The present condition of highway infrastructure in many parts of the United States is testimony that funding levels have not been adequate for maintencance. Effective communication of budget requests to chief administrative officers (CAOs), highway and transportation commisions, and legislative bodies is a key to funding highway maintenance operations at levels that will preserve investment in the highway system, minimize long term replacement and user costs, and provide user services. However, many state highway agencies have not been succesful in communicating such maintenance needs. This may be due to a number of factors, including consideration that benefits from maintenance operations are much less immediately visible to the public than those from construction, and the apparent inability of maintenance managers to convey to executive and legislative bodies that quantifiable benefits of adequate maintenance funding. This report is directed at finding ways to develop, communicate, and realize the levels of fundings needed to maintain U.S. highways. The report is presented in two volumes. Volume 1, covering the research approach is not published herein. This report presents Volume 2, which summarizes Volume 1 and contains the guidelines developed to assist government transportation and highways agencies to secure the levels of funding needed to adequately maintain and preserve their highway systems.
Samenvatting