Publisher's Synopsis
"In many industrialized nations today, highways present engineers and governments with formidable challenges relating to safety, sustainability, environmental impacts, congestion mitigation, and deteriorating infrastructure. As a result, highways are often viewed from the perspective of the many challenges they present as opposed to the benefits they provide. Historically, highways have always played a key role in the development and sustainability of human civilization. Today, in the United States and throughout the world, highways continue to dominate the transportation system, by providing critical access for the acquisition of natural resources, industrial production, retail marketing, and population mobility. The influence of highway transportation on the economic, social, and political fabric of nations is far-reaching and, as a consequence, highways have been studied for decades as a cultural, political, and economic phenomenon.
