Negotiating a Financial Package for Freeways: How California’s Collier–Burns Highway Act Helped Pave the Way for the Era of the American Interstate Highway

Abstract

With the Collier–Burns Highway Act of 1947, California pioneered a new system of highway finance. In response to estimates of enormous highway needs in the postwar period, the state planned substantial increases in funding. The key debate was about who would pay what share. Legislators planned a significant increase in the motor fuel tax and a shift of more of the tax burden onto heavy vehicles, which inflicted most damage to roads. However, the proposal met with intense opposition from motorist groups, oil companies, and truckers. California eventually passed legislation that established the first-ever trust fund dedicating highway user tax revenue to roads, a law that was later copied widely, including by Congress in 1956, when the Interstate system was funded. The trucking industry in California defeated proposals to require it to shoulder more of the financial burden; this outcome too would be repeated elsewhere, including at the federal level. Finally, the inclusion of urban freeways eased the California legislation’s passage, and this provision also became a key element of the federal Interstate legislation. Thus, the legacy of Collier–Burns reaches well beyond California to influence transportation and public finance across the United States to the present day.

Centuries of Ballot-Box Transportation Planning in Los Angeles

“…California was an early leader in freeway funding, particularly in metropolitan areas (30). The Collier-Burns Highway Act of 1947 set California on a course of freeway development in Los Angeles and across the state well in advance of the funding of the federal Interstate Highway program with the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 (50). The 1956 Act funded the ambitious Interstate Highway program, which had been adopted largely without funding in 1944 (30); it featured generous (ultimately as much as 90%) federal funding matches for freeway projects (51).…”

Metropolitan Transportation Planning: Lessons From the Past, Institutions for the Future

“…That year's highway act prompted state highway agencies to get involved in urban freeway design and construction (DiMento & Ellis, 2013 ;Federal Works Agency, 1946 ;Mayer, 1974 ). State governments also began to include urban highways in their purview at this time (Morris, Brown, & Taylor, 2016 ).…”

Funding Transportation in California: A History of Crises

“…Similarly, plans to replace unladed weight fees with a ton-mile tax based on gross vehicle weight and distance travelled were scrapped due to opposition from the trucking industry. Notably, the legislation established the nation's first highway trust fund, now known as the Highway Users Tax Account (HUTA), to further protect gasoline and diesel taxes from being diverted to nonhighway purposes beyond the existing state constitutional guarantees (Morris, Brown, and Taylor 2016). Eschewing bond financing and tolling to pay the cost of the postwar highway program, legislators opted for a modest increase in existing fuel taxes.…”