DALLAS - The federal Department of Transportation expects the Highway Trust Fund to run dry in August and post a $100 million deficit before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The HTF funnels gasoline and diesel tax revenues to states for highway and bridge projects, with a portion set aside for mass transit agencies.
"Based on current spending and revenue trends, the Highway Trust Fund will encounter a shortfall before the end of fiscal 2014," DOT said on its new website that tracks the monthly balances of the HTF.
The mass transit account will have $440 million left when fiscal 2015 begins on Oct. 1, but the highway account will run out of money sometime in August, DOT predicted.
The highway account totaled $8.5 billion on Dec. 27, DOT said, with $3.8 billion in the Mass Transit Account. The highway infrastructure account receives 17.4 cents from the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, with 1 cent earmarked for public transit.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said last week that the fund balances will be updated monthly until HTF can sustain itself or until it runs out.
"On Oct. 1 of this year, the two-year MAP-21 bill is set to expire, and the Highway Trust Fund will start bouncing checks as soon as August," Foxx said Jan. 15 at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting.
"We need to pass a surface reauthorization bill, and we need to pass one for rail, too," Foxx said. "Because we don't have much time."
The transportation fund balances are reported regularly to Congress, Foxx said, but will now be posted on the DOT website as well.
"The American people need to know [the HTF balance], too, because they are the ones who use America's transportation system, and they are the ones who will travel slower and less safely if it isn't funded," Foxx said.
Budget projections in mid-2013 put the highway account's balance at the end of fiscal 2014 at $4.6 billion with $300 million in the mass transit account.
The highway account had dwindled to $1.6 billion in cash as the fiscal year began in October, but was soon replenished by a $9.7 billion transfer from the general fund provided by Moving Ahead For Progress in the 21st Century or MAP-21the two-year federal transportation funding law enacted in 2012.
The funding law actually called for a transfer of $10.4 billion this year, but the total was reduced through sequestration.
The mass transit account received a transfer of $2 billion from the general fund, down from the $2.2 billion allocated before the sequester.
Revenues from the federal gasoline and diesel taxes have not kept up with spending so far in fiscal 2014, DOT said, continuing a gap that has existed since fiscal 2008. Congress has transferred more than $180 billion of general fund revenues to the HTF over the past six fiscal years.
"The surface transportation program continues to outlay at a greater pace than receipts are coming in," DOT said. "As a result, the cash balance has dropped by nearly $3.4 billion since the general fund transfer occurred."
The head of the Federal Transit Administration said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Jan. 16 that local and regional transit agencies would see a reduction in their federal reimbursements if the balance in the mass transit account falls below $1 billion.
A similar curtailment is being developed by the Federal Highway Administration that would be triggered if the highway account balance drops below $4 billion, said FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff, who is currently acting as DOT undersecretary for policy.
