It appears that I have been mislead. The Highway Trust fund is doing just fine. It can pay for current and future projects. In fact it’s so okay that fears of another bailout maybe being required are completely unjustified. And I thought we had a problem with the HTF

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, here cited from a Reuters report, made the lack of an HTF problem clear when addressing a Senate hearing yesterday.

“A multibillion-dollar highway and transit construction fund is healthy enough to support current and future projects despite its dependence on gas tax revenue, the transport secretary said.

Senators this week expressed concern to transport chief Ray LaHood over the impact rising gas prices, now at an average $3.50 per gallon, could have on the trust fund that was bailed out in 2008 after it nearly ran dry.

La Hood told a senate hearing on Thursday the Highway Trust Fund should remain solvent through September 2012. He did not envision the need for another bailout.”

In the same story we get from a Senator something very close to stating the obvious (and we thank her).

“But Patty Murray, chair of the appropriations transportation panel in the Democratic-led Senate, grew impatient and sharply told LaHood that “we need more than grand ideas” to fund infrastructure investment.

‘Unfortunately, this budget proposal does not offer us real solutions for the challenges we face today,’ Murray said.”