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 On August 10, 2005, the President signed into law the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). With guaranteed funding for highways, highway safety, and public transportation totaling $244.1 billion, SAFETEA-LU represents the largest surface transportation investment in our Nation's history. The two landmark bills that brought surface transportation into the 21st century-the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)-shaped the highway program to meet the Nation's changing transportation needs. SAFETEA-LU builds on this firm foundation, supplying the funds and refining the programmatic framework for investments needed to maintain and grow our nation's vital transportation infrastructure.
For more information visit Federal Highway Administration web site
Once funding is authorized at the federal level, it is sent to urban areas through state departments of transportation for inclusion in each region's short and long-range plans. Various funding categories are established at the statewide level in order to properly administer the State's transportation funds.
These funding categories can be found at www.dot.state.tx.us
 Funding is then distributed to each area through various formulas. The San Antonio-Bexar County MPO uses current funding streams to forecast future anticipated funding amounts for programming projects in the area's long range Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP). The table shown on the right illustrates the anticipated funding sources expected to come to our area over the next 25 years. It is important to note that these funding estimates are based on known and reasonably expected funding streams. When dealing with a 25 year plan, there is no guarantee that any of these funds will materialize. Therefore, the MPO will continue to seek new partnerships and to identify funding programs as they become available in order to advance transportation projects. The table shown on the right is the region's best estimate of future funding amounts as of the MTP adoption date of December 2004.
Funding category descriptions can be found in the Financial Chapter of the MTP.
Projects listed in the MTP are selected through the MPO's technical analysis and public involvement process. Since the MTP is a financially constrained plan, projects may only be programmed up to the amount of anticipated funding for the 25-year period covered in the MTP. The chart shown on the left shows a breakdown of the "type" of projects found in the approved MTP (as of December 2004).
Unfortunately, the transportation infrastructure needs of the region are far higher than future funding amounts that are anticipated over the next 25 years. Diversions in the State and Federal fuel tax collection cause a significant deficit in the amount of funding available for transportation projects. However, even if these diversions were removed, the MPO and its planning partners must continue to find innovative ways to preserve, maintain, and expand the region's transportation infrastructure.
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