Flat-to-declining highway transportation demand has been with us for about a decade, and consensus is building for the position that it is not a historic aberration but rather a durable trend. A roundup of recent VMT-related news.
tolls
Colorado's U.S. 36 project breaks new ground
The U.S. 36 project, now underway, will expand a four-lane facility to add an express lane carrying bus-rapid transit, high-occupancy vehicles, and tolled single-occupancy vehicles, as well as ITS systems and a commuter bikeway. Of particular interest to participants in a recent SSTI workshop was the fact that the project’s tolls will support the multimodal facilities.
Virginia governor proposes scrapping gas tax, raising sales tax to fund transportation
Most discussion of possible solutions to the problem of stagnant gas tax revenues has focused on increasing user fees in some way – e.g., by raising fuel taxes, adding tolls, and/or adding VMT-based fees. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s proposal to eliminate the gas tax and pay for transportation with an increased sales tax, thereby abandoning the decades-old concept of funding transportation with user fees, seems to have united both the left and right in opposition.
Value Pricing and Traffic Reduction Incentives (New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2012)
Combining congestion pricing on major highways or lanes with incentives for off-peak commuting on non-tolled facilities can lead to improved performance on all facilities.
Will drivers pay the price to use fastest road in the Americas?
A new stretch of toll road through central Texas linking Austin to San Antonio, State Highway 130, may soon have the highest posted speed limit in the hemisphere. The exact toll structure has not yet been defined, but the base rate for passenger vehicles could be as high as 12.5 cents per mile, a total of $5 for the 41-mile stretch. While many drivers in the state are enthusiastic about the prospect of shortened driving times over the congested I-35, auto insurance companies and highway safety advocates are less excited.
Traffic Congestion: Road Pricing Can Help Reduce Congestion, but Equity Concerns May Grow (GAO, 2011)
Traffic Congestion: Road Pricing Can Help Reduce Congestion, but Equity Concerns May Grow is a report issued by the Government Accountability Office. It examines whether road pricing can reduce congestion, both for those who use toll lanes and for those that do not. It also examines concerns over geographic and income equity surrounding road pricing.
Traffic Congestion: Road Pricing Can Help Reduce Congestion, but Equity Concerns May Grow (GAO, 2011)
Traffic Congestion: Road Pricing Can Help Reduce Congestion, but Equity Concerns May Grow is a report issued by the Government Accountability Office. It examines whether road pricing can reduce congestion, both for those who use toll lanes and for those that do not. It also examines concerns over geographic and income equity surrounding road pricing.
No unanimity on Illinois Tollway proposal to increase tolls
The Illinois Tollway wants to fund a $12 billion 15-year capital plan with increases in tolls. Two-thirds of the money is to keep the existing 286 miles of the Tollway in a state of good …
And in Washington State: Anti-toll initiative heads to the ballot box
A citizen-sponsored initiative to restrict use of highway tolls, targeting both road and related transit projects, will be on the November ballot in Washington State. The measure would restrict toll revenues to the facility on …
And in the same year that Eisenhower introduced the National Highway System
Time Magazine in 1955 gushed about toll roads: “EVERYBODY agrees that the U.S. needs more and better roads, but almost nobody agrees on how to pay for them. While the argument rages, Texas has gone …