Skip to main content

Obama signs two-month transportation funding extension

President Obama has signed a two month extension of highway funding into law. The Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 extends several aspects of infrastructure funding to the end of July. Obama has proposed a six-year transportation bill of US$478 billion which would increase funding in US roads, highways and transit systems and for the first time would provide dedicated funding for passenger rail, rail safety and a national freight program. Congress has so far been unable to reach agreement o
June 2, 2015 Read time: 1 min
President Obama has signed a two month extension of highway funding into law. The Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 extends several aspects of infrastructure funding to the end of July.

Obama has proposed a six-year transportation bill of US$478 billion which would increase funding in US roads, highways and transit systems and for the first time would provide dedicated funding for passenger rail, rail safety and a national freight program. Congress has so far been unable to reach agreement on how to fund the bill.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it was the President’s view that the era of short-term patches and chronic under-investment in the transportation infrastructure must come to an end and would continue to urge Congress to take steps in that direction.

Related Content

  • NOCoE delivers data for diligent DOTs
    April 29, 2015
    David Crawford talks to Dennis Motiani about the role of the new National Operations Centre of Excellence. Consolidating the collective experience of the US transportation system’s management and operations (TSM&O) community, streamlining its information gathering, while cutting research times and costs are the key drivers behind the country’s new National Operations Centre of Excellence (NOCoE). Launched in January at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), this sets out to be a sin
  • US transportation 'needs political leadership'
    November 9, 2012
    Long-time industry leader John Worthington reflects on where transportation in the US is heading – and where it should be going. Interview with Jason Barnes. The US’s new transportation bill reflects much of what is wrong in the sector in general and in ITS in particular, according to John Worthington. While a decision is welcome, he says, it does little more than provide certainty of funding for anything other than day-to-day operations. Worthington, former Chairman and CEO of TransCore, is back in the ITS
  • Integrating ferry transport into smart ticketing
    March 1, 2013
    Transport authorities are increasingly looking to integrate ferry travel into the mix of public transport. David Crawford finds out more. The new A$370m (US$398m) Opal public transport smartcard system being installed by the Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS)-led Pearl consortium in Sydney is geographically the largest in the world to date. The consortium includes the Commonwealth Bank of Australia; Australian retail payment system provider ePay; Australian infrastructure engineering company Downer Group; a
  • Prospects for intercity transport technology
    February 1, 2012
    Magnetic levitation has been dismissed as unproven, too costly, or pie in the sky. It's time to reappraise it. With the unveiling by China (see News section, page 10) of its own, home-grown magnetic levitation train, it would be odd if politicians, policy-makers and the ITS industry did not want to take a closer look at the 'unproven' technology that is magnetic levitation. Fortunately, doing so is easy. The non-profit International Society for Maglev Transportation (The International Maglev Board) has an e