What Percent of All Miles of Roadways in the United States Are Considered to Be Rural

Our Nation's Highways: 2011

ane. Highway Infrastructure

Since the early 20th century the nation has devoted significant resources to the creation of a roadway system that connects every major population middle. Over 164,000 miles of highways in the National Highway System class the backbone of our iv-million-mile public road network.

In 1989 FHWA established a Functional Classification Organisation that categorizes roadways with like characteristics. Our highway system comprises three fundamental building blocks: local roads; collectors; and arterials. Local roads serve homes, businesses, farms, and small-scale communities, and provide access to collector roadways. Collectors channel traffic from local roads to arterials, which provide safe, reliable, and efficient travel between towns and cities.

Figure 1-1: Hierarchy of Our Highway System

An ideal roadway is one that connects to our driveways (access) and at the aforementioned time leads to interruption-free drives to our destinations (mobility). To attain this, roadways are planned and designed differently. Local roads are chiefly to provide access (driveways, median openings), while mobility is the primary function of arterials.

Figure 1-2: Admission and Mobility

National Highway System (NHS) roadways are important to the Us economy, defense, and mobility. The NHS includes all Interstate highways (arterials), the Strategic Highway Network (defense force purpose), intermodal connectors (roads connecting to major intermodal facilities), and other principal arterials. Currently, the NHS includes over 164,000 miles of highways.

Figure 1-three: National Highway System

Figure 1-iv: Public Road Miles: 1980-2008

Approximately ane percent of all public roads are part of the Interstate Highway System. Of these 47,000 miles of Interstates, 65 percent are in rural areas and 35 per centum are in urban areas. Seventy-iv percent of the remaining public roads are located in rural areas, with 26 percent in urban areas.

Since 1980 an additional 183,000 miles of public roads accept been constructed, an average of vi,500 miles of new roads each year. Rural public roads have steadily decreased since 1980 every bit these roadways have been reclassified as urban due to increases in population and geographic dispersion. At the aforementioned time a corresponding increase in urban facilities is seen partly due to urban purlieus reclassification and partly due to new structure.

Figure 1-five: Public Road Centerline and Lane-Miles: 1923-2009 ^[iv]

Data Source: FHWA. Notation: Lane-mile data not available before 1985.

In 2009 in that location are 4.one million centerline lane miles and eight.5 million lane miles (an average of 2.1 lanes per centerline). Centerline miles increased 0.2 percentage from 2008, while lane miles increased 0.vii percent.

Since 1923 an additional 818,000 miles of public roads have been constructed, an average of 9,500 new centerline miles every twelvemonth. With the highway network largely consummate, nearly all population centers are linked by paved roadways and virtually all counties are continued by the Interstate highway system within the 48 contiguous States.

Lane-miles increase every bit highways are widened to arrange additional travel needs due to population growth in the various communities. In 1923, the U.S had a population of approximately 112 million. In 2010, the latest decennial census shows that there are 309 meg people, a nearly three-fold increase in . Adding capacity to existing highways is one of many means transportation agencies are ready to run across the needs of a continually growing population.

Figure one-6: Public Road Bridges: 1992-2010

Information Source: FHWA, Office of Bridge Engineering, National Span Inventory

Bridges are key components of our nation's highway system. Maintaining their integrity is critical for safety and efficient travel. The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) collects information on the nation's bridges, including those located on interstate highways, U.S. highways, state and county roads, also as publicly-accessible bridges on federal lands. Each state is required to carry periodic inspections of all bridges and report the data to FHWA.

One of the most efficient ways to increase roadway operating efficiency is to separate at-form intersections with bridges. In 2010 there are 604,460 bridges along public roads. Since 1992 32,264 bridges have been constructed, an average of one,792 new bridges each year.

Figure 1-7: Toll Road, Bridges, and Tunnels Centerline Miles by State: 2009

Information Source: FHWA OHPI, Highway Performance Monitoring System. Note: States not shown do not accept toll facilities.

Roads, bridges, and tunnels that require drivers to pay a fee for usage are referred to as toll highways, turnpikes, or cost structures. High-occupancy toll (HOT) roads are also synthetic to provide complimentary or discounted access to high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs) while allowing single-occupant vehicles to use the facility for a fee. The fees collected from these facilities are typically used to repay the money borrowed for construction. As the debt is repaid the price may be used for ongoing operations and maintenance.

30 states, plus Puerto Rico, take price facilities. The length of these facilities as they're recorded varies depending on the blazon (toll bridge, tunnel, or roadway). Oregon, for example, has only 3 toll bridges, while Florida has several toll roads throughout the state, including the 300-mile-long Florida's Turnpike.

While the vast bulk of Interstate highways have no tolls, approximately 2,900 miles of Interstates are tolled in 21 states. These tolled facilities range in length from 500-mile New York Land Thruway to tolled sections of I-95 in Delaware and Maryland.

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Source: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/pubs/hf/pl11028/chapter1.cfm

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