Stream Fishing: As the Transportation Network Fills to Capacity, Congress Searches for Another Strong Currency Current

This article outlines some of the new possibilities for surface transportation afforded by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Specifically, the article describes the acknowledgement made in the bill by the United States Congress that the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) revenue was not enough to fund current transportation infrastructure maintenance and development. While the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) is ensuring that the law will provide funding where needed through the ARTBA SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization Task Force, the legislation has already been subject to two years of bureaucratic delays. The article closes with some brief reflections on the beginning of the Interstate Highway System in 1956, and gives a set of predictions for how such funding allocations will be spent in the future for the improvement of transportation.