Up that to a 1.4 percent VMT growth per year, which is consistent with the long term trend from 1995 to 2010, and the investment needed rises to $144 billion per year, says the association in its 2015 AASHTO Bottom Line Report.
Compare those numbers to the $88.3 billion per year spent in 2010, the most recent year for which Federal Highway Administration data is compiled, and you can see the immediate discrepancy between needs and expenditures. (Note: the $88.3 billion does not include the one-time spike of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.)
While the Great Recession — and the resulting lowering of both costs and demand — would have been a great opportunity to catch up, federal, state and local governments were strapped by sharply limited resources. As a result, the backlog of needed projects only grew.
Powered byEven with present lower construction costs, AASHTO says, the investment required to restore the system in a way that will serve today’s demand totals $740 billion. Of that amount, highway system rehabilitation accounts for $392 billion; highway system expansion, $237 billion; and bridges, $112 billion.
To view a pdf of the entire report, which is chock full of highway and bridge statistics, click here.
