Transportation Funding and Financing

This is the section contains the bulk of the Center technical content and information. The content is organized into three major areas provides comprehensive sources of information on aspects of transportation finance.

Funding

The Funding section provides information on the different revenue sources generated at the Federal, state and local levels used for transportation investment needs. These including: taxes, fees, user charges, and capturing enhanced property values. This section describes how the different funding sources are generated as well as the mechanics of their distribution. This section of the Center website provides descriptive information and related resources on Federal, state and local funding and revenue sources.

Financing

The Finance section provides information on the different financial tools that are used to leverage transportation funding and revenue sources, allowing transportation agencies to raise the high up-front costs needed to build projects and expedite the implementation of needed transportation improvements. Finance mechanisms are the tools used to expand upon existing funding sources at any given time; they include a wide variety of bond backed by different types of revenue streams, together with credit enhancement and revolving loan programs designed to assist transportation agencies in expediting the implementation of transportation improvement. This section of the Center website provides descriptive information and related resources on Federal, state and local finance mechanisms.

Legislation

The Legislation section provides descriptions and summaries a wide array of Federal, state and local legislation that establishes transportation funding sources and governs their distribution and uses. It also provides information on legislation establishing and regulating the use of the finance mechanisms used for transportation improvements. The legislation section provides coverage of laws governing Federal transportation funding and policy contained in Titles 23 (highways) and 49 (transit) of the Federal code, together with information on the seven-year Transportation Authorization Act process which is used to update Federal legislation and funding levels. The legislation section also provides information on state and local authorization legislation that is needed to establish new revenue sources or powers - such as the ability collect tolls or other revenue sources - as well as the use of different types financial tools.

Each of these sections provides separate coverage of Federal, state and local issues.