CAA Position:
National Highway System
CAA urges the federal government to take a leadership role to develop a long-term plan with a commitment to multi-year funding for Canada's national transportation infrastructure. CAA supports the federal government's interest in new technologies that allows more efficient traffic management.
The Details
Canada's National Highway System (NHS) is an economic and cultural lifeline for Canadians.
It is made up of over 24,460 kilometres of highways and 3,534 bridges. This represents only 3% of all roads yet the NHS carries over 25% of all road traffic.
The NHS includes any existing primary route that connects a major provincial population/commercial centre in Canada with:
- an adjacent province or territory
- a major port of exit/entry to the USA
- another transport mode directly served by the highway mode (e.g., ferry terminal)
Canadians are using highways at a level unseen in decades. Road growth and expansion has not kept up with population growth, urbanization, and vehicle travel. According to the 1997 Update to the National Highway Policy for Canada Study commissioned by the Council of Ministers responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety:
- about 38% of Canada's NHS is substandard
- 1,145 bridges require urgent repair
The high cost of disrepair:
The cost to bring Canada's highways up to standard has risen to $17.2 billion today from $12 billion estimated in 1988. For each year that funding has been withheld from the NHS, Canadians have continued to pay the real price of neglect:
- hundreds of lives lost and thousands of unnecessary injuries due to road problems
- millions of hours wasted while sitting in traffic jams
- millions of extra dollars spent on gas and repairs because of poor road conditions
The structural condition of highways directly affects the safety of motorists and travellers. Government research shows that by improving the substandard conditions of the NHS:
- as many as 247 lives would be saved
- 16,000 injuries would be prevented
- the NHS investment program would be expected to generate between $0.8 and $2 billion in the form of accelerated productivity growth
CAA Members' Opinion
In a CAA/Ekos Research national telephone poll (June 1999), members said they do not want spending on the national transportation infrastructure to take a back seat to social programs.
- 79% of members believe that even though social spending is important, the NHS must also be upgraded in order to ensure continued economic growth and productivity across the country.
- 70% of members, given the current overall condition of the NHS and the level of repairs and maintenance that take place, would like to see more effort spent in the future on the NHS compared to past efforts.
CAA is the voice of the Canadian motorist
CAA is calling on the government to:
- explore innovative public/private partnerships to make roads an investment in Canada's economy
- include a national transportation infrastructure in the budget as the first step toward good road transportation.
Click here to download CAA's advocacy statement Five Billion Reasons published in Ottawa's Hill Times on February 7, 2005 (PDF format - 1MB file)
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