---
title: UMD to Lead Effort to Improve U.S. Highways
date: 2022-04-11T14:00:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/umd-to-lead-effort-to-improve-u-s-highways"
section: Articles
---
# UMD to Lead Effort to Improve U.S. Highways

*April 11, 2022* — by [Robert Herschbach](/author/robert-herschbach)


> $5M USDOT Award Establishes Build America Center on Transportation Infrastructure

*I Stock 545447236 1920x1080 — A new federally funded, multi-institutional center aimed at boosting U.S. highway building efforts through new approaches to financing will be based at UMD in the Build America Center. University President Darryll J. Pines (below) spoke at the center's launch event at the A. James Clark School of Engineering on Monday.*

Amid increasing fiscal challenges to building and maintaining U.S. road networks, the federal Department of Transportation has awarded $5 million to the University of Maryland to establish a national Center for Transportation Excellence that will help foster innovative avenues for financing highway projects, including through public-private partnerships (P3).

Known as the Build America Center, it will support the [Federal Highway Administration](https://highways.dot.gov/) (FHWA) and the [Build America Bureau](https://www.transportation.gov/buildamerica/) as they seek to foster new approaches to financing the construction and maintenance of the nation’s roadways. Four universities—Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Purdue and Stanford—will serve as regional leads for the new center, with UMD as national lead.

Historically, states have relied on taxation to build infrastructure, but that approach has become less sustainable as costs mount. Alternatives include P3, in which a state or local government contracts with a private company in order to carry out a project, as well as the use of toll revenues and financing instruments such as tax-exempt government-issued bonds.

The need for such approaches ramped up further because of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in late 2021. Among its many other provisions, the law requires states to make greater use of innovative financing as they carry out highway and infrastructure projects.

Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering is ready to contribute expertise and fresh approaches to finding solutions, said Dean Samuel Graham, Jr.

“Building a transportation infrastructure system that meets our future needs is a critical priority, and engineers are positioned to help address this challenge,” he said. “At Maryland Engineering, our students and faculty have the creativity and ingenuity to support our federal, state and local decision-makers in planning and building an infrastructure system that's sustainable and one that meets the needs of our society for years to come. We're grateful to the U.S. Department of Transportation for this opportunity to collaborate, and look forward to the innovations this partnership will bring.”


*President Darryll J. Pines speaks at event*




**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Civil and Environmental Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/civil-and-environmental-engineering), [Transportation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/transportation)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)