The current road system developed to meet the transportation needs of the 1960's and 1970's does not reflect the needs of today. Timber hauling has decreased over time while recreation traffic has grown dramatically. Today, there are over 1,706,000 recreation vehicles per day on forest roads and 15,000 timber harvest vehicles per day. Timber traffic represents less than one percent of all forest road use. The national forest road system has 383,000 miles of classified roads and 52,000 miles of unclassified roads.
Classified roads are roads constructed or maintained for long-term highway vehicle use.
Currently we only receive 18 percent of the funding needed to annually maintain roads to planned service, safety and environmental standards. Even with the significant increase in our budget request for FY 2000, funding does not address the annual maintenance needs or begin to address the backlog. It is fiscally and environmentally irresponsible to continue to build roads when our current road system is in such disrepair and decline. Without adequate funding, the system will continue to decline causing environmental damage and posing human safety risks. The suspension in road construction and reconstruction will reduce the potential timber harvest approximately 200 million board feet.