Category: Highway

Map image of Hawaii highlighting highway system.

Highway System Resiliency, HDOT Approach Worth Checking Out

Hawaii’s Department of Transportation (HDOT) progressive plan for a more resilient highway system has a lot to offer those considering an approach to climatic adaptation and mitigating natural hazard disasters. Considering the MAASTO region’s frequent work to mitigate natural hazard disasters, taking a look at Hawaii’s approach provides insights to asset and hazard identification, and plans for managing. Read a news brief and find links to HDOT plan documents and hazard viewer at this link to KITV website.

Interstate 70 Rocheport bridge over the Missouri River.

Rocheport Bridge – “the lynchpin of America” – will be replaced.

The current 1960s era bridge is an example of critical infrastructure that connects a majority of the U.S. (Source: https://www.modot.org/RocheportBridge.) With nearly 3.6 million trucks crossing the Missouri River at Rocheport each year, the bridge is critical to the national economy and nationwide movement of goods. MoDOT expects to begin construction on a new I-70 Rocheport Bridge in late 2021. Read more about it in the Misourinet.com article “MoDOT expects influx of construction workers in central Missouri’s Rocheport, for I-70 bridge project”.

Headshot Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher, headshot secretary-designee Craig Thompson, headshot Acting secretary of Transportation Omer Osman

MAASTO: States collaborate on CAV technology, future of transportation

“Midwest states continue to work together to ensure residents, businesses and agencies are positioned to take advantage of connected and automated vehicle technology. Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary-designee Craig Thompson, Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Omer Osman and Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher discuss the future of transportation…” Multistate collaboration will be key to moving forward with freight and transportation technologies and to ensure our system works for everyone. Listen to part two of a three-part podcast series from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. (Originally posted January 5, 2021. Reference: https://wisdot.libsyn.com/)

Trucks in snow illustrating highway freight transportation.

AASHTO submits comments on National Strategic Freight Plan

AASHTO provided comments on freight reauthorization to the U.S. DOT this past February. The AASHTO freight policy perspective reflects a continued interest to better define the multimodal freight system, provide funding and program flexibility, allow for technological advances, build on freight performance measures, improve project delivery and re-establish a freight-specific, cooperative research program. The AASHTO media release and comment letter are available on the AASHTO Journal website.

CBO Report Examines Vehicle Mileage Tax For Trucks

A 43-page report issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on October 17 examines whether a federal vehicle miles traveled or VMT tax on commercial trucks can help sustain the Highway Trust Fund, which the CBO projects will be “exhausted” of funding by 2022.
Read the AASHTO article at this link.

Access the 43-page report on the Congressional Budget Office website.

MAFC Releases Report Looking at the Impact of Upper Mississippi River Lock and Dam Shutdowns on State Highway Infrastructure

The Mid-America Freight Coalition (MAFC) has released a report on the impact lock and dam closures along the Upper Mississippi River would have on the parallel highways based on the increased truck numbers required to move displaced agricultural products.

The Mississippi River is a critical corridor for transportation of agricultural products and, in turn, is critical to the economies of the states that utilize the river to transport these trade goods. Five of the MAFC region’s states are dependent on the Upper Mississippi River to move the majority of their agricultural products.

Movement through the Upper Mississippi is facilitated through locks and dams, all of which were constructed between the 1930’s and late 1950’s. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) estimates that there are over $1 billion in backlogged maintenance costs for these structures. Given the age and maintenance backlog, a failure at any of these facilities, especially the southernmost, would divert agricultural products to truck or rail.

The report assesses the total impact of such closures and then demonstrates how the cost the closures, or improvements designed to mitigate their impact on the highway side, compare with the cost of improving Upper Mississippi River control structures.

Download the Report.