Highway Trust Fund Balance, 1957–2013

The Highway Trust Fund (HTF), established by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, was the first dedicated funding source for highway construction and maintenance. Supported by a federal motor fuels tax—as well as additional taxes on tires and trucks—the HTF’s revenue helps pay for federal highways and, through grants to other levels of government, many state roads as well. For most of its history, the HTF was well in the black. Over the past fifteen years, however, expenditures have routinely exceeded revenues (as shown by the dashed purple line’s position below the horizontal axis). As a consequence, the HTF’s balance (shown by the blue line) has plummeted to levels last reached in the late 1960s. This resulting shortfall has led Congress to make repeated transfers from general revenue to keep the HTF solvent (the green line).