New York City shares many of the same goals as state and local transportation agencies: cutting traffic, improving travel times, making roads safer, and improving quality of life. Yet decades of investment in highway capacity have failed to deliver on those goals. Commute times have increased 7.5% since 2010, congestion has reached an all-time high, and U.S. roadways have become more dangerous than those of any other wealthy nation.
congestion fee
Stockholm’s congestion charge still going strong
Stockholm’s congestion pricing system is a continuing success six years after its initial implementation. Congestion charges in other cities around the world have also gained increased public support after initial resistance. In the U.S. no city has yet implemented a congestion charge, although the idea has been discussed in New York and Boston, with mixed reactions.
A transportation engineer rethinks congestion pricing
Congestion pricing in New York City should be easy; there are only bridges and tunnels to get into the most congested areas of the city, and many already have tolls. Access is limited, and transit is plentiful once commuters arrive in congested Manhattan. But political pressures from the outer boroughs and anti-tax sentiments defeated efforts to implement congestion pricing in 2008. Now a veteran transportation engineer has offered a new plan that could be more popular in the suburbs and still provide incentives to find alternatives to driving into the central business district.
More Ways to Pay Higher London Congestion Charging Fee
The BBC reports that London’s charge for entering the center city has been increased from 8 pounds to 10 pounds in 2011, but the area to which it applies has been reduced in size. There …