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 |
While this report does not recommend any specific level
of investment, a comparison of the investment requirement scenarios
with current and projected spending levels provides some insights into
the likelihood that the level of performance implied by the scenarios
will be obtained. Capital spending by all levels of government grew sharply between 1997 and 2000 and is projected to continue to increase in constant dollar terms from 2000 to 2003, albeit at a slower rate. These projected increases in combined Federal, State and local capital spending would move the Nation closer to the level of the investment requirement scenarios. However, capital outlay would still have to increase 11.3 percent above projected annual spending over this period to reach the Cost to Maintain level, and would need to increase 56.6 percent to reach the Cost to Improve level. In 2000, 40.1 percent of highway capital outlay went for system expansion, including the construction of new roads and bridges and the widening of existing facilities. The analytical models used to develop the investment requirements in this report suggest that if capital investment increases, it would be cost beneficial to devote a larger share to system expansion to alleviate the effects that future travel growth would have on recurring and non-recurring delay. For the Cost to Maintain Highways and Bridges, 43.3 percent of the projected 20-year investment requirements are for system expansion. If funding increases above this level, the analysis suggests increasing investment in system expansion, so that for the Cost to Improve Highways and Bridges, 46.7 percent of the total investment requirements are for system expansion. Transit
Transit capital expenditures from Federal, State, and local governments
totaled $9.1 billion in 2000, below the estimated annual investment requirements
for the 20-year period from 2001-2020. The annual capital investment necessary
to Maintain Conditions and Performance is estimated to be $14.8 billion,
64 percent above actual spending in 2000. The investment required to Improve
Conditions and Performance is estimated to be $20.6 billion, 128 percent
above actual 2000 capital spending. Projected funding levels, which are based on TEA-21 authorizations, flexible funding estimates and allocations from State and local governments are considerably closer to estimated investment requirements than current capital spending with the gap declining over the duration of the TEA-21 period. By 2003, investment requirements to Maintain Conditions and Performance are estimated to exceed estimated average annual available funding levels by 10 percent, and those to Improve Conditions and Performance by 52 percent. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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