USA Law and Practice Contributed by: John D. O’Neill, Jr., David B. Horner, Andrej Micovic and Ryan Pedraza, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
cific legislation remains particularly important for pro - ject development. 2.2 Regulatory Authorities Regulatory responsibility for freight transportation is divided among numerous federal, state and local agencies. At the federal level, the Federal Highway Administra - tion (FHWA) oversees federal highway programmes and funding. The FMCSA regulates commercial motor carrier safety, driver qualifications and hours-of-ser - vice requirements. The FRA regulates railroad safety, equipment, operations and infrastructure standards. The STB serves as the primary economic regulator for freight railroads and oversees matters such as rail line construction, abandonment, mergers and certain access disputes. Additional federal agencies may become involved depending on the nature of a project. The FTA admin - isters transit funding programmes, the Environmen - tal Protection Agency (EPA) oversees environmental compliance, and the US Army Corps of Engineers fre - quently participates in permitting decisions affecting transportation infrastructure. State departments of transportation own and man - age major road infrastructure, administer state trans - portation programmes and oversee procurement and concession processes. State transportation agencies also frequently serve as counterparties to P3 conces - sion agreements. Toll authorities, transportation com - missions, port authorities and regional transportation agencies may exercise additional authority depending on the jurisdiction. In most jurisdictions, local governments retain respon - sibility for local roads, zoning approvals, utility co-ordi - nation and certain permitting functions. Co-ordination among federal, state and local authorities remains one of the principal causes of project delay in large trans - portation procurements. 2.3 Recent or Pending Reforms Recent developments in the US transportation sec - tor have been driven more by funding initiatives and administrative reforms than by comprehensive legisla -
tive restructuring. The most significant recent devel - opment remains implementation of the IIJA, which continues to support investment in highways, bridges, freight corridors, rail infrastructure, ports and inter - modal facilities. At the federal level, agencies have focused on accel - erating project delivery, streamlining environmental reviews and improving co-ordination among permit - ting authorities. These efforts reflect continuing con - cerns regarding the time required to advance large transportation projects from planning to construction. Federal agencies have also placed increased empha - sis on resilience, sustainability, environmental justice and climate-related considerations in transportation planning and investment decisions. Historically, many surface transportation projects have been partially funded through the issuance of tax-exempt private activity bonds (PABs). The right to issue these bonds with respect to surface trans - portation projects is allocated by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). These funds have been critical to the success of US managed lanes and other tolled facilities over the last 15 years. USDOT’s remaining allocable funds are limited, and both inves - tors and state agencies hope for an increase in such allocation from Congress in autumn 2026. At the state level, a number of jurisdictions continue to evaluate modifications to their P3 frameworks in order to attract private investment and improve project delivery. While no uniform national trend has emerged, states with active transportation programmes con - tinue to refine procurement procedures, unsolicited proposal processes and concession frameworks to enhance market participation and financing flexibility. The transportation sector is also experiencing increased regulatory attention relating to cyberse - curity, supply chain resilience, autonomous vehicle technology and alternative fuels. Although many of these initiatives remain under development, they are expected to play a growing role in transportation regu - lation and infrastructure investment decisions over the coming years.
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