ROADS/BRIDGES: Transportation groups maintain pressure for a long-term highway bill

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are aiming for a mid-September draft of a long-term highway, transit and rail measure in order to beat the Oct. 29 expiration deadline of the Highway Trust Fund.

State departments of transportation and AASHTO want to see a final long-term bill sent to President Obama for his signature by the end of December, so that transportation policy and funding is not pushed into a presidential election year when Congress is less likely to tackle major legislation.

An updated "trust fund ticker" calculation by the U.S. DOT said the additional revenue Congress approved in July, when it extended the trust fund's authority to Oct. 29, would be enough to fund infrastructure projects until June 2016.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx urged Congress to look past calculations of what it takes to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent, but to focus instead on achieving goals in infrastructure improvements and then decide how to fund those efforts.