GOP Tax Plan Would Affect Bonding, Transit Benefits; End Credit for Electric Vehicles
The proposed Republican tax reform plan would end private-activity bonds and tax-credit bonds that finance some types of infrastructure projects, a credit of $7,500 for each plug-in electric vehicle and a write-off for employers to offer commuter benefits. The plan would also limit early refinancing of existing municipal bonds. The GOP plan aims to end private activity bonds, which allow bondholders an income tax exemption on interest payments similar to municipal bonds and are used to fin...
DOT Should Take Actions to Improve the Selection of Freight and Highway Projects
In 2016, the Department of Transportation (DOT) developed a multi-phased review and selection process for a new grant program—the Fostering Advancement in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE). DOT awarded FASTLANE grants to 18 freight and highway projects. Multiple teams of reviewers evaluated 218 applications based on an evaluation plan that outlined the criteria and process for evaluating applications. GAO found that the awarded projects...
Congress Completes Latest Disaster Aid Bill
The Senate on Oct. 24 followed the House in passing legislation to provide $36.5 billion in disaster relief for victims of recent hurricanes and wildfires, and President Trump signed into law Oct. 26. Also included is emergency credit to Puerto Rico to keep its government functioning, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Journal said the disaster-relief bill, which passed 82-17, includes $18.7 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster-relief fund, $16 billion to reple...
Highway Trust Fund Excise Tax Receipts Showed No Growth in Fiscal 2017
The government's combined receipts from all excise taxes in the Highway Trust Fund showed no growth in the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the Treasury reported, as a large decline in retail taxes on commercial trucks more than offset mild gains from fuel taxes. In its monthly statement for September , the final month of the fiscal year, the Treasury said total HTF excise tax receipts net of refunds were $41.127 billion for the past 12 months, down 0.5 percent or almos...
FHWA Awards More than $15 Million to Six States for Exploring New Ways to Pay for Highways
WASHINGTON – The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) today announced $15.5 million in Surface Transportation System Funding Alternatives (STSFA) grants to six states that are exploring new ways to fund highway and bridge projects. Alternatives to conventional financing are seen as imperative, FHWA officials said, due to the Highway Trust Fund’s gradual inability to keep pace with increasing construction and repair costs nationwide. “To ensure the U.S. road system is the best in the world, w...
VW Trust Takes Effect, Starts Process for States to Begin Using $3B in Project Funding
After months of court filings to finish a major legal settlement by automaker Volkswagen over charges of violating the Clean Air Act, a countdown has begun for states to tap into a nearly $3 billion mitigation projects fund VW has established for the transportation sector. States and tribes can use funds the trust set aside for them over 10 years to pay for a range of projects aimed at reducing their transportation emissions, such as replacing older-model trucks or fleet vehicles, acquiring z...
Reports: Trump Tells Senators Tax Reform Can Pay for Infrastructure Plan
President Trump told members of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee that lawmakers can find funds to pay for a major infrastructure investment program out of a pending tax overhaul, and could perhaps combine those measures, news reports said. That, along with reports that Trump also told lawmakers he is still pushing for an infrastructure plan while aides said they continue to develop an administration proposal, raised the issue's profile at a time that some observers felt a project fund...
Billion-Dollar Projects Fuel Spike in Private Sector Infrastructure Investment
Singapore: Multi-billion dollar projects are fueling stronger private sector investment in infrastructure projects in developing countries, which increased by 24 percent from 2016 levels, reflecting US$36.7 billion across 132 projects, says a new World Bank Group report. However, although the growth of larger-sized projects is contributing to improved figures for the first half of 2017, investment levels remain 15 percent lower than the half-year averages of the past five years, reports...
Governor McAuliffe Announces USDOT Approval of Federal Loan for I-66 Public-Private Partnership
RICHMOND – Governor Terry McAuliffe today announced that the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued their approval to provide a $1.2 billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan for the I-66 Outside the Beltway public-private partnership transportation project. The TIFIA loan represents 33 percent of the project’s total cost. The Commonwealth’s private partner on the I-66 Outside the Beltway Project, a consortium of Cintra, Meridiam, Ferrovi...
Fires Plague California as Latest Disaster Aid Package Moves in Congress
A new spate of natural disasters in the form of wildfires has left at least 31 people dead in northern California, disrupted transportation there and added to the nation's growing cost of infrastructure repairs. President Trump approved a disaster declaration for the state, clearing the way for federal aid to flow. Most of the fires were in California's wine-growing area, and in a series of state disaster declarations Gov. Jerry Brown said the damages included shutdowns of major roads....
Video: New Roundabout Under Construction at McIver and Old Florence Roads in Darlington County
Promenade at The Point
June Issue 2026
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