The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee was expected to mark up the next surface transportation reauthorization bill in April, but that timeline has slipped, with action now anticipated in May, Roads and Bridges reports.
Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and ranking member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) have been negotiating on a proposed bill but have so far been unable to reach a compromise. As the impasse continues, concerns grow that the legislation won’t be finished by the authorization’s Sept. 30 deadline.
Industry groups, including the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC), have developed a list of principles that it is advocating for inclusion in the bill.
TCC’s principles are intended to guide lawmakers toward a more predictable and effective funding framework by:
Preserving and strengthening current funding levels, with adjustments for inflation to ensure continued purchasing power, while also improving project delivery processes so that funds are deployed more quickly and efficiently.
Enhancing work zone and roadway safety by increasing investment in programs designed to protect both highway workers and the traveling public during construction activities.
Ensuring long-term fiscal stability by updating federal user-fee systems—such as fuel taxes or vehicle-miles-traveled approaches—to create a more reliable and sustainable source of infrastructure funding going forward.
In March, Chairman Graves said that it would be “unacceptable” to let the current highway bill expire on Sept. 30 without reauthorization. “I’m committed to getting the next surface bill done on time and preventing potential project delays and uncertainty that can result from a lapse in long-term funding,” Graves said.
The key takeaway is that the reauthorization delay does not signal failure—it signals negotiation. The issues slowing the bill are the same ones that will define it: how to fund the system, how quickly projects can move from concept to construction and how narrowly or broadly federal dollars should be targeted. When the bill does emerge from committee, it will offer the clearest picture yet of how lawmakers intend to shape the future of America’s roads and bridges.