stomv: what you say makes sense, but if they're underfunded to begin with, and they're already behind on the work, then their budget will look even worse now. I do have to wonder if the US fleet is getting any lighter and if that has an effect on road wear.

If we're driving less, doesn't that mean we'll need a lower highway budget?

Americans drove 9.6 billion fewer VMT in May 2008 than in May 2007, according to the FHA data. This is the largest drop in VMT for any May, which typically reflects increased traffic due to Memorial Day vacations and the beginning of summer, and is the third-largest monthly drop in the 66 years such data have been recorded.

Sean. The federal gas tax is fixed at $0.18 a gallon. So less gas used means less revenue for the federal government. Some (maybe most?) other government taxes (state, county, city) are a percentage of the total price. As the price of gas rises, their revenue increases.

But I'm on the same page as stomv and Icelander. Less VMT means less use of our roadways, so less maintenance and services are required. But a government agency that admits they need less money to do their job is the kind of stuff you'll only find in fairy tales.

The comments above show an easy solution for this problem: instead of having a per gallon fuel tax, we should have a percent fuel tax, so when the price of fuel rises, the tax rises too. This would counteract the reduction in revenues due to lower mileage driven and therefore less fuel sold. Perhaps we would also want some kind of floor to preserve revenue in case of a price drop, although I don't see that happening any time soon.

Eventually, lower mileage driven may result in less need for road maintenance, but as others above have suggested, we are already so far behind on maintaining our infrastructure that it will be years before we see a lower need for maintenance. A bridge that was on the verge of collapse yesterday is closer to collapse today even if the rate at which it is approaching collapse is now slightly slower.

The Secretary of Transportation wants to change highway funding in a way that hides the expense from the paying public. It would not be popular to raise the gas tax sufficiently to pay ALL the costs of the highway system, but that's precisely what we should do.

Higher gas taxes, phased in only if oil prices fall, would cause the VMT graph above to continue declining. The Department of Transportation, the highway construction lobby, and the auto lobby (Big 3, UAW, and the AAA) don't want to see that happen. They care neither about energy security nor global warming.

They want to change it because in the end there will be little or no gas sold. And They want to get the conversion to an new method done now rather then do several steps that each fight alot. You are a nitwit if you think they are going to convert to anything that doesnt tax electric cars and h2 cars and all cars and all trucks. Most likely its going to be very different from todays methods.

This is why I dont and wont get on the bus.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c2e_1217531771

Where we used to live we had alot of crazies on the bus and from time to time they would flip out and attack people. I dont need this I dont want it and if you try and force it on me I will get very violent about it.

Motorcycle riders can be subjected to various dangers on road such as, negligent car drivers, big trucks as well as blocked traffic ways that depict the motorcyclists to security risks everywhere. Most of the times, the motorcyclists suffer many damages to their motorcycles and endure serious physical injuries. However, the motor riders are vulnerable to fatalities in an accident.

http://www.motorcycleaccidentattorneys.org/

Some people may consider looking in the yellow pages for these people or maybe you see their ads on television. The best way that I have discovered to find the best auto accident attorney is by entering my information for a service to find a highly qualified lawyer in my area.

http://www.accidentlawyer.org/