Senate highway bill would make tolling easier

The 1,030 page highway bill that was unveiled by the Senate on Tuesday would make it easier for states to add tolls to U.S. highways. 

Lawmakers are scrambling to come up with a way to pay for transportation spending, and the Senate’s proposed legislation to keep the dollars flowing includes a provision that would allow states to apply more easily to the Department of Transportation (DOT) for approval to install new tolls on existing roads. 

Present law requires states to construct new lanes on highways that they want to add tolls to unless they are granted an exemption, with the exception of three states that were cleared to conduct pilots in a 1998 law.  

{mosads}A section of the new proposed highway bill would make it easier for new states to enter the pilot program if the original testers decide not to move forward with adding tolls to their existing highways. 

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) said Wednesday that it is time to make it easier to add tolls with federal transportation funding drying up. 

“With Section 1021 of the Act, we’ve managed to achieve a significant change in the Interstate Highway Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program,” the group said in a post on its website. 

“Until now, the nature of the program was that three states could apply for pilot projects to reconstruct and toll interstate highways, but there was no mechanical process to clear a slot if it wasn’t used,” the tolling group continued. “There was no administrative provision for someone at USDOT [the U.S. Department of Transportation] to say, ‘’we know this project is stagnant, so we’re going to open it up for someone else who might be able to use it.’ We’ve been working for several years on language to improve that, either by expanding the number of slots or by clearing the three that are already there.” 

The measure, known as the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act, calls for approximately approximately $252 billion over the next six years to the nation’s roads and transit systems, including $47 billion in offsets to supplement gas tax revenue to help pay for the first three years of spending.   

The final three years of spending in the measure is contingent upon lawmakers coming up with a way to pay for it beyond the offsets that have been identified, but lawmakers included a provision that would expand the Federal Highway Administration’s Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program (ISRRPP) to make it easier for states to ask for permission to toll their roads. 

The pilot program was established by a 1998 transportation funding bill that was approved by Congress, but participation has thus far been limited to Virginia, North Carolina and Missouri.

The transportation bill that was unveiled by the Senate on Wednesday would not expand the number of states that can participate in the pilot, but it would make it easier for states to join the program if the test states decide not to go forward with a tolling expansion. 

Opponents of expanding tolling in the U.S. said Wednesday that lawmakers should be moving to get rid of the pilot program, not expand it. 

“Congress: either kicking hwy funding down the road or passing the buck by telling states to toll existing interstates,” the Richmond, Va.-based Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates (ATFI) tweeted Wednesday morning.