Surface Transportation

It's National Transportation Week—do you know why your gas taxes don't go as far as they used to?

Most Americans don't know how much they pay at the pump in taxes. It's not very obvious, since the price per gallon already includes federal, state, and in a few cases local gas taxes. Depending where you live, you pay anywhere from about 26 cents to 50 cents. That's not very much, considering most of us pay $4 per gallon, and in most places it hasn't changed since gas cost half that much.

Gas taxes are a type of user fee—you pay for the amount you use. It's analogous to other utilities—if you use more electricity, or gas, or water, you pay more. So far, so good. The gas tax has been a great system: reasonably inexpensive to implement, easy to understand, and for almost a century it's been a good way to ensure that people who drive more pay their fair share.

This commentary appeared on Wall Street Journal Online on April 18, 2013.

Are current gasoline taxes—both state and federal—the best way to pay for needed transportation expansion and improvements? If not, what should replace them?

The nation has long relied on federal and state fuel taxes on gasoline and diesel to fund highways. Because the more you travel, the more fuel you consume, and hence the more tax you pay, fuel taxes have traditionally been viewed as a fair way to allocate the costs of building and maintaining roads. High fuel taxes, as in Europe, also create an incentive for adopting more fuel-efficient vehicles. Yet fuel taxes—typically levied on a cents-per-gallon basis—have lost ground to inflation and improved fuel economy in recent decades, and legislators find it difficult to raise fuel-tax rates to offset these factors. This has led to increasing transportation funding shortfalls. More stringent federal fuel economy standards along with a possible shift to alternative fuels in the coming years are likely to further undercut fuel-tax revenue.

This commentary appeared in The Orange County Register on March 6, 2013.

For the second year in a row, the cost of gasoline has seen an unusual spike, with prices climbing more than 40 cents per gallon within a month. How much of that increase goes to improve America's roads? None.

Because the federal government and most states levy fuel taxes only on a set cents-per-gallon basis, increases in the per-gallon price do nothing to help meet transportation budget shortfalls. Increases in the cost of gasoline can actually contribute to a decline in transportation funds because they discourage driving and mean fewer gallons consumed.

Beau Kilmer, codirector of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, discusses the 24/7 Sobriety Project, which requires those arrested for or convicted of alcohol-related offenses to take twice-a-day breathalyzer tests or wear a continuous monitoring bracelet. Those who fail or skip their tests are immediately subject to modest sanctions—typically a day or two in jail.

This commentary appeared on LA Daily News on August 2, 2012.

In 2010, Los Angeles began planning for the weekend closure of a 10-mile stretch of the 405 Freeway linking the Westside to the San Fernando Valley in July 2011. During the closure, contractors demolished the southern half of the Mulholland Drive Bridge in the Sepulveda Pass.

The closure was widely publicized and public officials sounded messages of hope that Angelenos would pull together to minimize the negative effects. With the second closure a few weeks away in late September, we should consider what was learned from the first.

This commentary appeared on DC.STREETSBLOG.org on June 6, 2012.

It's time to explore mileage-based user fees. For nearly a century, Americans have largely paid for roads through gas taxes—taxes which governments can't or won't raise. Even if they could, more and more cars no longer run on gas. Transportation experts have talked for decades about changing the basis for transportation funding to miles driven, rather than gallons consumed. But this sensible switch is proceeding slowly for several reasons, including concerns over privacy. Fortunately, there are ways to address this issue.

Decades ago, the only way to count miles driven was odometer readings. Odometers are still considered a potential source of data to implement mileage-based user fees (MBUF). But using odometers means losing the chance to experiment with charging different fees on different roads at different times of day—that is, congestion pricing, probably one of the best tools to unclog many metro areas' gridlock. It means, for instance, that the number of miles Virginians drive in DC—and vice versa—remains unknown, with the possibility of jurisdictions losing revenues that could help support their road programs. It also means the hassle of annual odometer inspection.

Much of the discussion around "Earth Day" events focuses on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and the user—residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation—but not on the purpose for which the energy is consumed. As a result, efforts to conserve energy often target improving the efficiency of current technologies.

However, changing how a service is provided can create opportunities to conserve energy. A new RAND study does just that, using "Energy Services Analysis" to identify and evaluate new ways to reducing energy use and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

This commentary appeared on DC.STREETSBLOG.org on March 20, 2012.

Bridges are falling down, or being built to nowhere. Highways are getting more congested, airports more crowded, and transit systems struggle to cover costs and keep up with growing demand. How can we address the problems of passenger and freight mobility with limited resources?

In hard economic times, America's leaders are looking for every opportunity to spend less and get more bang for the taxpayer's buck. It's a time for smarter decisions—especially transportation investment and policy choices based on independent and objective information. We must understand where and what the needs are, what works and doesn't, and where the payoffs are greatest. That takes data—and good data are hard to find.

Two of the most pressing challenges facing the U.S. are increasing congestion and under-investment in transportation infrastructure. For the past several decades, demand has outpaced the capacity of the surface transportation system, and population growth and the increased globalization of the economy further strain the system. The problems have many dimensions and solutions will come in a multiplicity of forms, including technology.

The flows of people and goods on our transportation system are enormous. The 2010 Census reported 308.7 million people in the United States with 84 percent of them living in metro areas, intensifying the demand for transportation in these areas and ensuring that congestion problems will continue to challenge metropolitan regions in the future.