Changes

On January 6, 1983, Reagan signed the Surface Transportation Assistance Act so that the United States could improve its paving and bridge commitments by the middle of the decade. The legislation devoted one cent (later doubled) of each nickel to establish a transit account in the Highway Trust Fund.<ref name=staa/>​

On January 6, 1983, Reagan signed the Surface Transportation Assistance Act so that the United States could improve its paving and bridge commitments by the middle of the decade. The legislation devoted one cent (later doubled) of each nickel to establish a transit account in the Highway Trust Fund.<ref name=staa/>​

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Despite the need for highway improvements and increasing fuel prices of recent years, Texas has not raised its 20-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax since the early 1990s, and the diesel tax has been unchanged even longer. In 2008, Barnhart said that only twenty-three states had increased the fuel tax. In a letter to Democratic state Senator Kirk Watson of the capital city of [[Austin]], Barnhart said that the legislature, not the Texas Department of Transportation, is responsible for problems involving highways. "If the legislature had acted when I warned them fifteen years ago, Texas highway problems wouldn't be as critical as they are today. They [legislators] didn't have the guts to deal with the big truck lobby," Barnhart said in an interview. Barnhart said that 18 wheelers and other large trucks place excessive strain on state highways, but the legislature has not increased the diesel tax to maintain the transportation network. A $5 billion bond package Texas voters approved in November [2007] won't be enough to alleviate some of those problems because the state needs much more than that amount just to maintain its highway system.<ref name=txdot>{{cite web|url=http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/021808/loc_248117883.shtml|author=Enrique Rangel|title=TxDOT traveling bumpy road|date=February 18, 2008|publisher=''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal''|accessdate=February 1, 2010}}</ref

Despite the need for highway improvements and increasing fuel prices of recent years, Texas has not raised its 20-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax since the early 1990s, and the diesel tax has been unchanged even longer. In 2008, Barnhart said that only twenty-three states had increased the fuel tax. In a letter to Democratic state Senator Kirk Watson of the capital city of [[Austin]], Barnhart said that the legislature, not the Texas Department of Transportation, is responsible for problems involving highways. "If the legislature had acted when I warned them fifteen years ago, Texas highway problems wouldn't be as critical as they are today. They [legislators] didn't have the guts to deal with the big truck lobby," Barnhart said in an interview. Barnhart said that 18 wheelers and other large trucks place excessive strain on state highways, but the legislature has not increased the diesel tax to maintain the transportation network. A $5 billion bond package Texas voters approved in November [2007] won't be enough to alleviate some of those problems because the state needs much more than that amount just to maintain its highway system.<ref name=txdot>{{cite web|url=http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/021808/loc_248117883.shtml|author=Enrique Rangel|title=TxDOT traveling bumpy road|date=February 18, 2008|publisher=''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal''|accessdate=February 1, 2010}}</ref>

Republican former state Representative Carl Isett, a Republican from [[Lubbock]], said that Barnhart made some valid points in his assessment but is too prone to blame the legislators for financial woes of TxDOT: "It's a combination of those factors. We have not given them everything they wanted but we have given them a lot. We try to fund more money for roads but a lot of that money comes from the feds." Isett said that critics blame the legislature "every time something goes wrong."<ref name=txdot/>

Republican former state Representative Carl Isett, a Republican from [[Lubbock]], said that Barnhart made some valid points in his assessment but is too prone to blame the legislators for financial woes of TxDOT: "It's a combination of those factors. We have not given them everything they wanted but we have given them a lot. We try to fund more money for roads but a lot of that money comes from the feds." Isett said that critics blame the legislature "every time something goes wrong."<ref name=txdot/>