APTA, Coalition Partners Urge Surface Transportation Reauthorization; State Principles

APTA and more than 60 coalition partners wrote to leadership of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, Sept. 4, urging surface transportation reauthorization before the Sept. 30, 2026 deadline.

“Modern, safe, and efficient infrastructure is the backbone of American commerce and daily life. Recent investment in the nation’s roads, bridges, and public transit systems has enabled safety enhancements and mobility improvements across the country,” the letter stated. “While progress has been made, much work remains.

The undersigned organizations are united in commitment to work with Congress and the Trump Administration to build on this progress and enact a new surface transportation law before the Sept. 30, 2026, deadline.

As your committees begin drafting this important legislation, we ask that the following principles guide your efforts:

Maintain Baseline Investment Levels for Highways, Public Transit, and Multimodal programs:

Highway, bridge, and public transit investment levels for Fiscal Year 2026 should, at minimum, be carried forward with inflation adjustments, regardless of the previous budgetary source of these programs. These investments are needed for safety enhancements, infrastructure rebuild, and congestion relief.

Maximize State Flexibility: The greatness of our nation is founded in the distinct attributes of all fifty states. An effective national transportation program must provide states the necessary flexibility and resources through formula funds to meet the unique needs of each community.

Prioritize Safety for All System Users: Increased investment and research should be directed at improving roadway, public transit, and work zone safety to ensure the traveling public and construction workers get home safely at the end of each day.

Reform Project Delivery to Accelerate Construction and Control Costs: Modernization of federal requirements can identify and eliminate challenges in the environmental review and permitting process that stand in the way of timely project delivery. Strengthening One Federal Decision to ensure its full utilization and creating a timely waiver process for Buy America, while maintaining existing exemptions for certain construction materials, will help ensure federal investment is focused on building transportation solutions, not process hurdles.

Together, these principles call for legislation that will help build a transportation system necessary to drive economic prosperity.”