Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Would Provide a 50% Increase in Highway Funding and Boost Major Freight Projects

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Would Provide a 50% Increase in Highway Funding and Boost Major Freight Projects

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INSIGHTi

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)
Would Provide a 50% Increase in Highway
Funding and Boost Major Freight Projects
September 22, 2021
The Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; H.R. 3684, as amended) would provide
$351 billion for highways over FY2022-FY2026. This would include $304 billion from the Highway
Trust Fund (HTF) supplemented by $47 billion in general fund multiple-year appropriations. The $351
billion would represent a nearly 50% increase above the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act
(FAST Act; P.L. 114-94, as amended) FY2021 baseline over the five-year life of the bill. The bill reflects
an evolving trend toward dual funding paths for highway programs, one via authorizations and one via
appropriations; see Table 1. The two paths have been brought together under the umbrella of
infrastructure legislation in IIJA.
In addition, the IIJA in Division B, Title VI, would provide nearly $22 billion for “Multimodal and
Freight Transportation,” and Division J also would provide $19 billion to the Office of the Secretary of
Transportation for surface transportation project grants. These appropriations could be significant
additional sources of funding for highway and freight projects.
Table 1. Highway Funding: Senate-Passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
(HTF=contract authority from the Highway Account of the HTF. GF=General Fund. In millions of nominal dollars)
Program
FY2022
FY2023
FY2024
FY2025
FY2026
Total
Notes
Federal-Aid Highways Program
52,488
53,538
54,609
56,701
56,815
273,150
90% of HTF
formula (HTF)
funds
HTF total
58,112
59,404
60,735
61,953
63,296
303,500
86.5% of all
funds
GF appropriations
9,454
9,454
9,454
9,454
9,454
47,272
13.5% of all
funds
Total HTF and GF supplemental
67,566
68,858
70,189
71,407
72,750
350,772

FAST Act FY2021 baseline
47,104
47,104
47,104
47,104
47,104
235,520

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Program
FY2022
FY2023
FY2024
FY2025
FY2026
Total
Notes
Percent increase above baseline
43.4%
46.2%
49.0%
51.6%
54.4%
48.9%

Source: Federal Highway Administration. CRS calculations.
Notes: Figures are not adjusted for expected inflation. “GF” refers to appropriations from the Treasury General Fund.
Does not include authorizations subject to appropriation. Totals do not include funding for the safety operations of the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Totals may not add
due to rounding.
Highway Highlights
 The vast majority of highway funding would continue to be apportioned to the states via
formula. Ninety percent of the HTF funding would be apportioned by formula. About
72% of the $47.3 billion in multiple-year appropriations would also be apportioned by
formula. Taken together, roughly 87% of total highway funds would be apportioned by
formula. The remaining 13% would be allocated for Federal Lands Highways, Puerto
Rico and Territorial Highways, and federal credit assistance, or distributed competitively
by the Department of Transportation.
 IIJA would provide for a major expansion in the number of highway programs. Two new
HTF formula programs, the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient
and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) program and the Carbon Reduction
Program, would be added to the core Federal-Aid Highway formula programs. Another
dozen new grant programs and pilot programs would be created by the bill. These
programs would pursue a variety of transportation initiatives, including responding to
climate change, improving bridge conditions, assuring environmental justice, and
promoting other policy goals.
 Bridges would receive a dedicated $40 billion, mostly from the general fund, to make a
major effort to reduce the number of bridges classified as in either poor or fair condition.
 No new highway taxes are proposed in the bill. $90 billion in general fund transfers to the
Highway Account of the HTF would be provided to maintain its solvency.
 Division J of the bill would provide an additional $19 billion to the Office of the
Secretary of Transportation (OST) for Nationally Significant Projects, Rebuilding
American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grants, Safe Streets for
All, and other surface transportation grant programs administered by OST.
Freight Provisions
IIJA seeks to address two institutional impediments to addressing freight needs: the separate funding of
different modes of transportation and lack of regional planning. To elevate freight needs in the federal
Department of Transportation, which is largely organized around mode-specific administrations, IIJA
would create a new office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy at the Assistant Secretary level
who would be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The current Office of Freight
Management and Operations is housed in the Office of Operations within the Federal Highway
Administration.
A related impediment is how to fund a multimodal freight network in a surface transportation bill funded
in large part by taxes on highway users, including truckers who partner but also compete with the other
freight modes. IIJA would amend two existing, primarily highway, freight funding programs (Nationally
Significant Freight and Highway Projects and the National Highway Freight Program) by increasing the

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cap from 10% to 30% of total funds that could be spent on certain multimodal rail and port projects
(§§11110 and 11114).
The interstate nature of freight movement raises the question of how to improve the national network
when each state department of transportation independently plans and selects which highway projects to
fund. IIJA would provide grants for the administrative costs of establishing interstate compacts to
facilitate the planning and coordination of freight improvements from a regional perspective (§21106). It
would also renew the requirement, enacted in 2015 but never fully implemented, for DOT to delineate
and publish a National Multimodal Freight Network to help plan and prioritize freight projects (§21105).
A related issue is how to fund especially expensive freight projects, since project costs are borne locally
but benefits can accrue regionally or nationally. IIJA seeks to provide federal funds for such projects with
substantial increases for the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects program, as well as
create a new grant program geared toward projects costing over $500 million (§21201, National
Infrastructure Project Assistance). Finally, IIJA seeks to reduce emissions in port areas, particularly from
idling trucks, by creating a new DOT discretionary grant program for this purpose (§11402).

Author Information

Robert S. Kirk
John Frittelli
Specialist in Transportation Policy
Specialist in Transportation Policy

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