Monetising time savings makes toll roads financially stack up, says research

Putting a financial value on the savings from traffic congestion, noise and air pollution as a result of toll roads and tunnels will make large infrastructure projects more cost effective, according to a new study by Australia’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Sae Chi, from the university’s Science and Engineering Faculty, has compared the financial and economic cost of public and privately operated toll roads and tunnels, and found the net impacts to the community should be taken into account
September 29, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Putting a financial value on the savings from traffic congestion, noise and air pollution as a result of toll roads and tunnels will make large infrastructure projects more cost effective, according to a new study by Australia’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT).


Sae Chi, from the university’s Science and Engineering Faculty, has compared the financial and economic cost of public and privately operated toll roads and tunnels, and found the net impacts to the community should be taken into account in decision-making about transport infrastructure investment.

The research has been published in the Journal of Transportation Engineering titled Measuring impacts and risks to the public of a privately operated toll road project by considering perspectives in cost-benefit analysis.

The report claims that the financial bottom line should not be the only consideration when determining whether or not to invest in toll roads and tunnels.

Governments often partner with the private sector to share the costs and risks of building and operating toll road and tunnel projects. However, the report says that while private operators were looking for a bottom line return on investment, governments needed to consider benefits in addition to toll charges and traffic flows that can result in profits. Even when partnering with the private sector, it is important that governments consider the public benefits and monetise savings such as travel time, reduced costs to drivers and the positive outcomes for the environment. Chi believes that when governments put a financial cost on these factors the cost-benefit analysis sways much more heavily in favour of supporting infrastructure investment.

Chi said current cost-benefit analysis for road and tunnel projects was limited in Australia, and in most cases focused on the financials and not the public benefits. “But governments are responsible for public decision making for the good of their constituents and this includes ensuring that public funds are invested wisely and that regulation of private sector activity ensures a net benefit to society,” she said.

Chi believes the study findings would help support increased infrastructure investment across the nation, especially in high-growth population areas.

Charging, Tolling & RUC

Related Content

  • Need for standardisation of toll classes
    March 2, 2012
    In a previous article Bob Lees of Idris Technology Ltd looked at the appropriateness of toll classes in relation to all-electronic toll fee collection. Here, he looks at how addressing classification standardisation could avoid downstream aggravation and cost
    Read More
  • Where is tolling tech taking us?
    September 25, 2019
    From DSRC and RFID to GNSS or smartphones – which technology is ‘best’ for tolls, charging and pricing schemes? In the first of two articles, Josef Czako examines the options
    Read More
  • ATFI disputes toll survey findings
    September 15, 2014
    According to a recent poll by infrastructure group HNTB, 79 per cent of US residents would support "would support the addition of a toll on a non-tolled surface transportation facility if it resulted in a safer, congestion-free and more reliable trip." The poll also found 83 per cent of its respondents would also support tolls on highways that are currently free, which has been a source of contentious debate in Washington. HNTB Toll Services Chairman Jim Ely said the finding bolstered the argument o
    Read More
  • Silos are last century’s thinking
    April 21, 2016
    After 45 years in transportation, Ken Philmus sees the need for major change in a sector currently ill-prepared to meet the challenge of funding and rapidly advancing technological change. Having worked in both the public and private sectors, Ken Philmus, currently senior vice president of transportation solutions at Xerox, appreciates both approaches, but times are changing and he believes the sector needs to change too. “I like trains, planes and automobiles but I love the concept of mobility and that’s w
    Read More

Highlighted Content