01336819

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2221-07

http://scholar.google.com...oole&publication_year=2011

A growing community of transport economists and urban planners has concluded that the best solution to U.S. freeway congestion would be to implement congestion pricing on all such freeways. At the same time, many political scientists and other political observers consider doing so to be politically impossible, primarily because of strong opposition from taxpayers, voters, and highway user groups. Federal efforts (dating to the 1970s) to induce one or more urban areas to price its freeways have been unsuccessful; this lack of success reinforces the political scientists’ skepticism. This paper suggests that even if the political difficulties could be overcome, the conventional model of freeway congestion pricing (charging all users the same variable price) may not be optimal: this model could well create more losers than winners. In analyzing this conundrum, the author looks more closely at two assumptions implicit in the standard congestion pricing model: uniformly applied (variable) pricing and all general purpose lanes. Revisiting both assumptions leads to a proposal for multitier pricing on differentiated lanes, which the author suggests could be more politically feasible and productive of larger economic benefits. This approach also lends itself to being implemented in an evolutionary manner, in which each step is justified on its own merits, without regard of the possible longer-term end.

01352851

11-0166

English

pp 57-63

2011

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309167321

Print

References (36) ; Tables (3)

Congestion pricing; Economic benefits; Freeways; General purpose lanes; Political factors; Road pricing; Traffic congestion

Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 17 2011 5:21PM

• Agglomeration Benefits and Transportation Projects: Review of Theory, Measurement, and Application
• Congestion Pricing Study of San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in California
• Cost Estimates for Collecting Fees for Vehicle Miles Traveled
• Distributional Implications of Replacing the Federal Fuel Tax with Per Mile User Charges
• Effectiveness and Equity of Vehicle Mileage Fee at Federal and State Levels
• End of the Highway Trust Fund? Long-Term Options for Funding Federal Surface Transportation
• Measuring Toll Burdens: Applying Lorenz Curves to a Detailed Data Set of Users of Metropolitan Transportation Administration Bridges in New York City
• National Evaluation of Mileage-Based Charges for Drivers: Initial Results
• Peak Period Use of I-15 Corridor in San Diego, California: Long-Term Impact of FasTrak Program
• Reaction to Value Pricing by Different Suburban Populations
• Urban Network Privatization: Example of a Small Network