National Highway System Designation Act

The National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 (Pub.L. 104-59, 109 Stat. 568) is a United States Act of Congress that was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 28, 1995. The legislation designated about 160,955 miles (260,000 km) of roads, including the Interstate Highway System, as the National Highway System.

Aside from designating the National Highway System, the Act served several other purposes, including restoring $5.4 billion in funding to state highway departments, giving Congress the power to prioritize Highway System projects, repealing all federal speed limit controls, and prohibiting the use of federal-aid highway funds to convert existing signs or purchase new signs with metric units.^[1]

The Act also created a State Infrastructure Bank pilot program. 10 states were chosen in 1996 for this new method of road financing. These banks would lend money like regular banks, with funding coming from the federal government or the private sector, and they would be repaid through such means as highway tolls or taxes. In 1997, 28 more states asked to be part of the program. Ohio was the first state to use a state infrastructure bank to start building a road. An advantage to this method was completing projects faster; state laws and the lack of appropriate projects were potential problems.^[2]

References

1. ^ "50th Anniversary of the Interstate Highway System - Frequently Asked Questions". US Department of Transport. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/faq.htm#question17. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
2. ^ Statement of Phyllis Schienberg, ISTEA Reauthorization, March 6, 1997

• Department of Transportation article
• The National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 on fhwa.dot.gov