Book Description

Few issues in the history of the Federal-Aid Highway Program have raised such heated debate as the arguments over how closely the program's payments to the individual states should match the amount of federal highway taxes each state's highway users pay to the highway account of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). Commonly referred to as the donor-donee state issue, it has re-emerged within the context of the debate over the reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs, TEA-21 (Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century) (P.L. 105-178). "Donor states" are states whose highway users are estimated to pay more to the HTF than they receive. "Donee states" receive more than they pay. The basic donor state argument is a relatively straightforward call for equity or fairness. Donor state advocates generally contend that for too many years they have been subsidizing the repair and improvement of donee state infrastructure, especially the older highway infrastructure in the Northeast. Some of the donor state advocates argue that the federal role should be reduced and that the Federal-Aid Highway Program should be streamlined or eliminated and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) should become primarily a conduit for block grants to the states. Donee state advocates ...