Trump’s budget includes $1 trillion for infrastructure, including more truck parking

President Donald Trump is requesting $1 trillion for infrastructure investment, most of which will go toward surface transportation programs, according to his recently released fiscal year 2021 budget. Included in the budget is money for more truck parking.

On Monday, Feb. 10, President Trump released his budget for fiscal year 2021 titled “A Budget for America’s Future.” Although the requested $4.8 trillion includes major decreases in domestic spending, the budget proposes $1 trillion for infrastructure investment. Expansion of truck parking is included in that investment.

However, the total discretionary budget for the Department of Transportation will decrease by 13% to $21.6 billion. Funding for mandatory programs will fall by 8% to $66.2 billion. On the other hand, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will receive a slight boost in funding.

“In total, the budget proposes an 8% increase in 2021 for highway and transit formula programs from the level provided in the last year of the FAST Act,” the proposed budget states. “The budget also provides for a 3.8% increase to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from the level provided in the last year of the FAST Act.”

Mentioned within the budget is FMCSA’s upcoming crash causation study.

Expected to be conducted in 2021, it will be the first such study in more than 15 years. The last crash causation study released in 2006 received  criticism from the trucking industry. FMCSA is requesting information for the study.

More than $800 billion of the $1 trillion infrastructure investment will go toward a 10-year reauthorization of surface transportation programs. That includes $602 billion for highway infrastructure, $155 billion for transit infrastructure, $20 billion for traffic and motor carrier safety, $17 billion for rail infrastructure, $16 billion for Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loans and Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grants, and nearly $1 billion for pipeline and hazardous materials safety.

Another nearly $200 billion will go toward other infrastructure investments “across a range of sectors,” according to the budget. Included in that portion is:

• $60 billion for a new Building Infrastructure Great grants program.
• $50 billion for a new Moving America’s Freight Safely and Efficiently program.
• $35 billion for a new bridge rebuilding program.
• $25 billion for a new Revitalizing Rural America program.
• $20 billion for a Transit State of Good Repair Sprint program.

The Building Infrastructure Great grants aims to expedite “mega projects.”

Moving America’s Freight Safely and Efficiently will give money for opening up bottlenecks and “adding capacity, deploying effective technologies, and expanding truck parking infrastructure,” according to the request.

It is unlikely that Trump will receive much of what he is asking for. The budget request serves as a template that Congress can work with when constructing the official budget.

For example, the $810 billion, 10-year reauthorization for surface transportation programs is about double what Congress is considering, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association Director of Federal Affairs Jay Grimes told Land Line Now.

“I don’t think Congress is going to bite on doing a 10-year bill for $810 billion,” Grimes said. “I think the goal is trying to get a five-year new highway bill, which would match the FAST Act length. That’s probably going to be more realistic. The 10-year is a little pie-in-the-sky, I think.”

Although Trump is asking for $1 trillion in infrastructure investment, the budget request does not explain where that money will be coming from.