My thought many years back was to add a nickel a gallon Federal gas tax each January for some period of time, say ten years, and put the funds in the Fed Highway Trust Fund. If gasoline prices spiked, a President could reduce the tax for a short period of time, but most wouldn't notice a nickel a gallon, and it would be dedicated to rebuilding as needed.
That said, another issue I see around here is huge sums spent rebuilding interchanges and building toll express lanes (which pay for themselves, maybe). The I-75 toll express lanes were fabulously expensive and includes the longest bridge in the state. Meanwhile none of that can be used for mass transit. I'd guess for the same money one could have extended MARTA parallel to I75, but of course MARTA is not something wealthy people ride in general. The outer counties keep voting it down.
We're lucky in this state that a lot of the roads were built fairly recently and the weather isn't as hard on the pavement. Our sales tax here is 8.9% in part due to MARTA and TPLOST which is another tax for transportation needs by the city.
