steve heminger executive director metropolitan transportation commission transportation research...
TRANSCRIPT
Steve HemingerExecutive DirectorMetropolitan Transportation Commission
Transportation Research BoardExecutive Committee
June 17, 2005
TOLL:The Four Letter Word of Transportation Finance
TOLL:The Four Letter Word of Transportation Finance
Gas Tax is a Goner
No federal rate increase since 1993
Less than 1/2 of states have raised their state gas tax since 1993
6 states with tax hikes were due to automatic indexing
Fuel Efficiency Stalls Out
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2004
Explosive Growth of SUVs
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2004
Light Duty Vehicle Sales Trends by Vehicle Type
Far Higher Gasoline Prices Abroad
Source: International Energy Agency, 2005
Gasoline Prices for Selected Countries
Retail Gasoline Prices Dwarf Tax Rate
Source: Energy Information Administration, FHWA, 2005
“Read my Lips: No New Taxes”
— George H. W. Bush, 1988
“Read my Lips: No New Taxes”
— George H. W. Bush, 1988
“Pay As You Go” System
Stopped paying — no political will for
tax hikes
Stopping going — mounting trafficcongestion and repair backlogs
False Trail: The General Fund
Annual U.S. Transportation Spending
Source: The Brookings Institution, 2003
Growing Reliance on Non-User Fees
Source: Surface Transportation Policy Project, 2002
Type of Revenue
1995 1999
ChangePercent Change
State Borrowing
($ in millions)
92$4,316 $ 8,298 $3,982
Other Local Taxes Includes Sales Taxes $ 4,487 $ 7,079 $ 2,592 58
Other State Taxes $ 6,565 $ 8,560 $ 1,995 30
Local General Funds $ 12,326 $ 15,857 $ 3,531 29
Local Property Taxes $ 5,220 $ 6,384 $ 1,164 22
State User Fees $36,200 $42,730 $6,530 18
Original Toll Concept — River Chains
U.S. History of Toll Roads
1656 First toll bridge — Newbury, Massachusetts
1785 First turnpike — Little River Turnpike, Virginia
1822President Monroe vetoes bill authorizing collection of tolls from road users
1850Hundreds of private turnpike companies operate thousands of miles of roads in most states
Continued next slide
1920 – 40Major urban toll facilities completed, such as New York’s Holland Tunnel and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge
1940Pennsylvania Turnpike opens, followed by state toll road authorities in Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut and Florida
1956Congress approves Federal-Aid Highway Act, providing for a fuel tax-based financing mechanism to construct the interstate system
U.S. History of Toll Roads (cont’d)
Continued next slide
1980 – 1990
States create facility-based toll authorities to supplement interstate highway capacity, such as TCA roads in Orange County, California and E-470 in Denver, Colorado
1991 Congress passes ISTEA legislation which authorizes limited state experimentation with toll-based congestion pricing
1995 –present
Metropolitan regions experiment with High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes in California, Texas, Minnesota, and Colorado.
U.S. History of Toll Roads (cont’d)
Source: FHWA
(est.)
Toll collection lanes with electronic toll collection capability
Electronic Toll Collection:The Great Enabler
Congestion Tolls
Project Type Status
Singapore Cordon Operational 1975
Norway Cordon Operational 1986
London Cordon Operational 2003
Orange County, SR 91 HOT Operational 1995
San Diego I-15 HOT Operational 1996
Houston Katy Freeway HOT Operational 1998
Minneapolis I-394 HOT Operational 2005
Denver I-25 HOT Planned 2005
Seattle Route 167 HOT Planned 2007
Alameda County I-680 HOT Planned 2009
Source: Institute of Transportation Studies, UCLA
Weight-Distance Truck Tolls
Project Status
Swiss “HVF” Truck Toll Operational 2001
Austrian “GO” Truck Toll Operational 2004
German “Toll Collect” Truck Toll Operational 2005
U.K. Truck Toll Planned 2007
Bristol Truck Toll/Cordon Toll Trial Project
Australian “Austroads” Monitoring Planning Phase
Source: Institute of Transportation Studies, UCLA
Press Overreaction
“Tolls are a polite form of
highway robbery.”
— Bill Lockyer,California Attorney
General
“Tolls are a polite form of
highway robbery.”
— Bill Lockyer,California Attorney
General
Legislative Resistance
Free Lunch Mentality
www.mtc.ca.gov