Renewing the National Commitment to the Interstate Highway System: A Foundation for the Future (2019) / Chapter Skim
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1 Summary The Interstate Highway System has conferred both broad and deep benefits on the nation. Not only does it connect and integrate the transcontinental United States, but it also has been pivotal for more than 50 years in shaping and supporting the country's demographic, spatial, economic, and social development.
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2 NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM new demands on the country's transportation infrastructure, the prospect of an aging and worn Interstate Highway System that operates unreliably is concerning. Unless a commitment is made soon to remedying the system's deficiencies and to preparing it for the challenges that lie ahead, there is a very real risk that the system will become increasingly congested; far more costly to operate, maintain, and repair; less safe; incompatible with evolving technology; and vulnerable to the effects of a changing climate and extreme weather.
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SUMMARY 3 • Ensuring that the system is robust and adaptable to changing vehicle technologies, and avoiding premature investments in assets and the introduction of standards that would hinder or even foreclose useful development pathways; • Adopting funding mechanisms that are equitable and efficient, do not unduly impose the burden of payment on future generations or on less financially equipped groups, and do not disadvantage or divert resources from other highways and modes of passenger and freight transportation; and • Developing and implementing strategies for incorporating future climate conditions into infrastructure and operations planning, starting with the development of design and construction standards that assume greater frequency and severity of extreme weather events. AN INVESTMENT IMPERATIVE Because of the uncertainties associated with forecasting developments far into the future, specific uncertainties about the pace and form of motor vehicle automation, and the absence of appropriate modeling tools and data, the committee restricted its time horizon to the next 20 years for estimating system investment needs.
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4 NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM expand and manage the Interstate Highway System's capacity to handle future traffic. Investments that will be required to accommodate this traffic demand are much more difficult to project.
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SUMMARY 5 very expensive or unacceptable to local communities. Although connected and automated vehicles are likely to have limited effects on travel demand in the nearer term, expectations about their longer-term impact may influence transportation agency decisions about whether and where to invest in Interstate capacity, especially in 10 to 15 years.
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6 NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM demands of users. Central to that partnership is federal leadership and a resolve to restore the Interstate Highway System's premier status and ensure that this status is no longer allowed to obsolesce.
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SUMMARY 7 those tolls, states should be required to assess their impact on current users and offer alternative mobility options for those users significantly and disproportionately harmed by the tolls. A "rightsizing" component of RAMP should address current and emerging demands to extend the Interstate System's length and scope of coverage, and to remediate economic, social, and environmental disruptions caused by highway segments that communities find overly intrusive and are not deemed vital to network and intermodal traffic.
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8 NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM BOX S-1 A Blueprint for Action Recommendation 1. Congress should legislate an Interstate Highway System Renewal and Modernization Program (RAMP)
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SUMMARY 9 develop modeling tools and databases that track the full condition of Interstate assets, including interchanges, and their reconstruction history; can be used to assess transportation options that can supplement or substitute for additions to Interstate highway capacity; allow for the monitoring and modeling of network-level traffic flows on the Interstate Highway System; and further federal and state understanding of the demand for long-distance and interregional passenger and freight travel by highway and other modes. Because these recommended activities are important for guiding reinvestment in the Interstate System, careful consideration should be given to carrying them out in an effective and efficient manner.
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