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Highway Transportation

Education Administration

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Four-Day School Weeks, Domestic Terrorism, North Korea: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the trade-offs of a four-day school week, how to counter domestic violent extremism, racial disparities in who is convicted of more-serious speeding charges, and more.
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Oct 8, 2021

Infrastructure Finance

commentary
The Road Ahead: Rebuilding the Country's Infrastructure in the Trump Administration Era
Policymakers generally agree on the need to rebuild America's infrastructure. But the country is far behind in this area. Why? Transportation projects take time and money. And it's hard to predict how a project will affect its surroundings.
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Nov 14, 2016
Liisa Ecola
Transportation Economics

commentary
Pay as You Go
Using vehicle miles traveled as a means of distributing the cost of maintaining America's roads and bridges may not be the only answer, but it represents the kind of innovative thinking that is necessary at a time when this sector of the American transportation infrastructure is desperately in need of a fix.
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Jul 22, 2015
Liisa Ecola
Transportation Funding

commentary
How to Improve Oregon's Mileage-Fee Experiment
Oregon is rolling out the nation's first large-scale pilot to examine switching to a mileage fee instead of the gas tax. The trial is a welcome next step toward understanding how mileage fees can be deployed.
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Jul 7, 2015
Liisa Ecola, Laura Patton
Parenting

commentary
Take Charge with Teens' Auto Safety
Driving is a risk that virtually all of us take on a daily basis. But we can do much to mitigate risks and protect our children, our community, and ourselves.
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Apr 21, 2014
Jeffrey Wasserman
Sleep

commentary
Deadly Aftermath of 'Microsleep'
Though “microsleep,” commonly referred to as “highway hypnosis,” may enter the public discourse most often when it's cited as the possible cause of a disaster like the Metro-North train wreck, it is responsible for fatal accidents on American highways every day.
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Dec 12, 2013
Wendy M. Troxel @wendytroxel
Gasoline

commentary
Paying for Infrastructure, a Taxing Issue
If the user pays idea is worth saving, the United States needs a different calculation, writes Liisa Ecola. Some states are looking at mileage fees. With mileage fees, you pay based on the number of miles you drive, rather than the number of gallons of gas used.
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May 16, 2013
Liisa Ecola
Transportation Economics

commentary
Consider Taxing Miles Traveled
Mileage-fee rates could be structured to reduce congestion, harmful emissions and excessive road wear, and the enabling technology could support a range of value-added services offering greater convenience and safety for motorists, writes Keith Crane.
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Apr 19, 2013
Keith Crane
Highway Transportation

commentary
Lessons of 1st Carmageddon in L.A. by the Numbers
Rather than threatening that the closure will be a mess, messages appealing to citizens' public spirit that Los Angeles can pull together again to make the closure go smoothly are more likely to resonate because they are consistent with past experience, write Martin Wachs and Brian D. Taylor.
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Aug 3, 2012
Martin Wachs, Brian D. Taylor
Infrastructure Finance

commentary
Getting Over the Privacy Hurdle to Mileage-Based Road Fees
There is no need for privacy concerns to halt all discussion of new technologies to help address America's mounting transportation funding crisis, writes Liisa Ecola.
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Jun 6, 2012
Liisa Ecola
Transportation Economics

commentary
No Data? Big Problem.
Good data can inform decision makers about what really works—how best to relieve congestion and improve supply-chain connectivity to make freight transportation—and hence the U.S. economy—more competitive, write Mortimer Downey, Joseph Schofer, and Johanna Zmud.
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Mar 20, 2012
Mortimer Downey, Joseph Schofer, et al.
Highway Transportation

commentary
A System Under Strain
Our transportation future will be multi-layered and complex—bounded by transportation infrastructure that is under-funded on the one hand and ever-expanding congestion and capacity constraints on the other, writes Johanna Zmud.
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Sep 30, 2011
Johanna Zmud
Gasoline

commentary
Among Potential Deficit Remedies, Don't Rule Out Raising Gas Tax
A proposed 15-cents-a-gallon gas tax is worth a second look. Among various painful options put forward in the Deficit Reduction Commission's draft report, this tax hike may be well justified, write Martin Wachs.
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Dec 25, 2010
Martin Wachs
commentary
The Future of Transportation Finance: A New Generation of User Fees
The principle of paying for roads and transit by charging those who use the system has served our nation well, but in its current form it will soon outlive its usefulness, writes Martin Wachs.
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May 14, 2010
Martin Wachs
commentary
Paying for Our Transportation Needs
Published commentary by RAND staff: Paying for Our Transportation Needs, in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
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Oct 25, 2006
Martin Wachs
commentary
Tighten Up Mass-Transit Security
Published commentary by RAND staff: Tighten Up Mass-Transit Security, in Newsday.
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Aug 22, 2006
Peter Chalk
commentary
Trains, Buses and Terror
Published commentary by RAND staff.
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May 3, 2004
Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins