As a standing-room-only crowd of lawmakers, construction and transportation officials, and others in the White House's East Room looked on, President Obama on July 6 signed into law a long-overdue $104.4-billion, 27-month highway-and-transit authorization bill. Putting down the last of the 12 pens he used to sign his name, Obama said, "All right. It's done," to a round of applause from the audience.
The president's signature on the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) does put a welcome end to more than 33 frustrating months of funding via short-term stopgaps. But the enactment also launches a critical new phase as state transportation directors and construction industry officials begin to turn its funding into new road and transit projects and implement MAP-21's important policy changes.
As construction officials delve into MAP-21's 584 pages, they find much to applaud. First of all, they are happy it is finally on the books. The measure, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates at $104.4 billion, includes about $80 billion for highway construction, $21.3 billion for transit and $2.5 billion for highway-safety programs over the next two fiscal years. The highway total is about a 1% increase over 2012's level, reflecting expected inflation, lawmakers and lobbyists say.
建筑团体希望拥有更高的资金。然而，在财政环境中，共和党人的努力限制支出和公路信托基金的薄弱国家都对众议院和参议院谈判者施加压力，要求缩减该法案的规模。国家沥青路面协会执行副主席杰伊·汉森（Jay Hansen）说：“考虑到我们所处的情况，我认为这是我们最好的交易。”资金受年度拨款的约束。
相关总承包商高速公路和运输部高级主任布莱恩·德里（Brian Deery）称MAP 21为“时代的孩子”。他说：“这更多是'我们如何生活在我们的手段之内？'可以这么说。鉴于这一点，坦率地说，我对整个事情的出现方式感到非常满意。它超出了我所希望的。”
州和行业官员特别高兴看到该法案在接下来的两个财政年度中携带。有人认为最终版本可能会在2013年结束。
State transportation chiefs had argued that the 10 stopgap authorizations since Sept. 30, 2009, when the last long-term bill expired, made federal funding levels unpredictable, causing them to hold back on new, multiyear projects. But with MAP-21 running through 2014, Jack Basso, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials director of program finance and management, says, "I'll think what you'll see is this ramping up of these bigger projects."
The law also offers ways to stretch or supplement its base funding. It sharply increases the popular Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, which provides loans and loan guarantees to help fund major projects. MAP-21 hikes direct federal TIFIA subsidies to $750 million in 2013 and $1 billion in 2014, from $122 million in 2012. As large as it is, that boost will have an even bigger impact on projects because each subsidy dollar supports $10 in loan volume. Thus TIFIA loans could reach $10 billion in 2014
Cathy Connor, Parsons Brinckerhoff senior vice president for government affairs, says the TIFIA provision drew significant industry attention. With MAP-21 lacking a major overall funding increase, she says, "people are looking at innovative financing and other ways of doing projects." Still, Connor notes TIFIA aid comes in the form of loans, which states and other project sponsors must repay. "This is not grant money," she says.
TIFIA can be only a part of a project's financial package; it must be accompanied by other federal aid, state dollars or money from the private sector. MAP-21 raises TIFIA's maximum share to 49% of a project's cost, from 33%.
该法规还放宽了联邦对收费的限制，但只有一点。它允许各州对新的州际车道施加通行费，并允许机构将现有的高占用车道转换为高占用的通行费通道。但是，这远远没有让国家对所有当前州际英里的通行费付费。
