This Conditions and Performance (C&P) report is intended to provide decision makers with an objective appraisal of the physical conditions, operational performances, and financing mechanisms of highways, bridges, and transit systems based both on the current state of these systems and on the projected future state of these systems under a set of alternative future investment scenarios. This report offers a comprehensive, data-driven background to support the development and evaluation of legislative, program, and budget options at all levels of government. This report consolidates conditions, performance, and financial data provided by States, local governments, and mass transit operators to provide a national-level summary. Illus.

State fiscal decisions have a significant impact on the US economy. Taken together, subnational governments employ more than one out of every eight workers and provide the bulk of all basic governmental services consumed by individuals and businesses. Sustaining the States: The Fiscal Viability of American State Governments will give you a basic understanding of trends in, current status of, and future prospects for the fiscal sustainability of state governments. After reading this book, you should have a great appreciation for the reach and multiple contributions of state governments to individuals and communities across the nation. The book examines the broad range and depth of state revenues, responsibilities, and activities. It begins with an assessment of executive budgeting in the states, then presents the experiences of states with strong executive-driven systems and the various rules and institutions that impact state government budget discipline. The book goes on to examine state revenue sources, debt, pensions, and spending, honing in on vital state functions including education, transportation, health services and public safety. It concludes with an assessment of the challenges that will test the fiscal vibrancy of US state governments going forward: vulnerability to future economic downturns, growing dependence on an increasingly austere federal government, the obsolescence of state tax systems and an ever more coercive system of federalism. Edited by experts, with a hand-picked panel of contributors, the book delineates the resources that states generate and use to conduct the business of government. The chapters outline the very real and significant constraints on the ability of the states to fulfill their responsibilities and introduce several challenges that state governments face and are actively addressing as they strive for fiscal sustainability. These features provide a clear, realistic understanding of state operations and financing in the United States, today. The book should also leave you with a sense of optimism for the capacity of state governments to advance forward.

This publication is intended to provide decision makers with an objective appraisal of the physical conditions, operational performance, and financing mechanisms of highways, bridges, and transit systems based on both their current state and their projected future state under a set of alternative future investment scenarios.

The Aug. 1, 2007, collapse of a Minnesota bridge raised nationwide questions about bridge safety and the Dept. of Transportation¿s ability to prioritize resources for bridges. The Highway Bridge Program (HBP), the primary source of fed. funding for bridges, provided over $4 billion to states in FY 2007. This study examines: (1) how the HBP addresses bridge conditions; (2) how states use HBP funds and select bridge projects for funding; (3) what data indicates about bridge conditions and the HBP¿s impact; and (4) the extent to which the HBP aligns with generally accepted principles, and fed. laws and regulations, for re-examining surface transportation programs. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.

This study gathers information on current practices that senior managers at transportation agencies use to make network-level decisions on resource allocations for their bridge programs. In particular, the study explores how agency bridge management systems are employed in this process. Information was gathered through a review of literature on U.S. and international bridge management, a survey of U.S. and Canadian transportation agencies, and 15 in-depth interviews with state DOT executive and bridge managers.