Feds relax oversight on highway, bridge projects

States will have more leeway to build highways and bridges without oversight from Uncle Sam under new rules from the Obama administration.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) said Thursday it is loosening the restrictions on federal grants provided to states to help fund new transportation projects.

Since the 1990s, the FHWA has required states to conduct a cost-benefit analysis known as value engineering on any highway improvement project that costs more than $25 million or any bridge project that costs more than $20 million.

{mosads}The value engineering process is used to help states determine the cheapest way to build highway and bridge projects by finding the least expensive components, thereby reducing the cost.

But the FHWA is loosening the requirements so that states do not have to go through the value engineering process unless they plan on spending more than $50 million for a highway project or more than $40 million for a bridge.

The rules only apply to highways and bridges that are built with the help of federal grant money.

The FHWA said value engineering saves the government an average of at least $1 billion each year.

The new rules go into effect in 30 days.