Uncertainty over long-term federal transportation funding has been a major concern for state and local governments in their efforts to plan infrastructure upgrades, expansions, and repairs. 

On Friday, December 4, President Obama signed into law $305 billion transportation funding bill. The five-year bill is the the first federal transportation funding legislation passed in more than a decade. The legislation will provide $305 billion in fudning for highway and transit infrastructure programs through fiscal year 2020. 

The FAST (Fixing America's Surface Transportation) Act formally reauthorizes the collection of the 18.4 cents per gallon gas tax which has traditionally been used to pay for transportation projects. It also includes $70 billion in offsets from other areas of the federal budget in order to close a $16 billion deficit in annual transportation funding that has developed as U.S. cars have become more fuel-efficient.