Transportation Invest In Our Future

Introduction

Contents

Bold Action Needed to Sustain National Competitiveness

National Transportation Policy Study Commission, 1979

AASHTO's Call for Action for the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, 2006

Key Findings

Executive Summary of AASHTO's Policy Recommendations

AASHTO's Surface Transportation Policy Recommendations

Highway Improvements Needed

Transit Improvements Needed

Addressing Rail Needs

Transportation Safety Needs

Transportation Revenue Needs

Recommendations for the Federal Program

Text of Recommended Actions Adopted by the AASHTO Board of Directors

Click here to download the PDF

Home | Highway Improvements Needed

Highway Improvements Needed

The Interstate Highway System

AASHTO Vice President Pete Rahn, Director, Missouri DOT

The 47,000-mile Interstate Highway System represents only one percent of total system mileage, but carries 24 percent of all traffic and 41 percent of combination-vehicle truck traffic. However, as the capacity and the performance of the current Interstate Highway System are used up, this will reduce the Interstate’s ability to support the increased productivity the United States will need to compete in the global economy.

What AASHTO would like to call Phase I of the Interstate Highway System was built between the late 1950s and the 1980s, and was designed in the pre-World War II period. In the late 1950s, there were 65 million vehicles creating 600 billion vehicle miles of travel. Vehicle ownership had just begun to take off and long-distance trucking was still in its infancy. Fifty years later, there are over 240 million vehicles creating 3 trillion vehicle miles of travel on a highway system that grew by only 15 percent in the 50 years. Forecasts indicate that the U.S. population will grow from 300 million today to 435 million by 2055. Highway travel demand measured through Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) may increase from 3 trillion today to as much as 7 trillion by 2055. Truck-borne freight is expected to double by 2035.

As the U.S. economy becomes both more integrated and globalized, there is an ever-increasing economic premium placed on rapid, reliable transportation for goods and passengers. Our ability to compete will require a well-connected, nationwide, high-capacity system capable of high speeds and reliability.

AASHTO believes the Interstate Highway System for the 21st Century can be brought about through four strategic actions in what we call the system’s Phase II: preserve the current system, enhance its performance, expand capacity to meet future needs, and reduce demand by increasing the capacity of transit and rail.

Preservation Is Job One

The Interstate system currently has approximately 210,000 lane-miles of pavement. As these pavement structures reach 40 to 50 years of life, the traditional approach of rehabilitation and resurfacing will no longer be sufficient, and major portions of the Interstate system will need to have their pavements and foundations completely reconstructed. The Interstate system also has more than 55,000 bridges and tens of thousands of other significant structural elements, many of which are reaching 40 to 50 years of age. Bridges and other structures of this age usually require substantial rehabilitation, and, as we look out another 20 to 30 years, they will require complete replacement.

As this reconstruction work goes forward, DOTs will have to minimize disruption to the traveling public. Work-zone delays are estimated to cause 24 percent of non-recurring congestion. As our infrastructure ages and more rehabilitation is needed, we are going to have find better techniques to get the job done. Examples of these techniques include using components prefabricated off-site, longer-lasting materials, work at night, short-term shutdowns to allow intensive work, and incentives to get contractors to finish work faster.

Enhancing System Performance

Capacity additions alone will not eliminate congestion or reliability problems. Traffic disruptions—crashes, breakdowns, construction work, weather, and special events—cause about 50 percent of delays. These disruptions can be addressed through aggressive system operations applications such as incident clearance, snow and ice control, and construction work zone management. Advanced technologies can be used to collect real-time information on road and travel conditions, improve travelers’ information, and use ramp metering and lane management to improve traffic flow.

The decade-long effort to develop, demonstrate, and deploy ITS tools, architecture and standards is starting to pay dividends. Electronic toll systems have reduced back-ups at toll booths, and truck electronic pre-clearance systems allow many trucks to bypass inspection stations altogether. 511 travelers’ information systems now serve 50 percent of the U.S. market. Automobile manufacturers, technology suppliers and government are collaborating on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-system management communications technologies which will save lives and improve performance.

The Interstate System is vulnerable to disruption from natural disasters and security-related incidents. There are several things which need to be done in the future to enable the Interstates to do a better job. Funding assistance from the Department of Homeland Security is needed to protect critical infrastructure from terrorists’ attack and to improve surveillance and detection. Inter-agency communications capabilities need to be improved. And a joint program involving police, fire and transportation agencies at the local and state level and justice, homeland security and transportation agencies at the Federal level needs to be developed to improve emergency response capabilities.

Substantial Capacity Increase Is Needed

Congestion on many segments of the Interstate System is bad and getting worse. Substantial capacity will have to be added to enable the Interstate System of the future to continue to play its role as a strategic national highway network with the ability to move traffic with acceptable speed and reliability. While much greater state-by-state analysis is needed, recent studies show that there is a need to add as many as 10,000 miles of new routes on new corridors, 20,000 miles of upgrades to National Highway System routes to Interstate standards, and 20,000 new lane-miles on existing Interstate routes. These could include exclusive truck lanes and value-priced lanes. System improvement would also include correcting bottlenecks, upgrading interchanges, and improving intermodal connections.

One of the key missions of the Interstate System when it was created in 1956 was to support National Defense needs. With the end of the Cold War much of the military, which was forward-deployed in places like Germany and Korea, has been repositioned back to the United States. However, the rapid response requirements of the military today are greater than ever before. AASHTO recommends that the Commission call for a joint review by the Department of Defense, U.S. DOT and the states of what the Department of Defense requires in terms of support from highways, trucking, railroads, ports, and airports to meet its deployment and mobility needs and what changes and costs this will entail for the future.

Long-Term System Costs Are Underestimated

Today’s bi-annual conditions and performance reports do not adequately estimate several future Interstate Highway System needs.

• Bridges: The Interstate system has more than 55,000 bridges, many of which are reaching 40 to 50 years of age. Bridges and other structures of this age usually require substantial rehabilitation, and, as we go out another 20 to 30 years, they will require replacement.

• Pavement: The Interstates have approximately 210,000 lane-miles of pavement. As these pavement structures reach 40 to 50 years of life, major portions will need to have their foundations completely reconstructed.

• Interchanges: The Interstate system has almost 15,000 interchanges, many of which do not meet current operational standards and create bottlenecks or safety problems. Some of the most significant congestion on the system is at major interchanges that were not designed to carry the volumes of traffic that currently use them. Higher projected future traffic volumes will exacerbate these problems.

Needs of the Non-Interstate National Highway System

The non-Interstate National Highway System is comprised of three components:
1) 115,000 miles of rural and urban principal arterials; 2) the Strategic Highway Network
(STRAHNET), highways important to military mobilization; and 3) intermodal connectors, highways that provide access to major passenger and freight facilities. The current NHS, including the Interstates, contains 162,000 miles, and over 1,400 freight and passenger intermodal connectors. The NHS carries 40 percent of all highway traffic and 70 percent of truck combination vehicle traffic.

The non-Interstate NHS, which is only three percent of the total national mileage, is made up of those highways that carry more traffic and freight per mile than any other roads in the country, with exception of the Interstate. These routes are key to an effectively functioning freight supply chain; they link people to airports, ports, and intercity rail and bus facilities; they connect mid-sized cities; and they provide connections to national recreational destinations.

Since the mid 1950s highway travel has increased from 600 billion vehicle miles traveled to 3 trillion. FHWA forecasts that VMT will grow at over 2 percent between 2002 and 2022. At those rates it will exceed 7 trillion by 2055. To keep pace with this growth in traffic demand, funding for the NHS will have to be increased so necessary investments can be made to preserve the system in place and to expand its capacity.

SAFETEA-LU dedicated 83 percent of the Highway program to core programs which were apportioned to the states. This compares to ISTEA which apportioned approximately 90 percent to core programs. Under SAFETEA-LU Interstate Maintenance received 13 percent of total funding, National Highway System 15 percent, Surface Transportation Program 17 percent, Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality 4 percent, Bridge 11 percent, Highway Safety Program 2 percent, plus the Equity Bonus Program at 22 percent. Restoring the proportion of total highway funding for core programs to the 90 percent level established by ISTEA would make it possible to strengthen its focus on the National Highway System Program by increasing its percentage to the highest of the six core programs.

Needs of Other Federal-Aid Eligible Highways and Bridges

Of the Nation’s 4 million-mile highway system, an additional 800,000 miles of arterials and collectors not included in the NHS, or 20 percent of the overall highway system, are eligible for Federal aid. This 20 percent carries 40 percent of all traffic. While the principal Federal focus with respect to highways may lie with the NHS, the need for a well-connected highway system is not limited to the Interstate and the remaining non-Interstate NHS routes. The remaining Federal-aid eligible routes are critical components of the system which provide connections between the lower level state and local road networks and the Interstate and other NHS routes. These lower functionally classed roads are an integral part of the nation’s highway system. Most of them are owned and operated by county and city governments.

Bridges on all classes of roads are critical elements of the transportation system and have a significant impact on the ability of the highway network to function safely, efficiently, and effectively. Given increasing traffic demands and highway structures that are increasing in age, it is vital that inspected bridges be preserved, and reconstructed or replaced so the safety of the public is not compromised and commerce on our nation’s highways will flow unabated.

The nation’s 590,000 bridges carry, on average, nearly 4 billion vehicles per day. There are approximately 21,000 bridges with Average Daily Traffic (ADT) in excess of 40,000 vehicle crossings. Approximately 90 percent of these structures are in urban environments and over 95 percent are located on Interstates or other principal arterials. In 2002, over one-fourth of the nation’s bridges were classified as structurally deficient. Nearly twice as many were functionally obsolete.

Use of the state and MPO planning process to program projects, rather than congressional earmarks

Since the passage of ISTEA, the proportion of federal funding apportioned to the states and distributed through the core highway programs has been reduced. (Table 1.)

Table 1. Percentage of Highway Program Available for “Core” Highway Programs*

Figure 1. Earmarks in Highway Reauthorization Bills 1982–2005

Congress has also increased the practice of earmarking highway and transit funds in both the authorizing and appropriations committees. Earmarks have increased in terms of dollar amounts, number, and as a percentage of program funds. (Figure 1.)

State transportation agencies have found that these earmarks complicate administration of the federal aid program in several ways:

• Earmarked project funds are often insufficient to complete the project.

• Earmarked projects may be inconsistent with priorities coming from state and MPO transportation planning processes.

• Recipients of earmarks often have erroneous expectations regarding the requirements of the Federal-aid program.

• An earmarked project may require more non-Federal match than a typical project.
  

Transportation planning at the state and metropolitan level is rigorous and inclusive. It would help restore public confidence to know that in the future funds apportioned to the states will be systematically programmed by states and local governments, who are in the best position to determine priorities that give taxpayers the best value for their dollars.

There is clear Congressional intent for linkage between transportation plans and project programming. This can be found in 23 U.S.C. Sections 134 and 135, which include specific language requiring consistency between the program of projects and the long-range transportation plans.

When enacted in ISTEA, the transfer of decision-making power over the programming of highway and transit investments to the state and MPO levels through a systematic planning process which actively involved the public, was considered a significant reform. Those reforms should be reaffirmed and more of the program should be distributed through the process conceived in ISTEA. Funds should flow to the states through programs with broad eligibilities, and most project selection should be based on the transportation planning process rather than Congressional earmarking.

Accelerating Project Delivery

With growing congestion, an aging infrastructure, and continuing safety and security concerns, customers demand high-quality roads, put in place as quickly as possible with sensitivity to the environment and at the lowest possible costs. “Business as usual” approaches are not acceptable—construction costs are increasing at alarming rates, and customers want projects delivered on time and on budget, and want agencies to “get in, get out, and stay out.”

The nation as a whole benefits from efficient delivery of highway improvements in lives saved, reduced costs, and economic, environmental, and social benefits realized earlier. The national goal must be to deliver highway projects quicker so that our citizens obtain the significant benefits of improved mobility, highway safety, economic vitality, community cohesion, and environmental betterment as quickly as possible.

State transportation agencies fully support compliance with all environmental review processes and the full mitigation of highway construction impacts. However, sequential reviews and the too often continuously expanding requirements for study of new alternatives create “paralysis by analysis” delays. Efficient delivery of much needed highway construction projects can only be accomplished if all Federal agencies support it as an important national goal.

Greater speed, flexibility, and efficiency are crucial to preservation and modernization of the highway system over the next 50 years. To this end, state innovations in finance and construction, such as public–private partnerships, design-build contracting, and advanced acquisition of right-of-way are critical.

Limiting this work hampers a state’s ability to undertake public–private partnerships and design-build contracts. Also, early right-of-way acquisition enables states to expedite project implementation while also minimizing right-of-way costs in areas where costs are rapidly increasing. These restrictions are also causing the design and construction industry to underutilize the technology tools available to expedite project delivery.

Potential Improvements to Truck Freight Productivity

The volume of freight to be moved on the nation’s highways is expected to double over the next 30 years. In addition to looking for ways to expand highway capacity, government and industry should explore whether there are feasible ways to increase the amount of freight trucks can carry, consistent with maintaining high standards of safety and protecting the long-term viability of bridges and pavements.

 

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