Operations of and Outlook for the Highway Trust Fund

GAO discussed the Highway Trust Fund, focusing on unexpended balances and trust fund revenues that could be made available to meet highway needs. GAO noted that: (1) the Highway Trust Fund's highway account balance was approximately $10.6 billion; (2) Congress placed limitations on states' use of funds and states had not used an estimated $1 billion in available trust fund revenues; (3) state officials believed that they did not use funds primarily because the funds provided a cushion against an uneven flow in federal funds; (4) projections indicated that the final trust fund balance would exceed outstanding commitments by $6.4 billion; (5) to prevent future trust fund buildups, Congress should limit trust fund revenues to more closely approximate expected obligations; (6) since 1987, the advance construction balance has ranged between $2 billion and $2.6 billion; (7) the amount of funds not subject to obligation ceilings ranged from approximately $700 million to $2.2 billion, and minimum allocation funds and demonstration projects accounted for 98 percent of the exempt funds in 1990; (8) from 1982 through 1988, highway system bridge deficiencies increased from about 70,000 to 77,000, primarily due to the rapid growth in deficient interstate bridges; (9) through fiscal year 1991, the mass transit account (MTA) is expected to receive income of about $13.5 billion; and (10) Congress did not authorize the Urban Mass Transit Administration to obligate about $3.8 billion because of appropriation process limitations.