Detailed Planning for Research on Accelerating the Renewal of America's Highways. Study 1-Renewal.

摘要

America's economy relies on highways. According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, as reported in Transportation Research Board (TRB) Special Report 260: Strategic Highway Research (2001), highways carry 90 percent of passenger trips and 69 percent of freight value. They also provide passenger and freight links to all other modes of transportation. The highway network is made up of 3.9 million miles of highways and local roads. This network is largely built but does not last forever. It must be periodically renewed. For the purposes of this report, highway renewal is defined as preservation, rehabilitation, or reconstruction. Many of the nation's roads are especially critical to meeting the mobility and economic needs of local communities, regions, and the nation. The interstate system, for example, while making up only 1.2 percent of the nation's road mileage, carries over 24 percent of vehicle-miles traveled (VMT). The nation's most important roads are carrying traffic well in excess of their design capacity, and many are heavily congested.