Actually, four factors at work here. The fourth is the factor of having the highway "trust" fund spent dry on trinkets for welfare brood mares, totally unrelated to highway construction and maintenance, in order to re-elect Democrats.....
Having just done a 4500 mile cross country trip I can tell you that the interstate highways we encountered for most of our journey were in terrible shape. Especially Oklahoma and New Mexico. I-40 in Oklahoma was so bad it almost prompted me to write the ODOT people to ask at what point do they consider the threshold for repaving? The stretch going through OKC and points east are quite possibly the worst stretch of interstate I've ever driven on (and I've driven in 49 states).....
Also, roughly a sixth of the gasoline tax money is devoted to buses and choo-choos (mass transit systems, no doubt loaded with union employees).
All-out development of our oil resources would put downward pressure on oil prices, and therefore, on asphalt prices. The use of non-union labor in Federal highway contracts would help, too. (I believe the Davis-Bacon act requires such workers to be paid a prevailing union scale.) There are probably other cost-cutting measures that can be taken as well.
Personally, I'd just have the states take over. The Federal government is in deep doo-doo as it is.
However, in lieu of passing the responsibility for roadwork completely to the states, more revenue will then have to be raised for the fund somehow, especially if Oberstar gets his way on transportation. I don't regard tolls or increase gas taxes as being out of the realm of possibility, as long as the resulting revenues, along with the original gas tax revenues, are spent solely on Federal highway projects -- Interstates or U.S. routes.
The tolls, needless to say, should only be imposed on such routes.