New ways to finance transportation through tolling existing highways

Keywords

highways, interstate, tolls

Comments

1. 1. Rob Rion on March 7, 2014

   Tolling interstate highways is not a good solution. People will just use a non-tolled parallel highway. It is also politically doa to most voters and politicians. A better solution would be to adopt Vehicle Miles Traveled. There is a a big backlash against the idea to toll the existing of rte 53 north of I90 now to pay for rt 53 expansion

2. 2. Chrissy Mancini from United States on March 11, 2014

   As evidenced in the blog, in cities such as Minneapolis, (and San Diego, and Miami), that were able to implement congestion pricing and tolling under the federal pilot, drivers have shown to be willing to pay the toll and importantly some of the tolling revenues were used to fund transit, granting more transportation options to commuters. In 2011 the Illinois Tollway raised tolls for the first time in decades with little decline in passenger vehicle traffic. People want to travel the quickest, most efficient way and have shown to be willing to pay for that convenience.
   
   The highway trust fund is bankrupt. Motorists are paying less in gas taxes as a percent of their income than two decades ago. A vehicle miles traveled tax is a long-term solution to transportation funding, but tolling is another important tool that's been used successfully around the country.

3. 3. John Lynch from Virgina on April 27, 2014

   Tolling of existing interstates is short-sighted given the huge inefficiencies associated with tolling. San Diego and Miami have HOT lanes as does Northern VA but those involve tolling new capacity or converting existing HOV lanes into tolled HOT lanes. Hence the existing interstates weren't tolled. VA and North Carolina hold two of the three pilot program slots and in 2013 both states enacted laws essentially banning tolls on existing interstates. Those voters recognized what a bad idea tolls on existing interstates, as do those shippers, truckers, and citizens that have banded together to create the Alliance for Toll Free Interstates (www.tollfreeinterstates.com).