Highway Quality
Policy makers and the public must recognize that highway durability and the quality of highway construction, while certainly linked, are not necessarily synonymous. Highway durability is directly related to public owner agency decisions regarding pavement design life, materials specifications, allowable vehicle weights and routine maintenance. Many of these decisions are directly related to the level of public investment government is willing and able to make in a highway project both initially and over time.
ARTBA believes highway users are willing to pay more to build increased durability into our roads and to ensure a balance of routine preventative maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction because such investments will save tax dollars over the long term. We encourage state and local governments to make durability a top priority as they develop highway project specifications.
Similarly, we encourage the federal government to provide the states with the financial resources necessary to build long-lasting pavements on the National Highway System as routes on it that have reached the end of their original design life are reconstructed.
As the nation continues to deal with natural disasters, environmental challenges and aging infrastructure, the transportation network has faced major disruptions along the way. The public and private sector continue to evolve through the use of innovation, technology and processes to create a more resilient infrastructure. ARTBA supports the role of innovation and technology, as well as increased investment, in creating more resilient infrastructure and acknowledges that this will vary based on geography and is not ‘one-size-fits-all.’ New thinking in terms of quantifying the impact and benefits of resilient solutions, as well as how innovative technologies are developed and deployed, will guide these improvements.
The Interstate Highway Program
ARTBA believes a national financial commitment should be made now to dramatically upgrade pavement durability on the Interstate Highway System to enhance serviceability and save tax dollars over the long term. We suggest that a systematic repair, replacement, rehabilitation and reconstruction program be put in place to achieve a goal of replacing existing pavement on the entire Interstate System.
Traffic congestion on portions of the Interstate System is having an increasingly negative effect on the movement of commercial goods. It also is a contributing factor in motor vehicle-related air pollution. This congestion is the result of an ever-increasing U.S. driving population and significant changes in the American workplace that have occurred since the Interstate Highway System was originally planned. Transportation and air quality planners should give very serious consideration to building capacity improvements to the Interstate System in these areas as part of a joint economic/clean air strategy.
National Highway System (NHS)
ARTBA urges Congress to ensure that the NHS is adequately funded to meet the capital needs identified by the U.S. DOT. ARTBA supports an increase in the federal motor fuels excise for this purpose. Assuring adequate funding to maintain the NHS as a first-class transportation network should be a priority of surface transportation program reauthorization legislation.
Bridges
ARTBA encourages Congress to continue increased federal funding for bridge repair and replacement and discretionary funding for high-cost bridge projects. Bridges have a significant role in connecting communities and supporting economic development. Proper investment should be made on individual projects to ensure that the highest quality materials and state-of-the-art technologies are used on federal-aid bridges.
The choice between whether to rehabilitate or replace a structurally deficient bridge should be based on careful inspections and detailed cost comparisons that consider safety, future maintenance, environmental and social impact, and operational costs. Such studies, design services and bridge inspections should utilize professionally qualified engineers. Actions or strategies that prevent, delay or reduce deterioration of bridges or bridge elements restore the function of existing bridges and extend their life.
ARTBA encourages the federal government to take the lead in developing and coordinating a national information system that would catalogue and share technical experiences and expertise in the areas of bridge repair and rehabilitation.
While the focus of the federal program should be providing adequate resources to maintain a first-class NHS, ARTBA also supports a strong federal commitment to helping meet non-NHS bridge needs.
National Highway Freight Network
ARTBA advocates the establishment of a third account in the Highway Trust Fund-a “National Highway Freight Network Account”-for dedicated investments in the National Highway Freight Network (NHFN). As such, ARTBA believes the NHFN should be a primary focus of federal capital investments supported by a NHFN-dedicated, user-based revenue stream to the HTF.
The NHFN plays an important role in supporting efficient supply chains. Its accommodation of heavy truck traffic results in greater costs to maintain existing facilities and the need to provide increased structural strength on new and rehabilitated roads and bridges. Research should be done to identify the true cost and benefit of highway-related freight movements to better align contributions to the HTF.
Outsourcing of Highway/Bridge Maintenance
To maximize the federal investment, federally-aided highways and bridges must be adequately maintained. Experience has shown that contracting out highway and bridge maintenance activities to private-sector firms can save tax dollars and improve efficiency.
Intermodality
ARTBA believes it is essential that highway transportation be integrated with other transportation modes to serve the nation’s defense, enhance its competitiveness in world markets, support supply chains, and improve mobility for all Americans.
We support and encourage efforts to improve highway access to ports, airports, rail lines and terminals.
Use of Highway Right-of-Way
ARTBA encourages the use of highway right-of-way for public transportation purposes as long as such use does not limit highway use.
Border Infrastructure
ARTBA supports and encourages initiatives that will improve highway infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders. This includes investments in ports and other supply chain enhancements.
Addressing Traffic Diversity
Highways must be designed and constructed in ways that assure the maximum safety and efficiency possible for all highway users, recognizing the vast differences that exist in the size and weight of motor vehicles that must share the road. Provisions must also be made on roads and streets for pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles, buses and other high-occupancy vehicles, acknowledging that investments to ensure safety, like separation of modes, should be provided.
Research & Development
Greater emphasis must be placed on public and private highway research and development programs and technology transfer activities that can bring new products, techniques and ideas quickly into the field. In support of these goals, ARTBA urges:
- Expanded federal support and involvement in highway-related research, particularly in the areas of safety, resiliency, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and other advanced technology solutions, and pavement durability;
- Continued federal support for the Local Technical Assistance Program, which serves highway technology transfer centers across the nation, and university transportation centers that facilitate solutions to transportation challenges;
- Implementation, where appropriate and practical, of products and techniques developed by the Strategic Highway Research Program and the Accelerated Implementation and Deployment of Pavement Technologies (AID-PT) program; and
- Federal government encouragement through special tax incentives and other means of private sector research and development projects that have the potential to improve the quality, durability, safety and operation of our highways and bridges.