Biden Infrastructure Bill Spurred Increase in Highway Spending
The Urban Institute’s review of four years of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) spending shows that while the federal government boosted funding for rail and transit, those gains were overshadowed by major increases in state and local spending on highways. Even though federal support for non-highway transportation rose, largely due to Amtrak investments, overall transit funding across all levels of government stayed flat and rail spending actually declined. The problem, the researchers note, is that states and localities dominate transportation spending, and they continued to channel far more money into road expansion while cutting their own investments in transit by more than a third.
As a result, the IIJA did not shift U.S. transportation priorities toward public transit, safety or climate goals as intended. Analysts argue that without strong federal policy requirements, states used the flexible funding to build more highways — often without transparency or accountability — rather than to repair existing infrastructure or expand affordable travel options. The Urban Institute and other experts recommend that Congress rewrite the next surface transportation authorization to focus on environmental sustainability, equity and clear accountability for state DOTs, especially as current federal leadership signals a push to further reduce transit funding in favor of road construction.
