Via AASHTO Journal

A group of state Department of Transportation chiefs warned that the current short-term extension of the highway Trust Fund is creating unusual problems for states planning their summer construction programs.

Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Charles Zelle said the current May deadline for the Highway Trust Fund to run out of funds and spending authority "is even more troublesome" than the one last August, because it is preventing states from letting bids for the normal springtime start of the construction season.

"The damage is already starting," Zelle said at a Jan. 13 roundtable discussion of financing issues during the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, held Jan. 11-15 in Washington, D.C.

That same day, state DOT executives held two more TRB roundtables on other issues facing transportation system planners.

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