Evaluating the Impact of COVID-19 on Transportation Infrastructure Funding in the United States

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a reduction in business and routine activity and resulted in less motor fuel consumption. Thus, the gas tax revenue is reduced, which is the major funding resource supporting the rehabilitation and maintenance of transportation infrastructure systems. The focus of this study is to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on transportation infrastructure funds in the United States through analyzing the motor fuel consumption data. Machine learning models were developed by integrating COVID-19 scenarios, fuel consumptions, and demographic data. The best model achieves an R2-score of more than 95% and captures the fluctuations of fuel consumption during the pandemic. Using the developed model, we project future motor gas consumption for each state. For some states, the gas tax revenues are going to be 10%-15% lower than the pre-pandemic level for at least one or two years. © 2022 International Conference on Transportation and Development

Bridging the Gap: A Picture of State Transportation Funding in the United States

For years, states have struggled with chronic gaps between transportation revenues and investment needs due to aging infrastructure, cost inflation, and declining motor fuel tax revenue. States have confronted constrained resources in the face of changing demographics and growing demand and have, as a result, developed a wide array of approaches to providing transportation funding and financing options including state fuel taxes, vehicle fees, sales taxes, and tolls. Shifts in the makeup of state highway program revenue sources over the past several years reflect changing dynamics: bond revenue and state revenue have increased while highway user fees and federal investments have declined. Here, Howard discusses how states are advancing revenue measures and options for the future.