Obama administration sends four-year transportation bill to Congress

Meanwhile, Competitive Enterprise Institute transportation policy expert Marc Scribner was more critical. Bailing out the Highway Trust Fund would violate "the long-standing user-pays/user-benefits principle in a way that merely kicks the fiscal can down the road," he said in a prepared statement.

"The administration's priority on low-value/high-cost mass transit and other so-called alternatives, such as federally funded bike paths, demonstrates an inability to prioritize smart projects over gimmicks aimed solely at pleasing fervent and out-of-touch special interests," Scribner said.