Congress Gave States Enough Money to Fix Every Road in America; Some States Set It On Fire Instead - Streetsblog USA

"A disturbing share of departments of Transportation sunk that windfall into expanding highways instead, a new report found. And unless Congress learns from its mistakes and finally requires transportation officials to "fix it first," we will continue to set billions of taxpayer dollars on fire."

"A stunning 16.3 percent of U.S. roads that were eligible for federal money were still rated in "poor" condition in 2024, according to a recent Transportation for America analysis - despite Congress providing state DOTs with $56.8 billion in largely unrestricted transportation funds that year alone, and nearly $1.5 trillion over the 30 years prior."

"Experts say it would take $43.2 billion per year to maintain all of the country's existing roads in "acceptable" condition, or roughly 23 percent less than Congress authorized annually under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act."

"Because increasingly lax reporting standards conceal broken roads from public view, and DOTs routinely mis-categorize expensive expansion projects as simple "maintenance" or lump them into a mysterious "other" category, Transportation for America suspects the national highway network is actually even more drastically overbuilt than it appears on paper."

In 2024, 16.3% of U.S. roads eligible for federal money were rated in poor condition. States received $56.8 billion in largely unrestricted transportation funds in that year and nearly $1.5 trillion over the prior 30 years. Experts estimate $43.2 billion per year is needed to keep existing roads in acceptable condition, about 23% less than Congress authorized annually under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Waste may be greater than reported because lax reporting standards can hide broken roads. Departments of Transportation may mis-categorize costly expansion projects as maintenance or place them in an unclear “other” category. The result is an overbuilt network that may require shifting funding toward repairs and away from expansion, and toward non-driving modes to reduce pressure on roads.

Read at Streetsblog USA