Highway Infrastructure

Securing the U.S. highway infrastructure system is a responsibility shared by fed., state and local gov¿t., and the private sector. Within the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS), the Transportation Security Admin. (TSA) has primary responsibility for ensuring the security of the sector. This report assesses the progress DHS has made in securing the nation's highway infrastructure. This report addresses the extent to which fed. entities have conducted and coordinated risk assessments; DHS has developed a risk-based strategy; and stakeholders, such as state and local transportation entities, have taken voluntary actions to secure highway infrastructure -- and the degree to which DHS has monitored such actions. Includes recommend. Ill.

A transportation expert makes a provocative case for changing the nation’s approach to highways, offering “bold, innovative thinking on infrastructure” (Rick Geddes, Cornell University). Americans spend hours every day sitting in traffic. And the roads they idle on are often rough and potholed, with exits, tunnels, guardrails, and bridges in terrible disrepair. According to transportation expert Robert Poole, this congestion and deterioration are outcomes of the way America manages its highways. Our twentieth-century model overly politicizes highway investment decisions, short-changing maintenance and often investing in projects whose costs exceed their benefits. In Rethinking America’s Highways, Poole examines how our current model of state-owned highways came about and why it is failing to satisfy its customers. He argues for a new model that treats highways themselves as public utilities—like electricity, telephones, and water supply. If highways were provided commercially, Poole argues, people would pay for highways based on how much they used, and the companies would issue revenue bonds to invest in facilities people were willing to pay for. Arguing for highway investments to be motivated by economic rather than political factors, this book makes a carefully-reasoned and well-documented case for a new approach to highways.

A renowned historian and engineer explores the past, present, and future of America's crumbling infrastructure. Acclaimed engineer and historian Henry Petroski explores our core infrastructure from both historical and contemporary perspectives, explaining how essential their maintenance is to America's economic health. Petroski reveals the genesis of the many parts of America's highway system--our interstate numbering system, the centerline that divides roads, and such taken-for-granted objects as guardrails, stop signs, and traffic lights--all crucial to our national and local infrastructure. A compelling work of history, The Road Taken is also an urgent clarion call aimed at American citizens, politicians, and anyone with a vested interest in our economic well-being. Physical infrastructure in the United States is crumbling, and Petroski reveals the complex and challenging interplay between government and industry inherent in major infrastructure improvement. The road we take in the next decade toward rebuilding our aging infrastructure will in large part determine our future national prosperity.

To inform debate on a new transportation bill being considered, the authors review the literature on the economic outcomes of highway infrastructure spending, which constitutes the largest share of federal spending on transportation infrastructure. They highlight the connections between highway spending and the economy and then analyze the literature to trace the effects of highway infrastructure on productivity, output, and employment.

"TRB Special Report 292 ... recommends the creation of an independent scientific advisory committee (SAC). The SAC would be charged with development of a transparent process for identifying and prioritizing research needs and opportunities in highway safety, with emphasis on infrastructure and operations, and using the process developed to recommend a national research agenda focused on highway infrastructure and operations safety. The report also explores opportunities to improve the quality of highway safety research." -- publisher's website.

Federal and state governments have played a vital role in the nation economy by facilitating the movement of people and goods through significant investments in highways. At the federal level, the Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) uses a computer model known as the Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS) to estimate the future investment required to maintain and improve the nation highways. DOT reports the results of this analysis to the Congress on a biennial basis. However, state governments make a large number of highway infrastructure investment decisions. States currently use a variety of analytic tools to make these decisions. Interest in using HERS at the state level has grown. Two states Indiana and Oregon are already using customized versions of the model, and in December 2000, FHWA began a pilot project to test its state-level version of HERS, called HERS-ST, with interested states.

Reviews States' experiences with using warranties in highway contracts & the factors that promote or discourage the use of such warranties, identify efforts to provide adequate maintenance for federal-aid highways, & identify opportunities for improving states' procedures for selecting pavement designs. 5 charts & tables.