ROADS [D] |
Poor road conditions cost U.S. motorists $54 billion per year in repairs and operating costs--$275 per motorist. Americans spend 3.5 billion hours a year stuck in traffic, at a cost of $63.2 billion a year to the economy. Total spending of $59.4 billion annually is well below the $94 billion needed annually to improve transportation infrastructure conditions nationally. While long-term Federal transportation programs remain unauthorized since expiring on Sept. 30, 2003, the nation continues to shortchange funding for needed transportation improvements.
Conditions
The nation is failing to maintain even the current substandard conditions, a dangerous trend that is affecting highway safety and the health of the economy. While passenger and commercial travel on our highways has increased dramatically in the past 10 years, America has been seriously under-investing in needed road and bridge repairs.
Americans traveled 2.85 trillion vehicle-miles in 2002. While highway mileage is mostly rural, a majority of road travel (60%) occurred in urban areas in 2002. As vehicle-miles traveled continues to increase for all vehicles, it increased at a greater rate for commercial trucks, which has caused increased wear and tear on roads and bridges throughout the United States.
While some progress has been made in recent years, the current stalemate on the reauthorization of the nation's surface transportation programs is causing uncertainty that affects the long-term prospects for our nation's roads and bridges.
As the nation's highway users await enactment of long-term legislation, America continues to short-change funding for much-needed road and bridge repairs. Traffic congestion costs the economy $67.5 billion annually in lost productivity and wasted fuel. Passenger and commercial travel on our highways continues to increase dramatically. The average rush-hour commute grew more than 18 minutes between 1997 and 2000.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) estimates that capital outlay by all levels of government would have to increase by 42% to reach the projected $92 billion cost-to-maintain level, and by 94% to reach the $125.6 billion cost-to-improve level. In contrast, the Federal Highway Administration estimates that outlay by all levels of government would have to increase by 17.5% to reach its projected $75.9 billion cost-to-maintain level, and 65.3% to reach its $106.9 billion cost-to-improve level. In 2000, the total capital investment by all levels of government was $64.6 billion, well short of the $106.9 billion needed to improve the system.
In 2003, the bipartisan leadership of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee introduced legislation which would have invested $375 billion in state highway and transit improvement programs over the six-year period FY 2004-09, based on meeting the national concerns and investment requirements outlined in FHWA's 2002 report to Congress. Congressional leadership failed to bring this legislation to a vote before the full congress.
In 1998, the enactment of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), provided $218 billion for the nation's highway and transit programs. Even with this added attention, 33% of America's urban and rural roads are in poor, mediocre or fair condition, according to FHWA. Although this is a slight improvement from previous years, conditions remain at substandard levels. Driving on roads in need of repair costs U.S. motorists $54 billion per year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs--$275 per motorist.
FHWA ranks "poor" roads as those in need of immediate improvement. "Mediocre" roads need improvement in the near future to preserve usability. "Fair" roads will likely need improvement. "Good" roads are in decent condition and will not require improvement in the near future. "Very good" roads have new or almost-new pavement.
Substandard road conditions are dangerous. Outdated and substandard road and bridge design, pavement conditions, and safety features are factors in 30% of all fatal highway accidents, according to FHWA. On average, more than 43,000 fatalities occur on the nation's roadways every year. Motor vehicle crashes cost U.S. citizens $230 billion per year, or $819 for each resident for medical costs; lost productivity; travel delay; and workplace, insurance and legal costs.
Americans' personal and commercial highway travel continues to increase at a faster rate than highway capacity, and our highways cannot sufficiently support our current or projected travel needs. Between 1970 and 2002, passenger travel nearly doubled in the United States, and road use is expected to increase by nearly two-thirds in the next 20 years. Growth can be attributed to changes in the labor force, income, makeup of metropolitan areas and other factors.
More than 67% of peak-hour traffic occurs in congested conditions. The cost to the economy--in wasted time and fuel--in the 85 largest urban areas is $63.2 billion each year. In addition, poor highway conditions hinder the effective transport of goods that help support the American economy.
Policy Options
Solutions designed to ease the increasing demands on our transportation system and to improve highway conditions, capacity and safety, are multifaceted and do not always mean simply building more roads and bridges. America must change its transportation behavior, increase transportation investment at all levels of government, and make use of the latest technology. Cities and communities should be better planned to reduce dependence on personal vehicles for errands and work commutes, and businesses must encourage more flexible schedules and telecommuting.
Congress must fully re-authorize TEA-21 at an appropriate level of investment before it expires for a sixth time in May 2005. Congress also must use all of the money collected for the Highway Trust Fund to support investment in the nation's surface transportation program and protect the trust fund from abuse by removing it from the unified budget. Congress must provide adequate funding to meet current highway and transit bridge needs, and include enough funding for research and development of civil engineering innovations that offer cost-effective solutions to our transportation needs. Other solutions include private-public partnerships where appropriate, and multi-year capital and operating budgets.
Specific recommendations supported by the American Society of Civil Engineers:
- Reauthorize TEA-21 for at least five years, using a needs-based approach to arrive at the funding level
- Remove the Highway Trust Fund from the unified federal budget
- Increase funding for long-term fundamental highway research efforts at the national level
- Establish a federal, multi-year capital budget for public works infrastructure construction and rehabilitation, similar to those used by state and local governments.
- Encourage the use of life-cycle cost analysis principles to evaluate the total costs of projects
- Support the environmental streamlining of highway projects
- Address the long term viability of fuel taxes for transportation funding, and explore the viability of the most-promising options to strengthen this funding. In particular, the effects of fuel cell technology should be studied, as should creating a mileage-based system for funding our nation's surface transportation system as this technology comes to market and lessens the nation's dependence on gasoline as a fuel source for automobiles
Sources
The Road Information Project, Key Facts: America's Road and Bridge Conditions and Federal Funding, 2004, www.tripnet.org
U.S. Dept. of Transportation, 2002 Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges, and Transit: Conditions and Performance, 2003
U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Transportation Statistics Annual Report, 2003
Texas Transportation Institute, Urban Mobility Study, 2003
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, "State DOT's TEA-21 Success Stories," AASHTO Quarterly, Spring 1999
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Strategic Highway Safety Plan, September 2000
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, The Bottom Line, 2002
ASCE Policy Statement 382, "Transportation Funding," 2004
ASCE Policy Statement 434, "Transportation Trust Funds," 2003
ASCE Policy Statement 367, "Highway Safety," 2002
ASCE Policy Statement 149, "Intermodal Transportation Systems," 2002
ASCE Policy Statement 208, "Bridge Safety," 2004
ASCE Policy Statement 496, "Innovative Financing for Transportation Projects," 2004
ASCE Policy Statement 454, "Intelligent Transportation Systems," 2002
ASCE Policy Statement 276, "Integrated Truck and Highway Design," 2003
ASCE Resolution 501, "Next Generation National Transportation Policy Study Commission," 2004
ASCE Policy Statement 495, "Operations and Maintenance of Transportation Systems," 2002
ASCE Policy Statement 497, "Surface Transportation Research Funding," 2002
