Policy Reports
The Looming Highway Condition Crisis: Performance of State Highway Systems, 1984-2002 13th Annual Report

February 09, 2004

US road conditions worsened from 2001 to 2002, for the first time since the mid 1990’s, even though the federal government and the states substantially increased their dollars, according to the latest annual review of state road performance prepared by Professor David T. Hartgen at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Deepening the turn-around first spotted in last year’s report, the US lost ground in Interstate condition and urban congestion. And progress in improving the rural primary system and reducing fatal accident rates slowed to a crawl. Of seven condition indicators, 5 worsened or held steady. Only two measures (deficient bridges and narrow rural lanes) improved. Even though total expenditures increased over 10 percent, the dollars going to capital and bridge improvements and to maintenance increased just slightly.

The 13th annual study tracks the performance of the state-owned roads from 1984 to 2002. Twelve indicators – covering the states’ revenues, expenditures, pavement and bridge conditions, urban congestion, accidentrates, and narrow lanes on major rural roads – make up each state’s overall rating. The study is based on comparative spending and performance data submitted to the federal government by the states.

The condition and performance of the state-owned highway varies widely, the study also found. Across the states, the percent of poor-rated rural interstate ranges from zero to 17 percent, and the percent of deficient bridges ranges from 5 to 54 percent.

Prof. Hartgen expressed great concern about the apparent halt in progress even as expenditures continued to rise. “The US highway system is still the best in the world, but progress is becoming more difficult”, he said. “Will we leave our children a better road system, or a worse one? Congress and the states must act now to head off ‘the perfect storm’ in road repairs. he commented.

Prof. Hartgen also voiced concern about the falling share of dollars going for repairs. “It’s not just more dollars. We must also put the dollars on the ground”, he said. He called again for Congress and the states to set national highway performance goals and provide the means to achieve them.

Download PDF file: The Looming Highway Condition Crisis: Performance of State Highway Systems, 1984-2002 13th Annual Report (1.71 mb)

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