AASHTO Journal, 5 August 2011
Fourteen senators introduced a bill last week called the State Transportation Flexibility Act that would allow state transportation departments to opt out of federal-aid highway and mass-transit programs. Instead, states would be able to manage and spend the federal gas-tax revenue collected within their borders on transportation projects without federal mandates or restrictions.”For too long, Indiana has been a donor state and sent more gas-tax dollars to Washington than it has received back,” Sen. Dan Coats, R-Indiana and a sponsor of the bill (S 1446), said in a statement. “This isn’t fair to Hoosier taxpayers, which is why I support the State Highway Flexibility Act. Hoosiers know our state’s transportation needs better than bureaucrats in Washington, and Indiana should be able to control its own resources.”