Here are a few quick bullets from the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Highlights released on Monday:
- -10.3%: Six-year change in total federal surface transportation budget;
- -15.9%: Six-year change in Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) budget;
- 58.9%: Share of federal surface transportation budget going to federal highway initiatives, excluding Livable Commuities initiatives in Fiscal Year 2012.
- 53.6%: Share of federal surface transportation budget going to federal highway initiatives, excluding livable commuities (Smart Growth) initiatives in Fiscal Year 2017.
- 35.9%: Share of six-year surface transportation budget going to to transit, passenger rail, and livability communities initiatives;
- 38.9%: Share of six-year surface transportation budget going to to transit, passenger rail, and livability communities initiatives in FY 2017.
Of course, FY 2012 includes a lot of “one-time” spending that is focused on stimulating the economy. The surface transportation budget falls from $112.5 billion in FY 2012 to $76.5 billion in FY 2017. The budget never really recovers.
That makes the shift in transportation funding priorities all that much more stark. Transit, passenger rail, and livable communities initiatives get just 30.5% of the total funding in FY 2012 and increases to 38.9% in FY 2017.