Highway Trust Fund

A couple of themes emerged from the first hearing of a new House panel on freight transportation. One: The United States needs to reinvest in freight infrastructure across all modes, and for highways that means raising money by raising fuel taxes.

There is a general recognition on Capitol Hill that Congress is going to have to come up with dedicated money, as opposed to financing or general funds, for the next highway program in October 2014.

The highway law that took so much effort over the past five years is just six months old, but now it's time to start again. As the U.S. Department of Transportation still unpacks the two-year, $105 billion measure passed last summer, Congress and transportation interests are gathering to return, once more, unto the breach.