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All the most important issues are local and state and have nothing to do with US federal government.

The problem is that there is a whole generation of road engineers taught to use federal interstate standards on local roads, but there isn’t a more appropriate local road guideline.

When people use these standards for local roads it’s because it’s the same mindset as “no one ever got fired for picking IBM.”

Except road funding, huge chunks of which come from the federal government (because, big surprise, cities and states can't afford thousands of miles of stroads and highways without invoking a government that can print its own reserve currency).

The road standards do actually allow for quite a bit of freedom. Its harder if the state DoT (Department of Highway building) is not on board. But fundamentally nothing stops engineers from doing better work. Its a matter of education and political cover.

Political will alone goes a long way, engineers are capable of self educating quite well.

A simple example is the town in Indiana that has lots of roundabouts. They are operating under the same standards but is much better in lots of way.

Engineers can do a lot by themselves and with local political cover they can do much more. If the state DoT is onboard, there is a lot of freedom.

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