Manufacturing Industry
Lots more $ needed for roads
Manufacturing & Technology News, March 13, 2007
State, federal and local governments are spending a lot more on highways, but there isn't much to show for it, reports the U.S. Department of Transportation. Spending on construction of new roads needs to increase immediately by 87.4 percent in order for Americans to reduce the time they spend in traffic jams, says the agency.
Between 1997 and 2004, the total amount spent on highway and bridge construction and maintenance increased by 44.7 percent to $147.5 billion. Road construction spending increased from $48 billion to $70 billion. But this spending on roads needs to increase to $132 billion (in constant 2004 dollars) in order for the nation's highway system to improve.
Most of the money being spent by state and local governments is being directed toward "system rehabilitation." Between 1997 and 2004, spending on fixing highways and bridges increased by 58 percent, from $23 billion to $36 billion.
The nation's highways are still not in very good shape, however. The percentage of vehicle miles traveled on pavement considered to be of "good" quality has increased from 39 percent in 1997 to 44 percent in 2004. Twenty-seven percent of bridges were considered to be "deficient" in 2004, better than the 30 percent in 1998. "Despite the historic investment in highway infrastructure and improving conditions on many roads and bridges, operational performance--the quality of use of that infrastructure--has continued to deteriorate," says the Transportation Department. "From 1997 to 2004, the estimated percentage of travel occurring under congested conditions has risen from 27.4 percent to 31.6 percent. The average length of congested conditions has risen from 6.2 hours per day in 1997 to 6.6 hours per day."
In order for the country's roads to be adequately maintained the average annual investment must increase to $79 billion (in constant 2004 dollars) and increase by 12 percent each year until 2024.
To view the report, "2006 Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges and Transit: Conditions and Performance, Report to Congress from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration," go to http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/2006cpr/index.htm.
>Most Recent Business Articles
- Multiple criteria evaluation and optimization of transportation systems
- Multi-criteria analysis procedure for sustainable mobility evaluation in urban areas
- A two-leveled multi-objective symbiotic evolutionary algorithm for the hub and spoke location problem
- Multi-criteria analysis for evaluating the impacts of intelligent speed adaptation
- The development of Taiwan arterial traffic-adaptive signal control system and its field test: a Taiwan experience
Most Recent Business Publications
Most Popular Business Articles
- 7 tips for effective listening: productive listening does not occur naturally. It requires hard work and practice - Back To Basics - effective listening is a crucial skill for internal auditors
- FAS 109: a primer for non-accountants - Financial Accounting Standards Board's "Statement 109: Accounting for Income Taxes"
- LIFO vs. FIFO: a return to the basics
- Too Young to Rent a Car? - 25-years-old the minimum age for car renting - Brief Article
- Design a commission plan that drives sales - Sales Commissions


