The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released two final rules that would focus on the new performance measures for improving condition of roads and bridges across the nation and assess travel reliability, congestion and emissions at a national level.

The new rules will urge states to improve air quality levels by setting up performance targets and implementing several key measures for improving highway performance, including pavement and bridge condition and travel reliability.

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said: “Deteriorating and congested roads and bridges in our nation must be addressed head on, and today’s actions help us do exactly that.

"These new rules will improve the information available to state departments of transportation to help them focus their planning and programming decisions."

“These rules will play an important role in reducing travel delays and air pollution, and also improving infrastructure quality, giving the American people a better travel experience.”

The rules have been issued pursuant to the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and address the concerns outlined in the USDOT report ‘Beyond Traffic’ which examines the transportation trends in the US over the next three decades.

‘National Performance Management Measures; Assessing Pavement Condition for the National Highway Performance Program and Bridge Condition for the National Highway Performance Programme’ will improve accountability and transparency of the federal-aid highway Programme.

It also ensures that the highways and bridges are in good condition and that the overall quality of transportation is improved through targeted investments.

According to the ‘National Performance Management Measures; Assessing Performance of the National Highway System, Freight Movement on the Interstate System, and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program’ rule, all the states in the US have to evaluate and report more effectively and consistently on transportation system performance.

Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau said: “These new rules will improve the information available to state departments of transportation to help them focus their planning and programming decisions.

“Overall, they are about targeting investment decisions more strategically and evaluating their impacts.”

The new rules introduced by the government agency are expected to bring about greater accountability and consistency in data collection and analysis and more comprehensive practices.