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

  • A global standard for enforcement systems – is it necessary?
    May 30, 2013
    Jason Barnes speaks to leading figures from the automated enforcement sector about whether a truly international standard for automated enforcement systems is necessary or can ever be achieved. Recent reports of further press controversy in the US over automated enforcement (see ‘Focusing on accuracy?’, ITS International raise again the issue of standards and what constitutes ‘good enough’ in terms of system accuracy and overall solution effectiveness. Comparatively, automated enforcement has always expe
  • The case for using toll revenues to fund Interstate improvements
    May 11, 2012
    High road toll increases threaten new regulation, but states should be free to use toll revenue for Interstate improvements. Bob Poole reports Large toll rate increases have been implemented recently by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, justified in part to help pay for its World Trade Center project. In response, a bill was introduced in Congress that would allow the Secretary of Transportation to regulate tolls on every bridge on the country’s Interstates and other federally aided highways. F
  • USDoT goes 'back to basics' by rescinding Biden-era memos
    March 11, 2025
    Transport funding memos were part of 'radical social and environmental agenda'
  • High hopes for Detroit streetcar system
    June 12, 2013
    Detroit, the historic home of the US automotive industry, is to get a new streetcar rail system to help drive the economic revival of Motor City. M-1 Rail, the organisation overseeing the US$140 million project, has been pursuing an aggressive timetable toward a late 2015 service launch. “We are now jumping out of the gate,” says Heather Carmona, M-1 Rail’s chief administrative officer. Final design could be completed by mid-August and, depending on when the necessary permits are secured, construction coul