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Sen. Barbara Boxer will be out as chair of the Environment and Public Work, the committee responsible for drafting the Senate’s version of any highway bill. Boxer played key roll in the development and passage of MAP-21, and has been relentless in her pursuit of a replacement package. She'd like to see fuels taxed upstream rather than at the pump – only she won’t have a committee majority to back her.

The Republicans delivered quite a trouncing in the recent mid-term elections, and conventional wisdom says a Republican Senate, to go along with a Republican House, is probably good for trucking.

On the regulatory front, certainly. As for the chances of a new, long-term transportation authorization and sustainable fix for the Highway Trust Fund? Not so much.

And as for a comprehensive solution to come from the lame deck session that’s just underway? Forget about it. 

“With the November elections heralding a fiscally more conservative political climate and with Congress preoccupied with a whole lot of unfinished business, passing a massive multi-year multi-billion funding bill for transportation during the lame duck session will be the last thing on the lawmakers’ minds,” transportation policy consultant Ken Orski wrote last week in his analysis.

Indeed, more and more insiders seem to think we’re in for another series of highway bill extensions beginning in May.

Still, it pays to know the players. Flip through the slides above for the conventional wisdom on who’s who for the next federal transportation plan.

This article was written by Kevin Jones, Senior Editor for CCJ Digital.