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US think-tank says plan now for road pricing
America's top scientific think-tank, the National Academies, says the US should end its reliance on fuel taxes to fund highways and prepare for a nationwide system of road-pricing in about ten years time.
In a new report by its Transportation Research Board, the organisation says a system that meters road use and charges drivers accordingly would be a benefit both to travellers and the public.
"Although the current funding system helps build and maintain highways and ensures that users pay most of the costs, it does not help transportation agencies alleviate congestion or target investment to the most valuable projects," said Rudolph Penner a Senior Fellow with the Urban Institute, who helped write the report.
"To improve highways, we should rethink the way revenues are raised instead of only increasing them.
"The present highway finance system can remain viable for some time, but the right reforms might give us a system that not only pays for roads, but also allows us to manage traffic flow and ensure that scarce funds are invested in projects with the greatest public benefit."
According to the report, drivers should be metered for the use of roads in the same way consumers are for other utilities, such as water and electricity.
It says while trials will be needed to determine the best approach to metering, any system should allow fees to be higher during periods of congestion and to vary depending on vehicle size and weight. The fees could be used to cover the cost of highway maintenance and traffic services such as police.
The report said on crowded urban roads, the fee's major purpose would be to alleviate the intangible cost that each motorist imposes on other travellers by entering a congested road and thereby slowing down other vehicles.
The National Academies said that creating the metering system would take a decade or more, but that its evaluation should begin immediately.
