A first-of-its-kind dashboard will show how states spent transportation tax dollars in years past.
Provided by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, the “Highway Dashboard: A 50-state Guide to the Benefits of Federal Investment” shows how each state moved forward with transportation projects in 2018. Additional information in the interactive portion of the dashboard shows information going back as far as 1950.
Using Freedom of Information Act requests, ARTBA was able to obtain Federal Highway Administration data and insert it into the dashboard.
“This dashboard helps shift the conversation from how much each state gets to specific outcomes and benefits,” ARTBA President Dave Bauer says. “Such transparency and accountability will help residents better understand the value they are getting from infrastructure investments.”
Compiled by ARTBA Chief Economist Dr. Alison Black, the ARTBA Highway Dashboard shows the top projects in each state, how much was spent on them, and their purpose. ARTBA said it hopes the information will help members of Congress and their staffs learn more about projects and how federal funds are being used in their constituents’ states.
In 2018, the dashboard shows, 73 percent of the costs of the projects were for added capacity, analysis by ARTBA showed. Twenty percent of funding was spent on reconstruction or repair, while only 3 percent was spent on planning, design, and construction engineering.