U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Status
of the Nation's Highways, Bridges, and Transit:
2002 Conditions and Performance Report |
Executive Summary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Index Introduction Highlights Executive Summary Part I: Description of Current System
Part II: Investment Performance Analyses
Part III: Bridges
Part IV: Special Topics Part V: Supplemental Analyses of System Components
Appendices |
There were over 3.95 million miles of public roads in the
United States in 2000. This mileage was overwhelmingly rural and locally-owned.
About 3.09 million miles were in rural areas in 2000, or 78 percent of
total mileage. The remaining 860,000 miles were in urban communities.
There were 586,930 bridges in the United States in 2000.
In terms of ownership, about 77 percent of miles were locally-controlled, 19 percent were controlled by States, and the remaining 3 percent were controlled by the Federal Government. The share of locally-owned roads has steadily increased, while the shares of State and Federal roads have decreased. Much of the change in Federal ownership has occurred as Federal land management agencies reclassified some of their mileage. Americans traveled 2.7 trillion vehicle miles in 2000. While highway mileage is mostly rural, a majority of highway travel (61 percent) occurred in urban areas in 2000. Since 1997, however, rural travel has grown at a faster average annual rate (2.8 percent) than urban travel (2.6 percent). This represents a change from the last Conditions and Performance Report, when urban travel growth rates were greater than the preceding decade. Still, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) increased on every highway functional system between 1997 and 2000. The growth in VMT has exceeded the increase in highway lane miles. Between 1993 and 2000, lane miles grew by 0.2 percent annually, while VMT increased by 2.7 percent annually. VMT for combination trucks grew faster between 1997 and 2000 than VMT for single-unit vehicles and passenger vehicles. Transit
Transit system coverage, capacity, and use in the United States increased
during the 1990s. Transit passenger miles increased by 24.5 percent between 1993 and 2000, from 36.2 billion to 45.1 billion. Growth in passenger miles was most pronounced for rail transit modes, increasing 37.7 percent, from 17.9 billion in 1993 to 24.6 billion in 2000. Public transportation vehicle occupancy remained relatively stable between 1993 and 2000, at an average of between 11 to 12 passengers per vehicle, adjusted for capacity. Vehicle occupancy increased for rail vehicles from 11.4 to 13.2 passengers and decreased for non-rail vehicles from 11.1 to 10.8 passengers. |
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