PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Left: With more drivers,
driving more more miles
infrastructure funding is
needed more than ever
once characterized by limitless opportunity.
Sixty years later, underfunding and
deferred maintenance of the network have
levied signifi cant harm to US roads and
Americans increasingly fi nd themselves
at the constraint of modern mobility.
Americans own a tremendous asset by
way of the nation’s transportation system,
but this asset – as with any asset – requires
regular maintenance. Roads and bridges
are commonly misconstrued as a public
service. Their construction, operation and
maintenance costs are supplemented
through government funding – but roads
are not free to use.
Simply put, the gas tax has not kept
pace with demand. One out of every fi ve
highway miles is in poor condition and
40% of the country’s bridges are over 50
years in age. Few will argue against the
need for investment, but current and
projected Highway Trust revenues are
incapable of sustaining needs.
There is no easy fi x or single solution.
The gas tax is a declining and unsustainable
revenue stream. State and federal decision
makers must act to fi nd solutions that
embrace the power of private sector
innovation to deliver economic opportunity,
ease of use and peace of mind.
This is an edited version of the full white paper
America’s Transportation Infrastructure– A
Funding Crisis, published by A-to-Be. You
can read the full version of the paper, which
includes academic references, on our website
at traffi ctechnologytoday.com/features
The second edition of A-to-Be’s Transportation
Funding Series will off er examples of studies,
pilot programs and exploratory measures
currently underway by state and federal
government, looking to help solve the funding
crisis in the USA www.a-to-be.com
FREE READER INQUIRY SERVICE
A-to-Be
To learn more about this advertiser, visit:
www.magupdate.co.uk/ptti
TOLLTRANS 2020
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com 61
lanes), vehicle eligibility lanes (HOV and
truck lane restrictions) and pricing lanes
(value priced and toll).
• Road user charging – A growing
number of states including Idaho, Oregon,
Washington and Hawaii, as well as the
I-95 Corridor Coalition led by the
Delaware DOT, are actively exploring the
viability of a distance-based Road User
Charge (RUC). According to a study
published in the Journal of Public
Economics, RUC could potentially reduce
VMT by 3.5 billion more miles than a gas
tax. As a result, a VMT tax that raised $55
billion would have an economic eff ect
20% greater than the traditional pergallon
fuel tax.
• Public-private partnerships (P3) – Used to
deliver public services with the resources,
effi ciency and innovation aff orded by
private companies. In P3 private sector
partners take on the design, build,
fi nancing, and long-term operation and
maintenance responsibilities of the project
to guarantee on-time delivery, costsavings
and access to new sources of
private capital. The user pays a toll to the
private company selected by the public
entity contracted to operate and maintain
a state’s roads.
• State tax, debt and credit mechanisms
– States may pursue policies aimed at
increasing property taxes, diverting other
tax revenues or creating a wholly new tax
directed towards the general fund or for
earmarked transportation programs.
While these sources of revenue depart
from the traditional user-fee principle,
they are, nonetheless, a means by which
states may supplement their declining
revenue streams.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Jack Kerouac in his defi ning piece of
post-war literature, On the Road, attributes
his own realization of the American dream
to opportunities made possible by the
nation’s expansive road network. He
paints a romantic picture of open roads,
may reallocate funds to the Highway Trust,
but the 2020 election will undoubtedly
require candidates put forward robust
solutions for US transportation funding.
VIABLE ALTERNATIVES
To supplement depleting revenue sources,
state and federal government have
considered several solutions:
• Tolling – An increasing number of states
are working to pass tolling legislation
to shore up transportation funding. This
year saw new toll roads open in Texas,
California, Virginia, Florida, North
Carolina, and Oregon
• Congestion pricing – Commonly cited
as one of the most eff ective tolling tools,
congestion pricing has a profound
capacity to reduce traffi c in and out
of major cities. The usage fee works by
shifting rush hour highway travel to other
modes of transportation or to off -peak
hours. New York is the fi rst US city
working to establish a congestion
pricing toll system.
• Managed/express lanes – Operational
strategies for managed lanes enable a
high degree of fl exibility so that they
may be actively managed to respond to
changing conditions. These include access
control lanes (express and reversible
/features
/www.a-to-be.com
/ptti
/www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com