State DOTs own and now manage roughly 290,000 bridges and 1.9 million lane-miles of roadway. According to the latest report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers, around 40 percent of bridges are at least 50 years old and one out of 13 are structurally deficient. Another 40 percent of roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
Much like any smart homeowner would fix a leaky roof before adding onto their house and creating more square footage to maintain, some state agencies now recognize the importance of maintaining what they already own before spending limited transportation money to build new infrastructure—sometimes called a “fix it first” approach.
With fewer resources to meet the growing demand for road space and reliable transit, agencies need to use their existing capacity more efficiently. They can do this by repurposing existing roads to prioritize the most space-efficient modes, like freight and transit, and by using strategies geared toward “transportation systems management and operations,” also known as TSMO. This includes everything from providing travelers with real-time information to pricing roads more effectively.
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Fix it first
A strong asset management system helps state agencies extend the life of costly infrastructure and make the most of limited budgets. Equally important, though, is the commitment to fund essential maintenance before adding new assets that will require future repairs and capital expenditures. While many agencies have adopted a “fix it first” approach, the FHWA faced strong resistance from state leaders when it issued a non-binding memo in 2021 promoting this policy. Moreover, states rarely spend much on maintenance for locally-owned roads and bridges, leaving those financial burdens to cities and counties.
States and local governments need dedicated funding streams to invest properly in the state of good repair. States like Massachusetts and Minnesota dedicate upwards of 60 to 70 percent of capital funds to preserving and maintaining existing infrastructure. Massachusetts’ Chapter 90 program also provides dedicated funding to municipalities for maintaining local roads and bridges. Directing funding toward maintenance often requires legislative action, but agency leaders can educate and advocate to do so. In Washington State, Transportation Secretary Roger Millar has been a vocal proponent of increased maintenance funding, raising awareness for what he called a “glidepath to failure”.
States also need sophisticated asset management systems to monitor the quality of roads and bridges and prioritize investments that increase their lifespans and minimize long-term costs. This requires comprehensive lifecycle plans that account for the impacts of extreme weather, investment strategies that prioritize “worst first,” and tying those investment strategies to funding and programming. The Virginia DOT sets targets and evaluates system performance 20 to 50 years into the future to balance long-term needs with near-term investments. State agencies have also grown their asset management systems to include not just bridges and roads, but also signs, guardrails, traffic signals, and other infrastructure. The Connecticut DOT has developed a comprehensive management plan for transit assets, while the California DOT tracks bike and pedestrian infrastructure. The Nebraska DOT uses machine learning to inventory crosswalks by analyzing video data.
Some DOTs use innovative monitoring technologies like remote sensors, 3D imaging, and drones to inspect their infrastructure. Florida’s DOT uses drones for bridge inspection and hurricane damage assessment to avoid putting personnel in dangerous situations. When deploying newer technology for asset maintenance, Oregon and Pennsylvania have noted that providing effective training helped overcome resistance to change among staff and inspectors and increased buy-in.
Add new lanes as a last resort
Expanding highways to meet growing demand is often prohibitively expensive and impractical, especially in densely populated urban areas. New lanes on existing roads offer a fraction of the benefits they once provided, but at a similar cost. Numerous studies also show that added capacity typically creates new demand, with congestion returning to previous levels—or worse—within five to ten years, erasing the intended benefits.
Transportation agencies must aim to maximize efficiency before adding new capacity. Better signal coordination, traffic sensors, and real-time traveler information can help eliminate bottlenecks, while robust systems for managing work zones, special events, and traffic incidents—coordinated through transportation management centers—can minimize unexpected disruptions. For example, the Georgia DOT reduced crash clearance times by 80% through incentive programs for heavy-duty towing companies, while drones used by the North Carolina DOT can collect the required data at crash sites in a quarter of the time it takes highway patrol troopers. Managing unanticipated congestion more effectively could address more than half of all traffic delays without adding considerable new lane-miles.
State DOTs should also coordinate with the freight industry to address unique challenges, which most agencies are not well-equipped to do on their own. Meeting these needs often requires collaboration with freight carriers and other partners to improve logistics and establish urban delivery hubs. For example, a coalition of 19 states coordinates freight management strategies along the eastern corridor, and four of those states—Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey—worked together to establish 24 charging sites for heavy trucks along I-95. The Michigan DOT also has supported operational improvements at a major intermodal terminal in Detroit while working to mitigate impacts on nearby communities.
In growing metropolitan areas, making the best use of existing infrastructure sometimes means rethinking the role of legacy highways. Many of these highways, once designed to move traffic in and out of city centers, have evolved into what some call ‘stroads’—hybrids that try to combine the functions of streets (serving neighborhoods and businesses) and roads (facilitating fast travel). As a result, they fail to perform either role well while often creating some of the most dangerous conditions in the country—frequently on state-owned routes.
Repurposing these roads can involve removing lanes to add features like crosswalks, bike lanes and traffic calming measures—as seen along Minnesota’s Olson Memorial Highway—or converting general purpose lanes into dedicated bus routes that serve local businesses, as in Montgomery County, Maryland. In both examples, the new features were tested as temporary pilot projects. Addressing the dangers of stroads, a new law in Delaware empowers the DOT to design for slower speeds on routes primarily serving local access or, conversely, to limit access on routes that mainly serve mobility.
Manage travel demand
When travelers are offered cheap and unrestricted travel, demand for road space inevitably grows, and so does congestion. This trend could be amplified in the short term by sudden drops in fuel prices or in the long term by emerging technologies like self-driving vehicles. Just like how airlines, rail operators, and other service providers use pricing and other tools to manage demand, state DOTs and local partners can use incentives or “nudges” to encourage more efficient use of the transportation system.
In the most straightforward approach, state DOTs can manage demand and improve efficiency through pricing. High-occupancy toll lanes, which typically allow carpoolers for free, have shifted traffic out of peak periods, reduced congestion, and improved throughput in states like California, Colorado, and Virginia. Congestion pricing—like the program recently launched in New York City—cut traffic by more than 20 percent in London and Stockholm in the near-term and created revenue to invest in better transportation options.
In addition to offsetting eroding fuel tax revenues more fairly than a flat fee on electric vehicles, mileage-based road pricing presents new opportunities to subtly influence travel behavior. This includes mileage-based insurance and voluntary pilot programs like those in Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and other states. Depending on how prices are set and how revenues are collected, road user fees could lower demand by around 10 to 15 percent according to research sponsored by the Minnesota DOT.
To implement effective demand management strategies, state DOTs must work closely with local governments, which play a key role in shaping development patterns and parking policies. Parking availability and land-use characteristics significantly influence how people choose to travel. States like Colorado, North Carolina, and Washington offer local grants to run transportation demand management (TDM) programs, which typically encourage commuters to carpool or change modes. Additionally, cities like Los Angeles, California, and Madison, Wisconsin, have shifted from traditional parking requirements and traffic impact assessments to TDM-focused development review processes, a strategy detailed in our Modernizing Mitigation guide.
As with any major policy change, the equity impacts of demand management must be carefully considered. While more efficient transportation systems that offer a range of travel options tend to benefit society broadly, including low-income populations, some individuals may risk facing disproportionate burdens from higher costs or less convenience. To address this, researchers recommend targeted subsidies, reinvesting revenues in transit, and other strategies that help ensure the programs are both effective and equitable. One of those researchers, however, also cautions against assuming the current system is more equitable than reform policies. “It’s easy to think of free roads as a subsidy for the poor,” notes UCLA Professor Michael Manville, “but it’s more accurate to call them a subsidy for the affluent that some poor people are able to enjoy”.
Published February 2025.