There is a general agreement that this nation has substantial unmet highway infrastructure needs. The question is how federal policy can evolve to meet those needs that are clearly of national importance. "21st Century Highways" addresses the many factors that make up the highways issue, and gives possible solutions to America's transportation needs.
21st Century Highways views the worsening road congestion as one of the chief deficiencies of the existing highway programs and argues that diminished mobility is contributing to a loss of economic vitality. Having acknowledged the problem, ordinary citizens and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels must now decide what to do about these troublesome trends. Do we get rid of the federal program, substantially reform it, or simply let it run its course and seek other mechanisms and institutions to fill the void caused by an increasingly distracted federal program that still commands extraordinary resources?