Research Reveals National Road Funding Crisis as County Leaders Urge Congressional Action

WASHINGTON –  Research released today by the National Association of Counties (NACo) underscores a national road funding crisis and the large role counties play in the U.S. transportation network, as infrastructure investment needs outpace available revenue. This is due to aging infrastructure, rising construction costs and weakened purchasing power. The American Society of Civil Engineers projects a $684 billion national funding shortfall for roads over the next decade, of which counties own a significant share.

Counties own and maintain 44 percent of America’s public roads and 38 percent of its bridges. This infrastructure is essential for supporting daily life, national security and economic competitiveness. Yet about 40 states nationwide impose significant restrictions on counties’ revenue authority, meaning counties cannot simply raise additional funding to make up the difference. At the same time, according to the Federal Highway Administration, highway construction costs have increased by about 73 percent since 2021.

Despite counties owning 28 percent of federal-aid highway miles, local governments collectively receive only about 14 percent of transportation funding distributed by states. More than 40,000 bridges across the country are also structurally deficient, approximately half of which are county owned. The combination of rising construction costs, state-imposed fiscal constraints and growing infrastructure demands have created a widening gap between what counties are expected to maintain and what we have the resources to sustain. This leaves counties with stark choices – delay projects, defer maintenance or shift more costs to local taxpayers.

This gap is why county leaders from 11 states are in Washington for Infrastructure Week to make the case to Congress for increased access to federal funding. In nearly 30 meetings on Capitol Hill, visiting leaders will emphasize key county priorities in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill, including:
 

• Increasing local access to federal formula funds closer to 25 percent, to better align with the volume of infrastructure owned and maintained by counties.
• Retaining and improving discretionary grant programs that counties can access as primary partners, not just subrecipients, to ensure that these opportunities remain available for counties to undertake essential, county-led infrastructure projects, while also reducing those programs’ administrative burdens and barriers to entry.
• Streamlining project delivery and bolstering planning to ensure that when dollars are available, we can move quickly, before inflation erodes them.

“This surface transportation reauthorization bill is a valuable opportunity to change federal funding policies so that they better reflect the needs and role that counties play in our transportation network,” said Matthew Chase, Executive Director of NACo. “This new report shows the problems we face with increasing costs and aging infrastructure; if Congress ignores this issue this year then we will only face bigger problems in the next reauthorization.”

“The recently released BUILD America 250 Act would deliver real progress on these issues, especially through its robust funding for county-owned and other locally owned bridges. As the House considers this legislation and the Senate continues its deliberations, counties will continue to push for significant funding and policy reforms needed to invest in our critical infrastructure.”

To access the full research report, click here. To access NACo's county surface transportation profiles, click here. For more information about NACo’s broader advocacy on transportation, click here.