Additional transportation capacity is needed to connect rural and urban America.

Meeting the needs of a changing and growing rural economy will require the U.S. to expand its highways and transportation options.

•Narrow two-lane rural roads, many built in the 1960s and 1970s, cannot safely carry the kinds of trucks and commercial vehicles now moving across America’s heartland.

• The nation’s 2.2 million farms produced $365 billion in 2008, including crops, livestock and forestry products. As the U.S. and world populations grow, this will only increase, accelerating the need for better access to markets.

•The renewable fuels industry and wind farm electric energy production are essential if our nation is to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. An excellent highway transportation network in rural areas is essential to support agriculture and the development of energy resources.

• Trade between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico is expected to increase from $637 billion in 2009 to $760 billion by the end of 2010. In 2009, approximately 70 percent of this trade by value was moved by truck, much of it on rural highways

• Since the Interstate was launched in 1956, the nation has grown from a population of 165 million to 308 million – and is expected to reach 420 million by 2050.







For more information and for detailed examples by state of needed capacity on both the National Highway System and the Interstates, go to http://ExpandingCapacity.transportation.org.

More information on AASHTO’s authorization programs can be found at http://AreWeThereYet. transportation.org.