Eighth Edition Under Development
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials is preparing the eighth edition of A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets. Research supporting the revision was completed in March 2026 under National Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 07-29. The forthcoming edition is expected to expand performance-based design methods, multimodal transportation considerations and flexibility in geometric design. AASHTO’s Committee on Design has identified publication of the eighth edition, including updated design vehicles, as an organizational priority. The 2018 seventh edition remains the current published standard.
The Eighth Edition is expected to be a complete restructuring of the Green Book rather than an incremental revision. Its proposed framework introduces context zones that recognize surrounding land uses and transportation priorities.
ASCE — Eighth Edition Technical Overview
That is important around universities, where transportation infrastructure must accommodate pedestrians, bicycles, buses, delivery trucks and emergency apparatus. These campus projects are illustrative examples, not confirmed applications of the unpublished eighth edition.
Michigan State University
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction throughout the United States. Despite its name, the association represents not only highways but air, rail, water, and public transportation as well. Its technical committees are responsible for route numbering recommendations.
Although AASHTO sets transportation standards and policy for the United States as a whole, AASHTO is not an agency of the federal government; rather it is an organization of the states themselves. Policies of AASHTO are not federal laws or policies, but rather are ways to coordinate state laws and policies in the field of transportation.
One of its consensus products — the so-called “Green Book” — is heavily referenced in campus design guidelines and construction contracts because most education communities exist within municipal infrastructure. Power, water supply, sewers to schools and campuses large and small all tend to follow transportation pathways. The Green Book is revised periodically, the 2018 Edition the most recent.
SUMMARY OF KEY REVISIONS AND UPDATES
We do not advocate in this product at the moment but follow the movement in concepts relevant to education communities; notably the recent reorganization that emphasizes transportation of people, rather than focusing primarily on moving vehicles. A new chapter discusses multimodal level of service and puts greater emphasis on lower-speed, walkable, urban zones in which new mobility technologies are emerging (such as micro-scooters on campuses)
We maintain the AASHTO catalog on our Pathways, Zoning and Mobility colloquia. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting, open to everyone.
