BurbMan wrote:
rrupert wrote:
Apparently the highway where this happened was not on the Federal system or there has never been any reconstruction. I remember this information from my DOT designer days.
Parkways are controlled by NY State on LI and upstate, and NYC within NYC limits.
Actually entire Federal system is owned and operated by local agencies (usually state DOT but can be city or county).
The Feds pony up money that comes with rules but the local agency builds, operates and owns the facility.
With rare exceptions, if you meet the rules at the time of construction there is no obligation from a Federal money standpoint to upgrade to current standards but when you replace, you must meet the new standards unless you get a design exception.
This is intended to allow agencies time to meet new standard (ie: if bridge height jumps to 16', you can't replace every bridge in the next year).
It does create a catch 22 though. Most of the major expressways are 40-60yrs old (the urban ones were often the first built). As a result, they miss current standards by a large margin and they have legitimate issues that preclude getting a design exception. The cost to upgrade is so great that agencies simply do some patch work and live with the old design.
