Tolling Gains Massive Media Coverage in 2015

If you were trying to keep track of the whirlwind of mostly positive media coverage about tolling last year, you may have had trouble catching your breath.

Tolling in the News 2015, a three-minute video that IBTTA released earlier this month, is a sampling of the reporting that swept the United States at the local, state, and national levels.

“People should care {about infrastructure} because they care about getting from Point A to Point B. Without good infrastructure, you can’t get where you’re going and we can’t have a vital, growing economy,” says IBTTA Executive Director and CEO Pat Jones, in a segment from a National Public Radio interview in Portland, Oregon.

“There are nearly 6,000 miles of tolled facilities in the United States that generate $13 billion a year,” he adds. “We would like to see the industry continue to be healthy, and see that states have flexibility to use tolling when they see fit.”

The video features bursts of news headlines that capture the tone and the sheer breadth of the year’s coverage. Here’s a sampling:

Obama Bill Would Ease Tolling Ban - The Hill

Tolls on the Rise as Highways Funding Dries Up - The Brookings Institution

Pat Jones Testifies in Connecticut Before House and Senate Transportation Committee -GreenwichTime.com

9 Steps to a Pain-Free Family Road Trip - Yahoo!

Governor Raimondo Poised to Propose New Toll on 18 Wheelers - Providence Journal

MDX Working to be Part of the Traffic Solution - Miami Herald

Toll Lanes for MoPac South Approved - TimeWarner Cable News

You’ve been hearing (because we keep saying it) that these aren’t your grandparents’ toll roads. It isn’t your grandparents’ news cycle, either. IBTTA and its member agencies have been working hard to tell the tolling industry’s story, gradually earning the trust, credibility and confidence of media outlets that help shape policy and public opinion. The video captures how powerfully those efforts are paying off.