US Transport Policy Hits Four Deadlines at Once: a $30 Billion FAA Ask, a Highway Trust Fund Running Dry, the CDL Crackdown and the Union Pacific Merger Test
American transport policy usually moves slowly enough to ignore for a quarter. Not this autumn. The 2021 infrastructure law expired on 30 September, the FAA wants another $30 billion, a federal rule is pushing truck drivers off the road, and a regulator is testing the biggest rail merger in a generation under rules it has never used.
CrossGov.com, a site that covers US government with a federal focus, has published a set of posts that between them map the whole board. Here’s how they fit together, mode by mode.
Air: more money, no reliable price
The Transportation Department wants $30 billion more to finish rebuilding air traffic control, on top of the $12.5 billion it got in July 2025. GAO’s September report is the sobering part. The FAA has a $10.6 billion estimate for phase 1 with no supporting analysis, no lifecycle cost estimate and no integrated master schedule, just 11,389 separate project schedules. Copper-to-fibre swaps are about half done. For airlines and airports the question is simple: does the money arrive before the old equipment fails?
Roads: the trust fund is close to empty
The Highway Trust Fund still runs mostly on a federal fuel tax of 18.4 cents a gallon, unchanged since 1993. CBO now expects the highway account to run dry in 2028 and transit in 2027. The House committee’s BUILD America 250 Act would authorise about $580 billion over five years, and it hasn’t reached the floor. Meanwhile programmes run on the stopgap to 11 December, without the infrastructure law’s extra money.
Transit feels that first. CrossGov’s transit fiscal cliffs post puts the cut at about 20% on an annual basis, which is why Bay Area voters face a sales tax measure on 3 November to keep BART, Muni and Caltrain running.
Trucks: a labour supply shock by rule
Freight shippers should read the FMCSA non-domiciled CDL post closely. The rule limits these licences to a few visa categories and ends eligibility for about 194,000 current holders as their licences come up for renewal. California is fighting a $160 million penalty in the DC Circuit, and English-proficiency checks had put more than 19,000 drivers out of service by March. Fewer drivers in a soft freight market is one thing. In a tight one it shows up in rates.
Rail: one merger, new rules
The Surface Transportation Board is reviewing Union Pacific’s $85 billion takeover of Norfolk Southern, and it’s the first test of the Board’s 2001 merger rules, which require a big rail deal to enhance competition. Comments are due 18 November and a decision by 28 August 2027. Shippers on either network have a window to be heard, and it’s short.
The bigger projects and the rules around them
Two older CrossGov files put the big-ticket rail projects in context. California high-speed rail lost its federal grants while Britain reset HS2 at up to £102.7 billion. And the Second Avenue Subway comparison with Madrid asks why New York pays more than ten times the global average per mile.
On the permitting side, the Senate’s S. 5653 deal would cut the window to sue over a federal permit to 150 days. For highway and rail builders, that matters as much as any appropriation. And for the vehicle side, the auto tariffs are covered in CrossGov’s piece on Section 232 as the main tariff tool, with cars and parts at 25%.
The date that ties it together
Most of these threads meet on 11 December, when the stopgap runs out. Highway money, FAA operations and the transit cuts all ride on what Congress does then. CrossGov keeps its archive current, and it’s a good place to follow it.
Nothing about this autumn is routine.