WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — President Barack Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) to fund infrastructure projects and save the nearly-insolvent Highway Trust Fund (HTF), the White House said in a press release.
"[The Act] authorizes budgetary resources for surface transportation programs for FYs 2016-2020 [and] reauthorizes taxes that support the Highway Trust Fund through September 30, 2022," the release stated on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, Obama said the United States needed to spend more on the country’s transportation infrastructure than the $305 billion stipulated in the FAST Act.
On November 18, Mayors from 73 US cities urged Congress to increase funding for the country’s failing infrastructure, including for its deficient bridges.
Earlier this year, the US Department of Transportation said it expected the HTF, which is primarily funded by gas taxes, to be insolvent by the end of 2015.
