Environment: Twists on the Highway

Ever since it was started in 1956, the Highway Trust Fund has been as sacrosanct as motherhood. Its purpose was to build interstate highways, and the money rolls in, mainly from a 40 tax levied on every gallon of gasoline sold in the U.S.—all of it to be spent on highways. But even the most enthusiastic motorist has begun to realize that most cities cannot stand any more new highways pouring cars into their already congested streets. This year the Senate decided that the priorities need some reordering. In its version of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1972, the Senate...

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