Transportation 101

An Introduction to Federal Transportation Policy

• Executive Summary (900k pdf)
• Full Document (2.2 mb pdf)

Do you want to learn a little more about federal transportation policy, like the history of the program, how the Interstate System was started, how earmarks came to be so prevalent or how the federal role in funding transportation has changed throughout the years? With Congress considering the next six-year reauthorization, T4 America has put together this guidebook to provide some clarity on the history of the program, how it works (or doesn’t work) today and the new challenges facing us for the next 50 years.

The guidebook is divided into six sections: 1) The history of federal transportation policy; 2) Funding and revenue collection and distribution; 3) How our current federal program works; 4) How the federal policies are implemented at various levels of government; 5) The reauthorization process; and 6) The future of federal transportation policy.

Download the full document, which has a handy glossary of common transportation terms in the back (also available online), or the short executive summary.