Recommendation
Congress should encourage deployment of intelligent transportation systems by requiring the Transportation Department to provide incentives through the federal highway program for states to adopt tolling.
Details
Tolling can play a key role in generating the funding to pay for expanded, more efficient roadway capacity. But too many states do not want to support toll-funded projects because they fear public opposition, despite the fact that the public usually supports toll projects that are introduced. Lowering the share of federal funding for non-toll projects from the current 80 percent share to 60 percent, while funding the full 80 percent for toll projects, would provide a stronger incentive for states to establish more toll projects.
Keep reading:
▪ Stephen J. Ezell and Robert D. Atkinson, “From Concrete to Chips: Bringing the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act Into the Digital Age” (ITIF, May 2015), https://itif.org/publications/2015/05/19/concrete-chips-bringing-surface-transportation-reauthorization-act-digital.