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WASHINGTON — The road less traveled can be deadly.

More people are killed on rural roads than urban expressways, although the two-lane roads carry less traffic and receive less federal money. Local officials want money for safety improvements.

"There seems to be a disconnect," said Bob Fogel, associate legislative director of the National Association of Counties. "Roads owned by local governments don't seem to be getting their share of federal highway dollars, even though statistics point out that those roads tend to have a higher rate of fatalities."

Taking two specific categories, urban expressways received $80,900 in federal funds per lane mile in 1999, while rural local roads received $100 per mile, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress. Those rural roads recorded 4,758 deaths — a rate of 3.79 per 100 million miles traveled — compared with 1,354 deaths along urban freeways, a rate of 0.79 per 100 million miles.

Numbers covering all U.S. streets, roads and highways show the same trend, the GAO reported. In 1999, roads passing communities of at least 5,000 people carried 1.6 trillion miles of traffic and had 15,816 highway deaths, a rate of 0.97 per 100 million miles. Rural roads had 1.1 trillion miles of traffic and 25,107 deaths, a rate of 2.36.

"There is a need, unquestionably, for safety improvements on these two-lane roads," said John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and a former official of Kitsap County.

It costs more to repair an urban highway because more work is done at night and in congested areas and because land for widening is more expensive, said Frank Moretti, research director for The Road Information Program, funded by the construction industry.

At the same time, rural roads carry more traffic and trucks then they were designed to take.

"The (rural) road wasn't built to the standards needed for those purposes," Fogel said. "Those roads are being worn down."

- - - - - - - - see also Auto Accidents at Skyaid

National Association of Counties. = http://www.naco.org/
Bob Fogel  bio page = http://www.naco.org/naco/staff/stf_page.cfm?staffid=265  e-mail =   bfogel@naco.org