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Government Transportation Expenditures
Spending
on building, maintaining, operating, and administering the nation's
transportation system by all levels of government totaled $176.2 billion in
fiscal year 2001 (in chained 2000 dollars1). The
federal government spent 30 percent of the funds; state and local governments,
the other 70 percent (figure 10-3).
Between
fiscal years 1991 and 2001, federal, state, and local government transportation
expenditures grew faster than their total government expenditures. This growth
increased transportation's share of total government expenditures from 4.9
percent to 5.3 percent. In addition, state and local government spending on
transportation grew slightly faster. State and local governments also spent
more on transportation, as a percentage of their total expenditures, than the
federal government. In fiscal year 2001, the respective shares were 8 percent
and 3.0 percent [1, 2, 3].
Among
all modes of transportation, highways receive the largest amount of government
transportation funds. In fiscal year 2001, highway funding was $107.7 billion,
accounting for 61 percent of the total (figure 10-4). Transit and air modes
accounted for 19 percent and 14 percent, respectively, while rail and pipeline
modes accounted for less than 1 percent each. Between fiscal years 1991 and
2001, government expenditures on all modes except pipeline and rail
transportation increased at about the same rate, leaving the overall modal
distribution of government transportation expenditures almost unchanged. During
this period, federal government pipeline expenditures2 rose 133 percent, from $12 million in 1991 to $28 million in 2001, and rail
expenditures decreased 27 percent, from $987 million to $723 million [3].
Sources
1. Executive Office of the President of the
United States, Office of Management and Budget, Historical Tables, Budget of the United States
Government, Fiscal Year 2005, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/, as of
January 2005.
2. U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census
Bureau, State and
Local Government Finances, available at http://www.census.gov/, as of January
2005.
3. U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT),
Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation
Statistics (BTS), calculations using data from USDOT, BTS, Government Transportation
Financial Statistics 2003, table 4-B, available at http://www.bts.gov/, as of
February 2005.
1 All dollar amounts are expressed in chained 2000
dollars, unless otherwise specified. To eliminate the effects of inflation over
time, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics converted current dollars (which
are available in appendix B) to chained 2000 dollars.
2 State and local expenditures data for pipeline are
not available after 1995.
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