Federal Funding Uncertainty in State, Local, and Regional Departments of Transportation

The team worked to (1) identify and document the consequences and significant impacts of federal funding uncertainty on state departments of transportation (DOTs), other transportation agencies, and stakeholders; and (2) present how these agencies have responded and adapted to these uncertainties.

For the project, EBP led development of analyses of the potential economic impacts associated with a decrease in federal transportation program funding. To conduct this analysis, EBP created a set of funding reduction scenarios for different programs across multiple modes likely to be affecting by the looming fiscal insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). For each scenario, EBP  calculated the wider economic impacts of funding reductions based on state-level spending changes in areas such as congestion mitigation, bridge modernization and replacement, and public transit improvements. EBP also employed qualitative information from state and metropolitan planning agency (MPO) case studies to develop estimates of those states and MPOs' vulnerability and responses to federal funding reductions.