Maintaining and Improving Our Nation's Mobility

Despite large federal expenditures to build, maintain, and improve the nation's aging transportation system, demand has outpaced the capacity of the system, and congestion continues to worsen.

• Sixty-seven percent of the peak-period road travel nationwide is congested, compared with thirty-two percent in 1982. Also, flight delays and cancellations, which are often caused by air traffic and airport congestion, are rising. In addition to burdening the economy, congestion can harm the environment and the health of the nation's citizens.

  Highlights of GAO-08-763T (PDF), Highlights of GAO-08-934T (PDF)

• Many of our current surface transportation programs are not effective at addressing increasing congestion and other key challenges. They generally do not meet these challenges because federal goals and roles are unclear, many programs lack links to needs or performance, and programs often do not employ the best tools and approaches. The goals of current programs are numerous and sometimes conflicting, and states' ability to transfer highway infrastructure funds among different programs is so flexible that some program distinctions have little meaning. Moreover, rigorous economic analysis is not a driving factor in most project selection decisions, and tools to make better use of existing infrastructure have not been deployed to their full potential.

  Highlights of GAO-08-400 (PDF)

• In GAO's review of three large federal infrastructure programs¹—designed to target funds to infrastructure projects that have high costs and involve national or regional impacts—the programs' stakeholders cited more challenges than advantages with these programs, including uncertainties about the availability of federal funding to complete the projects; difficulty in complying with federal environmental and other requirements; and difficulty in determining whether the congressionally directed projects funded under two of the programs addressed national and regional priorities.

  Highlights of GAO-09-219 (PDF)

• To accommodate expected future demand for air travel, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and aviation stakeholders are developing the "next generation air transportation system" (NextGen). This effort is complex and costly, however, and faces a number of management challenges, such as questions about FAA's technical and contract management expertise.

  Highlights of GAO-08-1078 (PDF)

^ Back to topWhat Needs to Be Done

• GAO has called for a fundamental re-examination and a restructured federal approach with regard to transportation that redefines relationships with state and local governments and is based on the following principles: (1) ensuring goals are well-defined with direct links to an identified federal interest and role, (2) ensuring the federal role in achieving each goal is clearly defined, (3) ensuring accountability for results by entities receiving federal funds, (4) employing the best tools and approaches to emphasize return on targeted federal investment, and (5) ensuring fiscal sustainability.

  Highlights of GAO-08-400 (PDF), Highlights of GAO-09-753 (PDF)

• GAO has suggested that Congress consider implementing a criteria-based, competitive project selection process for the three major national and regional transportation infrastructure programs that GAO reviewed in 2009.

  Highlights of GAO-09-219 (PDF)

• GAO has also recommended the development of a comprehensive national strategy for freight transportation, improvements in the process for evaluating new transit projects for funding, and improvements in airspace redesign efforts.

  Highlights of GAO-08-287 (PDF), Highlights of GAO-08-844 (PDF), Highlights of GAO-08-786 (PDF)

Figure 1: Traffic Congestion

Source: Art Explosion (queued planes); Photodisc (trains and congested highway); GAO.

^ Back to topKey Reports

National Transportation System

National Airspace System

Surface Transportation

Surface Transportation

Freight Transportation

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