MAP-21

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.

Sen. Barbara Boxer gave a shout-out to American Trucking Associations last week, thanking the trade group for supporting higher diesel taxes dedicated to highway funding.

The House of Representatives will begin oversight of the new federal highway program March 14 with a hearing to review implementation of key elements of last year’s highway bill.

The Virginia General Assembly passed a landmark transportation package that replaces the per-gallon fuel tax with a wholesale tax, plus other revenue raisers, and addressed the controversial issue of adding tolls to I-95.

The White House is adding details to the “Fix-It-First” infrastructure program that President Obama unveiled in his State of the Union address.

The Department of Transportation is asking for nominations for a committee that will establish the National Freight Strategic Plan that's called for in last year's highway bill, and has proposed a process for desgnating a national freight network.

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.

The new highway law sets an ambitious agenda for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration over the next couple of years. Most of the requirements in MAP-21 came from the agency's strategic plan, said administrator Anne Ferro as she introduced a presentation Monday on the agency's plans to implement the law.