The American Society of Civil Engineers report on the state of U.S. infrastructure reiterated the need for investment in transportation networks, especially for bridges as the “letter grade” for that infrastructure category declined in 2021 versus the organization’s 2017 report. [Above photo by RIDOT.] ASCE’s 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure gave U.S. infrastructure an overall […]

After six consecutive years of gradual increases in vehicle-miles traveled, data compiled annually by the Federal Highway Administration indicates that national vehicle miles traveled or VMT in the United States dropped by 13.2 percent due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic: falling from 3.3 trillion VMT in 2019 to 2.83 trillion VMT in 2020. […]

As the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure works on its surface transportation authorization legislation – due to be released “this spring,” according to Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the committee’s chair – a “formal process” is being crafted that will allow members of Congress to submit “requests for highway and transit project designations.” Commonly called […]

Goods moved on America’s transportation network increased in both value and tonnage from 2012 to 2017, according to the latest version of the Freight Analysis Framework or FAF jointly issued by the Federal Highway Administration and Bureau of Transportation Statistics. [Above photo by the Michigan DOT.] FHWA noted that it releases FAF benchmarks at five-year […]

Restoring the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund must occur in a way that is “sustainable, predictable, defensible, and affordable” with “some sort of road usage levy necessary” on all vehicles in the future, according to Pete Buttigieg (seen above), secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Speaking at the virtual 2021 American Association of […]

Any delay – or even worse, a series of short-term extensions – in surface transportation reauthorization legislation “would wreak havoc across the country and would impact not just state DOTs, but our partners such as local governments and the construction industry,” emphasized Victoria Sheehan in a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing February […]

State departments of transportation across the country battled back-to-back winter storms that hit during the week of February 15, hitting Texas particularly hard with snow, ice, and sub-zero temperature knocking offline much of the state’s energy grid. [Above photo by the New York State DOT.] According to the Weather Channel, snow covered the ground in 73.2 […]

Francis B. Francois, who served as executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials from 1980 to 1999, passed away on February 17 in Chicago at the age of 87. [Above photo by M. D. Francois.] He assumed the duties as AASHTO’s executive director at a time when the association faced […]

New Insurance Institute for Highway Safety research indicates women are much more likely to suffer a serious injury than men when involved in a motor vehicle crash. However, much of that “heightened crash risk” relates to the types of vehicles women drive and the circumstances of their crashes, rather than physical differences between the genders. […]

New Hampshire Department of Transportation Commissioner Victoria Sheehan’s election in October 2020 as president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation made her only the second woman in the association’s 107-year history to hold that position. In the presidential profile video below, AASHTO traces Sheehan’s roots to Ireland, where she said her love […]