2021: The Year We Got Our Infrastructure Bill

The signature of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) marked a major milestone for the U.S. as whole, and for the IBTTA community in particular.  As we look ahead to 2022, IBTTA is committed to work with USDOT on the implementation of the new law to ensure that new opportunities are maximized for the tolling and road pricing industry.

The IIJA’s primary features are:

• A $1.2 trillion investment in infrastructure, which includes reauthorization of the federal surface transportation programs for five years and an additional $550 billion in infrastructure investments above the baseline programs.
• Unprecedented levels of competitive and discretionary grant programs that open eligibility for federal highway funds to new organizations, including toll operators.
• More than a dozen new highway programs, including funding for road safety, bridges, climate, resiliency, equity and reconnecting communities.

For toll operators, the bill contains a number of new opportunities. Some of the highlights are:

• A Congestion Relief Program that aims to advance innovative, integrated and multimodal congestion solutions and allows for the use of tolls on the interstate system as part of a project carried out with a program grant (in up to ten urban areas).
• A pilot for states to sell, transfer or purchase unused toll credits.
• An electric vehicle (EV) charging and alternative fuel investment of $7.5 billion to begin to build out EV charging infrastructure in alternative fuel corridors.
• Changes to the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) geared toward increasing program use and streamlining the application process.
• A Strategic Innovation for Revenue Collection Program that rebrands programs for mileage-based user fees for states and expands eligibility to other organizations including toll operators. The program also provides higher federal shares and incentives for new participants conducting pilots and demonstrations of road-use charging. 
• A national vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee pilot program aimed at establishing the structure, scope and methodology for such a program, including toll industry participation on the program’s advisory board, which establishes estimates of the administrative costs of collection, privacy provisions to road users, and equity impacts and makes recommendations to Congress. 
• The Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program, which provides grants for wide-ranging resilience improvements to address vulnerabilities from current and future weather events, natural disasters and changing climate conditions.
• An updated Bridge Investment Program with new competitive grants to rehabilitate or replace bridges, with eligibility for large projects (not <$50 million) and the ability to bundle smaller bridge projects.
• A Carbon Reduction Program aimed at reducing emissions with investments in traffic management controls, advanced transportation and congestion management technologies, infrastructure-based intelligent transportation system (ITS) improvements, and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications.

Not everything in the IIJA has as much potential opportunity for the tolling industry as the aforementioned provisions. Some concerns about the bill include:

• A change to Section 129(a) of Title 23 that means new toll facilities introduced on the interstate system must allow high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs), transit, and paratransit vehicles to use the roadway at a discount or without charge. Any exceptions must show that the discounted traffic volume reduces travel time reliability.
• That the bill’s Congestion Relief Program requires a maximum toll rate for any vehicle class not to exceed five times the toll rate for any other vehicle class; that toll rates instituted under the program may not be charged or varied on the basis of state residency and that tolls instituted on the interstates under the program are limited to implementation only in 10 urbanized areas.
• That the bill adds reporting by public agencies and extends audit requirements for report compliance under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which mandates that over-the-road buses have access with the same rates, terms and conditions as public transit buses.

Overall, the IIJA presents  many opportunities for the tolling industry, and IBTTA looks forward to working with its members to make the most of this landmark legislation in 2022.