SOME FINANCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL POLICY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH TOLL FINANCE

Financial pressures are forcing state departments of transportation to consider alternative funding strategies, including an expanded role for toll financing as a supplemental source of revenue to complement current user charges. It is timely and appropriate, therefore, to examine some important financial, economic, and social policy issues associated with tolls. The discussion is primarily directed toward the use of tolls for major reconstruction on federal-aid highways. Among the findings are that, despite the relative inefficiency of toll finance as a highway revenue mechanism, there are circumstances in which tolls may be economically justified. One example is when there are insufficient revenues from traditional highway user imposts and toll financing is used to make needed highway improvements many years in advance of when they otherwise could be made. However, federal policy, which mandates full repayment of all prior federal aid used on a potential toll facility, severely limits the usefulness of the toll mechanism for purposes of resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating, and reconstructing highways. This policy has no economic justification. From a social equity perspective, toll financing has a potential advantage over current user taxes and fees because of the ability to more closely align the user charge with the benefit received or with the direct use made of the highway facility. The choices made about toll collection system design have significant implications for the capital and operating costs of toll collection. However, toll collection design decisions cannot rest on cost criteria alone, for the design will have implications for user access, traffic route choice, toll revenue, safety, and highway financing equity that also must be recognized.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1987/1107/1107-003.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=SOME+FINANCIAL%2C+ECONOMIC%2C+AND+SOCIAL+POLICY+ISSUES+ASSOCIATED+WITH+TOLL+FINANCE&author=G.+Gittings&publication_year=1987
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309044553
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Application of Economic Analysis to Transportation Problems. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Gittings, Gary L
• Publication Date: 1987

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 20-30
• Monograph Title: Private sector involvement and toll road financing in the provision of highways
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1107
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Equity; Federal aid highways; Financing; Policy making; Reconstruction; Socioeconomic factors; Toll roads
• Candidate Terms: Highway economics
• Subject Areas: Economics; Finance; Highways; Policy; Society; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00474882
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309044553
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Oct 31 1987 12:00AM