Tolling Gains Favor Across North America

In the February edition of THINKING Highways, Management Consultant and former IBTTA President Susan A. Buse published an article titled Gaining Favor, a look at tolling trends in the United States and Canada. She writes:

There are more than 250 operational toll facilities in the United States, mostly roads with some bridges along the borders with Mexico and Canada and in major ports such as New York and San Francisco. There are currently many more projects under construction or consideration in the major metropolitan areas. Although federal legislation prohibits tolling existing capacity on the interstate highway system, with a few targeted exceptions, some states have adopted a policy to evaluate all new capacity as potentially tolled. However, when comparing the total mileage of the country’s roads (four million miles) with toll road and managed lane mileage (5,900 miles), tolls are still a relative rarity.

Tolled facilities are even rarer in Canada, with about 20 pay-as-you-go routes, mostly bridges or tunnels, some along the Canada-United States border. There are only two tolled roads (the 407 Express Toll Route (ETR) in Ontario and the Cobequid Pass in Nova Scotia). New projects are being considered in Vancouver and Toronto, with some interest in other metropolitan areas as well.

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