1. Current & Future Alternative
Funding for Surface Transportation
Paul F Hanley
Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental
Engineering
Director of Transportation Policy Research
Mid-America Transportation Center Fall 2012 Lecture Series
Sponsored in part by Union Pacific
September 7, 2012
2. How do we pay for roads and mass
transit in our nation?
3. Video Clipped from Winning MATC sponsored Student Video Competition: Allie Reiter, “Road Scholars”
7. Federal Fuel
Excise
Tires
Tolls
State
Registration
Property
Title/License
General Funds
Sales
Local
Property Real Estate
8. Federal Fuel Strong tie to
Excise
system usage
Tires
Tolls
State
Registration
Property
Title/License
General Funds
Weak tie to
Sales
Local system
Property Real Estate usage
16. Total % in favor
Fuel Tax
Yes No Yes
Increase Fuel Tax? 60%
29% 29%
n= 1,659
What if you knew you paid Yes No Yes
$250 per year ($25 per 15% 72% 38%
month)?
What if the money by law could Yes No Yes
only be spent on roads? 47% 41% 49%
What if some money was spent on Yes No Yes
transit? 10% 73% 51%
21. California’s Experience
25 year history
Voters in 20 counties approved
Generate $2.5 billion per year
Four features
Specify the improvements to be financed
Require direct voter approval
Spent within the counties that enact them
Automatically expire
22. Sales Tax Total % in favor
Increase Sales Tax? Yes No Yes
n= 1,614 18% 78% 18%
Yes No Yes
What if the money by law could only be
20% 72% 34%
spent on roads?
30. Tolling Interstates
• Yesterday...
• Long standing prohibition on new tolls for existing Interstate Highways
• Today....
• MAP-21 opens the door for tolling both Interstate and Non-Interstate
Highways
• Section 129 general toll program
• Section 166 high occupancy toll program
31. Tolling Interstates & Non-Interstate
Highways
• Section 129 general toll program
• Allows toll on all new capacity added to the National Highway
System
• Revenue used for
• Debt service,
• Private invest return,
• Operations and maintenance,
• P3 payments,
• Other 23 programs
• Needs annual audits
• No toll agreements between USDOT and State & Local Gov
32. Tolling Interstates & Non-Interstate
Highways
• Section 166 high occupancy toll program
• Allows toll on all new capacity added to the National Highway System
• Revenue used for
• Same as Section 129
• Must include
• Enforcement,
• automatic tolling,
• tolls vary by congestion,
• Interoperable between systems
• Needs annual audits
• No toll agreements between USDOT and State & Local Gov
34. Total % in
Tolls favor
Increase Existing
Tolls?
Yes No Yes
n= 965 31% 63% 31%
Yes No Yes
What if the money by law could only be
30% 62% 50%
spent on roads?
Total % in
favor
Create New Tolls? Yes No Yes
n= 638 32% 61% 32%
37. Registration Fees
Total % in
favor
Increase Fees? Yes No Yes
n= 1,623 31% 63% 31%
Yes No Yes
What if the money by law could only be
34% 57% 53%
spent on roads?
48. Technically feasible using currently
mature technologies.
• Reliably assigned VMT to federal, state, and local
jurisdictions
– 99.4% accountability
– No detectable urban or natural canyon effects
– No significant data loss using commercial cellular data
– Mature Technology used
o designed and manufactured in the 2005-06 timeframe
49. Installation equipment into existing
vehicles posed a daunting challenge.
• Complex process
Trained, professional installers, required an average of 90 minutes to
complete
25% required a follow-up visit
8% directly related to installation
1.3% had vehicle incompatibility issues
*OBU connected into electrical system and on-board diagnostic bus
51. Perception was positively impacted
by experience and exposure
• Initial perception
– 42% favorable
– 17% negative
• Final perception (10 month exposure)
– 70% favorable
– 19% negative
52. Privacy was a significant issue but
is not an insurmountable barrier
• 60% believe
– Government will track their travel
• 34% want
– Minimal travel detail collected
• Still, > 70% stated
– The system was reliable, accurate, and fair
– Viable replacement of the fuel tax
53. The ability to audit the accuracy of
charges outweighed privacy concerns.
• 66% favored
– Summary of VMT by jurisdiction, and
– Indifferent to
o Daily summary, or
o Monthly summary
• Strong desire to audit the system for accuracy
54. VMT Fee
In favor of a VMT
fee? Yes No
32% 68%
n= 1,589
Total % in
favor
What if the vmt fee was tied Yes No Yes
to your mpg? 19% 81% 45%
Yes
45%
Total % in
favor
Would you still be in
Yes No Yes
favor if GPS was used ?
57% 43% 26%
n= 715