Executive Summary
America’s network of roads and bridges is the foundation of the U.S. economy and enhances the quality of life of its citizens. The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) believes the federal government has a major role to play in the development and maintenance of an efficient national highway and bridge system.
This system is a product of more than 50 years of partnership between all levels of government, which addresses unique state needs, while delivering the national connectivity envisioned by the U.S. Constitution.
ARTBA believes the U.S. highway program must achieve the following objectives:
- Highway capital improvements should be financed through the collection of highway user fees. These fees, which should be imposed by governments, must be raised as necessary to provide a continuing source of funding for the highway program.
- Safety must be of paramount concern in the design, construction, maintenance and traffic operations of the nation’s highway system.
- Critically deficient bridges should be repaired or replaced.
- Improved smoothness and pavement durability should be program goals.
- The capacity and efficiency of the highway system should be improved as necessary to meet public and business demand, changing demographics, shifting population centers, and physical condition requirements. Federal policymakers should recognize America will need additional highway capacity to meet transportation demand.
- New construction or major rehabilitation projects should be constructed to the most current relevant standards and resilient construction practices to minimize the risk of structure failure or loss of use from natural hazards throughout the lifetime of the project.
- State and local governments should be given the flexibility to allocate their share of federal funding within the framework of the federal-aid Highway Program as they see fit, providing that national highway needs within their state are met.
- The National Highway Freight Network is vital to the U.S. economy and the nation’s competitiveness. It should be a focus of federal capital investments.
The cost of building and maintaining highway infrastructure should be paid for by users of the system.
A strong transportation system relies on true partnership between the federal, state and local governments.
ARTBA supports the free enterprise system of open competitive bidding for highway projects.
ARTBA supports efforts to reduce regulatory delay in the project review and approval process
Safety should remain a federal and state priority. Highway reconstruction is increasingly done under traffic conditions.
State and local governments should make durability a priority as they develop highway project specifications.