AASHTO Journal, 09 October 2015
The Federal Highway Administration is proposing to sharply increase the flexibility of state or local officials to make design changes for low-speed local roads, and to trim the number of categories in which states must seek FHWA approval for changes on higher-speed roads.
FHWA Administrator Greg Nadeau had told heads of state departments of transportation to expect such a policy shift, in a Sept. 28 speech to the annual board meeting in Chicago of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation. Officials.
Now the agency has put out the proposal in a Federal Register notice, and is taking public comment through Dec. 7.
“This change is a part of a major push at the agency to give engineers more autonomy in highway design so they can implement transportation projects that better connect with their communities,” Nadeau said in an Oct. 7 announcement. “We are always seeking new ways to improve our highway system, and today is a great step forward.”
The proposal would alter FHWA rules in effect since 1985, when it set 13 formal criteria state and local agencies must adhere to in all road projects, or else seek formal “design exceptions” that require FHWA approval.
Now, the FHWA wants to trim its list of design criteria from 13 to just two for roads built for traffic moving less than 50 mph, and eliminate three criteria for roads with speeds of 50 mph or higher.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the policy change “will give states and communities the opportunity to be more innovative in designing their local projects,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “It will help us to build more quality projects that will not only provide more travel options for people, but also support and unite communities across America.”
State DOTs have long been seeking more flexibility in how the FHWA oversees projects it helps fund, and has called for federal regulators to give more weight to the views of state and local planners about the types of projects they need to build.
“AASHTO has long supported giving states greater flexibility in designing transportation systems that meet the needs of local communities and their economies,” said Bud Wright, AASHTO executive director.
The FHWA said it was shifting its oversight approach after design research showed that most of the 13 design criteria “yielded significant benefits only on higher speed roadways.”
So it now proposes to reduce the number of criteria for lower-speed roads in both rural and urban areas, including main and downtown streets in towns and cities.
While all road projects must still be designed properly for speed and structural capacity, the FHWA said under its proposed rules that engineers can include other factors in their design criteria without seeking FHWA approval. That would allow the engineers to determine appropriate lane widths, for instance, plan to accommodate pedestrians or bicyclists, or incorporate landscaping for more livable communities.