Gas Tax

Governor Chris Christie has really made a mess of New Jersey's transportation finances. Since 2011, the governor's "flipping the couch cushions" strategy has resulted in the state amassing an additional $5.2 billion in debt.

Michigan state senators voted last week to approve a gas tax hike expected to net more than $1 billion annually to fix the state's notoriously potholed roads, reports the Free Press. The measure, if it passes the House intact, could also be good news for Detroit's woefully inadequate transit system.

Uber is celebrating. DC passed an Uber-legalization law that Uber thinks cities the world over should follow. The problem is, most cities have much more tightly regulated taxi industries than DC, with a far higher cost of entry. In those cases, letting Uber get away with providing taxi services while complying with none of the rules is unfair. The taxi companies have been screaming about this for a while now. Uber's response is something like, "Catch me if you can, old geezer." DC's contribution to that conversation strengthens Uber's position.

State transportation departments could see the federal funding they receive pared back as early as a few weeks from now if Congress doesn't come up with a transportation funding solution.