Skip to main content

Transportation systems should be self-sustaining says study

A recent study by US public policy think tank claims the nation's growing debt and budget deficits are increasingly impacting efforts to build, upgrade and maintain transportation infrastructure. The study proposes that transportation funding should be shifted to direct user fees, long-term financing and private capital, foundation officials said in a prepared statement. The study recommends a series of tax, regulatory and organisational changes that would help modernise the nation's airports, air traffic c
January 11, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A recent study by US public policy think tank claims the nation's growing debt and budget deficits are increasingly impacting efforts to build, upgrade and maintain transportation infrastructure. The study proposes that transportation funding should be shifted to direct user fees, long-term financing and private capital, foundation officials said in a prepared statement.

The study recommends a series of tax, regulatory and organisational changes that would help modernise the nation's airports, air traffic control system, highways, bridges and ports by making them more self-sustaining.

For surface transportation, federal transit funding could be shifted to the general fund and local governments, permitting all federal gas tax revenues to be spent on highways and bridges. To improve ports, harbour maintenance and waterway diesel taxes could be eliminated and replaced with harbour and waterway user charges paid directly to a facility operator, the study recommends.

"The United States is one of the few developed countries that makes relatively little use of revenue-based financing for its transportation infrastructure. There are numerous practical changes we can implement to rebuild and reinvigorate our infrastructure within the current economic climate," said Robert Poole, the foundation's director of transportation, who authored the study. "Congress should empower states and the private sector to meet the needs for capital investments in transportation infrastructure and remove regulatory barriers so these assets can become self-supporting."

Related Content

  • July 24, 2015
    Study: How to fund Interstate highways in a way truckers and drivers can support
    As the US Congress once again struggles to find funding for a long-term highway bill, a new Reason Foundation study details why truckers should embrace the use of tolling to finance the reconstruction and modernisation of aging Interstate highways, describes how all-electronic tolling can solve the industry’s previous privacy and logistical concerns about toll roads and proposes a set of rules to ensure that the tolls paid by truckers and motorists are used only to rebuild and widen the newly tolled Inters
  • June 5, 2015
    Tolling is the 21st century’s road funding solution
    HNTB’s Rick Herrington and Brad Guilmino put the case for tolling. Tolling is becoming the 21st century solution of choice for generating additional user-based transportation revenue. The proven funding source is being seriously considered for expanded use by cities, states and even the federal government with support from elected officials across the political spectrum. In fact, with each federal transportation reauthorisation, tolling restrictions have been relaxed.
  • May 11, 2012
    The case for using toll revenues to fund Interstate improvements
    High road toll increases threaten new regulation, but states should be free to use toll revenue for Interstate improvements. Bob Poole reports Large toll rate increases have been implemented recently by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, justified in part to help pay for its World Trade Center project. In response, a bill was introduced in Congress that would allow the Secretary of Transportation to regulate tolls on every bridge on the country’s Interstates and other federally aided highways. F
  • September 13, 2013
    IBTTA applauds new interstate study
    A new study, Interstate 2.0: Modernising the Interstate Highway System via Toll Finance, by US public policy think tank, the Reason Foundation, details how much it will cost to reconstruct and widen Interstate highways in all 50 states and shows how to pay for the modernisation efforts with toll revenues. It makes the case for lifting the federal prohibition on tolling existing lanes of the Interstate highway system and states: “…as the reality of the cost of Interstate reconstruction and modernisation s