North Carolina Highway Cost Allocation and Revenue Attribution Study

The objective of this research is to estimate and compare the highway infrastructure cost responsibility and revenue contribution of highway users in North Carolina. The study adopted the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) 13 vehicle classification system and analyzed data on highway infrastructure expenditures and federal and state revenue for the years 2014-2017. The results of this research indicate that lightweight vehicles, including motorcycles and passenger cars, contribute more to the revenue than their share of cost responsibility. Specifically, it was found that motorcycles, passenger cars, and FHWA class 3 vehicles overpay by 30%, 26%, and 8%, respectively. On the other hand, single-unit trucks with four or more axles (FHWA class 7) and all multi-unit trucks classes (FHWA classes 8-13) underpay by 37%-92% for highway infrastructure compared to the damage they cause. In summary, lightweight vehicles are currently subsidizing the cost responsibility of most trucks on North Carolina’s highway system. The results of this study reveal that North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) should explore ways to increase the share of revenue contributions from trucks to improve equity in revenue generation. Several revenue scenarios were analyzed as part of this study, such as increasing the rates of current sources of revenue as well as investigating new sources, such as mileage-based user fees and dedicating state sales tax revenue to transportation. Although most of the revenue scenarios explored as part of this research are implementable and reasonable when compared to the tax and fee structures in other states, none of these scenarios was found to lead to substantial equity improvements. Future research should focus on a detailed exploration of tax and fee structures that can significantly enhance equity in NC’s transportation infrastructure revenue generation process.

• Record URL:
  https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/research/RNAProjDocs/RP2019-14%20-%20Full%20Final%20Report.pdf
• Summary URL:
  https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/research/pages/ProjDetails.aspx?ProjectID=2019-14
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/58919
• Corporate Authors:

  North Carolina State University, Raleigh

  Institute for Transportation Research and Education
  Centennial Campus Box 8601
  Raleigh, NC  United States  27695-8601

  North Carolina Department of Transportation

  Research and Development Unit
  Raleigh, NC  United States 

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Hasnat, Md Mehedi
  • Bardaka, Eleni
  • Findley, Daniel
  • Goode, Larry
• Publication Date: 2021-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 162p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cost allocation; Equity; Expenditures; Revenues; Vehicles
• Geographic Terms: North Carolina
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01788090
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/NC/2019-14, NCDOT Project 2019-14
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Nov 16 2021 3:17PM