OPINION:
As Congress prepares to draft the next highway package before current funding expires September 30, 2026, the conversation around the future of American infrastructure is more urgent than ever.
Representing the 1,100-plus companies dedicated to the success of our surface transportation network, the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) is a steady, trusted partner to Congress, the White House, and agencies. Through our vast member network, our engineering-based innovations, and our decades of experience, we share policy insights and perspectives on what the nation’s road network means to our economy and the role our federal government plays to keep it functioning.
Congestion on the United States’ 4.2 million miles of roads, including more than 186,000 miles of interstate highways, is at an all-time high. Roads designed 50 years ago are absorbing significantly more traffic, heavier vehicles, and greater effects of weather-related events. As we onshore more manufacturing facilities and spur domestic job creation, this network must be equipped to handle increased movement and capacity.
To alleviate current and future problems, we must focus the reauthorization package exclusively on what truly keeps our citizens and national economy moving: our roads, bridges, and highways. These are the vital arteries that make up our surface transportation network.
While new discretionary programs like climate initiatives or public works have infiltrated past infrastructure bills, a singular focus on our surface transportation network will ensure that the nation’s roadways are efficiently maintained, facilitating smooth travel of people and goods, community connections, and economic growth for generations.
IIJA Transformative, but not without Challenges
The current highway package, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), expires in just 18 months, on Sept. 30, 2026. While it may not seem pressing to some in Congress, the daily news cycle demonstrates that prioritizing such an important bill is paramount now, before our collective attention is distracted or we encroach on IIJA’s inevitable expiration.
Despite IIJA encompassing the largest infrastructure package in modern times, it has not resulted in the historic impact many hoped it would. Supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and inflation significantly reduced the bill’s effects, demonstrating that price and resource stability can degrade even the most well-intended investments.
Additionally, IIJA simply tried to accomplish too much. Beyond what we traditionally think of as ’infrastructure’ bridges, highways, and roads IIJA funded varied public works projects: clean drinking water, EV charging stations, rural broadband connectivity, and energy grid modernization, to name a few. These programs expanded the bill to more than $1.2 trillion. Of that, only about $550 billion was allocated for highways, roads, and bridges. The remaining monies were allocated toward transformative public works programs, some of which didn’t exist prior to the bill’s passage.
What’s more, much of the spending in IIJA was designed to be facilitated by federal agencies, causing considerable delays in establishing and implementing new programs. In some cases, monies have yet to be spent, four years after IIJA’s passage.
While the promises of IIJA remain unrealized, the U.S. surface transportation network cannot afford to regress.
The Future of Roads
Since the authorization of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System nearly 70 years ago, our nation’s road network has been continuously overutilized and underfunded. Without foresight, that’s not likely to change. With more technologies entering the vehicle market, like fully electric drivetrains that aren’t paying into the Highway Trust Fund and semi-autonomous vehicles that are changing the way we drive, newer cars and trucks using these same roadways will generate considerably more wear and tear on surfaces due to their significantly heavier weight.
According to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, 39% of roads are in poor or mediocre condition, woefully underfunded, and under-maintained, with an estimated repair bill of $684 billion. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that traffic congestion and road repairs cost $120 billion each year. Combined with vehicle repairs, that waste costs the average driver $1,400 a year.
We cannot ignore such stark figures. They compel us to work toward a robust highway reauthorization package that focuses exclusively on surface transportation needs, fully funding this critical infrastructure. Roads, bridges, and highways provide the means for receiving timely medical care; safely getting our children to school; transporting building materials for homes, community resources, and corporations; ensuring access to law enforcement and military mobilization; and, as we’ve seen so far this decade, delivering everything from meals to medicines to our doorsteps daily.
Simply put, ’infrastructure’ cannot be defined as a spectrum of wish-list projects and must adhere to what delivers for the American people and our shared economy.
2026: A Unique Opportunity
The solution is for the 119th Congress to embrace robust federal investment in our surface transportation network. It’s their unique opportunity to focus the next federal highway package on true infrastructure programs roads, bridges, and highways to best utilize and maximize precious federal funds.
IIJA was efficient in applying formula funding for state departments of transportation across the country. More than 90% of the funds available under the highway reauthorization portion of IIJA were provided via proven, effective formula dollars.
Strategic use of additional discretionary dollars, without overreliance on them, gives local and state decision-makers the resources to best determine the needs of their communities. An overload of discretionary programs will certainly cause funds to be delayed or inefficiently distributed, as seen in the implementation of IIJA.
Keeping the next infrastructure package discreetly focused on surface transportation will provide robust but manageable funding, significantly reducing the total cost of the bill while providing historic investments in, and fostering significant improvements to, our road network.
A Call to Action for the 119th Congress
A safe and efficient roadway system directly impacts economic productivity in every state, Congressional district, community, and household. With proper funding and maintenance, this system reduces delays and saves costs for businesses and consumers alike, whether commuting to work, shipping goods, or moving across the country. More than 90% of freight in the United States is transported by trucks. A fully funded highway system ensures the products they carry ranging from critical raw materials to finished consumer goods are delivered intact, on time, and at the least cost to the communities and people where they are needed.
To continue this efficient flow of people and goods, underpinning our nation’s prosperity, the 119th Congress has a call to action to invest in America, American companies, American workers, and American ingenuity. We built one of the most robust national highway systems in the world an engineering marvel. We must commit to maintaining it.
NAPA is committed to working with our committee partners House Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves and Ranking Member Rick Larsen, along with Senate Environment & Public Works Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito and Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse to ensure the next bipartisan surface transportation package achieves the proper funding and scope necessary to support our vital roadway network.
The next several months are critical as elected officials across the political spectrum in Congress draft, debate, and ultimately pass a new highway bill before Sept. 30, 2026. Asphalt pavement producers, laydown contractors, and their many supplier-partners are ready to pave America’s path to future economic growth and prosperity.
• Nile Elam is vice president for Government Affairs at the National Asphalt Pavement Association, which represents U.S. asphalt pavement producers, paving contractors, equipment manufacturers and distributors, suppliers, researchers, engineers, and consultants to advance asphalt pavements as an essential part of sustainable transportation infrastructure that paves the way for thriving communities and commerce.
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