Lawmakers in the House and Senate have reached an agreement on a compromise highway bill that would extend federal transportation funding for five years, as Congress scrambles to prevent a highway-funding shutdown this week.
The agreement comes as federal transportation spending is currently set to expire on Dec. 4. The legislation will be known as the "Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act," or the "FAST Act."
The measure calls for spending approximately $205 billion highways and $48 billion on transit projects over the next five years.
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"The FAST Act has been a long-time in coming, but it gives road builders and the driving public a level of predictability that we haven’t seen in a decade," says National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) President Mike Acott. "The House and Senate conferees deserve credit for funding a full five-year program that provides the states and federal agencies the flexibility necessary to seek innovative solutions to our transportation needs."
Lawmakers were racing to finish negotiations on a bicameral multiyear transportation funding bill to provide enough time for both chambers to consider a deal by Friday to prevent an infrastructure spending interruption.
The agreement announced on Tuesday would result in the first transportation funding legislation to last longer than two years since 2005, if it is approved by both chambers before the end of the week.
"Our roads and highways have gone without necessary maintenance and improvement through years of short-term surface transportation bill extensions," says Acott. "But this bill gives the states and industry the certainty needed to move forward aggressively to improve safety, performance, and drivability."
