In a July 20 letter to Congressional leaders, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials said American state Departments of Transportation need an “immediate infusion” of $37 billion in funding to offset projected losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funds are necessary to prevent job losses, disruptions to planned projects, and critical stoppages to the nation’s economic recovery.
In April, AASHTO had requested $50 billion in funding. Officials with AASHTO said the near-term financial needs for state DOTS have remained the same in fiscal year 2020. However, data from the last three months showed that transportation revenues in states will not fall as much as initially projected.
“This change in estimated loss is mainly due to a less severe outlook for FY 2021 from our members compared to earlier this year,” Patrick McKenna, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation and AASHTO’s 2019-2020 president, and Jim Tymon, the group’s executive director, noted in the letter.
However, the recovery time frame, AASHTO officials said, is expected to take longer than originally anticipated.
The requested funding, they said, would “prevent further disruptions to planned transportation projects and allow state DOT employees and transportation construction workers essential to planning and delivering these projects to remain on the job.”
AASHTO said it anticipates the recovery time for state DOTs to take approximately five years.
“With millions of Americans following ‘stay-at-home’ orders, many state DOTs are facing severe losses in revenues, including dedicated user fee revenues on which state transportation programs heavily rely,” they said. “Projections continue to show decreases in state motor fuel tax and toll receipts as nationwide vehicle traffic reduction bottomed out at about 50 percent during the height of the pandemic. As a result, the ability of state DOTs to carry out their core functions, including capital construction programs, is threatened.”