The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), signed into law in November 2021, provides $273 billion in federal funds for highway and bridge investments in the U.S. over five years. But the IIJA is set to expire on September 30, 2026.

Regular and timely reauthorization of the nation’s surface transportation programs is essential to both economic vitality and national security. Multi-year authorizations give states the long-term certainty needed to plan, fund, and deliver major infrastructure projects that keep people and goods moving efficiently.

TRIP’s focus is on educating the public and decision makers on the importance of transportation investment in supporting economic growth, safety, and infrastructure through the release of national and state reports and fact sheets. For over 50 years, TRIP has issued data-driven reports to provide our industry partners with information that can be used in promoting greater surface transportation infrastructure investment, like the IIJA.

The nation’s ability to provide needed transportation improvements is threatened by significant inflation in construction costs and the erosion of motor fuel taxes due to improved fuel efficiency and the adoption of hybrid and electric vehicles.

These trends threaten each state’s ability to keep pace with growing transportation needs. The Federal Highway Administration’s national highway construction cost index, which measures the rate of inflation in labor and materials cost, increased 47 percent from the beginning of 2022 through the first half of 2025.

ARTBA Chair Tony Fassino, from Caterpillar, stresses the significance of investing in transportation infrastructure. “A surface transportation reauthorization bill is really important for the simple reason of providing industry certainty,” he said. “It’s hard to take a long-term view when certainty isn’t there. That short-term thinking doesn’t get us to the efficiency, safety, or cost goals we need...If we can get reauthorization across the finish line — make transportation in America safer, stronger, and more efficient — then we've made every American's life better."

TRIP will be preparing and releasing national and state reports supporting the need for timely, adequately funded reauthorization and for further increases in state transportation funding. TRIP’s state reports are curated to the specific needs of each state, reflecting the current condition of the local transportation system and the state’s funding needs. TRIP’s national reports have a wider scope, evaluating the U.S. transportation system while also including data for all 50 states.

At the national level, a total of 40 percent of major U.S. roads are in poor or mediocre condition. And according to TRIP calculations, driving on deteriorated roads costs U.S. motorists $169 billion a year — $723 per driver — in the form of additional repairs, accelerated vehicle depreciation, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear.

The news and social media coverage of TRIP’s reports serve to educate the public and decisionmakers, generating over 400 news stories in 2025 alone and reaching 425 million people. TRIP’s national and state fact sheets also provide data and information that can be shared on social media and with elected officials and policymakers at all levels of government.

TRIP’s planned 2026 national rural roads report, for example, will highlight the need to improve the condition and safety of rural roads, highways, and bridges that connect the nation’s primary sources of energy, food, and fiber, particularly at a time when there is a heightened need for rural communities to have reliable and safe access.

Current TRIP Board Chair and past ARTBA Chair Tim Duit, President of Duit Construction Company, Inc., in Oklahoma, is seeing the impact of the lack of a long-term transportation funding bill. Without the assurance of local, state, and federal funding, projects are in a perpetual state of uncertainty, resulting in job instability for some of the 800 people Duit Construction employs.

As someone with over 30 years in the industry, Duit says, “Investing in our transportation systems is an investment in our country. It pays for itself in the economic impacts, public safety, and stability for the industry.”

A reliable, well-funded transportation network underpins domestic commerce, supports global competitiveness, and ensures the efficient movement of people, goods, and services across states and around the globe. 

According to Duit, multi-year funding authorizations, in particular, “provide states, project planners, and local governments with the long-term certainty needed to plan, fund, and deliver major infrastructure projects — often years in the making — that improve safety, reduce congestion, strengthen supply chains, and enhance our transportation networks.”  

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the nation’s interstate highway system, a milestone celebrating the construction of the nation’s most important infrastructure asset, which has connected communities and powered economic growth.

As the September 30 IIJA deadline approaches, timely reauthorization will be critical to avoid funding disruptions, protect ongoing projects, and ensure that states can continue making strategic, long-term investments that support economic growth and public safety.

For more information about the condition and performance of America’s roads, bridges, and transit systems or ways to support transportation investment through TRIP, visit tripnet.org.About the Author
David Kearby is the Executive Director of TRIP — a national transportation research nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining TRIP, he was involved in construction and transportation issues in Washington state with the Associated General Contractors of Washington and as Chairperson for TRANS-Action, a regional transportation partnership.