Surface-Transportation Funding in a New Century: Assessing One Slice of the Federal Marble Cake

Sheldon Edner and Bruce D. McDowell

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2002, vol. 32, issue 1, 7-24

Abstract: This article examines American federalism through the prism of the surface transportation program, one of the nation's largest grant-in-aid programs. No matter how pragmatic or intense the desire to express assessments in simple terms, federalism is a time-sensitive reflection of our collective experiential understanding. Facts, values, hypotheses, and concepts are derived from this collective understanding. The experience of the surface transportation program under ISTEA and TEA-21 illustrates the challenge of achieving a clear picture of federalism when radical changes occur. ISTEA and TEA-21 have significantly altered traditional intergovernmental relationships, particularly as the federal role in transportation appears to have become more ambiguous than at any time in the past 45 years. Thus, at the outset of the twenty-first century, the federal role in transportation is shifting, becoming far less focused. Other goals are emerging, leading the federal transportation role to become more of a means to an end than the central focal point. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/ (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:publus:v:32:y:2002:i:1:p:7-24

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Publius: The Journal of Federalism is currently edited by Paul Nolette and Philip Rocco

More articles in Publius: The Journal of Federalism from CSF Associates Inc. Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().