Coalition to Congress: Give States More Flexibility to Impose Highway Tolls

A coalition of highway construction groups in nearly a dozen states has launched a national campaign to urge Congress to allow states to impose tolls to pay for what it describes as long-overdue highway improvements.The U.S. Tolling Coalition wants Congress to provide maximum flexibility to states to add tolls to any portion of their interstate or federal highways for the purpose of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

“With Congress struggling to find the money to meet basic maintenance needs, allowing more tolling will stretch dollars, jump start construction projects, and create new jobs,” Patrick Goss, executive director of the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association and a co-chairman of the new coalition, said in a statement.

Under a pilot program, the U.S. Department of Transportation recently gave preliminary approval to Virginia’s application to add tolls along the Interstate 95 corridor to pay for rehabilitation and upkeep. (see Sept. 23 AASHTO Journal story) Missouri has also been cleared to partake in the pilot. Arizona recently applied to toll a 29-mile segment of Interstate 15 that crosses the state’s far northwest corner. (see Oct. 28 AASHTO Journal story)

The U.S. Tolling Coalition wants to expand the program nationwide, which would require Congress change federal law.

“What’s good for Virginia and Missouri is good for the rest of America,” said Coalition Co-Chairman Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association. “States are confronting accelerating pavement deterioration due to age and high traffic. As a result, American business is hurting and we need to act now to give states the power to toll.”

In a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over highways, Goss and Shubert wrote that “Tolls are gaining public acceptance as motorists see the benefits of electronic collection systems, as well as the negative impacts of the lost buying power of fuel tax revenues.”

More information is available at www.ustollingcoalition.com.