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Transportation Funding

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Federal, state, and local governments are finding it increasingly difficult to raise sufficient revenue to build and maintain roads and transit systems. RAND researchers evaluate new and existing transportation funding mechanisms and policies including fuel taxes, mileage-based user fees, congestion pricing, and more.

Commentary

The Long Game on Infrastructure

Feb 20, 2018

The Trump administration recently announced its Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure in America. With its lack of new federal funding, the plan may not be the best path to fixing America's most serious regional, national, and long-term problems.
Essay

How to End U.S. Roadway Deaths by 2050

Jun 24, 2019

Tens of thousands of people die on American roads every year. Bringing that number down to zero by 2050 is possible. We would have to change how we think about road safety, stop accepting car crashes as accidents, and make smart investments in technology.

Explore Transportation Funding

Report

U.S. Airport Infrastructure Funding and Financing

Passenger air travel is at an all-time high, and demand for it is expected to rise. Will current levels of spending under existing federal policies be sufficient to enable commercial airports to make the infrastructure investments needed to meet that demand?

Jan 14, 2020
Report

Report

U.S. Airport Infrastructure Funding and Financing: Issues and Policy Options Pursuant to Section 122 of the 2018 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act: Executive Summary

Passenger air travel is at an all-time high, and airports are investing in the infrastructure needed to meet demand. This document summarizes the full report's review of the federal government's role in airport infrastructure funding and financing.

Jan 14, 2020
News Release

News Release

Changes in Funding, Finance Policies Could Help U.S. Airports Prepare for Future Demand

Changes in federal policies could help ensure U.S. commercial airports are able to draw on sufficient and stable sources of revenue to maintain existing capacity, accommodate growth and support a safe, sustainable national airspace system in the coming decades.

Jan 14, 2020
Blog

Hospital Prices, Border Solutions, Sri Lanka: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on hospital prices, common-sense solutions to the border crisis, myths about the Sri Lanka attacks, and more.

May 10, 2019
News Release

News Release

Not Everything Is Broken with U.S. Transportation and Water Infrastructure; Improved Targeted Strategies Needed to Fix ...

Transportation and water infrastructure funding and finance in the United States are not nearly as dire as some believe, but a national consensus on infrastructure priorities, accompanied by targeted spending and selected policy changes, is needed.

Dec 5, 2017
Research Brief

Fixing U.S. Infrastructure's Ills Requires an Accurate Diagnosis

This brief examines how the federal government can better promote investment in and maintenance of U.S. transportation and water infrastructure.

Dec 4, 2017
Report

Not Everything Is Broken with U.S. Transportation and Water Infrastructure

Transportation and water infrastructure funding and finance in the United States are not nearly as dire as some believe. But a national consensus on infrastructure priorities, accompanied by targeted spending and selected policy changes, is needed.

Dec 4, 2017
Commentary

Regulating Infrastructures in the Tropics

Regulation helps address the demands of investors who are seeking assurances that their investments are safe, while also reassuring democratically elected governments. Regulatory reform could help Brazil attract more private investment in its infrastructure.

May 26, 2017
Report

Report

Regulation of logistics infrastructure in Brazil

This report deals with the regulation of logistics infrastructures in Brazil, focusing in particular on the federal level. Brazil, one of the key emerging economies in the world, has a particular need for developing logistics infrastructures.

May 8, 2017
Commentary

Rebuilding America's Infrastructure in the Trump 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.

Nov 14, 2016
Commentary

Why Selling Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Is a Bad Idea

Some lawmakers are proposing a sell-off of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to finance highway and bridge work. This is a shortsighted strategy.

Sep 15, 2015
Blog

The 2015 Summer Reading List for Congress

With Capitol Hill slowing for August recess, this list of must-read research and commentaries will help ensure that policymakers are ready to dive right back in this fall.

Aug 5, 2015
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 when this sector of the American transportation infrastructure is desperately in need of a fix.

Jul 22, 2015
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.

Jul 7, 2015
Blog

Summer Reading for Congress

No matter how policymakers spend their break—meeting with home-state constituents, traveling abroad with congressional delegations, or spending time with family—this summer reading list contains policy ideas that can help them hit the ground running when they return.

Jul 31, 2014
Multimedia

A New Way to Pay for Transportation: Exploring a Shift from Fuel Taxes to Mileage-Based User Fees

In this June 2014 Congressional Briefing, Liisa Ecola discusses growing shortfalls in federal and state funding for surface transportation programs, and the potential of mileage fees (rather than fuel taxes) to reduce those shortfalls while also reducing traffic congestion, harmful emissions, and excessive road wear.

Jun 26, 2014
Commentary

Make HOT Lanes Permanent

The first HOT lanes in L.A. have improved traffic flow and travel time reliability, are fair to users of the facilities, have improved transit service and have generated revenue needed to fund those improvements from voluntary toll payments.

Apr 23, 2014
Commentary

As U.S. Energy Booms, Don't Forget About Roadway Infrastructure

Natural gas production is growing and many states and communities are reaping the economic benefits. One of the costs, however, will be damage to roads. One hydraulic fracturing operation requires about 600 to 1,100 one-way, heavy truck trips to bring equipment, materials, and sometimes water to and from a well site.

Mar 11, 2014
Report

Mileage-Fee Design Strategies to Reduce System Cost and Increase Public Acceptance

As traditional transportation revenue sources primarily based on gas tax continue to dwindle or stay even at best, the notion of transitioning to a vehicle-miles-traveled fee or mileage-based user fee has come under substantial consideration. Some design strategies can reduce system costs and increase public acceptance of mileage-based fees.

Nov 14, 2013

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