Two new programs were added in 1965. One was designed to aid the States in the Appalachian region in building main and feeder roads to assist in their economic development. The second was a program of landscaping and scenic enhancement of the Federal-aid highway systems, including the control of outdoor advertising and junkyards.
A major development in 1966 was the enactment by the Congress of legislation embracing broad new highway and motor vehicle safety programs. Funds for these programs were to be appropriated from general funds rather than from the Highway Trust Fund.
The 1968 Federal Aid Highway Act established programs known as TOPICS for improving highway traffic operations in urban areas. Specific funds were authorized to provide for making better use of existing highways through the application of traffic engineering techniques. The Act also created a right-of-way revolving fund and authorized additional funds for the Federal-Aid Primary and Secondary System in rural areas. A program was authorized for fringe parking area demonstration, allowing the use of Federal-aid funds to construct parking facilities adjacent to the rights-of-way of Federal-aid highways. Such parking projects became a continuing part of theregular Federal-aid highway program in 1970.
The 1970 Highway Act provided for the establishment of a Federal-Aid Urban System (the D system) in the “urbanized” areas (a census-defined metropolitan area for statistical purposes). The Act changed the Federal share of ABC funds from 50 to 70 percent, effective July 1, 1973, and provided that two-thirds of the funds authorized for safety programs for the 1972 and subsequent fiscal years be appropriated from the Trust Fund. The funds for all of these programs formerly came from general funds. The 1970 Act also authorized a program to demonstrate that highways can aid in the development of “growth centers,” areas with a high potential for economic growth. This program was changed by the 1973 Act to become a regular part of the Federal-aid highway program.
The 1973 Federal Aid Highway Act introduced several changes in highway policy:
- Highway Trust Fund apportionments could be used for public mass transportation systems, including the purchase of buses, in 1975 and for rail transit facilities in 1976.
- Bicycle facilities and pedestrian walkways could be financed from Federal-aid funds.
- The Trust Fund could be used to pay the cost of parkways located on a Federal-aid system.
- The Trust Fund would henceforth support the entire cost of highway and motor vehicle safety programs.
During 1972, no apportionment of Federal-aid highway funds was made, because the Federal Aid Highway Act was not passed until 1973. But during 1973, $4,743 million of Federal-aid funds were apportioned to the States for fiscal year 1974 as follows:
| Apportionment (Millions of Dollars) |
System |
| 2,544 | Interstate |
| 671 | Rural primary |
| 376 | Rural secondary |
| 752 | Urban |
| Urban extensions: | |
| 280 | Primary and secondary systems |
| 97 | Priority primary routes |
| 23 | Metropolitan planning funds |
A new program for constructing, reconstructing, and improving roads that are not located on any Federal-aid system was launched under provisions of the Federal Aid Highway Amendments of 1974. The $200 million made available for this program was distributed according to a formula based on such factors as land area, rural population, and off-system road mileage.
Since the mid-1960’s, the Office of Management and Budget of the Executive Office of the President has deferred portions of Federal aid for highways, which may have constrained the total program level. But there is no conclusive evidence that the States would have maintained their 100-percent-State programs at the recorded levels during this period if full Federal-aid authorizations were available.
On February 11, 1975, President Ford released an additional $2 billion of impounded Federal-aid funds for the 1975 fiscal year in order to stimulate employment. In April of the same year, Congress ended the deferral of the remaining funds, permitting State obligation of greater sums from the unobligated balances of their apportioned and allocated funds.
Further, Congress passed and the President approved a measure allowing the temporary suspension of the Federal-aid matching requirement and removed restrictions on the transferability among non-Interstate program funds. These measures resulted in the obligation of $7.6 billion of Federal-aid highway funds in fiscal year 1975, the highest level of obligation in the history of the Federal-aid program.
Indicators of Highway Growth—the Long Term
The use of the roads as indicated by vehicle registrations, fuel consumption, and travel has increased substantially in the last half century. Registered motor vehicles totaled 3.6 million in 1916 and about 125 million—one vehicle for every 1.7 inhabitants—in 1973. Put another way, the 1973 total represents an average of nearly two vehicles for every one of the Nation’s 67 million households. The increase in vehicle registrations has far outstripped the rate of population growth.
In 1916 approximately 3 million automobiles and 250,000 trucks and buses were registered, i.e., about 14 passenger cars to every truck or bus. In 1973, the registrations had risen to 102 million automobiles, 23 million trucks, and 426,000 buses. This is equivalent to about 4 automobiles for every truck and 240 for each bus. Preliminary data for 1974 indicate that the number of registered vehicles has reached nearly 130 million, with passenger cars about 105 million, trucks numbering about 25 million, and buses in the neighborhood of 445,000.
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