Every city has that one classic rock station, the faithful soundtrack of our commutes and weekend drives, spinning the same 75 to 150 timeless tracks that never fade from memory. In Boston, it is 100.7 (WZLX), a channel you can flip on and always know you’ll be spoon-fed a familiar tune that you have known since you were a kid.
When Congress takes up a highway bill, it feels strikingly similar: predictable, familiar, yet always carrying the weight of something important. Every few years, Congress needs to pass new legislation to reauthorize highway programs. This last occurred in the 2021bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). That law is scheduled to expire in September 2026, so Congress is already in the opening stages of a reauthorization debate.
Highway bills, like classic rock playlists, hit the same notes every few years. When I turn on WZLX in Boston, I know I am going to hear Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, and other hall of fame artists. And when it comes time for SIGMA to start advocating around a highway bill, I know we are going to confront the same “classic” transportation issues: highway funding, tolling, rest area commercialization, and truck weight, to name a few.
Which sparked an idea: what if we paired each classic surface transportation reauthorization issue with its perfect rock anthem? Consider this the ultimate highway policy setlist.
Without further ado:
(1) Replenishing the Highway Trust Fund, or “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones
Considered by many to be the greatest song of all time, the Stones’ 1965 classic disparages commercialism and other aspects of modern culture. Despite his best efforts, the narrator still can’t get no satisfaction. So goes the Highway Trust Fund debate, where fuel excise taxes have not been raised since 1993. Policymakers and stakeholders alike deploy seemingly new and creative campaigns to underwrite more infrastructure investment (“supposed to fire my imagination”), all thus far to no avail. We expect a strong push by Republicans to change the fuel tax regime to capture EVs and hybrids, though it’s unclear if they’ll be successful. But they’ll try….and they’ll try….and they’ll try.
(2) Tolling and Rest Area Commercialization, or “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath
Arguably the greatest heavy metal song of all time, “Paranoid” dives deep into the blurry line between paranoia and depression. This line is one with which any advocate to preserve the bans on tolling existing interstates and commercializing rest areas is intimately familiar. Although SIGMA has articulated to lawmakers the many reasons for maintaining the bans (year after year, highway bill after highway bill), there is always a handful of policymakers that push to lift the restrictions. These folks never seem to understand that tolling and commercial activity at rest areas don’t create “new revenue” as much as they undermine off-highway communities and business environments. SIGMA is well-positioned to fight these challenges this go-around, but we are always paranoid that the issues will come out of nowhere to ruin our day (or a highway bill).
(3) Truck Parking, or “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan
The trucking industry continues to prioritize additional taxpayer-funded truck parking spaces, citing a nationwide shortage. We expect some type of grant program to be created for additional truck parking investment that encourages grantees to partner with private industry. Though how aggressively federal and state policymakers appropriate and spend truck parking funds is a different question. Without it, truck drivers can be made to feel on their own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown.
(4) EV Charging Grant Programs (NEVI), or “California Girls” by the Beach Boys
It is hard not to think of California whenever you hear the incomparable Beach Boys. That is especially true with 1966’s “California Girls”, an ode to those attributes that differentiate women from various regions of the country (ultimately concluding, correctly, that California girls are the best).[1] It is similarly hard not to think of California when you think of EV charging, as the state has long been at the forefront (for better or for worse) of EV policymaking and market developments. Whether, and to what extent, Congress extends existing federal grant programs and other public investments in EV charging stations will be debated at length in reauthorization negotiations. SIGMA will support their extensions, provided they are coupled with policy reforms that prioritize giving grants to existing fuel outlets, which incidentally have performed better under NEVI than any other industry. I wish they all could be fuel marketer chargers.
(5) Truck Weight, or “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Shippers call for increased weight limits more regularly than fans shout “Free Bird!” at the end of rock shows – although both endeavors share limited success rates. Congress will inevitably consider increases to truck size and weight limitations – certain shippers, particularly in the agriculture and retail sectors, want to be free (as a bird) to increase the weight limit to 91,000 pounds, but would settle for a multi-state pilot program on 6-axle vehicles (an outside chance, but not an impossible outcome).
(6) Autonomous Trucks, or “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana
Nothing makes you feel older than hearing a song on a “classic rock” station that does not feel like it was released that long ago. For me, the first time that happened was Nirvana’s generational anthem from its second album, Nevermind. Autonomous trucks have not been around for that long, but it is getting to a point where it is safe to assume there will be a substantive “autonomous trucks” debate in surface transportation reauthorization discussions, therefore making the issue a “classic.” This time, expect a vigorous push to create a uniform federal regulatory framework to replace the current patchwork of state laws. This push is something long favored by the autonomous vehicle industry, but it has been opposed by certain safety groups and trucking organizations (notably the Teamsters). As with all pro-automation debates, at a certain point if we automate most of the workforce out of a job (and, truck driver is the most common job in most states in the country), any gains in efficiency may be more than offset by a rise in unemployment (oh no, I know, a dirty word….).
Like a greatest-hits album, the surface transportation reauthorization debate always comes back to the same familiar tracks. But familiarity doesn’t mean irrelevance. These issues impact the operating environment for fuel marketers. SIGMA will continue to advocate for solutions that keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent, protect the off-highway business model, and ensure that new programs are implemented in ways that strengthen, rather than sideline, SIGMA’s members.
David Fialkov is a Partner at FFG Group and represents SIGMA on government affairs matters.
[1] [Editor’s Note: David’s wife is from California.]
