Highway infrastructure: preliminary information on the timely completion of highway construction projects

Date01 March 2017
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-03-01-2003-B006
Published date01 March 2017
Pages108-127
Subject MatterPublic policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1, 108-127 2003
SELECTED REPRINT
HIGHWAY INFRASTRUCTURE: PRELIMINARY
INFORMATION ON THE TIMELY COMPLETION OF
HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
U.S. General Accounting Office*
ABSTRACT. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and
based on its professional judgment, it typically takes from 9 to 19 years to plan,
gain approval for, and construct a new, major federally funded highway project
that has significant environmental impacts. However, these projects constitute
only 3 percent of all federally funded projects, according to FHWA. Officials in
federal and state agencies and other knowledgeable organizations indicate that
delivering larger, more complex or controversial projects may take longer to
complete than is typical for most highway projects. In addition to needing more
time because of their size and complexity, they often take longer to complete
because they must comply with more federal and state requirements and because
of the public interest that they may generate. Federal and state agencies have
undertaken several initiatives to improve completion times for highway
construction projects. Most of these initiatives address opportunities for
reducing the time required to obtain environmental approvals.
INTRODUCTION
The United States is the most mobile nation on the planet.
Constructing, improving, and repairing roads and bridges is fundamental
to meeting the nation’s mobility needs to facilitate commerce, national
--------------------------
* Reprinted from a September 19, 2002 Testimony of Katherine Siggerud,
Acting Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, U.S. General Accounting Office
(GAO/02-1067T). Several modifications are made, including endnotes,
references, and moving “Scope and Methodology” to the text, and moving
“Summary” section to the end of the text. Moreover, several sections were left
out, including its transmittal statements.
Copyright © 2002 by PrAcademics Press
PRELIMINARY INFORMATION ON THE TIMELY HIGHWAY PROJECT COMPLETION 109
defense, and pleasure use and to promote economic growth. Therefore, it
is important that highway projects using federal financial support are
completed in as timely a manner as possible. My statement presents
preliminary results of our ongoing work for this committee on the
construction of new roads. My statement is based on our review of
federal laws and regulations governing the construction of federally
funded highway projects; studies and other analyses of the time it takes
to complete new federally financed roads; and discussions with various
federal agency officials who have responsibilities relating to the
construction of federally financed roads, transportation engineering
organizations, transportation professional associations, and state
transportation officials in seven states. We also reviewed the time it took
to complete six new highway construction projects in California, Florida,
and Texas.
Federal and state governments do not maintain information centrally
(or, in some cases, at all) on the time it takes to complete highway
projects; and there is no accepted measuring stick with which to gauge
whether project performance is timely. Our discussion of the typical
amount of time it takes to complete major construction projects that
involve building new roads is based on a best estimate prepared by
FHWA. According to FHWA, it based its estimate on the professional
judgment of its staff and several state departments of transportation. We
also discussed typical times to complete major new highway construction
projects with several professional associations and state departments of
transportation. In those instances where they had anecdotal information,
their estimates fell within the FHWA time frames. (See Appendix 1 for
additional details, including how we picked the six projects to review.)
We are continuing to examine this issue and expect to report to you on
the final results of our work in Spring 2003, to aid in your consideration
of the reauthorization of TEA-21.
BACKGROUND
In fiscal year 2001, FHWA obligated over $20 billion to the states
for roadway projects.1 Generally, states are required to use their own
funds to pay up to 20 percent of the project costs. Federally funded
highway projects vary in size, from new lane striping to resurfacing an
existing road to building a new road or interchange. Most federally
funded highway projects are minor rehabilitation or reconstruction

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