Federal Efforts To Reduce Red Tape in Highway Construction Have Had Limited Success

The Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA) Certification Acceptance Procedure was established as an alternative procedure for administering federally financed construction of highways. Under this procedure, the Secretary of Transportation may transfer certain of his duties for administering federal-aid highways to the states in order to reduce the level of federal involvement and the amount of paperwork in the development and construction of these highways. The Certification Procedures have had, however, only limited success in reducing the level of federal involvement and the amount of paperwork. Federal laws and requirements excluded from the Certification Acceptance Procedure appear to be a significant deterrent to effectively accomplishing the goals and objectives of certification acceptance. Many states consider these laws to be the major source of time-consuming redtape and paperwork. Reduction of the amount of federal involvement and unnecessary paperwork may not be fully realized until the states can follow individually tailored procedures to satisfy the policies and objectives of the federal requirements. A number of states have expressed concern that amended procedures will not make certification acceptance any more attractive because federal requirements are still too stringent and benefits are negligible. Implementation and progress of the new procedures should be closely monitored and, if the basic objectives are not being accomplished, certification acceptance procedures should be expanded to include the laws and requirements that are now excluded.