Policy Reports
TEA-21’s Impact: Performance of State Highway Systems 1984-2003

March 21, 2005

TEA-211, the federal US transportation program passed in 1998, resulted in a substantial improvement in overall road performance but at considerable cost, according to the 14th annual review of state highways by Professor David T. Hartgen, University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

During the six years of the federal highway program, 1998 to 2003, the state-administered US highway system improved sharply on six of seven key indicators of performance; only one indicator, urban interstate congestion, worsened. But overall expenditures on state-administered highways rose about 39 percent, about twice as fast as highway construction prices.

The most spectacular gains in performance were in rural areas: the percentage of rural interstates and rural primary roads in poor condition fell by 1/2, the percentage of narrow lanes was reduced 10 percent, and the percentage of deficient bridges improved 12 percent.

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