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America's
Lifelines
Every hour of every
day, the work of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and its transportation
partners touches the lives of nearly every citizen of the United States.
Everyone who commutes to an office, rides a bus, or hauls freight. Everyone
who embarks on a classic American road trip. All police officers, firefighters,
medical personnel, and members of the military. And the highways involve
even more. Virtually every item in your home, place of employment, or
school spent time in a truck and traveled into your life via one of our
nation's highways. The fact is that our highway transportation system
serves to unify America and sustain the American way of life. The challenge
of the FHWA, one that we embrace, is to improve this vital transportation
system to ensure that safe, reliable, and convenient access is provided
for all.
Delivering for
the American People
The FHWA plays an important role in the United States Department of Transportation
(U.S. DOT). We are more than 2,800 professionals in all 50 states plus
Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Our Washington, D.C., headquarters
and four resource centers provide national leadership and expert support
to our 52 division and four metropolitan offices throughout the United
States. We collaborate with our partners to ensure that U.S. highways
remain the backbone of an effective intermodal transportation network.
Our partners include the state and local governments that own and operate
the nation's roads, including the Interstate System. Through the Federal-aid
Highway program, FHWA makes funds available each year to state transportation
departments. These departments, in turn, work with local officials to
plan and select important transportation system improvement projects.
Our three Federal Lands Highway Division offices administer road programs
for federally owned lands and defense installations, and provide federal
agencies with transportation services.
A New Focus in
the Post-Interstate Era
Throughout our history, FHWA has met the challenge that comes with changing
times. Beginning in the 1950s, we concentrated on working with the states
to build the 42,800-mile Interstate Highway System in 49 states, plus
additional roads in Alaska, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
With the system complete, the focus of FHWA shifted dramatically with
the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of
1991 (ISTEA), which launched the post-interstate era for surface transportation
programs.
ISTEA created new
areas of focus for U.S. DOT and FHWA. The Act authorized a National Highway
System—160,000 miles—to include the Interstate System and other
important roads and connections to intermodal facilities. And it increased
support to programs such as Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in
recognition of the need to apply technology to improve operations and
make the current highway system more efficient and safer. ISTEA also improved
access to national parks, national forests, and other federal lands; supported
national defense mobility and emergency preparedness; enhanced the fiscal
integrity of transportation decisionmaking; and, for the first time, introduced
a requirement for a statewide transportation planning process, offering
opportunities for public involvement. ISTEA also reorganized the federal-aid
highway and transit programs to give state and local officials greater
flexibility in using federal funds—for highways, transit, or alternatives
such as bicycling and walking paths—to best meet each area's unique
transportation infrastructure needs.
In 1998, the Transportation
Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) reauthorized the ISTEA programs.
While retaining ISTEA's post-interstate program structure, TEA-21 authorized
higher funding levels for the Federal-aid Highway and Federal Lands Highway
programs. In addition, TEA-21 formalized and authorized the Research and
Technology Program, including Surface Transportation Research, University
Transportation Centers, and enhanced technology deployment and training.
Our View of Success
Each day, we at FHWA aggressively pursue our vision—to create the
best transportation system in the world, and our mission—to continually
improve the quality of our nation's highway system and its intermodal
connections. We pursue this vision and mission by focusing on six strategic
goals:
Safety
Continually improve highway safety.
Mobility
Continually improve the public's access to activities, goods, and services
by preserving, improving, and expanding the highway transportation system-and
enhancing its operations, efficiency, and intermodal connections.
Productivity
Continually improve the economic efficiency of the nation's transportation
system to enhance America's position in the global economy.
Human and
Natural Environment
Protect and enhance the natural environment and communities affected
by highway transportation.
National
Security
Improve the nation's national defense mobility.
Organizational
Excellence
Advance FHWA's ability to manage for results and innovation.
Moving Ahead
In 2000, FHWA surveyed overall public satisfaction with the nation's highway
transportation system—the satisfaction not only of drivers, but of
all travelers. On March 20, 2001, FHWA released the results of these surveys
in Moving Ahead: The American Public Speaks on Roadways and Transportation
in Communities. The results reflect overall satisfaction with roads
and bridges—in part, due to the increasing federal and state highway
funds invested in our highway system since the early 1980s—but dissatisfaction
with traffic congestion. As illustrated in the figure, the survey also
identified areas that the traveling public would like to see improved,
including traffic safety and congestion, pavement conditions, work zones,
and maintenance response times.
For FHWA, these are
the bedrock issues, the issues we work on every day, the points where
our work is seen and experienced by American motorists.
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