Safety Effectiveness Evaluation: Federal Highway Administration Non-Interstate Resurfacing, Restoration, and Rehabilitation Program

摘要

The report analyzes the activities of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to implement a national program for preserving and improving the non-interstate, Federal-aid Highway System through the use of Federal funds for RRR work. The report reviews the overall nature of the Federal-aid Highway Program; briefly describes the characteristics of the Federal-aid Highway System; and describes the general findings of the 'Report of the Secretary of Transportation to the Congress on the State of the Nation's Highways: Conditions and Performance (January 1981)'. Finally, the report closely reviews and analyzes the three major rulemaking notices issued by the FHWA on the RRR program since 1976, including the 'cost/benefit analysis' published by the FHWA in support of the rulemaking effort. The Board found that the FHWA has not developed a coherent program for RRR work based on reliable research that would provide a basis to measure the program's safety and durability impacts. The Board concluded that the 5-year rulemaking record is contradictory, unsupported by fact, and seriously misleading. The report is critical of the FHWA's argument that use of lower standards can provide 'greater systemwide safety' than higher standards because more miles of roads can be improved. The cost/benefit study does not support that claim.