The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) conducted an assessment of broad issues and trends that will shape the future of highway transportation in the United States. This report draws on the findings of 19 working papers prepared during 1987 and 1988, and presents options for meeting the most critical of the Nation's future needs. The report contains an Executive Summary, giving an overview of the report, and seven chapters. Chapter I examines the importance of highway transportation in meeting the Nation's economic and societal needs, discusses national objectives for the highway program and the Federal role in achieving those objectives, and describes past and present governmental roles and responsibilities in the construction and administration of highways. Chapters II and III examine demographic, economic, energy, and technological trends that will affect the future demand for highway transportation. Chapter IV analyzes factors influencing future passenger and freight travel demand, and Chapter V relates the travel demand factors described in earlier chapters to future capital investment requirements for highways. Chapter VI describes program alternatives for meeting future highway requirements and looks at regulatory and other nonconstruction requirements that relate to the operation of highways and the administration of the Federal-aid highway program. Chapter VII examines trends in highway finance and discusses future highway revenue requirements.

A transportation expert makes a provocative case for changing the nation’s approach to highways, offering “bold, innovative thinking on infrastructure” (Rick Geddes, Cornell University). Americans spend hours every day sitting in traffic. And the roads they idle on are often rough and potholed, with exits, tunnels, guardrails, and bridges in terrible disrepair. According to transportation expert Robert Poole, this congestion and deterioration are outcomes of the way America manages its highways. Our twentieth-century model overly politicizes highway investment decisions, short-changing maintenance and often investing in projects whose costs exceed their benefits. In Rethinking America’s Highways, Poole examines how our current model of state-owned highways came about and why it is failing to satisfy its customers. He argues for a new model that treats highways themselves as public utilities—like electricity, telephones, and water supply. If highways were provided commercially, Poole argues, people would pay for highways based on how much they used, and the companies would issue revenue bonds to invest in facilities people were willing to pay for. Arguing for highway investments to be motivated by economic rather than political factors, this book makes a carefully-reasoned and well-documented case for a new approach to highways.