Highway Trust Fund to be Replaced by Transportation Trust Fund?

A single paragraph in the U.S. Transportation Department's fiscal 2012 budget could fundamentally alter the funding mechanism for highways and other transit. The administration is calling for replacing the current highway trust fund with a "transportation trust fund" that will have separate accounts for highways, transit, high-speed rail, and a national infrastructure bank. In the near term, this means that highways would see only a slightly smaller share of the overall national transportation funds that also go to intercity transit and passenger rail. But over a longer period of time, the move away from a dedicated highway trust fund signals the administration's desire to wean the country away from the automobile. (More at NationalJournal.com . . . )