The highway fund hasn't paid its own way since 2008
Summary
Congress has shifted $275 billion in general revenue into the gas-tax-funded Highway Trust Fund since 2008 just to keep it paying out. It still isn't enough: the fund spent $43.3 billion against $32.2 billion of income in the first eight months of fiscal 2026, and CBO projects both of its accounts hit zero in 2028 — while highway and bridge construction has already shed 9,400 jobs since January.
Follow the dollar
The fund runs on two accounts — Highway and Mass Transit — each fed by a slice of the 18.4-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax and 24.4-cent diesel tax, plus taxes on tires and heavy trucks. Neither rate has moved since 1993; per the Peterson Foundation, 18.4 cents bought 55% less in 2025 than it did when the rate was set. In the first eight months of fiscal 2026, the two accounts together took in $32.2 billion and paid out $43.3 billion, per FHWA's monthly Highway Trust Fund status report — the gap covered by drawing down cash the fund already had on hand.
View data as table
| Highway Account tax receipts | $26,838M | revenue, Oct 2025–May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Highway Account interest | $1,175M | revenue |
| Mass Transit Account tax receipts | $3,759M | revenue |
| Mass Transit Account interest | $388M | revenue |
| Drawn from account balances | $11,159M | revenue — financing the shortfall |
| Highway Account outlays | $34,258M | of total outlay |
| Mass Transit Account outlays | $9,065M | of total outlay |
That drawdown isn't a one-year accident — it's the ninth round since 2008, and the fund has never gone a full decade without one. The CBO projects the cumulative shortfall will reach roughly $295 billion by 2036 if nothing changes, and the current five-year highway law's spending authorizations expire at the end of fiscal 2026 — September 30, 2026 — forcing Congress to reauthorize the whole program at the exact moment both accounts are counting down to zero.
The same system, counted in jobs
None of that shortfall shows up as an abstraction to the people who build the roads. Highway and bridge contractors read the same signals investors do, and they've started laying off ahead of the cliff rather than after it.
View data as table
| Dec 2025 | 387,000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2026 | 390,500 | peak |
| Feb 2026 | 387,200 | |
| Mar 2026 | 385,700 | |
| Apr 2026 | 381,900 | |
| May 2026 | 381,100 | preliminary |
Employment in the industry climbed through late 2025 and peaked at 390,500 jobs in January 2026, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data — right as reauthorization talk picked up in Washington. It has fallen every month since: 387,200 in February, 385,700 in March, 381,900 in April, and 381,100 (preliminary) in May — a loss of 9,400 jobs in four months. That decline happened even as Highway Account tax receipts rose 42.6% year over year, per FHWA, because states plan construction seasons years ahead and contractors are already pricing in a trust fund that may not be able to reimburse them on schedule past 2028.
The takeaway
- The "trust fund" hasn't been self-funding for 18 years. Every administration since 2008 has needed a general-fund transfer to keep it solvent — $275 billion and counting — because the gas tax that funds it hasn't been raised since 1993.
- The math doesn't close even with the bailouts. The fund spent $1.35 for every dollar it took in over the first eight months of fiscal 2026, and expects both of its accounts to hit zero in 2028.
- The labor market isn't waiting for the deadline. Highway and bridge construction employment turned down in February 2026 — a full two years before the fund's projected insolvency — as contractors priced in Congress's September 2026 reauthorization deadline.
Trust fund figures cover fiscal year 2026 through May, the most recent month FHWA had posted as of this writing; full fiscal-year totals will run higher. Employment figures are seasonally adjusted and the most recent month is preliminary and subject to revision.
Sources
- Federal Highway Administration — monthly Highway Trust Fund financial status report, the source for all FY2026 year-to-date receipts, interest income, outlays, and account balances. fhwa.gov
- Congressional Budget Office — The Status of the Highway Trust Fund in 2026 (February 2026 baseline), the source for the 2028 insolvency projection and the $295 billion cumulative shortfall by 2036. cbo.gov
- Peter G. Peterson Foundation — The Highway Trust Fund Explained (updated April 2026), citing and Congressional Research Service data for the $275 billion in cumulative general-fund transfers since 2008 (including $118 billion under the 2021 infrastructure law) and the gas tax's 55% loss of purchasing power since 1993. pgpf.org
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Current Employment Statistics, series CES2023730001, Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction employment, seasonally adjusted. data.bls.gov
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The Highway Trust Fund was built as a closed loop: drivers pay a gas tax, the tax pays for roads, nobody else's money enters the picture. That loop broke in 2008 and has stayed broken ever since. Congress has patched it with $275 billion in general-fund transfers since 2008, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's explainer on Congressional Budget Office and Congressional Research Service data — including $118 billion in the 2021 infrastructure law alone. It is still losing money faster than the patches can cover, and the Congressional Budget Office's February 2026 baseline now puts both of the fund's accounts at zero in 2028.