Alabamians have a large investment in highways and bridges.
According to its latest financial report, the state of Alabama has almost $17 billion invested in highway infrastructure and owns 5,362 bridges and 10,875 miles of roadway.
Many more miles of roads and streets are owned by counties and cities across the state.
This network of highways, roads and streets literally ties us together, economically and socially. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), there were more than 13,000 miles of vehicular travel on Alabama’s highways for every state resident in 2007.
Since highways deteriorate with use and become overcrowded as communities grow, maintaining their capacity makes good sense but requires annual expenditures. This burden is shared by federal, state and local taxpayers. The FHWA sponsors a “highway performance monitoring system” with data that can be used to show where our state ranks in terms of highway cost and quality.
Federal and state taxpayers invest about $1.7 billion annually to construct, maintain, provide for safety on and administer Alabama’s highways. In addition, the current economic stimulus program is providing Alabama $567 million in federal transportation funds above normal spending levels.
Alabama benefits from the formulas that distribute federal transportation tax revenues to the states, receiving back $1.20 to spend for every federal tax dollar paid.
However, the state’s highway taxes provide about $100 million less than the average Southeastern level of support, which affects the state’s ability to match federal funds.
Alabama has a low level of highway debt. Spending levels for highway construction and safety are at the regional average and maintenance spending is high.
However, administrative expenditures also are high by regional standards, which is not desirable.
Alabama generally fares well in comparative measures of road quality. About 25 percent of bridges are deficient because of structural or design problems, but this percentage has been declining over time and is near the Southeastern average.
Road smoothness is rated high and traffic congestion in urban areas low. However, traffic fatalities are high, particularly in rural areas.
A more detailed analysis of these data on Alabama’s roads and bridges can be found at http://parca.samford.edu/spring2009.pdf.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jim Williams is executive director for the nonprofit, nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama.
Share with others: