Roadway service continues to decline in U.S.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued its 2004 Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges, and Transit: Conditions & Performance Report to Congress. The Conditions & Performance report found that although the physical conditions of the nation’s infrastructure had improved slightly between 1997 and 2002, operational performance has declined. The quality of use of the nation’s infrastructure “has steadily deteriorated over the past decade.” The report found that federal, state, and local highway and bridge expenditures totaled $68.2 billion in 2002. However, capital outlays by all levels of government would have to increase by 8.3% above this level to reach the projected $73.8 billion cost to maintain current highway capacity. To reach maximum economic benefits, conditions would have to improve by a whopping 74.3%, or $118.9 billion from 2003 to 2022. The Conditions & Performance Report also established a goal to reduce the national highway fatality rate from the 2002 level of 1.5 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to 1.0 death per 100 million VMT by 2008. Of the nearly 600,000 bridges in the nation, 27.5% are classified as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
