Planning Actions to Preserve and Enhance Highway Functionality

The operational functionality of the nation’s transportation network determines how efficiently the network moves goods and people from where they are to their destinations. The nation has needs for far more highways that it can afford to build. Currently, highway maintenance, including corrective maintenance and reconstruction, consumes most of the budget in many states. With the shortage of funds for adding capacity and new routes, it has become extremely important to preserve the functionality of existing highways at a high level through effective planning, operational and safety management, and proactive infrastructure maintenance. It is imperative that functionality is considered in all stages of a highway’s lifecycle and that functionality is protected, preserved, and where possible enhanced during the course of planning, operations, and maintenance. Recognizing that importance, the Texas DOT initiated a comprehensive research project to examine what losses to state highway functionality occur over time, the causes of those functionality reductions, and actions that can be taken to preserve, recover, and enhance functionality over time. This paper presents the findings of the research relevant to planning. The paper also presents two in-depth case studies through which the writers investigated in detail how the functionality of two major highways evolved. The products of the associated research and findings presented in this paper serve as valuable guidelines for state and local transportation agencies to select a proactive approach to preserve and enhance the functionality of the transportation system.