President proposes $72.5 billion for transportation in 2010

President Barack Obama has released his proposed federal budget “framework” for fiscal years 2010 and beyond. The document is not a detailed line item budget proposal but rather, in many areas, presents aggregate funding levels and some policy initiatives and priorities. The detailed budget is expected to be released in April.

The overall U.S. DOT funding level requested is $72.5 billion, about $1.8 billion more than the $70.7 billion appropriated in FY 2009, an increase of 2.5%. Highway and transit funding levels are not specified.

The document points out that the current framework for financing and allocating surface transportation investments is not financially sustainable and pledges to work to correct this situation and will emphasize the use of economic analysis and performance measurement in transportation planning. A key point of concern, however, is a proposal to change the budget treatment of the Highway Trust Fund that would change project funding from a multi-year authorization to an annual appropriation. This would be very disruptive to the program and a policy change that will be opposed by the transportation community.

The budget also highlights high-speed rail as a top Administration transportation priority. The document proposes a five-year $5 billion high-speed rail state grant program. This is in addition to the $8 billion included in the recently enacted economic stimulus legislation.