Federal spending on road infrastructure is struggling to keep up; federal lawmakers staved off a cut to the national Highway Trust Fund last year that would have pulled $7.6 billion away from state highway budgets. This has left the states to fill in some of the gaps, and voters around the country last year approved huge transportation investments via ballot measures.

“The ballot results are a great reminder infrastructure investment remains one of the few areas where red states, blue states, Republicans and Democrats can all come together,” Dave Bauer, president of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, said in a statement. “It should also demonstrate to lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the public will be on board for the passage of a long-term bill that significantly boosts highway and transit investment at the federal level.”

The need is great.

“Most systems that make up our network of interstate highways are at least 50 years old, so there has to be substantial reinvestment to make sure those assets can keep up with daily wear and tear,” Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said in an interview. “States and localities are doing their part, and this is a great opportunity for the federal government to do its part.”

The American Society of Civil Engineers says there is a huge backlog of federal highway projects that need funding, to the tune of $836 billion.

Voters are unlikely to know those details — only that their commute is bumpy. But out of 305 transportation-related state and local ballot measures that went before voters last year, 270 — more than 88 percent — were approved, according to the Transportation Investment Advocacy Center at the road builders group.