Stopgap skips $38.6B in extra road money. Arizona should plan for leaner years now.

An overwhelming, bipartisan U.S. Senate vote to advance a stopgap spending bill leaves tens of billions in transportation cash set to run dry on Oct. 1, according to reporting from the Arizona Mirror. The continuing resolution reauthorizes highway and transit programs through Dec. 11, but it does not renew the extra advance appropriations created by the 2021 infrastructure law. That means the roughly $38.6 billion per year in supplemental federal transportation funding expires with the law on Sept. 30.

Consequence for Arizona taxpayers lands fast. Returning to pre-2021 baseline levels would leave every state with less federal money for roads, bridges, airports and transit, the Mirror reported, citing Senate Democratic materials. Exact Arizona losses were not listed, but the range is large enough to matter in any state budget: California would drop nearly $1.1 billion a year while even tiny Vermont would lose $55.6 million in formula funds.

The advance appropriations at risk were substantial and national in scope. Transportation programs accounted for more than half of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s five-year, $184 billion advance funding, and total advance appropriations across agencies were $66.2 billion for fiscal 2026, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office as cited by the Mirror.

About 30 percent of the extra transportation money, or $10.8 billion per year, moved by formula, the Mirror reported. More than half of that formula pot was for bridge repair at the Federal Highway Administration, around $5.5 billion annually. Airport construction was next at $3 billion. Transit state-of-good-repair grants would lose $950 million, and states would see $900 million less for electric vehicle charging stations. Other affected formula programs include truck safety inspections, ferry terminals, senior and disability transit grants, and highway safety initiatives.

The remaining 70 percent of the transportation advance appropriations flowed through 25 competitive grant programs, funding ports, large highway and rail projects, transit station upgrades, roadway safety and more, per the Mirror’s summary of a Senate fact sheet. Translation for Arizona counties and cities that have been chasing federal grants: the pipeline gets tighter and more uncertain.

Politically, this is now a timing and leverage fight. The Senate’s 89, 4 vote, and a House-passed version, keep the lights on but sidestep the advance-funding question. Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray said Republicans did not agree to extend the critical advance appropriations, while Appropriations Chair Susan Collins did not highlight them in rolling out the stopgap, the Mirror reported. Republicans holding both chambers may prefer to decide the issue in a full-year bill or a long-term surface transportation package. A person familiar with talks told the Mirror the 2021 advances were intended as one-time funding and do not belong in a status quo stopgap.

From a taxpayer perspective, Arizona should budget like that one-time cash was exactly that. A five-year $184 billion federal sugar high was never a permanent revenue stream. When it ends, wish lists need to shrink to fit recurring dollars. Prioritize maintenance and safety, not glossy ribbon cuttings built on Washington’s temporary generosity.

Bridges and airports are where most of the formula impact sits, per the Mirror’s breakdown. ADOT, metropolitan planning organizations, and counties should publish contingency rankings now, pausing low-return projects and protecting core inspection, safety and state-of-good-repair work first.

The Mirror also notes $900 million a year nationally for EV charging is among the affected pots. Arizona should not bank its transportation plan on continued federal subsidies for speculative infrastructure. If charging networks pencil out, private capital and user-pay models should lead, not federal advances that can disappear on a congressional calendar.

Finally, budget dynamics in D.C. add volatility. Republicans, at former President Donald Trump’s urging, want a large defense increase; Democrats relaxed their usual push for parity while the extra infrastructure money flowed, the Mirror reported. Without that flow, Democrats may be less willing to compromise. Arizona agencies should plan federal receipts below 2022, 2026 peaks. The Hobbs administration should publish a clear, project-level impact table tied to federal scenarios so voters can see what gets delayed and who pays when the advances end.