The Interstate Highway System was pivotal in shaping and supporting demographic, spatial, economic and social development in the United States. Today, the system is facing a perfect storm – while it continues to be a vital mobility network for the nation, it risks degradation and obsolescence from aging and excessive wear, difficulty accommodating new vehicle technologies, and vulnerabilities to climate change.
Many Interstate highway segments are more than 50 years old and subject to much heavier traffic than anticipated. They are operating well beyond their design life, made worse by lack of major upgrades or reconstruction. They also are poorly equipped to accommodate even modest projections of future traffic growth, much less the magnitude of growth experienced over the past 50 years.
Not only did the U.S. fail to invest appropriately in the past, funding for the next 20 years is facing a fast closing window. This 20-year period coincides with the entire system reaching the end of its design life. At the same time, it overlaps with the onset of automated, electric and connected vehicles as well as the growing impact of climate change.
Congress directed the Transportation Research Board (TRB), a program unit of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, to form a special committee to conduct a study to inform pending and future federal investment and policy decisions concerning the Interstate Highway System. Congress asked the committee to make recommendations on the “features, standards, capacity needs, application of technologies, and intergovernmental roles to upgrade the Interstate System” and to advise on any changes in law and resources required to further the recommended actions.
The Future Interstate Report resulted from this request. Commissioned by Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation, it represents the best thinking from a group of independent experts in transportation. The “10 Big Ideas” that emerged in the report are the result of significant third-party studies and collective thought leadership from leading subject matter experts.
The Future Interstate Report offers 10 Big Ideas—detailed policy recommendations—to re-envision, reinvest and rebuild America’s Interstate Highway System to provide for 21st century mobility.
1. Create a federal program dedicated to renewing and modernizing Interstate highways over the next 20 years.
Federal government leads in articulating and furthering the national purpose of the system in partnership with states that prioritize and make specific improvements as asset owners, builders, operators, and maintainers.
2. Develop criteria to meet demands to extend the Interstate system’s reach and remedy adverse impacts from past investments.
Make smart choices about how to extend the system’s scope of coverage and remediate community and environmental disturbances caused by past highway investments.
3. Systematically assess the condition of Interstate bridges and pavement foundations.
Survey the system’s foundational integrity in partnership with states to inform investment choices.
4. Raise the federal motor fuels tax to provide sufficient revenue for near-term system investments.
Raise tax to level sufficient to cover the federal share of modernization and renewal investments, and adjust periodically to compensate for increases in inflation and vehicle fuel economy.
5. Allow states and metro areas to toll more Interstate highways.
Tolls provide a sustained means to pay for system improvements, allocate scarce system capacity, and provide alternative mobility options for those adversely and disproportionately impacted by tolls.
6. Explore new funding mechanisms, including mileage-based use fees.
Generate new revenue for system investments and compensate for declining fuel tax revenue from growing numbers of alternative-fuel vehicles.
7. Develop Interstate simulation tools and databases to monitor and model impacts of investments.
Make investments informed by an understanding of impacts on system conditions and traffic patterns locally, regionally, and nationally.
8. Plan for the transition to electric, automated, and connected vehicles.
Ensure that basic intelligent transportation system technology is adopted on consistent basis with an eye to enabling interoperability, enhancing safety, and ensuring cybersecurity.
9. Build resilience to extreme weather and climate change into long-term improvement planning.
Assess climate change vulnerabilities and put in place standards for incorporating cost-effective resilience enhancements into projects.
10. Seek ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Interstate traffic.
Look for opportunities to make electric vehicle charging facilities accessible to Interstate users and give explicit consideration to emissions impacts from system investments.
Carrying out these 10 Big Ideas will require government leadership, vision, and a reinvigorated national commitment to building and sustaining a modern highway system that unites the nation coast-to-coast.
The prospect of an aging and worn Interstate Highway System that operates unreliably is concerning as the nation’s vehicle fleet continues to modernize and as vulnerabilities due to climate change place new demands on the country’s transportation infrastructure. Unless a commitment is made to remedy the system’s deficiencies and prepare for the challenges that lie ahead, the system risks becoming increasingly congested; far more costly to operate, maintain and repair; and, vulnerable to the effects of a changing climate and extreme weather. The Transportation Research Board identified looming challenges that will necessitate a range of solutions including:
Many of the Interstate pavements built in the 1950s and 1960s were designed for 20-year service lives but have now gone more than 50 years without reconstruction of their foundations, despite much higher traffic loadings than projected. While these foundations are being rebuilt, sufficient resources will be needed to preserve, restore, and rehabilitate the system’s thousands of aging bridges and other assets.
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Large portions of the Interstate Highway System, especially in metropolitan areas, are chronically congested and have difficulty accommodating the demands of both local and longer distance travelers. As most of the country’s population and economic growth is forecast to occur in large metropolitan areas, the potential grows for worsening congestion unless capacity is added and more actively managed.
Although thousands of miles of high-quality highways other than Interstates connect the country’s population centers, lack of access to the Interstate System may be viewed by some smaller communities and emerging cities as detrimental to their growth and development, particularly given that the Interstate System includes the country’s main trucking corridors and links to other modes of transportation.
The Interstates are the nation’s safest highways, but they still account for more than 5,000 traffic deaths annually. As new highway and vehicle technologies are introduced, reconstruction work increases, and physical and operational measures are taken to accommodate growing traffic demand, an emphasis on ensuring safety performance will be critical.
New vehicle technologies have the potential to alter the operations and safety performance of the entire highway system, including the Interstates. The Interstate System will need to be made adaptable to changing vehicle capabilities while avoiding premature investments in assets and the introduction of standards that would hinder useful development pathways.
When much of the Interstate System was being built during the 1960s and 1970s, little was known about the threat of climate change. Transportation agencies across the country will need to make changes to how they plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain the Interstates to make them more resilient and less vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
The increase of vehicle fuel economy and electric vehicles threatens a funding base that relies heavily on revenues from fuel taxes that have lagged spending needs. New funding mechanisms that are equitable and efficient and do not divert resources from other highways and transportation modes will be needed to pay for system reinvestments.
The limited planning and budgetary preparations undertaken to date fall far short of what’s required to address the Interstate System’s current deterioration, much less to address the looming challenges ahead. Recent combined state and federal capital spending on the Interstates amount to about $20–$25 billion per year. The estimates in this study suggest this level of spending is too low and that $45–$70 billion annually over the next 20 years will be needed to undertake the long-deferred rebuilding of pavements and bridges and to accommodate and manage growing user demand.
This estimated investment is incomplete because it omits the spending that will be required to meet other challenges like boosting the system’s resilience and expanding its geographic coverage. While these investment needs could not be estimated even roughly for this study, they are certain to require billions, and perhaps tens of billions, in additional annual spending.
Implementation of the above recommendations, together with several other complementary recommendations called for in the report, would represent a fundamental shift away from a federal policy that has lost focus on the Interstate System and the commitment to funding it adequately. These actions would restore the system’s premier status within the nation’s highway program in a manner that is aggressive and ambitious, although by no means novel. Taking these actions would
(1) rekindle a tried-and-true federal–state partnership;
(2) reinforce the system’s long-standing reliance on user fees to provide a fair, adequate, and reliable source of funding; and
(3) reassert the forward-looking vision that was instrumental to the genesis of this crucial national asset more than a half-century ago.
At that time, the nation’s leaders endorsed a modern highway system that would confer large and lasting societal and economic benefits, a vision whose realization required a strong and continuing national commitment. Today, the nation is experiencing, and can anticipate, new expectations for system performance, condition, and use. Meeting those expectations will require the same forward-looking outlook and commitment that informed the system’s creation—a rededication to that original vision that reshapes and re-equips the system to serve generations to come.
…what makes today’s investment choices so critical is that much of the Interstate System is already past due for major reconstruction and modernization…
—Committee for a Study of the Future Interstate Highway System
This Consensus Study Report Highlights was prepared by the Transportation Research Board based on the Consensus Study Report Renewing the National Commitment to the Interstate Highway System: A Foundation for the Future (2018). The study was sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project. Copies of the Consensus Study Report are also available from the National Academies Press by calling (800) 624-6242.
Norman R. Augustine (NAS, NAE), Chair, is the retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corporation In 1958 he joined the Douglas Aircraft Company in California where he worked as a Research Engineer, Program Manager and Chief Engineer. Beginning in 1965, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as Assistant Director of Defense Research and Engineering. He joined LTV Missiles and Space Company in 1970, serving as Vice President, Advanced Programs and Marketing. In 1973, he returned to the government as Assistant Secretary of the Army and in 1975 became Under Secretary of the Army, and later Acting Secretary of the Army. Joining Martin Marietta Corporation in 1977 as Vice President of Technical Operations, he was elected CEO in 1987 and chairman in 1988, having previously been President and COO. He served as president of Lockheed Martin Corporation upon the formation of that company in 1995, and became CEO later that year. He retired from Lockheed Martin in August 1997, at which time he became a Lecturer with the Rank of Professor on the faculty of Princeton University where he served until July 1999. Since retiring he has chaired or co-chaired 32 pro bono commissions or committees, mostly for various levels of government. Mr. Augustine was Chairman and Principal Officer of the American Red Cross for nine years, Chairman of the Council of the National Academy of Engineering, President and Chairman of the Association of the United States Army, Chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association, and Chairman of the Defense Science Board. He is a former President of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Boy Scouts of America. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of ConocoPhillips, Black & Decker, Proctor & Gamble and Lockheed Martin, and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Colonial Williamsburg. He served for 10 years as Regent of the University System of Maryland, Trustee Emeritus of Johns Hopkins and a former member of the Board of Trustees of Princeton and MIT. He served for 16 years on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Council on Foreign Affairs, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Explorers Club. Mr. Augustine has been presented the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States and received the Joint Chiefs of Staff Distinguished Public Service Award. He has five times received the Department of Defense’s highest civilian decoration, the Distinguished Service Medal. He is co-author of The Defense Revolution and Shakespeare in Charge and author of Augustine’s Laws, Augustine’s Travels and “The Way I See It.” He holds honorary degrees from 35 universities and was selected by Who’s Who in America and the Library of Congress as one of “Fifty Great Americans” on the occasion of Who’s Who’s fiftieth anniversary. He holds a B.S.E. and an M.S.E. in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University.
Vicki A. Arroyo, is the founding executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center at Georgetown Law, where she also serves as the assistant dean of Centers and Institutes and a professor from practice. Georgetown Climate Center was launched in 2009 to inform the federal dialogue with the lessons of leading states and to serve as a resource to states and cities on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Previously, Arroyo served for over a decade at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change as vice president for policy analysis and general counsel. She served as managing editor of the book, Climate Change: Science, Strategies, and Solutions. In addition to teaching at Georgetown, Arroyo has taught courses on environmental policy and climate change at Catholic University, George Mason University’s graduate public policy program, and Tulane Law School. She practiced environmental law with Kilpatrick Stockton and other private firms and served in two offices at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: the Office of Air and Radiation and the Office of Research and Development where she reviewed development of standards under the Clean Air Act. From 1988–1991, Arroyo created and directed the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s policy office, and served during some of that time as the governor’s environmental advisor. She has served on several federal panels, including those reviewing economic modeling of climate legislation for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, on National Science Foundation’s advisory committee to the geosciences directorate, and on a federal study informing climate change adaptation along the Gulf Coast. She also served on an advisory committee to California Air Resources Board on their cap-and-trade program design, and on the Board of Trustees for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research which oversees the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Arroyo currently serves as Vice Chair of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, as committee member on a TRB study initiated by Congress that is exploring the future of the interstate highway system, and as chair of TRB executive committee’s resilience and sustainability task force. She is an Associate Editor of the Climate Policy journal and publishes widely on climate, energy, and transportation issues. She earned a bachelor’s in science with high honors from Emory University (biology, double major in philosophy), a master’s in public administration from Harvard (Don K. Price award for academic achievement and commitment to public service), and a juris doctorate magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center where she served as Editor in Chief of the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review. Arroyo was named one of PODER Hispanic Magazine’s Green 100, featured in their Earth Day issue (April 2013) and as one of Glamour Magazine’s Top Ten College Women (1985). Her TED Global Talk on preparing communities for climate change impacts has been viewed over 1 million times.
Moshe E. Ben-Akiva, is the Edmund K. Turner Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Director of the MIT Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Lab. His awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Association for Travel Behavior Research, the Jules Dupuit prize from the World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ITS Society Outstanding Application Award for DynaMIT, a mesoscopic simulator with algorithms for dynamic traffic assignment, traffic predictions and travel information and guidance. Ben-Akiva has coauthored two books, including the textbook Discrete Choice analysis, published by MIT Press, and over 200 papers in refereed journals or conference proceedings. He has been a member of over three dozen various scientific committees, advisory boards, and editorial boards. He has worked as a consultant in industries such as transportation, energy, telecommunications, financial services and marketing for a number of private and public organizations. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Transportation Systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, along with honorary degrees from the University of the Aegean, the Université Lumiére Lyon, the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), and the University of Antwerp.
Ann M. Drake, is the chairman and the chief executive officer of DSC Logistics. She has guided DSC to become one of the leading supply chain management firms in the US by creating a business model based on integrated, comprehensive supply chain solutions built on collaborative partnerships, innovative thinking and high-performance operations. Ms. Drake is a member of the Kellogg School Global Advisory Board at Northwestern University, serves on the Board of Governors for Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council and is a member of the Board of Trustees for Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. She has been appointed to the Committee on Future Interstate Highway System by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and is a member of the Civic Committee Transportation Task Force. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the A.M. Castle Company and the Board of Governors for the Committee of 200, and as vice chair of the Business Advisory Council for the Northwestern University Transportation Center. In 2013, Ann founded AWESOME (Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management, and Education), a network that has grown to include more than 1000 women in a range of senior-level supply chain roles. She is a charter member of Paradigm for Parity, a coalition of business leaders working for gender parity by the year 2030. Ms. Drake received the 2015 Schultz Award for advancing women in transportation and logistics from the McCormick School of Northwestern University. She was honored with the global “Women Who Make a Difference” Award from International Women’s Forum (IWF) in 2014. In 2012 she received the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Distinguished Service Award and the Alumni Merit Award from the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University; in 2009 she was named “Industry Leader of the Year” by Illinois Institute of Technology. Ms. Drake received an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University.
Genevieve Giuliano, holds the Margaret and John Ferraro Chair in Effective Local Government in the Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California, and is Director of the METRANS, a joint USC and California State University Long Beach Transportation Center. Her research areas include relationships between land use and transportation, transportation policy analysis, travel behavior, and information technology applications in transportation. Current research includes examination of relationships between land use and freight flows, spatial analysis of freight activity location, impacts of freight activities on local communities, impacts of rail transit investments on transit ridership and economic development, and applications for transportation system analysis using archived real-time data. She has published over 170 papers. Professor Giuliano is a past Chair of the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board, and of the Council of University Transportation Centers. She has received numerous distinguished scholarship and service awards. She is a member of several advisory boards, including the National Freight Advisory Committee.
Steve Heminger, is Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). MTC is the regional transportation planning and finance agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. It allocates more than $2 billion per year in funding for the operation, maintenance and expansion of the Bay Area’s surface transportation network. Under contract with the Association of Bay Area Governments, Mr. Heminger and his team also provide staffing and support services to that organization. Since 1998, MTC has served as the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) responsible for administering all toll revenue from the seven state-owned bridges. BATA has a “AA” credit rating and has issued over $9 billion in toll revenue bonds to finance bridge, highway, and transit construction projects over the next several years. MTC also functions as the region’s Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE), operating a fleet of Freeway Service Patrol tow trucks and a network of roadside call boxes to assist motorists in trouble. In addition, MTC manages the FasTrak electronic toll collection system, the Clipper universal fare card program for public transit and the popular 511 traveler information telephone number and web site. Mr. Heminger was appointed by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to serve on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, which helped chart the future course for the federal transportation program. As chairman of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, Mr. Heminger also oversaw construction of the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge—the largest transportation project in California history. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Mineta Transportation Institute and a member of the Executive Committee for the Transportation Research Board. Mr. Heminger holds an M.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Georgetown University.
Chris T. Hendrickson (NAE) is the Hamerschlag University Professor of Engineering Emeritus, Director of the Traffic 21 Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, member of the National Academy of Engineering and Editor-in-chief of the ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering. His research, teaching and consulting are in the general area of engineering planning and management, including design for the environment, project management, transportation systems, finance and computer applications. He has co-authored four textbooks all available for free on the internet: Fundamentals of Infrastructure Management (2017), Life Cycle Assessment: Quantitative Approaches for Decisions that Matter (2014), Project Management for Construction (Prentice-Hall, 1989, now available on the web) and Civil Systems Planning, Investment and Pricing (2011). He has also published several monographs and numerous papers in the professional and public literature. Professor Hendrickson is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Construction, a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineering, an Emeritus Member of the Transportation Research Board and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been the recipient of the 2002 ASCE Turner Lecture Award, the 2002 Fenves Systems Research Award, the 1994 Frank M. Masters Transportation Engineering Award, Outstanding Professor of the Year Award of the ASCE Pittsburgh Section (1990), the ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Award (1989), the Benjamin Richard Teare Teaching Award (1987) and a Rhodes Scholarship (1973).
Keith L. Killough is an Urban Planning graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds professional certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners. Early in his career, he assisted the (Boston) South End Project Area Committee in community transportation planning and worked in the Office of Municipal Planning & Management for the Massachusetts Department of Community Affairs where he developed municipal master plans under the HUD 701 Program. He then joined Barton-Aschman Associates in Washington, D.C., where he focused on regional transportation planning, transportation systems management, transit development, bikeway planning, traffic engineering, and parking analysis studies. One of his projects, the “District of Columbia Bicycle Transportation Plan and Program,” received two awards: The American Institute of Planners National Capitol Area Chapter “Outstanding Transportation Planning Award”; and, the Urban Bikeway Design Collaborative’s “First Place—Professional Design Award.” Keith next worked for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments responsible for the Regional Transportation Plan, a new travel forecasting model, and a regional household travel survey. In his next position with the Southern California Rapid Transit District, Keith served as Planning Manager and was responsible for ridership forecasting and background bus coordination planning for the Metro Red Line subway, transit surveys and analyses, FTA Section 15 and Title VI submittals, management performance indicator reporting, transportation system service and fare options analyses, Rail and Facilities elements of the Short Range Transit Plan, and the implementation of computerized planning information systems. In 1993, he became Deputy Executive Officer at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). His responsibilities included countywide strategic planning and administration of Transit Planning, the Congestion Management Program, the Americans with Disabilities Act transportation services, Ridesharing Services, Market Research, Travel Simulation and Geographic Information System Analyses, and the Library/Information Center. He was a key contributor to numerous innovative transportation policies and programs such as Metro Rapid Bus. He was the principal coordinator for the 1995 MTA Long-Range Transportation Plan.
In 2001, he formed KLK Consulting specializing in transportation planning and analysis for various agencies including: the California Department of Transportation, the Southern California Association of Governments, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and the San Diego Association of Governments, and expert review panels in both the United States and Canada. In 2005, he became Director of Information Services with the Southern California Association of Governments responsible for travel simulation modeling, information technology, data and monitoring, and office management. He is currently Director of Transportation Analysis in the Multimodal Planning Division of the Arizona Department of Transportation with responsibilities including travel demand modeling, statewide traffic monitoring, and the federally-required Highway Performance Monitoring System. He represented the transit industry on the federal Travel Model Improvement Program that provided oversight to the TRANSIMS model development project. Additionally, he has participated on numerous expert panels for various state and regional agencies, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Transportation Research Board (TRB), including TRB Policy Study Committee for the Interregional Travel Study, TRB Standing Committees for Transportation Demand Forecasting and Transportation Planning Applications, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) committees for NCHRP 08-36: Research for the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standing Committee on Planning, and panel chair for the NCHRP 08 94: Guidelines for Selecting Travel Forecasting Methods & Techniques and NCHRP 08-110: Traffic Forecasting Accuracy Assessment Research.
Adrian K. Lund, is currently a consultant and managing member at HITCH42, LLC. The mission of HITCH42 is to provide individuals and society with empirical knowledge to make better and safer decisions. Dr. Lund recently retired from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and its affiliate, the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), where he had served for 36 years, most recently as President from 2006 through 2017. His research there spanned the range of driver, vehicle and roadway factors involved in motor vehicle safety. As senior vice president for research at IIHS from 1993–2001, he directed the development of the Institute’s vehicle crashworthiness testing program at its (then) state of the art Vehicle Research Center. As president, he oversaw the expansion of the Institute’s Vehicle Research Center to include new facilities, and the world’s first fully covered outdoor vehicle test track, for evaluating and promoting new technology that promises to help drivers avoid crashes and, eventually, to operate vehicles safely without drivers. Dr. Lund is a recognized media authority on highway safety and was included in Motor Trend’s Power List in 2015 and 2016. Before joining IIHS, Dr. Lund was an assistant professor in residence at the University of Connecticut Health Center (1975–1981), where he studied people’s health behavior. Currently, he serves as a Trustee for the Global New Car Assessment Programme; as a member of the University of Michigan’s International Center for Automotive Medicine (ICAM) advisory board; as a member of the National Safety Council’s Road to Zero Coalition; as a member of Autoliv’s Research Advisory Board; and as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Future of the Interstate Highway System.
Dr. Lund received a BA in psychology from North Carolina State University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in social psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, American Public Health Association and American Psychological Association.
Joan M. McDonald is the Principal of JMM Strategic Solutions and a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. Ms. McDonald is former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation and former Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. From February 2011 until July 2015, she served as the 11th Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation, an organization with 8,300 employees and an annual budget of $4 billion. Joan led the Department through various weather events (Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy, and the 2014 Buffalo “Snovember to Remember”). As Commissioner, Ms. McDonald chaired the Northeast Corridor Commission, co-chaired the Tappan Zee Bridge Mass Transit Task Force, and served on the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board. As Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development from June 2007 through January 2011, Ms. McDonald led Connecticut’s economic development efforts through the “Great Recession.” Under her leadership, the State developed its first ever strategic economic development plan, negotiated agreements with several Fortune 500 companies, and initiated transit oriented development in all of Connecticut’s major cities. Ms. McDonald also served in senior management positions for the City of New York where she negotiated the 50-year lease with the Port Authority of NY/NJ for Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports; lead the transfer and re-alignment of traffic enforcement agents from NYCDOT to NYPD; and oversaw environmental reviews of the Harlem Line Third Track and the Hudson River Park. In the private sector, Joan led the efforts of Jacobs Engineering in New York and New Jersey. She holds an M.S. in public administration from Harvard University.
Norman Y. Mineta is President and Chief Executive Officer of Mineta & Associates, LLC. He is well known for his work in transportation—including aviation, surface transportation, and infrastructure—and national security. He is recognized for his accomplishments in economic development, science and technology policy, foreign and domestic trade, budgetary issues and civil rights, as well as his perspective from having served in Congress for over 20 years and in the Cabinets of both Republican and Democratic presidents. For almost 30 years, Secretary Mineta represented San Jose, California, first on the City Council, then as Mayor, and then from 1975–1995 as a Member of Congress. Throughout that time, Secretary Mineta was an advocate of the burgeoning technology industry. He worked to encourage new industries and spur job growth, and he supported infrastructure development to accommodate the industry and its tremendous growth. Secretary Mineta served as the Chairman of the House Transportation and Public Works Committee from 1992–1994, after having chaired the Subcommittee on Aviation and the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation. He was the primary author of the groundbreaking ISTEA legislation—the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. While in Congress, he co-founded the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and was Chair of the National Civil Aviation Review Commission in 1997. In 2000, Secretary Mineta was appointed by President Bill Clinton as the United States Secretary of Commerce. At the Department of Commerce, Secretary Mineta was known for his work on technology issues, for achieving international cooperation and intergovernmental coordination on complex fisheries issues, and streamlining the patent and trademark process. From 2001–2006, Secretary Mineta served as Secretary of Transportation by President George W. Bush. Following the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, Secretary Mineta guided the creation of the Transportation Security Administration—an agency with more than 65,000 employees—the largest mobilization of a new federal agency since World War II. Most recently and prior to establishing Mineta & Associates, Secretary Mineta served as Vice Chairman of Hill & Knowlton. Recognized for his leadership, Secretary Mineta has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom—our nation’s highest civilian honor—and the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, which is awarded for significant public service of enduring value to aviation in the United States. He holds a B.A. in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley.
Kirk T. Steudle is the Senior Vice President of Econolite. Prior to joining Econolite, Mr. Steudle was the Director of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) since 2006, where he oversaw MDOT’s over four billion dollar budget, and was responsible for the construction, maintenance, and operation of nearly 10,000 miles of state highways and more than 4,000 state highway bridges at a department with 2,500 employees. He also oversaw administration of a variety of multi-modal transportation programs and projects. Mr. Steudle is a national leader in the development of Connected and Automated Vehicle Technologies, and was the 2014–2015 Chair for the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) Board of Directors. He also is a member of the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Program Advisory Committee to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Steudle is a Past President of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Chairs the Standing Committee on Highways. He was a 2014 member of the National Research Council for the National Academy of Science and the 2014 Chair of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Executive Committee. He also chaired the second Strategic Highway Research Program Oversight Committee (SHRP 2) for TRB and was a member of numerous NCHRP panels and committees on asset and performance management. Mr. Steudle is the recipient of the 2011 P.D. McLean Award from the Road Gang in Washington, D.C. for excellence in highway transportation. In 2015, he was named one of America’s Top 25 Government Innovators by Government Technology. Mr. Steudle is a graduate of Lawrence Technological University, where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Construction Engineering, serves on the College of Engineering Advisory Board and he was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2012.
Michael S. Townes recently retired as Senior Vice President and National Transit Market Sector Leader at HNTB Corporation. Mr. Townes served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Hampton Roads Transit from 1999 to January 31, 2010. Mr. Townes serves as Legislative Chair for COMTO and the Virginia Transit Association. Since 2007, he served as Chairman of the American Public Transportation Association. He served as an Executive Director of Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads (Hampton Roads Transit) since October 1, 1999. Beginning March 1, 1998, he also served as the Interim Executive Director for the Tidewater Transportation District Commission in preparation for the merger of the two agencies. In November 1986, he joined the Peninsula Transportation District Commission (PENTRAN) as an Assistant to the Executive Director and served as its Acting Executive Director since 1988 and Executive Director since July 1989. He serves as a Member of Board of Regent at Eno Transportation Foundation. Mr. Townes also belongs to the Board of Directors for the Virginia High Speed Rail Development Committee. He has served as Chair of the Transportation Cooperative Research Project (TCRP) Oversight and Project Selection (TOPS) Committee. He served as Chair of APTA Executive Committee. He served as Chair of APTA Executive Committee. He served as Co-Chair of the APTA’s Reauthorization Task Force, which was the Committee that established the national transit position on the upcoming reauthorization. Mr. Townes served as Chairman of the Norman Mineta Transportation Institute Board of Trustees, APTA’s Legislative Committee Chair, and Chairman of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Executive Committee. He was also appointed to Virginia’s Specialized Transportation Committee by Governor George Allen in 1996. In 2007, he was appointed by Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine to serve on the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change. He is the recipient of several distinguished awards including the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) Executive of the Year award, the Women in Transit Committee Achievement Award, and the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Conference of Minority Public Administrators. Mr. Townes holds a B.S. in Political Science and a M.A. in Urban Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University.
C. Michael Walton(NAE) is Professor of Civil Engineering and holds the Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin (UT). In addition, he holds a joint academic appointment in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. For more than 45 years he has pursued a career in transport systems engineering and policy analysis. Dr. Walton was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1993. In other professional society leadership positions, he is a past Chair of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Executive Committee, past Chair of the Board of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), past President of the Board of Governors of the Transportation and Development Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), a founding member and past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS) of America and a member of many other technical/professional organizations such as the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Dr. Walton was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to serve on the National Freight Advisory Committee. He currently chairs the Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology of the U.S. Department of Transportation. He has served on or chaired a number of national study panels including those mandated by Congress and others of the National Research Council. Dr. Walton has received numerous honors and awards. He was elected as a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and was selected as a member of the inaugural class of ITS America’s ITS Hall of Fame. He received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Nagoya Institute of Technology and the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) award for distinguished contribution to university transportation education and research. Other honors include the Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) award from the American Society of Civil Engineers to recognize and honor lifetime excellence in furthering civil engineering education; named to America’s Top 100 Private Sector Transportation Design and Construction Professionals of the 20th Century by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. The George S. Bartlett Award in recognition for outstanding contributions to highway progress and is considered to be among the highest honors in the highway transportation profession. ASCE has honored him with several awards including Presidents’ Award, the Francis C. Turner Lecture, the James Laurie Prize, the Harland Bartholomew Award and the Frank M. Masters Transportation Engineering Award. The Transportation Research Board presented him with the Frank Turner Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Transportation, W.N. Carey, Jr. Distinguished Service Award; others include the Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lectureship. ARTBA awarded him the S.S. Steinberg Award; ITE awarded him the Wilbur S. Smith Distinguished Transportation Educator Award and the Theodore M. Matson Memorial Award. He was inducted into the Texas Transportation Hall of Honor and recently inducted into the Transportation Development Hall of Fame of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association Foundation. Dr. Walton has contributed to numerous publications in the areas of ITS, freight transport, and transportation engineering, planning, policy and economics, and he has delivered several hundred technical presentations. He has served as senior editor or contributing author for a variety of technical reference books and manuals and as a member of the editorial board for several international journals. Currently Dr. Walton has a research or consulting relationship with several international universities, several public and private firms, and serves as a member on several Boards of Directors of both public and privately held companies.
Panel on demographics and VMT projections based on economic trends
Panel on environmental and resilience issues
Panel on technology
Panel on funding and financing
Presentation on Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS) and National Bridge Investment Analysis System (NBIAS)
Panel on science of uncertainty and long-term scenario planning
Regional Planning Panel
Interstate Coalition Panel
Innovative Financing Panel
Panel on Climate Change/Resilience
Panel on Environmental Impact and Sustainability Issues
Panel on Human Environment and Equity
Presentation on Toll-Financed Reconstruction and Modernization
Panel on Public Transit and the Interstate Highway System
Miami Beach Resilience Improvement Program
Summaries of Bridge and Connected/Automated Vehicles Sites
20th Century Review of the Interstate
White Paper Presentation on C/AV Technology
Panel on Automated/Autonomous Freight Vehicles
Panel on Automated/Autonomous Passenger Vehicles
Panel on Interstate Operations and Management
Panel on Asset Management and Preservation
White Paper Presentation on Demographic Projections -- Today to 2060
Presentation on Travel Forecast
Panel on Passenger Travel
Presentation on Freight Trends
Panel on Freight
White Paper Presentation on Climate Change
Department of Defense
Panel on Economic Development
1. Introduction - Monica Starnes, TRB
2. Performance management – Peter Stephanos, FHWA
3. Asset management – Stephen Gaj, FHWA
4. General eligibility under the Federal-Aid Program – Peter Stephanos
5. Design & Access Requirements – Robert Mooney
Peter Stephanos, Stephen Gaj & Robert Mooney, FHWA
Information Gathering Session, Future Interstate Study (Combined Presentations)
Texas and Dallas Transportation Planning and Effects on Interstate
Panel on Construction
Presentation on Innovation and Institutional Partnerships
Panel on Social Equity
Panel on Land Use
Panel on Highway Safety
Presentation on Funding Allocation Process
More than any single action by the government since the end of the war, this one would change the face of
America with straightaways, cloverleaf turns, bridges, and elongated parkways. Its impact on the American economy–the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it would open up–was beyond calculation.
— President Dwight D. Einsenhower