck stamp" is a hunting fee, the

proceeds of which are dedicated to wildlife restoration. Also, in 1950,

the receipts from the excise tax on fishing tackle were authorized for

appropriation for federal aid to fish restoration and management

programs (64 Stat. 430).

9/ Ibid., p. 1187.

10/ National Highway Proram ogram, Hearings before the Senate Committee on

Public Works, 84:1(1955), pp . 542-43.

ll/ Highway Revenue Act of 1956, Hearings before the House Committee

on Ways and Means, 84:2 (1956), pp. 36-37.

20
Ohio had a constitutional provision that fuel taxes must be used for roads,

and that:

The money raised should certainly be put in a trust

fund.... We are required to do it in Ohio, and find no

difficulty in practice.. . . All gasoline and license taxes are

put in a trust fund and can only be used for roads and

immediately related purposes. 127

Although the bill under consideration did not contain a trust fund provision,

the bill's sponsor, Congressman Hale Boggs of Louisiana, clearly agreed when

he stated:

... that is exactly what we are trying to do, use all the fuel

tax and all the other user taxes for roads. 137

The bill reported by the House Ways and Means Committee, and

eventually passed by the full House, did contain a trust fund provision. The

Republican members, possibly swayed by Mayor Taft's testimony, submitted

"Supplemental Views" in which they assumed responsibility for the provision:

We recommended, and the Committee accepted, the

establishment of a highway trust fund. The existence of this

fund will insure that receipts from taxes levied to finance this

program will not be diverted to other purposes. 14/

When the Senate Finance Committee questioned Secretary Humphrey,

the trust fund provision was pointed out but not discussed. 15/ It had become

merely a technical matter of no real importance. This acceptance of

earmarking provided the desired assurance of continuous financing for the

12/ Ibid., pp. 153-54.

_13/ Ibid., p. 153.

147 Federal Highway and Highway Revenue Acts of 1956, H. Kept. 2022, p.

Highway Revenue Act, Hearings before the Senate Committee on

Finance 84:2 (May 1956}, pp. 66 ff.

21
Hill

long-term construction projects involved in building the Interstate System,

and dedication had won the support of affected industry groups for the

accompanying tax increases.

The choice of taxes. In establishing the Trust Fund, the Congress had

to specify which tax receipts would go into the fund and thus be linked with

highway expenditures; in doing this, they also determined which taxes would

be treated as user charges. That is, there was a wide array of highwayrelated excise taxes, but only those incorporated in the Trust Fund would be

dedicated to highway use. Relating expenditures to tax receipts has the

effect of making a program self-financing rather than directly subsidized—in

other words, beneficiaries are charged for what they receive. The charges

considered were indirect and did not take the form of fees for use of

specific segments of highway (for example, tolls).

There was no clear agreement on the issue of which taxes to choose,

though the motor fuel taxes were generally thought of as user-related

(probably because of their treatment as such by the states). The Clay report

had also included the excise on lubricating oil, though in the end this was not

put in until 1966.

The auto excise tax: was probably the most controversial tax, even

though it was rarely discussed in hearings. The Administration's position,

which was established early, is evident from the following exchange in 1955:

Senator Gore: How do you regard the excise tax on

automobiles?

Secretary Humphrey: That is not a user tax. 167

The Administration resisted the inclusion of excises other than those on fuel

to the end, both because of their deflection from current general revenues

and because of their categorization as general manufacturer's excises not

associated with the highway program. 17/

16/ National Highway Program, Hearings before the Senate Committee on

Public Works, p. 543.

17/ See Secretary Humphrey's testimony in May 1956 in which he accepted

dedication of fuel taxes but termed inclusion of other excises a

diversion of general revenues; Highway Revenue Act, Hearings before

the Senate Committee on Finance, pp. 71-72.

22
The Senate Finance report in 1956 is forthright in discussing the taxes

included, and the political nature of that decision may be inferred:

... it is proper to use the existing taxes on tires and inner

tubes to aid in the financing of an expanded highway program,

since they are just as clearly highway user taxes as are the

motor fuel taxes. .. . There will still remain several highway

user taxes in the general fund. 18/

Apportionment

The 1956 act contained a two-stage compromise on the

apportionment of funds for the Interstate System. The Senate version,

which retained the existing formula based on state population, area, and

route mileage, was adopted for the first three years (fiscal years 1957-1959);

after that the House version, which contained a new cost-to-complete

formula, was to be used.

The existing formula for the Interstate System was an amended

version of the traditional apportionment formula for the primary system.

The amendment, which was incorporated in the 1954 act, doubled the weight

for population, giving more funds to populous states that were experiencing

congestion. The Senate version favored retaining this definite formula that

would provide the states with a stable planning base. Also, the Senate

considered the states' estimates of expected costs to be erratic and

potentially inequitable as an apportionment basis, especially in the first

years of the Interstate program. The House version, based on the estimated

cost to complete the Interstate System, was put forward as a means of

simultaneously assuring completion and providing funds where they were

most "needed" to make progress on the system.

A comparison of the apportionments derived from each formula shows

wide differences in many states' shares. The urbanized states tended to lose

apportionments under the existing formula relative to the cost-to-complete

calculation, presumably because they contained more mileage and much of it

through densely populated areas where construction costs are high. In the

18/ To Amend and Supplement the Federal-Aid Road Act . . . , S. Kept.

2054, 84:2 (1956), p. 14.

23
L1M1

first two years following the 1956 act, 31 states were eligible to receive

higher apportionments under the Senate proposal than they would have been

under the House proposal. 19/

Heavy Trucks

The 1956 act imposed new taxes to be borne primarily by heavy

trucks, and it required receipts from truck ad valorem taxes to be put in the

Trust Fund. Weight and width limitations were imposed on vehicles using

the Interstate System. Section 108 (j) provided for a maximum axle weight

of 18,000 pounds, a maximum gross weight of 73,280 pounds, and a maximum

width of 96 inches. Weights consistent with state regulations before July 1,

1956, were allowed, however (this is often termed the grandfather clause

regarding weight restrictions). These provisions remained basically intact

until the 1974 amendments that eased the limitations. Further, a policy

statement was incorporated directing future Congresses to enact legislation

to ensure an equitable

... distribution of the tax burden among various classes of

persons using the Federal-aid highways, or otherwise deriving

benefits from such highways,.. . 20/

To insure that future action would be well-founded, Section 108(k) directed

that tests be conducted to determine maximum desirable dimensions and

weights, and Section 210 (b) mandated that studies be done on the

proportionate share of highway costs attributable to each class of users.

The new tax on heavy-vehicle use was in part an attempt to balance

the relation between the charges paid by users and the costs incurred for

19/ California, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey,

and Ohio stood to lose substantial apportionments under the Senate

proposal, whereas North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas stood to gain

the most. Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, S. Rep. 1965, p. 12.

While the gaining states outnumber the losing ones, it is noteworthy

that only one major gaining state under the Senate proposal had a

member on the Senate Public Works Committee, whereas three losing

states did.

20/ The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, 70 Stat. 298.

24
construction to accommodate heavy vehicles. The Administration's

witnesses were closely questioned on this issue, and their testimony was

completely noncommittal.

Secretary Humphrey: I have said that I do not think I am

qualified to tell you where to put the taxes. What I am telling

you is the amount of money you ought to raise. .. .

The Chairman: .. . you are not prepared now to make a

recommendation to the Committee as to just where that

additional revenue should be secured?

Secretary Humphrey: That is right. I can suggest the amount,

but not the location.

* * *

Secretary Weeks: Mr. Boggs, I do not want to comment on the

tax features of this measure. I think that the Secretary of the

Treasury.. . should discuss the taxes.

Mr. Boggs: The Secretary of the Treasury said that he had no

recommendations to make either.. . .

Mr. Boggs: The question is whether or not the rates proposed

in the bill are unfair to motorists and discriminatory in favor

of truckers.

Mr. Curtiss (Commissioner of Public Roads): Mr. Chairman,

we have no information that would let us say definitely that

the tax rates proposed are either fair or unfair.. . .

Secretary Weeks: It is not for the Bureau of Public Roads to

answer that question, sir... . They should not answer that

question. 21/

The House Ways and Means Committee in its report concluded that:

21/ Highway Revenue Act of 1956, Hearings before the House Committee

on Ways and Means, pp. 37, 41, 187, and 188.

25

IHlHTlir'7
I III III I III

From the evidence now available it appears that there should

be some tax differential, imposing more of a tax burden on

trucks and buses than on passenger cars. 227

The Senate Committee did not address this issue directly. The

committee did, however, include a somewhat different use tax (applied only

to weight in excess of 26,000 pounds) that would have collected less revenue

from heavy trucks. The adoption of the House version (applied to total

weight) was termed "a victory for the average motorist in that it results in

heavy trucks paying a fairer share." 23/

The new use tax on heavy vehicles assessed by gross vehicle weight,

actually generates only a small amount of revenue relative to the fuel tax

and other Trust Fund receipts—about 2 percent in 1957 and more than 3

percent in 1974—but its imposition reflects the direction of Congressional

policy concerning the distribution of user payments across different types of

users. The annual weight-related tax was imposed in lieu of higher fuel

taxes for heavy vehicles or higher diesel taxes, even though it was known

that heavy diesel trucks get considerably better mileage than other trucks

and are the dominant heavy vehicle in intercity highway use.

Automobiles had been subject to a 10 percent excise tax since 1951

(and to lower rates before that time), yet the automobile excises were not

put into the Highway Trust Fund. Truck and bus excise taxes, however, were

both increased and incorporated as Trust Fund receipts. Thus, the auto

excise tax was not treated as a dedicated user charge, though it continued to

be assessed for several years. Proposals to transfer the auto excise to the

Trust Fund were reintroduced after 1956; they were not successful, however,

and the tax was eventually repealed in 1971. The 1956 exclusion appears to

have been more closely related to political compromise than to any rationale

regarding relative auto-truck tax burdens.

Byrd Amendment

The 1956 act established a pay-as-you-build program by limiting

(reducing) apportionments that would otherwise create a deficit in the Trust

£2/ Federal Highway and Highway Revenue Acts of 1956, H. Kept. 2022, p.

W.

237 See statement of Congressman Daniel A. Reed of New York,

Congressional Record, vol. 102, 84:2 (June 26, 1956), p. 11000.

26
Fund in any given year. This provision—in Section 209 (g)—was "designed to

give assurance that no deficit will develop in the highway trust fund." 24/

Deficit financing, the national debt, and the accompanying interest

burden had been controversial aspects of the highway proposals throughout

the history of the 1956 act. The Clay report's recommendations on bonding

had been a casualty of this controversy, because they involved long-term

debt and a heavy interest burden. The accelerated Interstate System

construction program approved by the House contained deficit spending

within the Trust Fund mechanism. The Trust Fund would have had to borrow

from the general fund as construction accelerated and would have balanced

the projected revenues and expenditures only at the end of 16 years, three

years after the last authorization for the Interstate System. Under the

program proposed by the House, the Trust Fund would have first showed a

debit balance in 1962; that debit would have increased through 1969, and

then gradually would have been eliminated as the construction program

wound down while revenues continued to accrue.

Senator Byrd had consistently opposed the accrual of a debit balance

in the Trust Fund. The testimony by the Secretary of the Treasury in the

final round of hearings on the bill proposed an annual limitation to pay-asyou-build in addition to the required balance between total receipts and

expenditures over the life of the program. 25/ The Byrd Amendment

incorporating this proposal was added to the bill and no objections were

voiced on the Senate floor. This amendment contained fiscal restraints over

and above the general policy that the total receipts of the Trust Fund be

sufficient to meet the total expenditures (Section 209), effectively making

that policy apply annually.

Application of the Davis-Bacon Act

Section 115 of the 1956 act required that all employees working on

Interstate System highway projects be paid the prevailing wage as

determined by the Secretary of Labor in accordance with the Davis-Bacon

Act of 1935.

24/ To Amend and Supplement the Federal-Road Act . . . , S. Kept. 2054,

84:2 (1956^, p. 18.

25/ Highway Revenue Act, Hearings before the Senate Committee on

Finance, pp. 73, 74, and 79.

27

IHHM¥T1 T
[1

This provision was controversial even in the House Public Works

Committee in which it arose. Dissenting supplemental views were filed with

the committee report; they disputed the need for such a provision,

questioned the jurisdiction of the federal government in this state matter

(several states already had comparable provisions), and questioned the

jurisdiction of the Public Works Committee in a Labor Committee matter.

One of the dissenters, Congressman George A. Dondero of Michigan, the

ranking minority member of the Public Works Committee, said on the House

floor that:

... practically the only section that we are in violent

disagreement about is the Davis-Bacon provision. 26/

The Senate added a similar Davis-Bacon provision by amendment after

extensive floor debate and a close vote. 27_/ A Senate provision providing for

review and appeal by state highway departments of the wage determination

was rejected in conference on the ground that projects might be delayed. 2g/

THE PROGRAM FOR 1957

After passage of the 1956 act, the highway assistance programs could

be categorized in three main groups:

o The assistance program for construction of the Interstate System,

authorized through 1969 and funded from the Highway Trust Fund.

o The traditional federal-aid program for construction of primary,

secondary, and urban-extension (ABC) systems, authorized for two

additional years (through 1959) and funded from the Highway

Trust Fund.

26/ Congressional Record, House, vol. 102, 84:2 (April 26, 1956), p. 7119.

27/ The floor debate in the Senate was riddled with confusion over the

Davis-Bacon provisions, since two different amendments had been

approved— one to the House bill and one to the Senate substitute. See

Congressional Record, Senate, vol. 102, 84:2 (1956), pp. 9248-49.

2£/ Conference Report on H.R. 10660, H. Rept. 2436, 84:2 (1956).

28
A group of relatively small assistance programs for construction

of highways, roads, and trails in national forests, national parks,

other public lands, and Indian reservations. Financing of these

programs was from general funds.

29

29-792 O - 78 - •

•ffHTIliT'T"
[Ill

CHAPTER HI. THE EVOLUTION OF HIGHWAY ASSISTANCE AFTER

1956

This chapter examines the major changes in federal assistance

programs for highways from the establishment of the Highway Trust Fund in

1956 until now. Particular attention is directed to the changes in the tax

receipts assigned to the Highway Trust Fund and to the uses specified for

these dedicated funds. Also, assistance programs for highways that are paid

out of the general fund are detailed.

THE SEARCH FOR MORE RECEIPTS

The 1958 Act

The highway programs established and funded in 1956 encountered

immediate difficulties. The construction of the Interstate System was a

bold new program, and the original cost estimates were too low. Costs

escalated rapidly as the program got underway, and the 1958 estimate for

completion was $41 billion, more than 50 percent higher than originally

envisioned. \] In addition, the receipts accruing to the Trust Fund did not

experience the sort of rapid growth anticipated. The Secretary of

Commerce advised, on the basis of estimates by the Bureau of Public Roads,

that only about $1.6 billion would be available for apportionment for the

Interstate System in 1960. This was less than the $2.2 billion obligation

level authorized for 1960 in the 1956 act. Thus, either the apportionment

level, the tax receipts, or the Byrd Amendment which barred a deficit in the

Trust Fund had to be changed.

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1958, which was put forward as an

antirecession measure, suspended the Byrd Amendment for 1959 and 1960,

I/ U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration,

America's Highways, 1776-1976 (1976), pp. 480 and 484. The cost figure

has been adjusted to include the entire 41,000 miles authorized. For

consistency, all cost figures cited for the Interstate System are based

on this source.

30
allowing apportionments to be made for the full amount authorized even

though Trust Fund revenues were not expected to be sufficient. Thus, the

"pay-as-you-build" principle established in the 1956 act was almost

immediately suspended, albeit only temporarily.

Additional authorizations were also made for 1959, and the funds

were made available immediately (the original 1959 authorization had

already been apportioned). For these additional funds, which were primarily

countercyclical in nature, the regulations regarding the proportion of funds

allocated to each of the ABC systems were suspended and the federal share

was temporarily increased to two-thirds.

The decision not only to continue Interstate authorizations but also to

raise the levels was based on two reasons. First, it was argued that a

general economic stimulus would derive from the increased authorizations.

Second, much was made of the Congressional intent expressed in 1956

regarding the "acceleration and prompt completion of the Interstate

System." 2/

Also, beginning in 1958 an attempt was made to regulate the use of

areas adjacent to the Interstate System—in this case by controlling outdoor

billboards. This provision was quite controversial, raising issues such as

federal regulation of advertising, regulation of the use of private property,

and indirect exercise of powers not possessed by the federal government

(that is, using federal money to induce state action). Dissenting views were

submitted in the committee report, but a national policy to control

advertising was approved along with a 0.5 percent increase in federal share

for complying states.

An important pair of provisions included in the 1956 act dealt with

the size and weight restrictions on trucks and with the distribution of the

tax burden among the various classes of highway users. These topics have

been the source of continuing controversy throughout the history of the

Highway Trust Fund. A separate piece of legislation in 1958 extended for

two years—until 1961—the time allotted to submit reports to the Congress

on both of these items. 3/ Thus, the existing size and weight restrictions

were maintained, though" they allowed (via the grandfather clause) any

2/ Senate Report 1407, March 22, 1958 (to accompany S. 3414), in U.S.

~~ Code, Congressional and Administrative News, 85:2 (1958), p. 2367 fT.

Z/ An Act to extend the time for making certain reports. .., 72 Stat. 983.

31

lillMlT
.. _L_J11LU1IIIM

weights that states had previously

the tax burden accruing to the

for an additional two years. This

passed before the Congress would

The 1959 Act

held legal, and distribution among users of

Highway Trust Fund was effectively frozen

meant that almost five years would have

have its requested reports and studies.

The expanded highway prog

the suspension of the Byrd

financial difficulties. The full

1960 was mandated by the 19J

apportionments, however, would

and it soon became evident that n<

be possible under existing law.

increase of 1.5 cents a gallon in

serious disruption of Interstate

you-build" requirement. The

automobile excise taxes from the

Administration now looked with di

deficits, though this had been

proposal in 1955. 4/ The Congress

ram authorized in the 1958 act, along with

Amendment, presented the Trust Fund with

apportionment of the increased amounts for

8 act. Outlays associated with these

Create a deficit balance in the Trust Fund,

Interstate apportionments for 1961 would

President Eisenhower recommended an

he federal tax on motor fuels to avert a

construction while maintaining the "pay-asPresident rejected proposals to divert

general fund to the Trust Fund, and the

favor upon bonding to finance Trust Fund

central to the Administration's original

had to act.

The Federal-Aid Highway

for the Interstate System in fisca

less than the amount originally ai

still required, and it was provid

Highway Trust Fund. Fuel taxes

four cents a gallon for 1960 and

half of the existing 10 percent au

the Highway Trust Fund. The;

expected to be sufficient to provi*

the authorized level, solving the

the increased apportionments and

1958. The increased revenues w

long-run financing problem was

long-run problem was postponed

allocation that had been mandated

Act of 1959 reduced the authorized amount

year 1961 by $500 million to $2 billion—

ithorized in 1956. Additional revenue was

3d by putting more tax revenues in the

were increased temporarily by one cent to

.961. Further, in a major policy change,

:omobile excise tax was to be allocated to

e additional Trust Fund revenues were

e for Interstate apportionments at or near

immediate financing problem created by

the suspension of the Byrd Amendments in

re provided for only five years, though a

ecognized. Further consideration of the

awaiting the study of highway cost

by the 1956 act.

4/ President's messages to the Congress on January 19, May 13, and August

"" 25, 1959. See U.S. Code, Congressional and Administrative News, 86:1

(1959), pp. 860, 914, 928.

32
The 1960 Act

Very few changes in the highway program were made in the FederalAid Highway Act of 1960, with most authorizations for 1962 and 1963 being

continued at the 1961 rate. The reports and investigations anticipated in

January 1961 were cited as reason for deferring an in-depth examination of

the overall highway program. j>/

The Senate did attempt to authorize an additional $100 million to

alleviate economic distress. This was essentially a renewal of the

antirecession measures found in the 1958 act. The provision was not

accepted by the House.

The 1961 Act

The 1961 legislation marks an interesting point in Congressional

policy toward highways. A number of temporary provisions had been

introduced regarding programs and taxes, while the Congress awaited

receipt of several studies and reports mandated by earlier acts. The most

important of these were the updated cost estimate for the Interstate System

and the studies regarding the appropriate distribution of the tax burden

among various highway user classes.

In 1961, a new cost estimate for completing the Interstate System

was submitted to the Congress. The estimate was $41 billion, unchanged

from 1958. In the Federal-Aid Highway Act of that year, the new estimate

was approved as the basis for making apportionments, and the Congress

affirmed its intent to provide for the completion of the Interstate System on

approximately the original schedule by authorizing an increased annual

program level through 1971, an extension of two years. Federal

authorizations were increased more than $11 billion to provide a total

federal contribution of approximately $37 billion.

Of course, because of the Byrd Amendment, the authorized levels

could not be apportioned without adequate revenue accruing to the Trust

Fund. In fact, the apportionment of the 1961 authorization had been

restricted by the estimated Trust Fund balance. The revenue provisions of

the 1961 act were intended to:

£>/ Senate Report 1725, June 24, 1960 (to accompany H.R. 10495), U.S.

Code, Congressional and Administrative News, 85:2 (1960).

33
._L_JHL*UMJ

make possible substantially all of the financing of the $37

billion Federal share of the Interstate System as well as

permitting a gradual increase in the apportionments for the

ABC program. 6/

The Cost Allocation Study. The decision about how the required

Trust Fund receipts were to be levied—that is, distributed among various

existing or possibly new taxes—was based in part on the highway cost

allocation study. This study, which had been called for in the 1956 act, was

an analysis of proper ways of allocating the cost of highways among various

classes of beneficiaries. II

The study was somewhat inconclusive because of an inability to

choose among several different methods of spreading the cost among various

classes of users. The 1956 act imposed some ambivalence. The act directed

that costs should be allocated based on two factors, the cost effects of

different vehicle types and the benefits they derived. Primarily because of

this legislative instruction, the two methods of cost allocation that received

the most attention were:

o The incremental method: This method assigned general costs to

vehicle types on the basis of relative use or mileage, but allocated

increments of costs to special vehicle types that caused these

costs to be incurred.

o The differential benefit method: This method established cost

allocation according to the proportionate benefits accruing to

each vehicle class as a result of the highway improvement

undertaken, taking into account factors such as operating costs

and reduction in travel time.

Adoption of the incremental cost method would have assigned

somewhat lower responsibility to automobiles and considerably higher

responsibility to heavy trucks. Both methods, however, implied a higher cost

assignment to most types of vehicles than was in effect under present law at

that time (January 1961).

6/ Senate Report 367, Committee on Finance, U.S. Code, Congressional

and Administrative News., 87:1 (1961), p. 1809.

TJ U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Public Roads, Final Report of

the Highway Cost Allocation Study, House Doc. 54, 87:1 (1961).

34
President Kennedy's Proposal. President Kennedy, in his 1961

message to the Congress on highways, proposed retention of the existing fuel

tax of four cents a gallon and an increase in most of the other taxes

accruing to the Highway Trust Fund (see Table 2). The Kennedy

Administration chose not simply to raise fuel taxes but:

... to emphasize instead a fairer allocation of the burden

among those who use the highways. . .. Practically all of the

increase in revenues.. . would come from the heavier

trucks. . . . This is only fair. 8_/

The President's proposal approximated the incremental cost method of

allocating the tax burden among users. The taxes proposed by the

Administration would have resulted in highway receipts to the Trust Fund

that, in the case of several classes of vehicles, were even higher than those

implied by the incremental cost method. The proposal was, perhaps,

intended to reflect anticipated inflation or to establish a better bargaining

position.

Congressional Action. The Congress did not accept either method of

cost allocation, nor did it accept the President's proposals. The Senate

Finance Committee stated:

. . . although the bills increase substantially the tax on

truckers, it was not considered appropriate to make the full

increase recommended by the Administration. In part this

conclusion was reached because it believed it would be

unfortunate to make so substantial an increase in the costs of

the truckers. 9/

The increases assigned to heavy trucks were not so large as those

recommended by the Administration, which had followed more closely the

incremental method. Instead, taxes were imposed that caused the tax

burden for all the heavier truck classes to fall between the levels implied by

the two methods of cost allocation. Also, more truck-related revenues were

8_/ President John F. Kennedy, Special Message on Highways, submitted to

the Congress, February 28, 1961, Congressional Record, vol. 107, p.

2663.

9/ Senate Report 367, Committee on Finance, U.S. Code, Congressional

and Administrative News, 87:1 (1961), pp. 1812-13.

35
TABLE 2. FEDERAL TAX PAYMENTS TRANSFERRED TO THE HIGHWAY

TRUST FUND BY THE FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY ACT OF 1961:

IN DOLLARS

Existing Level

Tax in January 1961

Diesel Fuel (per gallon)

Gasoline and Other Fuels

(per gallon)

Highway Tires (per pound)

Inner Tubes (per pound)

Tread Rubber (per pound)

Trucks Over 26,000 Pounds

(per 1,000 pounds)

Excise Tax on New Trucks

0.04

0.04

0.08

0.09

0.03

1.50

5% a/

Proposed by

President

Kennedy

0.07

0.04

0.10

0.10

0.10

5.00

5% a/

1961 Act

0.04

0.04

0.10

0.10

0.05

3.00

10% b/

SOURCES: Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1961, 75 Stat. 122, and

President John F. Kennedy, Special Message on Highways,

submitted to the Congress, February 28, 1961, Congressional

Record, volume 107, p. 2663.

a/ One-half the 10 percent rate imposed on the wholesale price.

b/ The rate imposed on the wholesale price was not changed, but the entire

~ tax was now channeled into the Trust Fund.

36
put into the Trust Fund by virtue of transferring the entire 10 percent excise

tax on new trucks to the Trust Fund. Additional revenues were gained by

extending Trust Fund receipts for three more months, to October 1972.

President Kennedy opposed the transfer of automobile excises into

the Trust Fund, arguing that the diversion of general funds was not justified,

would unbalance the budget, and went against the intent of the 1956 act.

The Congress went along with the recommendation of the President in this

regard, repealing the scheduled transfer of the auto taxes but continuing

their imposition for the time being.

A dissenting view, favoring the President's recommendations, was put

forward by Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois. He argued that road costs were

the same whether trucks were powered by diesel or gasoline engines, and

therefore the charge per mile of vehicle travel should be the same. Since

diesel consumption per vehicle mile was estimated to be about 60 to 70

percent of the gasoline consumption, a higher tax rate per gallon on diesel

fuel was justified. A similar argument was put forward regarding tread

rubber, which is used much more extensively for trucks than for

automobiles. The increases proposed by the Administration would have

raised trucking costs by about one cent per vehicle mile relative to the 1961

law; as a comparison, it was shown that trucks were voluntarily paying four

to seven cents a mile in tolls on existing toll roads.

As is shown in Table 2, the result was a permanent continuation of

the four-cents-a-gallon fuel tax on all fuels and several tax increases for

heavy trucks. The major new receipt dedicated to the Trust Fund was the

remaining one-half of the excise tax on new trucks and buses; the tax itself

was not increased, but the whole tax was now channeled into the Trust Fund.

The mix of Trust Fund receipts was thus altered in the direction, but not the

magnitude, suggested by the cost allocation studies.

The 1962 Act

No major changes were instituted in the Federal-Aid Highway Act of

1962, although several minor developments of interest occurred.

Authorizations for the ABC systems were increased by $25 million a year;

this was a return to the increment formula first discussed in 1956. The

minor general fund highway programs were all given substantially increased

authorizations, especially forest development roads and trails and public

lands highways; the 1965 authorizations for both of these programs were

more than double their original 1963 levels. For the first time since the

establishment of the Trust Fund, new program categories received separate

37
_ J JILJL1I1J1UI

authorizations. The new programs were public lands development roads and

trails, the Rama Road in Nicaragua, and the Inter-American highway in

several Central American countries. These general fund programs were

authorized in the highway legislation, but they were often administered by

other agencies.

Several changes in the 1962 legislation affected urban areas. First,

urban extensions of secondary roads were authorized for inclusion in the

federal-aid system; previously, only primary extensions were. Second, an

expanded urban transportation planning effort was declared to be in the

national interest, and approval of urban projects was made conditional on an

effective planning process. To accomplish this, the highway planning and

research funds—1.5 percent of the federal-aid apportionments—were

restricted to use for planning and research and could not be transferred to

construction uses. Further, an additional 0.5 percent was made available at

state option for planning use, and the state matching funds for planning were

made discretionary to the Secretary of Transportation. This was the origin

of the continuing, comprehensive, cooperative (CCC) planning process now

required of urbanized areas; this process was eventually extended to other

modes of transportation.

The 1963 Amendments

The only significant policy incorporated in the Federal-Aid Highway

Amendments Act of 1963 was a change in design standards for the Interstate

System. Originally, the Interstate network was designed for traffic

projected to 1975. The 1963 amendment required that each project

accommodate the traffic anticipated for a 20-year period commencing on

the date of project approval. This greatly magnified the design capacity and

cost of segments of the system that were begun following passage of the

amendment. Some minor changes in apportionment formulas were also

instituted at this time.

The 1964 Legislation

No significant policy changes were incorporated in the Federal-Aid

Highway Act of 1964. The authorization level for ABC roads reached $1

billion for fiscal years 1966 and 1967, and the subsidiary, general fund

programs were reduced somewhat from their rather high levels of the

preceding two fiscal years. In a separate act, the Secretary of Agriculture

was given additional authority to provide an adequate system of roads and

trails in national forests and other Forest Service lands. No further

38
authorizations were provided for the two foreign road networks that had

received funding in the 1962 act. Again, in a separate act in 1964,

additional planning money for the Great River Road along the Mississippi

River, initially put forward in 1954, was authorized.

The 1965 Legislation

The 1965 Amendments to the Federal-Aid Highway Act authorized

the Secretary of Commerce to apportion Interstate funds based on the new

1965 cost estimate for completion of the Interstate System, but the

amendments stated that the Congress "reserves the right to disapprove the

cost estimate for completion." Completion cost for the Interstate System

was now projected at $46.8 billion, an increase of $5.8 billion over the 1961

estimate. The Interstate authorization for 1965 was increased by $100

million to $3 billion—the first change since the 1961 act had established new

authorizations in response to that year's cost estimate. This represented a

short-term reaction, covering only one year, to the increased estimate of

the cost to complete the system.

Safety and Beautification Program. The 1965 amendments mandated

highway safety programs for each state although no separate agency with

safety responsibilities was established at this time. Also in 1965 the

Highway Beautification Act greatly expanded sections of the previous

legislation dealing with control of outdoor advertising. Previously, the

states had been offered the inducement of an increased federal share if

they made provisions for effective control of billboard advertising along the

Interstate System; now a penalty of 10 percent of federal highway funds was

mandated for states that had not made such provisions. Along similar lines,

sections were included for control of junkyards and for landscaping and

scenic enhancement. Each of these safety and beautification programs

received its own separate authorization for appropriations out of general

funds. Use of Trust Funds for these activities was prohibited by the act.

Generally, these activities were considered maintenance functions whereas

the Highway Trust Fund was used predominantly for construction activities.

Tax Changes in 1965. The Excise Tax Reduction Act of 1965

eliminated a large number of selective excise taxes. Those excise taxes that

were continued were designed for three specific purposes:

o User charges, levied on beneficiaries of government-provided

services;

39

1H1I1T1 WITT"
IJil

o Regulatory taxes, such as that on gambling; and

o Sumptuary taxes, such as that on alcohol.

Judging from the committee reports, the changes were based on relatively

theoretical grounds. There is no mention of problems with the Trust Fund or

of the sizable cost increase projected in the 1965 Interstate cost estimate.

Rather, the key question was whether continuation was justified by one of

the three purposes. The Chairman of the House Ways and Means

Committee, Congressman Wilbur Mills of Arkansas, went so far as to say on

the floor:

When this bill becomes fully effective ... we will be able to

say that the excise taxes which still remain in effect are there

for a logical reason. 107

The excise tax on trucks was already allocated to the Trust Fund and

thus accepted as a user charge. The taxes on truck parts and on lubricating

oil (for highway use) were now accepted as user charges; they were

continued and transferred to the Highway Trust Fund as of January 1, 1966.

A supplemental report on cost allocation again indicated insufficient taxes

on heavy trucks, and President Johnson proposed higher tax rates on diesel

fuel, tread rubber, and heavy-vehicle use, identical to those put forward by

President Kennedy in 1961 (see Table 2). ll/ The proposed increases were

not even mentioned when the revenue bills" were reported, and truck tax

levels remained unchanged.

The automobile tax provoked considerable debate. Eventually, the

tax was not treated as a user charge and was scheduled for staged reductions

to a 1 percent rate. President Johnson had requested retention of a 5

percent rate on autos, primarily because of the large revenue loss (about $1

billion annually), but the House Ways and Means Committee "concluded that

it could not justify leaving the five-percent tax on passenger cars." 12/ The

!£/ Congressional Record, vol. Ill, 89:1 (June 2, 1965), p. 11870.

ll/ U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Public Roads,Supplemental

Report of the Highway Cost Allocation Study, House Doc. 124, 89:1

(1965); Recommendations Relative"" to Excise and Fuel Taxes, Message

of the President, House Doc. 173, 89:1 U965;.

12/ House Report 433, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. Code,

Congressional and Administrative News, 89:1 (1965), p. 1664.

40
Senate Finance Committee generally concurred with the House, but

proposed retention of a 1 percent rate and attempted to link the receipts to

expenditures from the general fund for disposal of junk cars. The 1 percent

was retained without dedication of the revenue and was eventually repealed

in 1971. (These rate provisions were superseded in 1966 as spending levels

on the war in Vietnam became evident. In any event, the Highway

Beautification Act in late 1965 incorporated provisions for junk yards

financed from general funds.)

Appalachian Regional Development

In 1965 the Appalachian region was singled out for special

development assistance. As part of a broad program to promote economic

growth in the region, several public investment programs were instituted

under the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965. A highway

network of 2,350 miles termed the Appalachian Development Highway

System was authorized, along with 1,000 miles of access roads.

Construction of the system was to be financed from general funds, and a

lump-sum authorization of $840 million was provided. The Secretary of

Commerce was given authority to raise the federal contribution from the

normal 50 percent of the project's cost to 70 percent.

Later, in 1967, the authorized highway mileage was expanded to 2,700

miles plus 1,600 miles of access roads, and additional general funds were

authorized. The lump-sum authorization was converted to annual amounts in

1971, and these amounts were treated as contract authority in the same

fashion as for most highway programs. Amendments to the act in 1975

transferred some mileage from access roads to the regular network and

provided annual authorizations through 1981, giving the Appalachian

Development Highway System a longer-term authorization than other

highway programs, except the Interstate System.

Although these Appalachian highways are not mentioned in the

general highway acts and are not considered to be Federal Highway

Administration programs, they have consistently been one of the largest

general fund programs in terms of financial assistance. They are discussed

here and included in the financial profile of Chapter IV because of their

magnitude and because, at least to some extent, almost all highway

programs generate developmental benefits by reducing particular transport

costs, travel time, and other associated costs. Also, this program represents

assistance to a specific (though fairly broad) geographic region—movement

away from traditional national highway programs apportioned among all the

states.

41

29-792 O - 78 - 5

•H Biff MUTT
J llll III 1 1 111 III

The 1966 Act

With the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1966, all the revenues from

highway-related federal taxes on motor fuels, tires, new trucks, truck parts,

lubricating oils, and heavy-vehicle use were transferred to the Trust Fund

and used only for federal highway programs. The excise tax on new

automobiles became the only highway-related excise tax not dedicated to

the Trust Fund. The rate of the auto excise tax was raised to 7 percent in a

1966 revenue measure, and the tax continued to be considered a general

revenue.

The 1965 legislation had withheld approval of the Interstate cost

estimate and left unauthorized $4.9 billion of the $5 billion increase in the

estimated federal share. In the 1966 debates, the Senate continued to

question the cost estimate and proposed that the Interstate authorizations

be made only for two years. The bill that was eventually passed provided

$5.2 billion in additional Interstate authorizations through 1972, one extra

year, and authorized use of the cost estimate for apportionment. Another

revision in Interstate standards specified that all Interstate segments should

have at least four highway lanes. This created an additional cost escalation

that would presumably not show up until the next cost estimate. (The

estimated cost difference for providing four lanes instead of two lanes was

just under $300 million, based on the Senate report.) Authorizations for

ABC systems remained at $1 billion, and other general fund programs

remained basically stable except for large increases in forest development

roads and trails and in public lands highways.

Other 1966 provisions include a new and separate general fund

appropriation for Alaska, based on the premise that the special needs of that

state were not being reflected in its apportionment. Emergency relief

authorizations were increased, with 40 percent of the new authorization to

come from general funds. Also, the language prohibiting use of Trust Fund

receipts for highway beautification was weakened to permit amounts

equivalent to a 1 percent auto excise tax (a general fund receipt) to be

available from the Trust Fund if specifically authorized by law; this was an

unexpected outgrowth of earlier attempts to link the auto tax to general

fund expenditures. A separate appropriation was authorized from general

funds to study highways in the American territories of Guam, American

Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Highway Safety. The Highway Safety Act of 1966 established a

national agency with safety responsibilities and provided general fund

assistance for highway safety programs that had been mandated in 1965. A

separate general fund authorization was made for federal research and

42
development programs. The goals of the act included uniform national

standards and a reduction in accidents. If states did not implement a safety

program, a penalty of 10 percent of their regular apportionments for the

various federal-aid systems was authorized. At almost the same time,

complementary programs to improve the safety of motor vehicles and tires

were authorized by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of

1966.

Department of Transportation

The administration of most highway programs—including the Bureaus

of Public Roads, Motor Carrier Safety, and National Highway Safety—was

consolidated under the Federal Highway Administration by the Department

of Transportation (DOT) Act of 1966. The DOT act was passed

to assure the coordinated, effective administration of the

transportation programs of the Federal Government. 137

Almost all transportation activities, except those performed by the

independent regulatory agencies, were brought under the Secretary of

Transportation.

No significant program changes were included in this act, although

the autonomy of the Bureau of Public Roads was reduced by being made part

of a broader-based transportation agency. The DOT act included provisions

encouraging the Secretary of Transportation to develop standards and

criteria for federal investment in transportation facilities, but requiring that

they be approved by the Congress prior to implementation. "Grant-in-aid

programs authorized by law" were excepted from the development of such

standards, and it has been argued that this exception strengthens state

autonomy in the application of federal highway funds. The report of the

Senate Government Operations Committee, however, indicates that concern

over diversion of funds from one mode to another, or impoundment, was the

reason for this exception. 147

13/ 80 Stat. 931

147 Senate Report 1659, September 27, 1966 (to accompany S. 3110), U.S.

Code. Congressional and Administrative News, 89:2 (1966), especially

pp. 3374 and 3431.

43
THE PERIOD OF PROGRAM PROLIFERATION

The 1968 Act

Beginning with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968, the highway

acts have been characteristically long and detailed. Whereas the 1966 act

took up only 6 pages of the printed statutes, the 1968 act required 22 pages

and incorporated a number of new sections, such as those covering safety

and beautification. The 1968 act also added a number of specific

authorizations at the subprogram level.

The 1968 cost estimate for the Interstate System increased almost

$10 billion to $56.5 billion. It was accepted as the basis for apportioning

Interstate funds, and new Interstate authorizations of slightly more than $8

billion were approved, stretching the authorized period out through 1974, an

additional two years. This was accomplished despite objections in the

Senate that the Trust Fund receipts were sufficient to fund current but not

increased authorizations, that the estimated cost to complete was low and

an update should be awaited, and that it was unwise policy to have Interstate

authorizations going beyond the expiration date of the Trust Fund (then

October 1972). An additional 1,500 miles was authorized for the Interstate

System, bringing the system total to 42,500 miles.

Several new program areas were added in the 1968 Act.

o A right-of-way revolving fund was established to provide funds,

without interest, for advance acquisition of rights-of-way.

Formerly, advance acquisition had to be funded out of current

apportionments that were available. A total of $300 million was

provided over a three^year period.

o Traffic Operations Improvement Programs (TOPICS) in urban

areas were specifically funded at $200 million a year. The funding

was provided for operational improvements on existing streets, as

opposed to major construction or reconstruction, so that "greater

effort can be made to improve traffic flow." 15/ These funds

1_5/ Conference Report 1799 (to accompany S. 3418), U.S. Code,

Congressional and Administrative News, 90:2 (1968), p. 2534.

44
were definitely not restricted to major construction projects,

since the word "capital" was deleted from the House version of

the bill, although the conferees noted that "the deletion of the

word 'capital' is not intended to indicate that the TOPICS program

may under any circumstances include expenditures for operating

or maintenance costs."

o Fringe parking lots were specifically authorized as part of urban

projects, and the normal 50 percent federal share was applied.

The use of construction funds was thus extended to support

carpools and bus transportation.

o A bridge inspection and inventory program was required, primarily

in response to the disastrous collapse of a bridge over the Ohio

River at Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Background information

was to be provided for a program of upgrading bridge safety. It

was noted that older bridges "were designed for loads and traffic

volumes far below those to which they have been subjected to in

recent years." 16/ A serious need was noted for methods of

controlling overloading, but the federal role was to focus on

procedures, so as not to usurp local police power. The attention

of the federal government was thus turned to bridge problems;

bridge replacement programs were to become incorporated in

future acts.

o Several construction projects were explicitly specified for the

District of Columbia, and the mandate was given to commence

work on them. One of these was the proposed Three Sisters

Bridge. This is the first example noted of Congressional

specification in statute that particular projects financed by the

Trust Fund be undertaken or that construction begin. 17/

Several existing sections of the highway law were extended and

strengthened, including the following:

16/ Senate Report 1340 (to accompany S. 3418), Committee on Public

Works, U.S. Code, Congressional and Administrative News, 90:2 (1968),

p. 3495.

17/ There had been occasional parkway and foreign soil projects specified as

individual programs, for example the George Washington Memorial

Parkway in the Washington, D.C., area or the Rama Road in Nicaragua.

45
J 11LJI1UI.UI

o Parkland preservation provisions (a new section in 1966) were

strengthened and broadened, though a mandatory prohibition of

the taking of parkland was not included.

o Relocation assistance, which could be treated as part of highway

construction costs, was considerably increased. The federal

allowance had formerly been $200 for individuals and $3,000 for

businesses. The 1968 act allowed assistance for 100 percent of

actual reasonable expenses up to $25,000. The act specifically

included extra payments to both owners and renters where

replacement costs exceeded the fair market value at the current

location. Specific requirements and payment limits for the

relocation program were subsequently supplanted by provisions of

the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition

Policies Act of 1970 that applies to all federal construction

projects.

o State highway departments were instructed to avoid adverse

social and environmental impacts of highway construction.

Formerly, only economic impacts had been specifically mentioned.

o Davis-Bacon provisions regarding payment of prevailing wages,

formerly applied only to Interstate System projects, were

extended to all federal-aid construction projects. It was pointed

out that all other federally funded projects were now covered by

Davis-Bacon provisions.

Environmental Policy

Legislation establishing environmental policy has influenced highway

programs in two major ways. First, the National Environmental Policy Act

of 1969 required the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS)

for a federal-aid highway construction project. The EIS often showed

detrimental impacts that might otherwise have been overlooked and, in any

case, its evaluation presented a forum for highway opponents. The Clean

Air Amendments of 1970 provided standards for air quality that could be

compared with air pollution impacts identified in the EIS. This created

additional leverage for opponents of highway construction in urban areas.

Second, emission standards for automobiles have been set in clean-air

legislation, and the necessity of meeting these standards adversely

influenced auto fuel efficiency in the early 1970s. Trust Fund receipts were

thereby increased in that period.

46
The 1970 Act

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1970 again represents a quantum

leap in both length of statute (32 pages) and number of new programs

separately specified and authorized. The 1956 act authorized appropriations

for only 8 separate programs: the Trust Fund programs for the Interstate and

ABC systems, and 6 minor, general fund programs. The 1970 act contained

34 separate authorizations, although many were rather insignificant.

The 1970 act reaffirmed the decision to press ahead with completion

of the Interstate System, and it authorized an additional $10 billion over a

period that was now extended to 1976, an addition of two years. The 1970

cost estimate had again increased, this time by more than $13 billion to a

total of almost $70 billion, in part due to the mileage added by the 1968 act.

The House had wanted to extend the Interstate authorizations to 1978, which

would have provided nearly the full federal share of the 1970 cost estimate.

In agreeing on the shorter extension through fiscal year 1976, the conferees

noted:

The authorizations here do not provide for completion of the

Interstate System, but the conferees and the administration

are fully committed to its completion. 18/

There was a growing appreciation that inflation would continue to make

current dollar projections too low and particularly so several years in the

future.

The excise taxes accruing to the Highway Trust Fund and the Trust

Fund itself were extended for five additional years to September 30, 1977.

Dedicated tax receipts would once again be collected at least as long as

funding was authorized for Interstate construction. The funding for a

number of programs in addition to the Interstate and ABC systems was

transferred to the Trust Fund, and this created further justification for

extension of both the taxes and the fund. Also, receipts from excise taxes

grew rapidly in the 1960s, reaching $5.4 billion in 1970, and this allowed

increased program levels while continuing the same tax rates.

The mix of excise taxes going into the Trust Fund was left unchanged

in spite of an updated cost allocation study that showed a significant

18/ Conference Report 91-1780 (to accompany H.R. 19504), U.S. Code,

Congressional and Administrative News, 91:2 (1970), p. 5454.

47
disparity between automobiles and heavy trucks in the ratio of tax payments

and cost responsibility. Similar disparities had been reported in 1961 and

1965. The largest trucks (five-axle tractor-trailer combinations) paid only

50 to 60 percent of their allocated cost responsibility, whereas light trucks

paid taxes that exceeded assigned costs. The shortfall for large trucks was

attributed in part to reliance on one-time or annual tax payments such as

the excise on new trucks and the heavy-vehicle use tax; collection of these

taxes does not increase adequately with increased weight or annual travel

level. Later, in 1971, when the auto excise tax was repealed, the excise on

light trucks was also repealed. This was consistent with the findings of the

cost allocation studies, but it caused a sizable revenue loss to the Trust

Fund. 19/

The Trust Fund concept thus remained intact, although it was subject

to considerable attack during consideration of the 1970 act. Opponents

argued that pollution and ecological problems connected with major highway

construction programs were being overlooked and that the focus should be on

overall transportation needs, particularly for urban areas. In response to

these objections, the legislation broadened considerably the application of

the Trust Fund, particularly in urban areas, and brought more highway

programs into the fund. For example, despite opposition in the House, forest

and public lands highways were financed from the Trust Fund for the first

time. Funding these programs from the Trust Fund had been proposed

unsuccessfully by several administrations. In general, the House took the

position that the Trust Fund should remain at a status quo.

The 1970 act also permitted a number of new uses for the Trust Fund.

The most striking of these was the use of funds for construction of public

transportation facilities; for example, exclusive bus lanes could be built as

part of a highway project.

Among the more important provisions of the 1970 act were the

following:

o The Urban System was added as a new federal-aid highway system.

It was the first system (other than the Interstate System) to be

added since the ABC systems were established in the early 1940s,

and it became known' as the "D" system. The 1968 and 1970

19/ U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration,

Allocation of Highway Cost Responsibility and Tax Payments, 1969

(May 1970).

48
Highway Needs Reports had suggested many high-priority

improvements for urban arterials. The new system was to serve

major centers of urban activity, and to connect with, but not

overlap, the urban extensions of other federal-aid systems. Trust

Fund authorizations were $100 million a year and the

apportionment was based on population of the urban area.

o The federal share was increased to 70 percent for the regular nonInterstate programs effective in fiscal year 1974. This was a House

provision that envisioned transitional problems for states

completing their Interstate construction. This change in federal

share appears to have anticipated a major increase in nonInterstate highway programs in the mid-1970s. Otherwise, states

completing their Interstate construction would have received much

smaller apportionments and should have experienced no problem

matching the ABCD monies at the old share.

o States were guaranteed a minimum Interstate System

apportionment of 0.5 percent in 1972 and 1973 irrespective of the

remaining completion cost. This guaranteed a reasonable funding

level of $20 million a year for states nearing completion, which the

provision was designed to expedite. Additional Trust Fund

authorizations were provided for this guarantee.

o A new section was added for Urban Highway Public Transportation,

which permitted the use of federal aid for construction of exclusive

bus lanes, traffic control devices, and various facilities to serve

passengers on buses and other nonrail modes of public

transportation. Project approval was made contingent on

avoidance of highway construction and provision of capacity

equivalent to the avoided highway project. Basically, this provision

authorized substitution of highway-related mass transit projects for

standard highway projects and represented a considerable

broadening of the use of Trust Fund receipts. The provisions for

fringe parking lots in the 1968 act had allowed federal assistance

for demonstrations; this was now converted to a permanent,

codified program.

o A new Trust Fund program was added for Economic Growth Center

Development Highways. To start with, demonstration projects

were authorized at $50 million a year from the Trust Fund and

were provided with a federal share of 20 percent in addition to the

share for regular non-Interstate programs. The purposes of this

49

•iHIT HIT
program included revitalizing rural areas or small cities, dispersing

industrial growth, and encouraging more balanced patterns of

population. This program of development highways offered a clear

offset to the new Urban Systems program, because the

development highways were clearly targeted at smaller cities in

rural areas. The demonstration projects were made discretionary

to the Secretary of Transportation with some limits on each state's

maximum share.

o The use of federal aid was broadened to include the purchase of

ferry boats. Construction of federal-aid highways giving access to

ferry boats had been permitted, but this provision recognized the

ferry boat itself as an important link in a "highway" system.

o The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was

established and funded in part (two-thirds) from the Highway Trust

Fund. This new agency brought together under one roof, separate

from the Federal Highway Administration, most of the safety

programs.

o The Special Bridge Replacement Program was established to

replace important, unsafe bridges. Funding, which was from the

Trust Fund, began at $100 million. An inventory and classification

of bridges on federal-aid systems was mandated, and the Secretary

of Transportation was to establish priorities regarding

replacement—that is, no apportionment formula was provided.

Since the purpose of this, section was to "replace" bridges, repairs

were not technically included. This was a Senate-sponsored

program, though the House had proposed a minimum expenditure of

5 percent of ABC funds on bridges.

o A rail crossings program, which took the form of a demonstration

project, was introduced. The federal share for crossings on the

highway systems was 90 percent; the share in other locations was

80 percent. As in the case of bridge replacement, the House had

proposed devoting 5 percent of ABC funds, but the Senate favored

a separate program, and the Senate's position prevailed. On-system

projects were funded out of the Trust Fund, whereas off-system

projects were funded from a separate authorization from the

general fund. Two specific projects—Greenwood, South Carolina,

and the Northeast Corridor—were specified for inclusion in the

program. This marked another case in which demonstration funds

were directed by statute to particular projects.

50
Projects in the District of Columbia. The issue of whether particular

highway projects should be specified arose in 1970, just as it had in 1968,

with regard to Interstate segments in the District of Columbia. The 1968

act had specified that the D.C. government commence work on several

projects, including the proposed Three Sisters; Bridge which had been delayed

by environmental impact objections. That act had said that:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, or any court

decision or administrative action to the contrary, the

Secretary of Transportation and the Government of the

District of Columbia shall. .. construct all routes on the

Interstate System within the District of Columbia. . . . Such

construction . . . shall be carried out in accordance with all

applicable provisions of Title 23 of the U.S. Code. 2£/

In signing that act, President Johnson had stated:

By far the most objectionable feature in this bill is the

requirement that the District of Columbia government and the

Secretary of Transportation construct all Interstate routes

passing within the District as soon as possible. . . .

Fortunately, the Congress has called for construction

only in accordance with the applicable provisions of the

federal highway law. 217

The Johnson interpretation was used to delay work by continuing to

apply planning and approval requirements. Construction was to proceed only

if the segments were found to be appropriate links in a comprehensive

transportation plan. In 1970, the Senate proposed repeal of the D.C.

directive, while the House urged that construction proceed. The resulting

1970 legislation directed only that these projects be restudied. In addition

to resistance from community groups and environmentalists, the D.C.

Interstate program became embroiled with funding for the area's Metro

subway system. Some Congressmen termed the D.C. highway program as

blackmail for release of Metro construction funds.

20/ The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968 (82 Stat. 872).

21/ As quoted in House Report 91-1554, U.S. Code, Congressional and

Administrative News, 91:2 (1970), pp.

51

[•mi; r
Opponents of the B.C. provisions in the House argued that legislation

regarding the five specific Interstate highways in the District of Columbia

violated a House rule designed to prevent logrolling in public works bills.

The rule cited reads:

... it shall not be in order for any biU providing general

legislation in relation to roads to contain any provision for any

specific road, nor for any bill in relation to a specific road to

embrace a provision in relation to any other specific road. 22/

Specific highway projects were mentioned in at least four separate

places in the the 1970 legislation, twice in the act itself, and twice in the

report of the House Committee on Public Works. The sections of the act

covering rail crossings and economic growth centers both involved

demonstration projects, and the projects were specifically identified. The

1970 act provided specific legislative authority for inclusion of

demonstrations in connection with research and development programs. 23/

Since the enactment of this provision, the number of demonstration proje"cTs

specified by highway legislation has proliferated.

The 1973 Act

In the normal two-year cycle of authorizations, a highway bill would

have been enacted in 1972. No action was taken, however, because of a

sharp disagreement between the Senate and the House on whether the

Highway Trust Fund should be used to aid mass transit projects. The Nixon

Administration favored more flexibility in the use of the Trust Fund, and

proponents of this position stressed the dirth of funds for mass transit

compared with the large, guaranteed funding provided highways through the

Trust Fund. The opponents of flexible use argued against diverting the userelated highway taxes to mass transit on the grounds that these taxes had

been imposed for dedicated highway construction uses. The Administration

was also concerned about adding mass transit funds to an increasing level of

highway funding. As a result of the stalemate, fiscal year 1974 began

without new authorizations for the ABCD programs. A partial ABCD

22/ Ibid., p. 5440. This rule is still in effect; for example, see Rules of the

House of Representatives, 94th Congress, Rule X, l(p).

237 Federal Highway Act of 1970, Section 126 (84 Stat. 1729).

52
authorization and a partial apportionment of Interstate funds for fiscal year

1974 was finally approved by a special act in July of 1973. 24/

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973, which was signed into law in

August after a compromise on the urban provision had been reached,

contained a number of new features providing federal assistance for mass

transit. The 1970 act had focussed on the problems of the cities, primarily

by authorizing the new Urban System for federal aid. The 1973 act also

incorporated several important urban provisions.

o Urban System funds were increased to $800 million a year and

could be used at local option for a transit project in lieu of a

highway project. These Urban System transfers were to be

financed primarily from general funds in fiscal years 1974 and

1975; in fiscal year 1976, however, the full Urban System

authorization would come from the Highway Trust Fund, whether

or not it was used for a mass transit project. This was a significant

change in the potential use of Trust Fund receipts, but few

transfers have taken place.

o Mass transit projects could be substituted for unwanted urban

segments of the Interstate System. The withdrawal of "nonessential" urban Interstate segments would not reduce the system,

because new segments could be designated. Funds for the

substitute transit project were to be from the general fund, not the

Highway Trust Fund, so no funds would actually be transferred to

transit from the Trust Fund. The authority to undertake the mass

transit project, however, was in effect a transferred authority from

the highway program, and at the time of passage it was

immediately available as contract authority. Since the urban

portions of the Interstate were most controversial and more likely

to be withdrawn than roads in the urban (D) system, most substitute

247 An Act to apportion funds for the National Interstate and Defense

Highways ... (87 Stat. 145).

53
JJL1LJMLB

transit projects have used general funds and have not caused much

true "transfer" of funds from the Highway Trust Fund. 257

o The use of regular federal aid for highway-related public

transportation such as exclusive bus lanes was revised and

somewhat broadened.

o Demonstration projects for highway-related public transportation

in rural areas were authorized and partially funded from the

Highway Trust Fund.

o Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) authorizations

from the general fund were included in the 1973 act. This was the

first time that the UMTA program had been funded by the

provisions of a highway act. An additional $3 billion in contract

authority was provided. This represented simultaneous

Congressional consideration of highways and mass transit, although

it did not provide real flexibility in application of the Trust Fund

receipts.

In addressing the issue of highway construction versus assistance to

mass transit, the House Public Works Committee opted to fund both

activities, and this was evident in the authorizations of the eventual bill:

It is clear to the Committee that it is simply not just a

question of these being alternatives one to the other, but that

provision needs to be made for the separate financing of both

types of transportation independently of each other, so that

both needs can be met simultaneously without one need having

to be sacrificed to meet the other one, as would be the case if

only one choice could be made. 26/

25/ For further discussion of these urban provisions, see U.S. Department of

Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, The 1973 Federal-Aid

Highway Act; An Analysis; also Congressional Budget Office, Urban

Mass Transportation: Options for Federal Assistance, Budget Issue

Paper (February 1977).

267 House Report 93-118 (to accompany S. 502), House Committee on

Public Works, U.S. Code, Congressional and Administrative News, 93:1

(1973), p. 1862.

54
Other 1973 Provisions. Although the provisions regarding highway

assistance in urban areas and potential substitution of mass transit were

probably the most significant features of the 1973 act, a number of other

important changes were implemented. In particular, the annual funding

level for the Interstate System was reduced for the first time, from $4

billion to $2.6 billion for 1974, in favor of more funds for ABC and other

programs.

The reduced annual level was offset by extending Interstate

authorizations to 1979, an additional three years. Total authorizations

roughly kept pace with the federal share of the 1972 Interstate cost

estimate, which had increased to almost $70 billion. The taxes dedicated to

the Highway Trust Fund were still scheduled to expire on September 30,

1977. Once again, the authorizing committees acted without

complementary action of the taxing committees.

An additional declaration of policy was made, which stated:

... it shall be the national policy that increased emphasis be

placed on the construction and reconstruction of the other

federal-aid systems . . . 27/

The regular federal-aid programs were boosted somewhat and, for the first

time since 1944, the proportions going to each of the ABC systems was

officially changed (rural supplements that were provided between 1970 and

1973 changed the proportions after the fact). Rural primary roads received

somewhat higher proportions and urban extensions somewhat lower ones,

but considerable additional urban assistance was available in separate

programs. This change essentially ratified the rural supplement provided in

1970-1973. Other important features of the 1973 act included:

o The federal-aid systems were to be realigned on a functional

basis, that is, based on usage instead of the former criterion of a

"planned connected system." As a result of the realignment,

which took place in 1976, the secondary system was reduced by

one-third.

o Transfers between programs of up to 40 percent of ABCD funds

(up from 20 percent) were now permitted, giving the states

27/ The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973, Section 107 (87 Stat. 254).

55
..ill Mil lit

considerably more flexibility in the application of federal-aid

funds.

o The minimum Interstate System apportionment of 0.5 percent to

each state was continued for 1974-1976, overriding the cost-tocomplete apportionment and providing all states with a block of

funds with which to complete remaining segments. Transfer of

these funds to non-Interstate projects was now permitted in those

cases where funds exceeded the remaining cost. Thus, these

minimum apportionments took on less orientation toward the

Interstate System and more toward general highway programs.

o A section was added defining the federal-state relationship. It

originated in the House and reflected resistance to federal

investment standards for highway projects. The section specified

that the provision of federal funds "shall in no way infringe on the

sovereign rights of the States to determine which projects shall be

federally financed." Also a simplified procedure for project

approval by the Secretary of Transportation—certification

acceptance—was broadened to reduce "federal red-tape."

o Separate funding for the TOPICS program was repealed and it was

incorporated into the urban system (D) program. This meant that

funds would no longer be dedicated to operational improvements,

although federal aid could still be used for that purpose.

o The Economic Growth Center Development Highways program

was extended to all non-Interstate federal-aid systems (not just

the primary system) and was made a regular Trust Fund program,

thus eliminating the demonstration nature of the projects. The

federal share was made the same as for other federal-aid projects,

70 percent. The Senate bill did not contain provisions in this

regard. The House Committee on Public Works noted in its report

that no real experience was obtained during 1972 and 1973,

because the program was not funded or implemented to any

significant degree. Even so, it was expanded into a permanent

part of the federal-aid program.

o A Special Urban High Density Traffic Program was created for

connectors to the Interstate System in areas of concentrated

population and heavy traffic congestion. The federal share for

these small additions to the Interstate System was 90 percent, to

come from the Trust Fund. Several specific Interstate connectors

were mentioned in the House committee report.

56
A new program of Priority Primary Routes was created with Trust

Fund financing, providing for priority improvements to hightraffic sections of the primary system that serve as traffic

collection and distribution facilities for the Interstate System. An

apportionment formula was provided. Approval of this program

seems clearly to have been an alternative to further expansion of

the Interstate System.

A number of specific projects were mentioned once again in the

committee reports. For example:

.. . many worthwhile projects have been brought to the

attention of the Committee, and would appear to be

logically eligible for immediate selection. . . . 28/

o Highway safety programs were considerably expanded in the 1973

act, and essentially all federal funds for safety programs were

now authorized from the Highway Trust Fund. Formerly, at least

a portion of safety funds had come from the general fund. New

categorical programs and new demonstration programs and studies

designed to correct roadway hazards and deficiencies were

introduced. These included: protection of railroad-highway grade

crossings; projects for high-hazard locations; elimination of

roadside obstacles, especially installation of breakaway sign and

light supports; a pavement-marking demonstration program,

including off-system roads; and the federal-aid Safer Roads

demonstration program, which was exclusively for off-system

roads and incorporated most of the program objectives of the

projects for federal-aid roads. The off-system use of Trust Fund

monies was unusual, but it could be justified by the fact that gas

taxes and other receipts are generated by off-system travel.

Numerous other small studies and programs were authorized in

this act.

The 1973 act continued three trends in highway legislation: (1)

increasing length of the statute, now totaling 47 pages; (2) increasing

reference to specific projects and locations for improvements; (3) rapid

2IB/ House Report 93-118, Committee on Public Works, U.S. Code,

Congressional and Administrative News, 93:1 (1973), p. 1881.

57

29-792 O - 78 - 6
proliferation of categorical programs with their own authorizations—55

separate authorizations were identified for fiscal year 1974, as opposed to

34 authorizations for fiscal 1972. In the 1960s, almost all new programs

were financed from general funds; in 1974, 38 of the authorizations were

from the Trust Fund.

The Budget Act of 1974

The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 had

several important effects on highway programs and their financing. A

critical part of this act, Title X on Impoundment Control, severely

restricted impoundment of funds by the Executive Branch. Executive

impoundment, whereby funds provided by legislative decisions of the

Congress were withheld and not made available for obligation, had

frequently been used by the Nixon Administration to restrict highway

programs. Under the Congressional Budget Act, the President must submit

special messages to the Congress proposing recission or deferral of budget

authority, giving the Congress the opportunity to make the final decision on

impoundment actions.

The act also changed the budgetary timetable and the dates for the

federal fiscal year, which now runs from October 1. This change in fiscal

year along with the new budget control measures resulted in some statutory

adjustments in the dates of apportionment of federal highway funds.

Interstate funds are now apportioned exactly one year in advance (rather

than 18 months), while other program funds are apportioned on the first day

of the fiscal year (rather than 6 months in advance). In either case, the

funds become available for obligation on the first day of a fiscal year.

Most highway programs are financed by contract authority. In order

to promote more control over spending, the Congressional Budget Act

restricted new contract authority so that it would be effective only when

appropriated; at the same time, however, highway programs funded from the

Trust Fund were exempted from the restriction on contract authority under

a general exception for trust funds with receipts that are generated from

taxes related to the programs so financed. 29/ Thus, the Trust Fund

programs were, on the whole, unaffected by this provision of the act, but

highway programs financed with general funds no longer enjoy contract

authority except to the extent provided by appropriations acts.

29/ See Section 401 of the Act. In order to provide some control on Trust

Fund spending, appropriations acts have recently contained ceilings on

annual highway obligations incurred under contract authority.

58
The 1974 Amendments

An Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act was enacted in

early 1974; it provided for the 55-miles-per-hour speed limit and a program

of carpool incentives. To the extent that these measures conserve energy,

they will result in lower receipts for the Trust Fund. Then, the Federal-Aid

Highway Amendments of 1974, which were actually approved in early 1975,

provided small increases in authorizations for rural roads and established

new categorical programs. The increased authorizations for rural highways

were justified in the House by railroad abandonments and the need "to

accommodate the heavier loads borne by trucks moving goods to

market." 3_0/ No mention was made in the House report of the costallocation implications of heavier loads on rural or other roads. Pavement

tests have shown that damage increases more than proportionately with

vehicle weight, and most Interstate segments were designed to carry the

weights specified in 1956.

The two new programs were:

o Off-system roads, with apportioned general funds of $200 million

per year. These funds could be used for construction,

reconstruction, and improvement, and for some of the off-system

safety program. This program provides off-system assistance

from the general fund, and it includes the types of projects found

in the Safer Roads demonstration program (see 1973 act).

o Access highways to public recreation areas on certain lakes. This

modest-scale, general fund program was for routes to be

designated by the Secretary of Transportation.

The 1974 amendments relaxed, for the first time since 1956, the size

and weight provisions for trucks. The amendments were primarily in

response to complaints from truckers regarding the 55-miles-per-hour speed

limit, and they proved to be quite controversial. Maximum axle weights

were increased to 20,000 pounds, and gross weights to 80,000 pounds. The

previous limits were 18,000 pounds and 73,280 pounds, respectively. In order

to to avoid overstress on bridges, the permissible gross weights were limited

by a formula, which is termed the "bridge formula." The effect of these

30/ House Report 93-1567, Committee on Public Works, U.S. Code,

Congressional and Administrative News, 93:2 (1974), p. 8014.

59

mum in T
provisions on actual weights was reduced by the existing grandfather clause

that was part of the 1956 act, whereby about one-half the states were

already allowed axle and/or gross weights above the federal standards for

the Interstate System. Heavier vehicles were allowed, however, by the 1974

amendments. 317

Once again, a number of specific projects were authorized in the

bill—for example, the Overseas Highway in Florida and a high-density

connection between modes of transportation in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

These projects could have been carried out with federal aid under ongoing

highway programs. In addition, the committee reports specified a number of

qualifying projects for other programs.

Under provisions of federal highway law, the states must assume the

duty to maintain any project constructed with federal aid. The Federal

Highway Administration had generally limited aid to major projects that

were considered to be "betterments." Although no statutory language was

included, the House report did provide clear instruction on this issue:

The Federal Highway Administration guidelines on resurfacing

and reconstruction of pavement surfaces have been narrowly

drawn to exclude much general resurfacing work. Such

distinctions are not necessary. . . any project involving

resurfacing of a substantial portion of a highway should be

eligible for federal funding. 32/

This broader interpretation of the guidelines for improvements would

increase considerably the number of projects qualifying for federal aid, and

thus would broaden the use of Trust Fund receipts.

317 There was considerable confusion about certain grandfather provisions

in the 1974 amendments that appeared to increase the number of

exceptions to the weight provisions. An exchange of correspondence

between chief counsels for the Senate Committee on Public Works and

the Federal Highway Administration clarified that the only exceptions

intended, other than those permitted by the 1956 act, involved

situations in which the new bridge formula was more restrictive than

weights permitted in 1974. See correspondence between M. Barry

Meyer and David E. Wells, December 1974.

3^7 House Report 93-1567, Committee on Public Works, U.S. Code,

Congressional and Administrative News, 93:2 (1974), p. 8013.

60
Energy Policy

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, although not part of

the normal highway legislation, will have a significant impact on future

Highway Trust Fund revenues. It is probably the most important action

affecting revenues since the tax increases in the early 1960s.

This act, which was a response to rapid increases in the price of

energy following energy shortages of 1973-1974, set stringent fuel-economy

standards for new cars manufactured between 1978 and 1985. (The standard

ranges from 18.0 miles a gallon in 1978 to 27.5 miles a gallon in 1985.) Any

auto manufacturer who does not meet these standards faces civil penalties

that are based upon the degree to which the average fuel economy of its

cars falls short of the standards. This law is expected to reduce

substantially gasoline consumption in the future. As a result, the rate of

growth of Trust Fund revenues will be reduced. 33/

The 1976 Act

The numerous provisions in the 1973 act providing assistance for

urban transit projects, together with the National Mass Transportation

Assistance Act of 1974, served to reduce the tension between highway

supporters and advocates of mass transit. No sizable claims on the Trust

Fund for urban transit were to materialize.. The philosophy of dedicating

highway receipts to highway uses was considerably weakened, but the

practical effect on highway program levels was of no great consequence.

The Ford Administration proposed a more consequential challenge to

the Trust Fund in 1975. The Administration bill would have restricted use of

the Trust Fund to Interstate System projects and reduced Trust Fund

receipts from the existing rate of four cents a gallon to only one cent a

gallon. Of the three-cent reduction, two cents would have been channeled

337 The attainment of these fuel-economy standards could reduce Trust

Fund revenues from the gas tax by about $3.4 billion over the next 10

years. See testimony of Alice M. Rivlin in Automobile Fuel Economy,

Hearings before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space

of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation;

95:1 (1977); also Congressional Budget Office "Forecasts of Highway

Trust Fund Revenues," Staff Draft Analysis (December 1977).

61

iimiir r
J ..J1II1JMIM

to the general fund, but this money would have been earmarked for highway

programs, that would be consolidated into three categories (urban, rural, and

safety). One cent would have been repealed upon assumption by the

individual states. 34/ An even stronger proposal was submitted by Senators

Edward F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., of

Connecticut. Their proposal would have abolished the Trust Fund at the end

of fiscal year 1975 and subjected all highway programs to normal

authorization and appropriation processes.

Both chambers passed highway bills in 1975, but they differed widely.

In particular, the House bill emphasized completion of the Interstate

System, increased funding levels, and more flexibility for the use of

Interstate transfers. The Senate bill focused on consolidation of

proliferating categorical highway programs; this bill left unchanged the

existing Interstate authorizations through 1979. The 1975 Interstate cost

estimate had increased by $13 billion to $89.2 billion. The remaining cost to

complete the system had actually increased since 1972, from $33 billion to

more than $40 billion; this increase was a result of both cost inflation and

the reduced level of funding. 35/ As in 1968, the Senate Public Works

Committee did not want to extend authorizations without resolving the

question of future financing.

After a lengthy conference, a compromise agreement was reached

and finally approved in May 1976. Construction on the Interstate System

was authorized to 1990, an additional 11 years, with a provision that 30

percent of the available funds would be used to complete essential gaps in

the system during the first two years. This represented a shift back to

emphasis on the Interstate program. Although annual funding levels were

raised only slightly, total authorizations for the Interstate were increased by

$40 billion.

A decision on the long-term future of the Highway Trust Fund was

deferred, although the decisive proposals mentioned above were rejected.

The conferees had stated that:

34/ National Journal Reports, April 26, 1975, p. 614, and July 12, 1975, pp.

1032-33.

35/ U.S. Department of Transportation, A Revised Estimate of the Cost of

Completing the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways,

House Committee on Public Works, Committee Print 95-11 95:1 (1977).

62
The extension of the Interstate program through 1990 does not

address the question of the source of funds for construction

during that program. The conferees expect that during the

next Congress methods of financing highway construction will

be considered. 367

The Highway Trust Fund and its revenues were extended for two years, until

the end of fiscal year 1979; no change was made in the mix or level of taxes

levied.

Little consolidation of programs was accomplished, but three of the

existing categories—the rural primary, the urban extensions, and the priority

primary routes—were combined under a new primary system, although

funding continued to be reserved for priority primary projects. Safety

programs that had been established in 1973 for high-hazard locations and

roadside obstacles were also consolidated. In addition, provisions permitting

higher levels of transfer between construction and safety programs

increased state flexibility and had potentially similar effects to program

consolidation. That is, the ability to transfer funds between several small

categorical programs is similar to the ability to choose spending priorities

for a larger consolidated program. 377

Two sizable programs for off-system roads were merged. Generalpurpose aid for off-system roads, established in the 1974 amendments, was

continued at $200 million a year from general funds. The program was

renamed Safer Off-System Roads, and it included safety projects formerly

financed from Trust Funds in the Safer Roads demonstration program of the

1973 act. The Senate bill had contained an expanded Safer Roads program

using Trust Funds, but the conference agreement repealed the Trust Fund

assistance and moved the safety activities into the general fund program.

This reestablished the tendency to finance off-system programs from

general funds, even though off-system travel contributes significant taxes to

the Trust Fund.

Several provisions regarding the Interstate System were changed in

the 1976 legislation.

3j>/ Conference Report (to accompany H.R. 8235), Federal-Aid Highway

Act, H. Rept. 94-1017, 94:2 (April 7, 1976), p. 37.

377 For further details, a useful summary of the 1976 act was prepared by

the Highway Users Federation, Highways and Safety 1976 (May 1976).

63

in mi HIT
1111

o The Interstate transfer provisions were amended to permit greater

flexibility. Previously, only a mass transit project or another

Interstate project could be substituted for an unwanted Interstate

segment in an urban area. Now, non-Interstate highway projects

were made eligible as substitute projects. The transfer provision

was made generally more attractive by providing for escalation of

the amount of obligational authority transferred, the basis for

which is the completion cost of the Interstate segment withdrawn.

The 1973 act had used a fixed cost base for this amount, and the

1974 amendments had provided for escalation up to the date of

highway withdrawal. The 1976 act, however, provided for

escalation up to the date of approval of the substitute project.

Since the approval of substitute projects often requires

considerable time, this provision makes transfer significantly

more attractive.

o Regarding budget authority for Interstate transfers, the provisions

of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 were interpreted to

require prior appropriations action since these were general funds.

o For the first time, assistance was provided for resurfacing,

restoration, and rehabilitation (RRR) for segments of the

Interstate System at least 5 years old. Funds totaling $175 million

a year were apportioned, and they represented a major new use

for the Trust Fund. A similar change was provided for federal aid

to non-Interstate construction projects—the change was

accomplished by a general redefinition of the term "construction"

to include "resurfacing, restoration, and rehabilitation." The

change was intended to make clear that major rebuilding and

realignment were not necessary to qualify for federal assistance

and that most improvements to existing roadway were eligible.

The conferees did not intend to include all activities, since they

stated:

This change confirms policy established by the

Federal Highway Administration, and evidences no

intent to fund normal periodic maintenance activities

which remain a state responsibility. 38/

38/ Ibid., p. 43.

64
As in most recent acts, a large number of studies and reports were

requested to assist the Congress in future deliberations. Among the most

important were:

o A study of optional financing methods for completion of the

Interstate System;

o Recommendations regarding the need to provide federal funds for

resurfacing, restoration, and rehabilitation (RRR) on Interstate

routes;

o A report on essential gaps in the Interstate System;

o A study of the implementation and functioning of the Urban

System;

o A report on the need for special federal highway assistance for

energy transportation;

o A major report on the nation's transportation needs and policies,

for which a new Congressional commission—the National

Transportation Policy Study Commission—was established.

SCHEDULED EXPIRATION OF TRUST FUND

Under current legislation, the Highway Trust Fund is scheduled to

expire at the end of fiscal year 1979, and most of the highway-related taxes

are scheduled to be reduced substantially at that same time. These two

events are distinct; that is, the imposition and dedication of the taxes

represent separate legislative considerations. The revenue-raising

committees are, of course, different from the committees that authorize

the highway programs, although their respective bills have been combined on

occasion for floor consideration.

Trust Fund Receipts

The Trust Fund receives money by appropriation of specified tax

receipts in the Treasury before October 1, 1979. Also, receipts received

later but related to tax liabilities incurred before October 1, 1979, are

appropriated to the Trust Fund. No further revenues would accrue to the

Trust Fund under current law after the end of fiscal year 1979, with the

exception of the late receipts mentioned above.

65
Expenditures

The language regarding expenditures from the Trust Fund specifies

that amounts are available for making expenditures "before October 1,

1979," suggesting that a closing balance at the end of fiscal 1979 would not

be available for expenditure. Clarification of the method to be used for

payment of obligations already incurred will be needed for an orderly

transition if the scheduled expiration takes place. The disposition of the

large surplus balance should also be clarified. Unpaid obligations at the end

of fiscal year 1978 are projected to be approximately equivalent to the

balance available in the Trust Fund, so they could be liquidated from

existing funds if technical aspects of the scheduled transition are

clarified. 39/

The 1956 act contained provisions limiting apportionments to the

funds available or projected to be available in the Trust Fund; thus, the

apportionment of new contract authority would appear to be limited as well

as actual expenditures. The apportionment of Interstate authorizations for

1980, which would normally take place on the first day of fiscal year 1979,

would probably be restricted by these provisions. Apportionment of

prospective 1979 authorizations for other Trust Fund programs likewise

could be constrained. Finally, clarification of unobligated contract

authority and its continuing availability will be necessary. The

apportionment of contract authority in the highway program largely removes

the unobligated apportionments from the discretion of the Secretary of

Transportation.

Trust Fund balances, including 1979 revenues, are expected to be

sufficient to liquidate obligations arising from all funds authorized through

fiscal year 1978. The actual obligation and expenditure of unobligated

balances, however, will undoubtedly occur over several years, and

transitional arrangements should be made. Basically, the Trust Fund would

no longer be available as a financing mechanism after fiscal year 1979.

Tax Rates after the Trust Fund Expires

The taxes that accrue to the Trust Fund are legislated under the

Internal Revenue Code (Title 26), and these taxes would or would not persist

397 Department of the Treasury, Highway Trust Fund, Twenty-First Annual

Report, House Doc. 95-125, 95:1 (1977).

66
after the termination of the Highway Trust Fund as specified in that

legislation. Specifically, most of the taxes accruing to the Highway Trust

Fund would be either reduced or eliminated as of October 1, 1979. Table 3

shows the rates that would be effective after October 1, 1979, under current

legislation. The excise taxes on motor fuels would drop sharply from 4 cents

a gallon to 1.5 cents. Rubber taxes would fall by varying amounts; for

example, tires would fall from 10 cents a pound to 5 cents. The excise taxes

on trucks and buses would be reduced from 10 percent to 5 percent, while

the tax on parts and accessories would be reduced from 8 percent to 5

percent. Two taxes would expire—the tax on tread rubber and the heavyvehicle use tax. One tax would continue unchanged—the tax on lubricating

oil for highway use. The remaining tax collections would go into the general

fund and be available for general use. The national energy legislation in

conference at the end of 1977 contains provisions that would continue the

excise taxes on motor fuels, without extending the Trust Fund.

Implications of Expiration for Highway Funding

The expiration of Trust Fund financing, if allowed to occur, would

change the procedures through which budget authority for highway programs

is obtained. The current authorizations, particularly those for the multiyear

Interstate program, would not be affected, and new authorizations for fiscal

year 1979 for the non-Interstate programs will require Congressional

consideration in any case.

At present, the existence of the Trust Fund provides exception from

certain provisions of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 regarding new

spending authority. The large majority of highway programs are funded with

contract authority utilizing Trust Funds. The full amount authorized is

made available for obligation, subject to a sufficient balance in the Trust

Fund. Trust Fund expiration would make highway authorizations subject to

appropriation before budget authority is provided and, therefore, before

obligations are incurred. Specifically, in the absence of the Trust Fund,

legislation granting new spending authority in general, and new contract

authority in particular, would not be effective without an accompanying

appropriations act. The amounts appropriated would not, however, be

constrained by the balance available in the Trust Fund, as is currently the

case because of the Byrd Amendment.

The receipts accruing to the general fund after the rate reductions

take effect would be sharply lower. If the reduced rate structure had been

applied in 1976, the level of tax receipts would have been only 39 percent of

actual collections, a reduction of about $3.3 billion. Continuing the highway

program with lower general fund receipts implies greater deficit spending

from the general fund than would otherwise be the case.

67

wimiTiir r
J .JILMJJIiBUl

TABLE 3. EXCISE TAXES AFTER SCHEDULED TERMINATION OF THE

HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

Tax Rate in 1977

Scheduled Rate

as of October 1,

1979

Motor fuels

Gasoline

Diesel

Special motor

fuels

Rubber

Tires

Tubes

Retreads

New Trucks and Trailers

(over 10,000 pounds

gross weight)

New Buses (other

than transit)

4 cents per gallon

4 cents per gallon

4 cents per gallon

10 cents per pound

10 cents per pound

5 cents per pound

10 percent of manuufacturer's wholesale price

10 percent of manufacturer's wholesale price

1.5 cents per gallon

1.5 cents per gallon

1.5 cents per gallon

5 cents per pound

9 cents per pound

Expires

5 percent

5 percent

Annual HeavyVehicle Use

Tax

$3 per 1,000 pounds

when gross weight

exceeds 26,000

pounds

Expires

Motor Vehicle

Parts and

Accessories

8 percent of manufacturer's wholesale price

5 percent

Lubrication Oil

(for highway

use)

6 cents per gallon 6 cents per gallon

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway

Administration, Federal Laws and Material Relating to the

Federal Highway~Administration (November, 1976).

68
CHAPTER IV. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AFTER 1956

Earlier sections of this paper focused on the formation of the

Highway Trust Fund by the 1956 act and the evolution of highway policy

since that time. This chapter summarizes financial aspects of federal

assistance to highways since the Trust Fund became operable in fiscal year

1957.

Financial commitments toward the highway program can be measured

and compared in several ways. Congressional action establishes policy and

provides authorizations and appropriations that enable the Federal Highway

Administration to obligate and expend funds on behalf of the federal

government. The authorized program level reflects the primary

Congressional policy and sets a ceiling on the funding that can be provided.

For most federal programs other than highway programs, besides the

authorizing legislation, an appropriations act is necessary to provide budget

authority so that obligations and expenditures can be undertaken. In the

case of most highway programs, however, prior to the Congressional Budget

Act of 1974, the authorized program amounts could be made available for

commitment (obligation) in the form of contract authority without further

Congressional action. This continues to be true of programs financed from

the Highway Trust Fund. Thus, highway program authorizations from the

Highway Trust Fund and other authorizations providing contract authority

prior to the Budget Act of 1974 represent available financial support (budget

authority) and reflect in general the actions of the authorizing committees

(that is, the Senate and House Committees on Public Works).

The program level actually undertaken can be measured in two ways,

obligations and outlays. Obligations reflect the level of contractual

commitments entered into on behalf of the federal government. Outlays

reflect the actual expenditure of funds, that is, the liquidation of the

commitments entered into by the government. Except for occasional

recapture of obligations when projects do not go forward, obligations

eventually result in outlays. The timing is, however, very different.

Obligations represent the time of commitment; outlays represent the time

of actual expenditure.

69
.1.111

All three of these measures—authorization levels, obligations, and

outlays—are presented in Table 4 for the period 1957-1977. The general

basis for the figures in Table 4 is the inclusion of all programs authorized in

the regular highway legislation. This includes all programs of the Federal

Highway Administration, plus a number of highway programs in other

agencies. In addition to programs authorized in the regular federal-aid

highway acts, there is a substantial general fund program for development

highways in the Appalachian Region, and it has also been included. The

annual status of the Highway Trust Fund, including receipts, outlays, and

balance at the end of each year, is also shown in Table 4. (See Appendix A

for detailed notes on Table 4.)

AUTHORIZATIONS

Highway authorizations from fiscal year 1957 to date for both Trust

Fund programs and general fund programs are shown in the top part of Table

4. Authorizations from the Highway Trust Fund are detailed for the

Interstate System and the non-Interstate programs.

Trust Fund authorizations began at a modest level of $1.2 billion in

1957, most of which was for the Interstate System. This first-year amount

does not count sizable general fund amounts for programs that in future

years were financed from the Trust Fund. All Trust Fund programs are

reflected in the $2.6 billion authorization for 1958. Trust Fund

authorizations rose quickly to $3.5 billion in 1959, reflecting countercyclical

policies. After a reduction in 1961 that reflects shortages in Trust Fund

receipts, the total grew steadily, reaching $4.9 billion in 1969. Throughout

the 1960s the total authorized consisted almost entirely of the Interstate

System plus the ABC programs.

In 1970, several other programs began to be financed from the Trust

Fund. As this made the growth more pronounced, the Trust Fund

authorizations escalated to $5.6 billion in 1970, and to $6.1 billion in 1973.

There was a one-year drop in 1974, because of a reduced Interstate program,

but Trust Fund authorizations have climbed steadily since, reaching more

than $7 biUion for 1976. The last year fully authorized is 1978 at $7.2

billion.

The Interstate System is the largest single component of overall Trust

Fund authorizations, and its funding has followed much the same pattern as

the Trust Fund itself. The authorized level of the Interstate System began

at $1 billion in 1957, and rose quickly to $2.5 billion in 1960. Following a

reduction in 1961 (to adhere to the Byrd Amendment), the level increased

steadily to $4.0 billion in 1970, and it remained at approximately that

70
amount through 1973. The program was reduced sharply to $2.7 billion in

1973, in part to provide priority to other highway programs, and it has grown

gradually since that time, reaching $3.3 billion for 1977. Interstate

authorizations made up about two-thirds of overall Trust Fund programs

from 1957 through 1973, but they have been less than one-half since

emphasis was shifted to other programs in 1974.

General fund highway programs have coexisted with Trust Fund

programs since 1957. Many of these general fund programs are not carried

in the budget of the Federal Highway Administration; rather, they are under

the supervision of other agencies such as the Departments of Agriculture

and Interior. The programs included in Table 4 are those authorized in the

various Federal-Aid Highway acts, plus the Appalachian Development

Highway System.

With the exception of 1957, when Interstate and ABC authorizations

had already been made from the general fund, general fund programs in the

years following the formation of the Trust Fund were quite level at slightly

more than $100 million annually. Some growth took place in 1963 and 1964,

and then in 1965 the major multiyear authorization for Appalachian

Development Highways caused a tremendous one-time jump in

authorizations from the general fund. Beautification programs began in

1966 and added $160 million a year in their early years, pushing the general

fund total over $400 million in 1967. Safety programs were added in 1970,

but they were gradually transferred to the Highway Trust Fund; by 1974 this

transfer was completed. Also in 1970, the Appalachian program began

receiving annual authorizations, making the 1970 total more than $600

million. The latest major expansion in general fund authorizations has been

support for off-system projects.

The level of general fund authorizations has been much smaller than

those from the Trust Fund. It has risen rather rapidly, however, from $122

million in 1958 (5 percent of total authorizations) to $850 million in 1976

(more than 10 percent of total authorizations), and another sharp increase to

$995 million was recorded for 1977. This growth has occurred in spite of the

transfer of several programs—for example, safety programs—from general

fund to Trust Fund financing and in the face of a growing surplus balance in

the Trust Fund.

OBLIGATIONS

Obligations incurred under federal assistance programs for highways

are shown in the central part of Table 4. For the majority of programs

71

w r
.11 ii _

TABLE 4. HIGHWAY PROGRAM LEVELS FOR TRUST FUND, GENERAL FUND, AND

ALL PROGRAMS, MEASURED BY AUTHORIZATIONS, OBLIGATIONS, AND

OUTLAYS: FISCAL YEARS 1957-1977, IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a/

1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965

AUTHORIZATIONS

Trust Fund Programs

Interstate 1,000 1,700 2,200 2,500 1,800 2,200 2,400 2,600 2,700

Non-Interstate 155 880 JL305 933 955 958 955 980 1,005

Total Trust Fund "T7T55 "pM 3,505 l^ST ~27f5~5 3,158 1^55 "3"^M "3"7fO"5

General Fund Programs 977 122 131 _124 128 128 183 181 1,043

Total-All Programs 2,132 2,702 3,636 3,557 2,883 3,285 3,538 3,761 4,748

OBLIGATIONS

Trust Fund Programs

Interstate 1,386 1,861 2,283 1,717 2,228 2,121 2,910 3,141 2,979

Non-Interstate 839 1,087 1,226 895 948 905 1,017 J^023 jyOSjt

Total Trust Fund 1p25~ "2,538" "3",5W Ip5l2 "3"7T76 ~5$%6 3,9^7" "4,154 1^17

General Fund Programs 133 145 123 _128 134 143 146 169 224

Total-AU Programs 2,358 3,093 3,632 2,740 3,310 3,169 4,072 4,332 4,241

OUTLAYS

Trust Fund Programs

Interstate 211 673 1,501 1,861 1,719 1,914 2,109 2,635 3,016

Non-Interstate 755 839 1,112 1,079 900 870 908 1,010 1,010

Total Trust Fund ~~5S6" T^TS 176T3" "2,310" "pT§ "27fg4" 175T7 "3^6lB" "4^12^

General Fund Programs 126 125 145 127 137 136 146 162 191

Total—All Programs 1,092 1,637 2,757 3,067 2,756 2,920 3,163 3,807 4,217

HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

STATUS

Receipts 1,482 2,044 2,088 2,536 2,799 2,955 3,293 3,540 3,670

Outlays 966 1,512 2,613 2,940 2,619 2,784 3,017 3,645 4,026

Excess of Receipts ~~5TS ~~5l2 "^52T ~^4"oT ~18"0" ~~T72 T7<> "^TDT "^3T7

Balance, End of Year 516 1,049 524 119 299 471 747 641 285

a/ The explanatory notes for this table are presented in Appendix A.

72
TABLE 4: (Continued)

1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 TQ 1977

2,800 3,000 3,400 3,800 4,000 4,000 4,055 4,055 2,650 3,050 3,050 t 7in 3,250

1,030 1,050 1,050 1,050 1,575 1,653 1,917 2,064 3,016 3,546 3,964 ' * 3,699

37330" 1703U "47430" "47533 3,375" 3,533" 37972" 370 3353 3393 7,UT4" TTTff 37515

358 441 600 449 604 809 515 631 717 687 850 107 995

4,188 4,491 5,050 5,299 6,179 6,462 6,488 6,750 6,383 7,283 7,864 1,818 7,943

3,044 2,897 3,222 3,538 3,470 3,419 3,418 2,733 3,034 4,162 2,138 604 3,420

1,006 881 1,010 1,122 1,321 1,242 1,677 1,535 2,305 3,753 2,577 1,096 3,765

17053 1775 "4,232 "47530" "4,791 4,661 5,095 17265 3,339" 775T3 177T5 1,700 7,183

370 351 418 442 495 549 596 585 509 566 544 196 836

4,419 4,129 4,649 5,101 5,286 5,211 5,692 4,854 5,847 8,481 5,259 1,896 8,021

2,979 2,977 3,207 3,148 3,286 3,454 3,467 3,394 3,017 2,902 3,435 856 2,950

986 996 964 1,003 1,092 1,231 1,223 1,417 1,582 1,941 3,086 902 3,197

37MB" 37573" 17T7T 1,131 1,375 1,533 1,6"5o" 1,511 1,359" 1,813" 332"T 77735 37T47

235 282 348 382 434 481 548 528 528 572 589 155 615

4,200 4,255 4,519 4,533 4,812 5,166 5,238 5,339 5,127 5,415 7,109 1,912 6,762

3,924 4,455 4,427 4,690 5,469 5,725 5,528 5,912 6,675 6,774 6,000 1,689 7,302

3,965 3,973 4,171 4,151 4,378 4,685 4,690 4,811 4,599 4,843 6,521 1,758 6,147

=4T ~~4"32" ~~235" 535 "I,ff5T TTolfi ~~535 TTToT "27075" "1,531 ~~32"T ~ "

244 725 982 1,521 2,612 3,652 4,490 5,591 7,667 9,597 9,077 9,009 10,164

73

29-792 O - 78 - 7

•HMTIITT'
J 111

financed with contract authority, the obligations reflect commitment of

budget authority provided through the authorization process. For other

programs, and for all general fund programs since the Congressional Budget

Act of 1974 became effective, the obligations reflect budget authority

provided through the regular appropriations process. Obligation rates are

probably the best indication of true program level, although actual

expenditures (outlays) are important in determining fiscal impact by year.

Trust Fund obligations have grown fairly steadily throughout the past

two decades, from a level of $2.2 billion in 1957 to a peak of $7.9 billion in

1975. Obligations for the Interstate System roughly parallel total Trust

Fund figures, except since 1974. The Interstate commitments, which

represented 62 percent of all Trust Fund obligations in 1957, fell slightly to

53 percent in 1975, then sharply to 43 percent in 1976. This reflects the

increased number of non-Interstate program authorizations and the reduced

pace of Interstate construction as the system nears completion. The lower

1976 figures reflect in part the cumulative impact of impoundments during

the early 1970s, and in part the lowered authorizations of 1974 onward. The

occasional declines in obligation rates during the period generally reflect

those years in which authorizations were reduced, but the timing is

somewhat variable because of the fact that contract authority became

available in the year prior to authorization and remains available for

obligation over a four-year period.

Non-Interstate obligations from the Trust Fund were fairly stable

during the early years when emphasis was placed on accelerated Interstate

construction. After some boosts from countercyclical authorizations in the

late 1950s, a level of about $1 billion annually was fairly typical throughout

the 1960s. Since 1969, the non-Interstate commitments have grown rapidly

from about $1.1 billion to a peak of $3.8 billion in 1975.

General fund obligations for other highway programs have been

relatively small; in 1957 they amounted to about $133 million, or about 6

percent of all highway obligations. This level persisted into the mid-1960s,

when general fund obligations began to climb sharply. In 1965 general fund

programs committed $224 million, and by 1972 the obligation had reached

$596 million—still only about 10 percent of total highway obligations. The

level has been fairly stable since that time, remaining less than $600 million,

until it jumped sharply in 1977. Thus, general fund program levels, though

small relative to the Trust Fund totals, have almost doubled as a percentage

of total obligations, even though several programs have been transferred

from general funds to the Trust Fund.

74
OUTLAYS

Outlays, or actual expenditures incurred, are shown in the lower part

of Table 4. Outlays follow much the same pattern as obligations, but they

can and usually do occur over several years following commitments for longterm construction projects. Thus, Trust Fund outlays in 1957 were only $966

million, much smaller than obligations in that year. These outlays grew

rapidly, however, to the $3 billion level in the early 1960s and to more than

$4 billion in 1965. In fact, in 1965 the Trust Fund outlays were slightly

greater than the obligations for that year as bills for projects from previous

years were paid. This pattern has continued, with outlays running more than

$4 billion annually for Trust Fund projects since 1968, reaching $4.8 billion

in 1975 and jumping sharply to a peak of $6.5 billion in 1976, one year after

obligations peaked. The highest levels reflect release of highway funds

impounded in earlier years.

General fund outlays are much lower, amounting to $126 million in

1957—about 12 percent of total highway spending in that year—and

remaining fairly stable for several years into the 1960s when Trust Fund

programs dominated. General fund outlays rose steadily from the mid-1960s

onward. They were still only 5 percent of total highway spending in 1965,

but represented 9 percent in 1970. In 1975 general fund outlays reached

$572 million, or almost 11 percent of the total. This increase resulted

primarily from the large programs of Appalachian Development Highways

and forest development roads, and from the proliferation of other general

fund programs such as those promoting safety and beautification.

STATUS OF THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

The final section at the bottom of Table 4 summarizes the receipts,

outlays, and balance of the Highway Trust Fund itself. The receipts of the

various highway-related taxes (see Chapters II and HI for detail) have

mounted sharply from $1.5 billion at inception in 1957 to $5.7 billion in 1971.

Repeal of one tax category and shortage of gasoline resulted in relatively

stable receipts for 1972 and 1973, after which uneven growth has continued.

An all-time high of $7.3 billion was reached in 1977. The outlays for Trust

Fund programs have been discussed already. In most years, receipts have

exceeded outlays, though the converse has been true in six years and the

recent Transition Quarter. I/ This has led to the accumulation of a surplus

I/ The Transition Quarter formed a three-month bridge during the change

~ in fiscal years, and consisted of July, August, and September 1976.

75
..L.JI.11IUIIM

balance, which mounted rapidly in the early 1970s and reached over $10

billion at the end of 1977.

TWENTY-ONE YEAR TOTALS

Over the period 1957-1977 including the Transition Quarter, a grand

total of $92 billion was obligated for programs financed by the Highway

Trust Fund; $83 billion was actually expended. Since Trust Fund receipts

were $93 billion over the period, a surplus balance of just over $10 billion

unexpended is left in the fund. The general fund obligations of $8 billion and

actual outlays of $7 billion over this same 21-year period are substantial but

relatively modest by comparison with Trust Fund levels.

76
APPENDIXES

i mmriir
j. jimii
APPENDIX A. EXPLANATORY NOTES FOR TABLE 4

Table 4 in the text presents highway program levels for fiscal years

1957-1977. Since many agencies of the federal government have

responsibilities in the highway area, it was necessary to establish a coherent

structure for the coverage of these tabulations. That structure is explained

in this appendix.

The cornerstone of the tabulations in Table 4 was the regular highway

legislation embodied in the Federal-Aid Highway acts of various years. This

is the legislative basis for the highway program administered by the Federal

Highway Administration (FHWA) and its predecessors. Table 4 also

incorporates highway safety programs under the National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration (NHTSA). All programs authorized in regular highway

legislation and reported in FHWA or NHTSA budgets were included. Indirect

programs such as the tax expenditure for state and local gas tax were not

included.

In addition, regular highway legislation includes authorizations for

several highway programs administered by other agencies. The following

programs, authorized in regular highway acts, were included:

o Forest Development Roads and Trails (Forest Service, Department

of Agriculture);

o National Park Roads and Trails (National Park Service,

Department of Interior);

o Parkways (National Park Service, Department of Interior);

o Indian Reservation Roads and Bridges (Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Department of Interior);

o Public Lands Development Roads and Trails (Bureau of Land

Management, Department of Interior);

o Rama Road (Department of State).

79

[••IT
.1 111

Many other federally assisted programs have highways as at least one

aspect of a multipurpose program. Only two of these were included:

o Roads and Trails for States, National Forests Fund. This is a

permanent, indefinite appropriation of 10 percent of revenues

received from national forests activities. In the budget, these

funds are merged with funds for Forest Development Roads and

Trails in recording obligations, and it would not be practical to

disentangle the two.

o Appalachian Development Highway System. This is the only major

highway program not authorized in regular highway legislation.

With annual obligations running in the range of $150-200 million,

this program could not be overlooked even though it is not a

regular highway assistance activity.

A number of programs were not included, even though they have at

least some indentifiable highway component. They are generally multipurpose activities, and in most cases either obligations or outlays for strictly

highway purposes could not be identified or separated from the other

activities. For completeness, it might have been preferable to include these

activities, but it would have been necessary to estimate many of the items.

The amounts involved are relatively small, in any case, and would generally

have totaled less than $10 million, though some years could have reached

$20-30 million, judging from rough estimates.

Specific accounts identified but not included were: access roads

(Forest Service); roads, trails, and parkways construction under the general

construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation accounts (National Park

Service); road maintenance under the resources management account

(Bureau of Indian Affairs); road maintenance under the construction and

maintenance account (Bureau of Land Management); general construction

and maintenance accounts for Oregon and California grant lands (Bureau of

Land Management); motor carrier safety activities in the Interstate

Commerce Commission; road expenditures and loans in District of Columbia

accounts (other than regular federal-aid programs); payments to counties

and states from the National Forests Fund or from revenues received from

National Grasslands (Forest Service); and surface accident investigation

(National Transportation Safety Board).

It is also recognized that other agencies such as the Department of

Defense or the Environmental Protection Agency have major highwayrelated activities. No attempt was made to include the budgets of these

agencies.

80
AUTHORIZATIONS

Authorizations were based directly on the statutes. When no year or

other limitation was specified, the amount was tabulated in the first year

available (except that in the 1976 act, no-year authorizations were counted

for 1977, ignoring the Transition Quarter if not specified). Of special note:

o Appalachian Highway authorization of $840 million was counted in

1965.

o Indefinite authorization of 0.5 percent incentive payments in the

1958 act were not counted.

o Repayable advances were not included in authorizations, but this

item does affect obligations and outlays (net).

o Obligations inherited under 1957 authorizations from the general

fund for the Interstate System and the three traditional (ABC)

systems were partly paid from the Highway Trust Fund, but no

reallocation of the authorizations was made.

o The emergency fund for disaster assistance on federal-aid

highways was treated as newly authorized each year at the full

annual amount and was counted as a Highway Trust Fund

authorization in entirety.

o Interstate System authorizations were counted in entirety

according to the statute, even though not all authorizations would

be apportioned because of Interstate withdrawals and because

most states do not qualify for minimum 0.5 percent funds.

o Indefinite authorization for parkways from the Highway Trust

Fund was not counted, although obligations or outlays were

distributed as incurred.

OBLIGATIONS AND OUTLAYS

The primary source for obligations and outlays was the Budget of the

United States Government for each year in the period. Amounts for 1977

were obtained directly from the agencies involved; they should be regarded

as final but subject to correction.

81

mini"
.11111

The obligation amount used was net obligations (line 71.00 of the U.S.

Budget) or its equivalent; this amount was judged to reflect most closely

new commitments of the federal government. This includes changes in

selected resources and is not the same as total program cost. In particular,

receipts, reimbursements, and recovered obligations were netted from the

obligation total. For example, obligations for reimbursable programs were

net of reimbursements received. Outlays were taken directly from the

budget (line 90.00); expenditures were taken from earlier budget documents.

o Obligations against the Highway Trust Fund in 1956 were not

included; they were not during the period covered. These

amounted to about $1 billion and are reflected in outlays in later

years. By the same token, some contract authority left over from

earlier legislation was transferred to the Trust Fund, and

obligations and outlays made against it in 1957 and later years

were counted.

o Excluded were general fund obligations in 1968 that reimbursed

the Highway Trust Fund for an activity already counted as an

obligation there.

o Motor carrier safety prior to 1967 was not included. The full

amount for motor carrier safety in the 1967 Department of

Transportation budget was counted, even though the amount was

reimbursed from other accounts (presumably the Interstate

Commerce Commission).

o Included were obligations and outlays for temporary advances

later netted when recovered.

o Outlays and obligations for Appalachian Development Highways

were provided by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

o Refunds of taxes and interest paid by the Highway Trust Fund

were treated as negative receipts, not outlays.

o Interest subsidies created by interest-free advances and tax

expenditures on state and local gas tax collections were not

included.

o Obligations and outlays for the Interstate System were separated

from other programs according to Federal Highway

Administration data. Fiscal year 1977 amounts for planning and

administration attributable to the Interstate System were not yet

available, so construction amounts were expanded based on past

experience.

82
APPENDIX B. FEDERAL LEGISLATION* RELATED TO THE HIGHWAY

PROGRAMS |

The following is a chronologic* 1 list of federal laws relating to

highway programs that were mentioned n the text. This list is by no means

inclusive of all federal legislation i-elated to highways. For more

comprehensive lists see U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal

Highway Administration, Federal Laws gnd Material Relating to the Federal

Highway Administration (1976), or Am

For each act, the title, date of passage, &nd U.S. Statute citation are given.

atmg to

rica's Highways, 1776-1976 (19767^

Title

Federal Aid Road Act of 1916

Federal Highway Act of 1921 j

Post Office Appropriation Act of 1922 I

Revenue Act of 1932 !

National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933J

Hayden-Cartwright Act of 1934

1

Davis-Bacon Act of 1935 j

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1938 |

Inter-American Highway Act of 1941 \

|

Federal-Aid Highway Amendment of 1948

i

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 !

Revenue Act of 1951 >

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952 j

Date

July 11, 1916

Nov. 9, 1921

June 19, 1922

June 6, 1932

June 16, 1933

June 18, 1934

Number

39 Stat. 355

42 Stat. 22

42 Stat. 652

47 Stat. 169

48 Stat. 195

48 Stat. 993

April 30, 1935 49 Stat. 1011

June 8, 1938 52 Stat. 633

Dec. 26, 1941

July 13, 1943

Dec. 20, 1944

Oct. 20, 1951

June 25, 1952

55 Stat. 860

57 Stat. 560

58 Stat. 838

65 Stat. 452

66 Stat. 158
. J. _ JlLJlllllJl

Title

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1954

Inter-American Highway Act of 1955

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

Highway Revenue Act of 1956

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1958

An Act to extend the time for making

certain reports under the Highway

Revenue Act of 1956 and the

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1959

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1960

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1961

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962

Federal-Aid Highway Amendments Act

of 1963

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1964

An Act to enable the Secretary of

Agriculture to construct and

maintain an adequate system of

roads and trails for the national

forests . . .

An Act to amend subsection 120(f)

of title 23, U.S. Code

An Act to amend section 14 of the

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1954 . . .

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

Amendments of 1965

Date

May 6, 1954

July 1, 1955

June 29, 1956

June 29, 1956

Aug. 7, 1958

Number

68 Stat. 70

69 Stat. 244

70 Stat. 374

70 Stat. 387

72 Stat. 389

August 28, 1958 72 Stat. 983

Sept. 21, 1959 73 Stat. 611

July 14, 1960 74 Stat. 522

June 29, 1961 75 Stat. 122

Oct. 23, 1962 76 Stat. 1145

Oct. 24, 1963 77 Stat. 276

Aug. 13, 1964 78 Stat. 397

Oct. 13, 1964 78 Stat. 1089

Oct. 13, 1964 78 Stat. 1090

Oct. 13, 1964 78 Stat. 1092

Aug. 28, 1965 79 Stat. 578

84
Title Date Number

Highway Beautification Act of 1965

Excise Tax Reduction Act of 1965

Appalachian Regional Development Act

of 1965

National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety

Act of 1966

Highway Safety Act of 1966

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1966

Department of Transportation Act of 1966

Appalachian Regional Development Act

Amendments of 1967

Highway Interstate Systems Modification

Act of 1968 (Kramer-Howard Act)

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968

Appalachian Regional Development Act

Amendments of 1969

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

Clean Air Amendments of 1970

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1970

Highway Safety Act of 1970

Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real

Property Acquisiton Policies Act of 1970

Appalachian Regional Development Act

Amendments of 1971

Oct. 22, 1965 79 Stat. 1028

June 21, 1965 79 Stat. 136

March 9, 1965 79 Stat. 5

Sept. 9, 1966 80 Stat. 718

Sept. 9, 1966 80 Stat. 731

Sept. 13, 1966 80 Stat. 766

Oct. 15, 1966 80 Stat. 931

Oct. 11, 1967 81 Stat. 257

Jan. 2, 1968 81 Stat. 772

Aug. 23, 1968 82 Stat. 815

Nov. 25, 1969

Jan. 1, 1970

Dec. 31, 1970

Dec. 31, 1970

Dec. 31, 1970

83 Stat. 213

83 Stat. 852

84 Stat. 1676

84 Stat. 1713

84 Stat. 1739

Jan. 2, 1971 84 Stat. 1894

Aug. 5, 1971 85 Stat. 166

85

m mil IT
II

Title Date Number

An Act to apportion funds for the National

Interstate and Defense Highways . . . July 6, 1973 87 Stat. 145

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 Aug. 13, 1978 87 Stat. 250

Emergency Highway Energy Conservation

Act of 1974 Jan. 2, 1974 87 Stat. 1046

National Mass Transportation Assistance

Act of 1974 Nov. 26, 1974 88 Stat. 1565

Federal-Aid Highway Amendments of 1974 Jan. 4, 1975 88 Stat. 2281

Energy Policy and Conservation Act Dec. 22, 1975 89 Stat. 871

Appalachian Regional Development Act

Amendments of 1975 Dec. 31, 1975 89 Stat. 1079

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1976 May 5, 1976 90 Stat. 425

O

86