ROADS/BRIDGES: Foxx paints bleak picture come August

State departments of transportation may receive a cut in pay during the peak of the summer construction season. At a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said road and transit federal reimbursement payments would be reduced the first week of August. The Highway Trust Fund is expected to hit $4 billion at that time, and with the House of Representatives and Senate struggling over funding formulas for the next highway bill the situation is going to get bleak. “States will be paid not as they send their bills in, but every two weeks as money from the gas tax comes in,” said Foxx. “This is, we believe, the most equitable approach, but there is to be very clear no good option when we’re talking about a trust fund that is running short in supply dollars.” Funding conditions will worsen once MAP-21 expires on Sept. 30 and there is still no solution on the table. “If we get to Sept. 30 and there hasn’t been a funding solution and there hasn’t been a reauthorization extension at a minimum, we will not be able to spend money even if we have it,” said Foxx. “That’s another part of the crisis.” Both the Senate and House have proposed funding extensions to MAP-21. The Senate wants to pass a $9 billion measure to finish out 2014, while the House is favoring a 12-month temporary bail out.