(Source: Parade Magazine)

Just six years ago, only 44% of Missouri’s highways were rated in good condition. Money was too tight to do much about it. The state’s transportation boss, Pete K. Rahn, decided something had to change.  

The problem, he believed, was that highway engineers invariably tried to build the best roads possible. But what if  Missourians didn’t always need the best roads possible? What if they were willing to settle for good enough? His answer was a new road-building doctrine he called “Practical Design.” 

Today, when Missouri engineers design highways, they aim “not to build perfect projects, but to build good projects that give you a good system,” says Rahn. Practical Design says to “start at the bottom of the standards and go up to meet the need. When you meet the need, you stop.” 

On some projects, the new approach achieves identical standards with the old. On others, the differences often are invisible to motorists. A highway through mountains, for example, might have a thinner bed of concrete where it rests on bedrock. 

Such thinking, Rahn says, has stretched Missouri’s road dollar considerably. Today, 83% of the state’s highways are rated as good. As a result of Missouri’s success, Practical Design already has been adopted by Kentucky and Idaho. 

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