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Feds regulate how to stripe the roads

Those poor dumb engineers in the state highway administrations. They just can’t be trusted to make sensible judgments about how to stripe their roads. That’s the message from Washington DC where the Federal Highway Administration according to AASHTO’s WEEKLY TRANSPORT’n REPORT (8/9/96) is preparing formal rulemaking establishing the types of state roads which must carry center line and edge line markings based on road width, average daily traffic volumes and “where engineering studies indicate a need.” So much for devolving power to the states! At the same time the USDoT is moving to establish new metropolitan area field offices (they already have state offices) to provide direct federal-metropolitan planning agency working relations. The only possible rationale for that is to cut out the state agencies. Which perhaps only goes to show that the federal urge to run things at the operational level is undiminished by what elected officials such as Pres. Clinton and VP Gore say in speeches about giving power back...It reminds us of Confucius’ observation: “Watch what the b--s do, not listen to what they say.”