The "Maintain Drain"
For over a decade the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund (HMOF) was more than adequate to meet highway maintenance needs and even produced a surplus which was transferred to the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) for construction purposes. However, that situation ended in FY2002 when $3.6 million was transferred from the construction fund to the maintenance fund to address what was hoped would be a brief shortfall.
But the General Assembly's ongoing reluctance to address the problem caused these fund transfer levels to grow to more than $500 million per year, meaning that money was no longer available for construction. As the chart below illustrates, since FY2002 more than $3 billion in state transportation funds originially intended for construction have been diverted to maintenance purposes. An additional $950 million in federal funds that could have been used for construction have been divereted to maintenance.
|
Millions $ [1] |
||||
|
Fiscal Year |
TTF Construction Share |
Transfer to HMOF |
Remaining State Construction $ |
Federal Funds Directed to Maintenance |
|
2002 |
549.9 |
3.6 |
546.3 |
0 |
|
2003 |
534.9 |
147.2 |
387.7 |
0 |
|
2004 |
603.0 |
56.9 |
546.1 |
0 |
|
2005 |
613.9 |
244.6 |
369.3 |
0 |
|
2006 |
714.3 |
186.2 |
528.1 |
97.4 |
|
2007 |
699.1 |
286.3 |
412.8 |
178.2 |
|
2008 |
706.4 |
260.6 |
445.8 |
143.0 |
|
2009 |
617.2 |
362.6 |
254.6 |
199.6 |
|
2010 |
597.4 |
500.2 |
97.2 |
178.6 |
|
2011 |
614.1 |
511.0 |
103.1 |
155.1 |
|
2012 |
698.9 |
447.8 |
251.1 |
167.3 |
|
2013 |
691.6 |
495.4 |
196.2 |
188.9 |
|
2014 |
715.8 |
519.3 |
196.5 |
212.1 |
|
2015 |
755.9 |
524.9 |
231.0 |
236.3 |
|
2016 |
782.8 |
550.6 |
232.2 |
277.5 |