Absent a consensus on how to address an ever-widening gap between state revenues available to spend on transportation infrastructure and how much it actually costs to maintain and improve it, a number of states in 2011 turned to specially appointed task forces and commissions for answers. Iowa, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington were among the states with panels to issue recommendations. This brief examines their processes and findings, how their funding recommendations have fared politically and the chances for future success.

Georgia could learn lessons from Virginia as it asks voters to increase their taxes to fund transportation projects. Virginia meanwhile continues to pin its future on tolling and public-private partnerships. I also have transportation funding news of note from eight other states.

I spoke yesterday with the Vice Chair of the Missouri House Transportation Committee, Rep. Thomas Long (R), who called to fill me in on the state of transportation funding in the Show Me State. Missouri was one of the states that I included in my “13 States to Watch in 2012” at the beginning of the year based on a 2011 comment by a Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) official that the department was “exploring the possibility of doubling the state gas tax over 10 years to help pay for the widening of I-70 between St. Louis and Kansas City.” In our conversation, Long made it clear that such a scenario was never in play in the Missouri legislature this session. Lawmakers did consider bills to have voter referenda on lowering the state gas tax while raising the diesel tax and adding a sales tax dedicated to road funding. A plan to toll I-70 was also considered.

As they age, seniors face many transportation challenges. There are numerous ways state governments can help meet these challenges both for seniors who are still behind the wheel and for those who are no longer able to drive. They include policies to make road and pedestrian infrastructure safer, improve access to public transportation and better coordinate limited transportation resources.

As states anxiously await the outcome of a House-Senate conference committee on federal surface transportation authorization legislation, the Miller Center, a nonpartisan institute based at the University of Virginia, is just out with a new report entitled “Are We There Yet? Selling America on Transportation.” It’s the distillation of a conference that I wrote about last fall (see my blog post here). The report outlines a communications strategy that conference participants said is needed this year to convince the American people and their elected representatives of the need for investment in transportation.

Policymakers in Maryland are pondering how to move forward after the legislature wrapped up its session this week without finding new revenues for transportation. Meanwhile, Georgia continues to look ahead to this summer’s increasingly important referendum votes on regional transportation projects and the sales tax increases to fund them. Pennsylvania’s Auditor General tries to jumpstart transportation investment in his state. And Ohio looks to innovative revenue sources to tackle long-neglected projects.

When Congress returns from a two-week break next week, members will still be faced with some crucial decisions about the future of transportation in the United States. That’s even though they passed a three-month extension of federal surface transportation programs before they left town. Despite continuing pessimism that lawmakers can reach agreement on a more long-term bill prior to the November election, state government officials and others are becoming more vocal about the challenges presented by the continuing uncertainty in Washington.

Maryland legislators wrapped up their 2012 regular session this week without passing a sales tax on motor fuel proposed by Gov. Martin O’Malley. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said this week that high gas prices make it a bad time to impose more fees on motorists to increase transportation funding in his state. And legislation in Washington state that would have given cities and counties the authority to pass new taxes to pay for transportation appears dead for the year, as a special session wraps up in Olympia. Despite significant infrastructure needs around the country, many state policymakers are finding a rocky road in trying to come up with new dollars to meet those needs.