Conditions and Performance Chapter Listing

Conditions and Performance Home Page

Introduction

Background

Current Conditions and Performance

Projected Conditions and Performance in 2007

Resources Needed to Maintain and Improve the Interstate System

Addressing Interstate System Needs

Cost to Improve Compared to Projected Spending

Exhibit A-18 compares the Cost to Improve Interstate Highways and Bridges identified in Exhibit A16 with the projected 10-year capital expenditures on Interstates identified in Exhibit A-6. The gaps between projected spending and this level of investment are identified in the second to last column, while the last column shows the additional resources above projected levels that would be required to close the gaps.

Exhibit A-18. 1998-2007 Cost to Improve Interstates Compared to Projected Interstate Spending

Overall, the Cost to Improve Interstate Highways and Bridges is 79.4 percent ($100.0 billion over 10 years) above the level of projected Interstate spending. As in the case for the Cost to Maintain, bridge spending would need to increase by a larger percentage than highway spending in order to close the gap. However, unlike the Cost to Maintain, the gap for widening ($32.2 billion over 10 years) is larger than the gap for highway preservation (16.0 billion over 10 years). The implication of this is that at lower levels of funding, the HERS model would recommend investing a greater share of available resources in system preservation, rather than widening. However, if funding levels increased, there are a significant number of cost-beneficial widening projects that HERS would recommend funding.