The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1973 (PL 93-87) was the renewal of the highway bill for the next five years, authorizing $18.35 billion. It had several important changes:
- States could use part of the Highway Trust Fund for public transport. Thus cities which decided to abandon or drop interstate highways through city centers could reuse that money for other purposes, rather than losing it entirely.
- It granted urban highways as many dollars as rural highways
- It funded a national scenic highway program