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Open Recommendations (6 total)

National Highways: Analysis of Available Data Could Better Ensure Equitable Pavement Condition

GAO-22-104578
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Federal Highway Administration Based on the outcome of FHWA's analyses of pavement condition data, the Deputy Administrator of FHWA should identify potential strategies to help states detect and address issues that could contribute to concentrations in poor pavement and differences in pavement condition by community or other characteristics, which could include race and ethnicity, poverty, or population density. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOT partially concurred with this recommendation and said that FHWA will identify potential strategies to help states mitigate investment decision making processes that may potentially lead to inequitable outcomes. In November 2024, DOT told us that FHWA is initiating an analysis to determine whether there are discernable differences in pavement conditions among communities with varying economic or ethnic backgrounds and, where differences exist, identify the causes, effect, and impacts of investment decisions on the affected areas. DOT said that FHWA anticipates the study to be complete in 2025. We will continue to monitor FHWA's actions regarding this recommendation.
Federal Highway Administration The Deputy Administrator of FHWA should analyze pavement condition data, such as Highway Performance Monitoring System data, to examine the concentration of poor pavement in specific areas within states and differences in pavement condition by community or other characteristics, which could include race and ethnicity, poverty, or population density. Such an analysis could also incorporate more recent pavement condition data, control for additional factors that may affect pavement condition, or include statistical modeling of pavement conditions within a state. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOT partially concurred with this recommendation and told us that FHWA planned to take steps to further analyze pavement condition data to identify any differences in pavement condition by community or other characteristics. DOT told us in November 2024 that FHWA continues to implement a task order titled "Investigation of Equity in Federal-aid Pavement Programs" for a study with objectives to: review and document practices and State DOTs and other highway agencies that affect distribution of pavement programs, determine whether there are differences in pavement conditions among communities, and, where differences exist, identify the causes, effects, and impacts of investment decisions on the affected areas. DOT said that documents from these tasks are progressing through FHWA's publication process, and that they anticipate sharing key findings and creating a new webpage to house these resources in early 2025. We will continue to monitor FHWA's actions regarding this recommendation.

Highway Trust Fund: Federal Highway Administration Should Develop and Apply Criteria to Assess How Pilot Projects Could Inform Expanded Use of Mileage Fee Systems

GAO-22-104299
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Federal Highway Administration The Acting Administrator of FHWA should develop and apply criteria to assess the scalability of the STSFA pilot projects.
Open – Partially Addressed
DOT concurred with this recommendation. In April 2024, GAO confirmed that FHWA developed criteria to assess the scalability of the STSFA pilot projects. Specifically, FHWA developed a framework to document the maturity of STSFA road usage charge pilot elements, and developed criteria to assess pilot project technology approaches, organizational design, enforcement strategies, and public engagement activities. The framework and accompanying criteria is intended to help assess the scalability of these components. According to officials, FHWA is applying the criteria as part of its current round of independent pilot evaluations and expected it will complete these evaluations later this year (2024). GAO will continue to monitor FHWA's implementation of this recommendation.

Pedestrians and Cyclists: Better Information to States and Enhanced Performance Management Could Help DOT Improve Safety

GAO-21-405
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Federal Highway Administration The FHWA Administrator should more fully use performance management practices to guide its pedestrian and cyclist safety activities, such as (1) by developing performance measures for FHWA and the program offices responsible for implementing pedestrian and cyclist safety activities to demonstrate how these activities contribute to safety goals, and (2) by using performance information to make any necessary changes to advance pedestrian and cyclist safety efforts. (Recommendation 3)
Open
As of July 2024, FHWA has taken some steps to make greater use of performance information in its pedestrian and cyclist safety activities. However, FHWA has not addressed our recommendation to develop performance measures for the offices responsible for these activities. For example, FHWA officials told us that the FHWA Office of Safety undergoes an annual strategic planning process for all of its program areas in which it reviews safety data to identify priorities, including reducing pedestrian and cyclist fatalities. Through this process, FHWA officials told us that they identify gaps in FHWA programs and develop a program of projects that FHWA believes will have the greatest potential to improve safety. For example, this planning process led FHWA to conduct a study to assess the relative safety benefits of different bicycle lane configurations. As we noted in our report, we has previously reported that agencies should develop annual targets to measure performance at each organizational level, even when the link between federal efforts and desired outcomes may be difficult to establish. Performance measures should be linked directly to the offices that have responsibility for programs and provide a straightforward roadmap showing how daily activities contribute to strategic goals. While FHWA officials told us that the Office of Safety provides quarterly updates on its activities to FHWA's Enterprise Performance Management Team--which oversees performance management for FHWA--the officials did not provide us with any specific performance measures or targets that it uses to measure the performance of its programs. By developing performance measures with targets for the offices leading FHWA pedestrian and cyclist safety initiatives, FHWA will have information to make any necessary changes to its programs and help advance safety efforts. We will continue to monitor FHWA's progress in implementing this recommendation.

Tribal Consultation: Additional Federal Actions Needed for Infrastructure Projects

GAO-19-22
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Federal Highway Administration The Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration should document in the agency's tribal consultation policy how agency officials are to communicate with tribes about how tribal input from consultation was considered in agency decisions on infrastructure projects. (Recommendation 14)
Open
In August 2023, the Department of Transportation updated its department wide tribal consultation policy. We are seeking additional information from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) about its plans to update the FHWA consultation policy.

Highway and Transit Projects: Evaluation Guidance Needed for States with National Environmental Policy Act Authority

GAO-18-222
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Federal Highway Administration The FHWA Administrator should offer and provide guidance or technical assistance to NEPA assignment states on developing evaluation methodologies, including baseline time frames and timeliness measures. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOT partially concurred with this recommendation, As of February 2024, FHWA has not agreed to offer and provide guidance or technical assistance on evaluation methodologies for NEPA assignment states. GAO continues to believe further evaluation guidance is needed, and will continue to monitor FHWA's actions.
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