Paying for the Roads We Use: It’s Just a Matter of Time

An historic generational shift may be under way in Americans’ attitudes about paying for highway infrastructure.

If the trends captured in research released last month by HNTB Corporation continues or accelerates, we’ll all win.

In the survey, the latest in HNTB’s America THINKS series, 69% of respondents—representing nearly 170 million Americans—said they would consider priced managed lanes to fund needed highway improvements. 65%, or nearly 160 million people, would support a vehicle miles travelled system or mileage-based user fee (MBUF).

The results point to “growing recognition that new revenue generating alternatives such as road usage fees, including vehicle miles traveled, mileage-based user fees, and priced managed lanes, are needed to help pay the costs of maintaining and building our transportation infrastructure,” HNTB states.

“This demonstrates Americans understand a fundamental shift in funding infrastructure is taking place.”

Funding Highways by Every Means Possible

It isn’t so much that younger generations support user financing over other funding methods. The HNTB results suggest they just want to get the job done, and get it done now, by every means possible.

Millennials were more likely than any other generation to support priced managed lanes, with 79% of respondents aged 18 to 24 speaking in their favor.

The newest generation, more than any other, would also be willing to pay higher taxes over the next decade to build and maintain roads, bridges, and tunnels. More than two-thirds—68%—said they preferred taxes over user fees to pay for infrastructure.

But the key message is closely aligned with what tolling agencies and MBUF advocates have been saying for many years: We need the work done, and it won’t be done for free. The sheer weight of demographics is on our side, and it’s just a matter of time before the political momentum swings in our favour.

Opposition is Just a Blip

All of that sustained opposition to highway funding? The HNTB results suggest that it’s just a once-in-a-generation blip.

By one means or another, 68% of Millennials understand the need to pay for the roads they use, even if it’s through higher taxes.

58% of Generation X respondents and 51% of seniors agree.

43% of baby boomers aren’t so sure.

Which means that, by a majority vote in each case, all the generations but one accept the inevitable reality that there’s no free lunch: You have to pay for the services and infrastructure you use.

We wouldn’t want to join the chorus of voices that have been overplaying a supposed sense of entitlement among boomers. That line of talk is nasty and corrosive, and it over-generalizes a group that self-consciously avoids generalizations (which gives you all the proof you need that these words were written by a boomer).

But in this case, the statistical information paints an unfortunate picture that Millennials, and others, are riding to the rescue to correct. With managed lane and MBUF developers lining up to deliver the solutions they’re looking for.

Managed lanes are among the hottest trends in transportation finance. Learn more at IBTTA’s 2016 Summit on All-Electronic Tolling, Managed Lanes, and Interoperability