Opinion: Why We Need Tolls

Related Section Check out the NEW Speaking Out section, which includes Editorials, Opinion peices and letters from readers. (Note: To return to this story, click the "Back" button on your browser.)

Some critics of toll financing have predicted grave consequences if state and local governments rely on tolls to any greater degree to provide road capacity — the critical highways that commercial trucking companies and passenger car drivers need to remain mobile. Toll financing to fund new road capacity and help us maintain our existing systems is a proven, prudent mechanism that will facilitate state road building plans and help the trucking industry remain competitive.

States are hard-pressed to meet all their highway needs with existing motor fuel tax dollars. Study after study shows that we cannot maintain and modernize our existing road network, let alone afford the new highways we need, at current spending levels. Even if we spend every dollar authorized in TEA 21, the massive highway bill enacted last year, we will still fall short of our road needs. Tolls help governments fill the gap between available funds and needed resources, making it possible to build facilities that might otherwise remain on the books as proposed highways.

Tolls are one of the most effective means to fund road development. They are a direct user fee that provides road capacity and services to the customer in record time. Toll facilities are among the safest, best-paved and best-patrolled roadways in the world. They tend to be the roads you can rely on to be plowed first and best during snowstorms, and they have the services — including travel plazas and charge accounts — that help you maintain a competitive fleet. Today, many toll roads have electronic toll collection, with more systems on the way. Non-stop electronic toll collection at highway speeds is a reality in several regions of the country.

Many of today’s road projects require investments that can drain state and local government transportation budgets. With toll financing, everyone wins — added capacity gives motorists new travel options, and those who choose not to travel on toll roads usually benefit when drivers willing to pay tolls move off tax-supported roads.

For the full story, see the March 1 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.