Hard times for the highway trust fund may mean trouble for highway repair

For the first time in 15 years, the Federal highway trust fund will spend more this fiscal year than the fund will receive. The major source of trust fund income, the 4-cents-a-gallon Federal gasoline tax, has not been increased since 1959. In the past the fund grew gradually as gasoline consumption grew. Now, with fuel-efficient cars, higher gasoline costs, lower speed limits, and less driving, fuel use is declining. This lowered income for the fund coincides with increasing costs for road construction and repair at the beginning of serious deterioration of the nation's highways. Some states are taking the initiative to increase their gasoline tax but the Federal tax has remained the same. The debate over the gasoline tax has bypassed the question of why Congress should bail out the highway trust fund when much of its original mission is complete. Originally funded to assist state highway construction, the Federal role has been evolving over the past few years from construction to preservation and rehabilitation. Some major decisions about the highway trust fund will be made in the near future. The Federal aid program expires in 1982; the trust fund expires in 1984. (SAC)