March 8, 2019 – In the country’s two biggest metropolitan areas, political leaders took big steps toward full-scale congestion pricing strategies last week.
January 11, 2019 – This week, Virginia governor Ralph Northam announced that he and a bipartisan group of state legislators are proposing legislation to levy tolls across the 325-mile length of Interstate 81 throughout the state in order to pay for $2.2 billion in capacity and safety upgrades to the corridor. But even if the General Assembly agrees to the plan, it will still require multiple permissions (and a loan) from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
January 9, 2019 – While no silver bullet will fix the woes of urban mobility and access, transportation economists believe that congestion pricing strategies come close. This month, Eno will launch a project to evaluate best practices in congestion pricing techniques.
June 14, 2018 – In last Tuesday’s primary, California voters decided on a mix of state and regional transportation measures.
March 22, 2018 – The fiscal year 2018 omnibus appropriations package contains $47.5 billion in budgetary resources for the Federal Highway Administration.
The first law providing federal aid to states for construction and maintenance of roads was enacted almost a century ago, in 1916.
December 8, 2017 – Virginia has always restricted peak hour use of I-66 inside the Beltway to vehicles with two or more occupants. That changed on December 4, when for the first time the state began allowing vehicles with only one occupant to use the roadway, subject to a toll that varies based on demand. High occupant vehicles (HOV) with two or more people could still drive for free.
September 29, 2017 – President Trump unexpectedly distanced himself from one of the core principles of his own Administration’s infrastructure plan this week – an increased reliance on public-private partnerships to finance infrastructure.
September 6, 2017 – 12:15 a.m. – The House Rules Committee at 10:45 p.m. last night approved terms for debate for the Department of Transportation and Department of Homeland Security portions of the omnibus appropriations bill for FY 2018 (H.R. 3354). The text of the rule for the special procedures is here. The rule is House Resolution 500.
May 25, 2017 – This week’s FY 2018 budget included a statement of principles for the President’s infrastructure initiative and a $200 billion placeholder.
February 17, 2017 – On Monday, February 13, the Bipartisan Policy Center announced the launch of the Coalition to Modernize American Infrastructure. The coalition seeks to build a broad-based consensus around infrastructure needs in the U.S. and identify methods to close funding gaps while streamlining project execution.
Washington, DC’s image has taken a hit, but the region is doing as much—if not more—than any other region in the country when it comes to innovative transportation technologies, practices, and policies.
September 22, 2016 – This November, the power of the state and local governments in the American electoral process will be forcefully demonstrated.
July 1, 2016 – As ETW noted earlier, this week marked the 100th anniversary of the House and Senate approving the final version of the bill that created the federal-aid highway program. The bill (H.R. 7617, 64th Congress) was then sent to President Wilson, who waited until July 11, 1916 to sign it into law (39 Stat. 355).
October 1, 2015 – On September 30, the House Oversight Subcommittee for Transportation and Public Assets held a hearing on the status of national tolling interoperability to identify remaining actions needed to develop and implement a national tolling system as required by the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21).
By Micah Himmel Toll roads serve an important role in ensuring regional and national mobility in Japan, which has a lengthy history of tolling its expressways. In contrast to highways in the United States and Europe, Japan has employed tolling on its roads since shortly after World War II.
Let’s just say that Congress has been having this debate for a really long time.
The first law providing federal aid to states for construction and maintenance of roads was enacted almost a century ago, in 1916. That bill (H.R. 7617, 64th Congress) was reported from the brand-new House Committee on Roads without any restrictions on federal money being used for toll roads.