Highway Demonstration Projects:
Improved Selection and Funding Controls Are Needed
General Accounting Office
28 May 1991
RCED-91-146
Although the federal funds authorized in 1987 for demonstration projects
represented a three-fold increase over the previous authorization level, the
funds will clearly fall far short of the amount needed to complete the
projects. Equally important, the funds were often authorized for projects
that were not a state or regional priority. In some cases, local road
projects are not a part of the federal-aid highway system would have been
ineligible for federal funds in the absence of their demonstration
designation. Since transportation needs far outstrip available resources,
federal funds should be targeted to the most significant transportation
problems confronting the nation. GAO believes that the way such projects are
selected and funded could be improved. GAO also believes that funds
authorized for projects that have been inactive since 1987, and are likely to
remain so, should be directed to other transportation projects or be returned
to the treasury. About $25 million authorized in 1987 for seven demonstration
projects may never be used because there has been no project activity.
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