Time Savings Make Congestion Pricing a Winner

An article in the latest edition of Governing magazine captures the state of play on congestion pricing, showing that a system now in use along 40 roadways in 15 metropolitan areas is ready for prime time.

While the high-end toll paid by 0.08% of users captured all the headlines when the Virginia Department of Transportation introduced congestion pricing along highway I-66, in the Washington, DC suburbs, Governing notes that VDOT planners see the project as a success—and extends the conversation across the country.

“It is a very powerful tool for managing congestion,” IBTTA Executive Director and CEO Patrick Jones told the magazine. “We’ve seen that with I-66. There’s been quite a bit of hue and cry about it, but nobody is compelled to pay that toll. The express lanes are doing what they set out to do.”

“Political leaders and people say they want to solve the congestion problem,” agreed Jennifer Dill, Director of Portland State University’s Transportation Research and Education Center. “Right now, people are paying for congestion in time. Transportation planners and academics like me say, if you want to solve the congestion problem, you have to charge the right price.”

Governing points to “the appeal of solving two problems at the same time—managing traffic and bringing in revenue”—and cites the 60-mile-per-hour traffic target in a toll lane as a crucial feature to deliver value back to customers. (It’s also a federal requirement.)

“Folks that are paying the tolls want to be going at highway speeds,” said Mike McGurk of Transurban, a member of IBTTA. “They want to go 60 mph if they’re paying tolls or picking up carpoolers. They don’t want to go 40 mph.”

And it’s working.

“The company reported that in the last fiscal year, the number of average daily trips increased by 12.8% over the previous year,” Governing reports. “Some of that is because carpooling and bus trips have been increasing. But demand for the toll lanes is going up, too, and that, in turn, is pushing up toll prices and bringing in more money.”

Transurban reported a 23.7% increase in Washington, DC-area toll revenue for the year ending in June 2017.

Get the latest on highway pricing systems. Attend IBTTA’s Summit on Finance & Policy, July 22-24, 2018 in Portland, OR.