To the surprise of nearly no one, Congress on Thursday put a week of false starts, political brinksmanship and posturing behind them and approved a new 90-day extension of federal highway authority, the ninth such extension since the federal authorization legislation known as SAFETEA-LU officially “expired” in 2009. With the most recent six-month extension set to expire Saturday and facing a potential halt to highway spending and fuel tax collection as well as the loss of thousands of construction-related jobs, lawmakers reluctantly agreed to extend federal surface transportation programs through June 30th to give them more time to come to agreement on a longer-term measure. But while passage of the extension allows state transportation officials to exhale for the moment, there is plenty of evidence that another temporary extension simply serves to prolong the uncertainty for states and is already prompting many to rethink their transportation investments (and the associated jobs they bring) just as the all-important highway construction season gets underway.