The program paves, widens, and straightens narrow dirt and gravel back country roads to handle increased high-speed traffic. Many of the improvements are unwanted and unwarranted. Overbuilding these forest roads wastes millions of taxpayer dollars. Smaller, less expensive improvements or increased maintenance are all most of these roads need. Forest Highways are more expensive to maintain than forest roads.
Forest roads cost a lot less to maintain.
The Forest Service, states and counties lack funds to maintain the roads once they are upgraded. Once the FHWA builds a forest highway, a road maintenance agency, usually a county or state, becomes responsible for maintaining it. The Forest Service recently became a public road authority, allowing it to maintain federal highways. The Forest Service, like most states and counties, is already over-extended in maintaining its own roads. The paving of forest highways increases habitat fragmentation.