Tolling - a way ahead for the US?

2793 IBTTA president Frank McCartney has urged US Congress to remove the barriers to tolling and expand the TIFIA program. "Giving states the flexibility to consider tolling is even more critical now when federal and state revenues are constrained, funding needs are huge, and most public officials will not consider raising the gas tax," McCartney said. "Removing the barriers to tolling would encourage states to begin the massive effort of reinvesting in our system. That investment, in turn, would create jobs and improve the economy."

Emphasising the significance of tolling, McCartney noted that US toll agencies collect some US$10 billion in tolls annually, equal to one-third of annual federal fuel tax revenues. The TIFIA program - Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act - provides federal credit assistance in the form of direct loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit to finance surface transportation projects of national and regional significance.