Finance and Policy Summit Discusses Tolling Solutions for Everyone

A practical, pragmatic approach to highway finance awaits when you attend IBTTA’s Summit on Finance  and Policy, May 19-21, 2019 in Philadelphia.

“Infrastructure finance is an area where it’s easy to step very quickly into the weeds,” says IBTTA Executive Director and CEO Patrick Jones. “The meeting planning group for this summit has tackled a number of complex topics and will present them in ways that will be meaningful to the delegates. We’re going to spend two days talking about what works, what’s next, and how to deliver the safe, reliable mobility our customers need and expect.”

Straight Answers from CFOs

From the moment you step into the general session hall, you’ll get straight answers to your toughest questions about transportation finance and policy. The summit opens with a panel of chief financial officers from across the United States talking about the top challenges they’ve run into and the solutions their toll agencies have put in place.

“With decades of experience on the panel, and centuries more in the audience, we’ll have a great conversation about the nut and bolts issues confronting toll operators,” Jones says. “The opportunity to network and gain access to experts are two of the best reasons to attend an IBTTA event.”

With much of the summit taking place in breakout sessions, the finance stream begins with the “many truths” tolling professionals have learned from the fast rollout of all-electronic tolling (AET) across the U.S. Whether you call it leakage, uncollected revenue, or something else, it is one of the many costs of all-electronic tolling that can be hard to explain. From the short-term and long-term views, to life cycle costs and weighing benefits to customers and operators, this session will uncover the mysteries about the cost of all electronic tolling.

Finance sessions will also look at advancements and changes in credit markets, and tolling agencies’ emerging transition from road financier to mobility service providers.

Best Practices in Interstate Tolling

The policy track kicks off with a look at best practices in tolling interstate highways and whether tolls are the right solution for a particular jurisdiction or stretch of road. “We’ve always said tolling is one tool in the infrastructure funding toolbox, and that America’s highway system is too complex for one-size-fits-all solution,” Jones states. “That’s why it was so important to dive into the legal, policy, and operational issues, all in one panel.”

Policy track sessions will also look at what distinguishes managed lanes from traditional tolling, and open a discussion on the factors that guide the complex process of setting toll rates.

The final day of the conference brings all the threads together, beginning with a session on the synergies and differences between tolling and road usage charging. The summit will also take a look at the factors that make tolling a solution that state officials either adopt…or don’t. What leads some state officials to embrace tolling while others reject it as a funding and financing mechanism for infrastructure? What peculiar mix of challenges must state officials confront to even consider the possibility of tolling to finance the next major road project?

The closing session sends everyone away with a bracing challenge: how to develop tolling solutions that work for everyone. A diverse panel of practitioners, researchers and policy advisors will engage in a thought-provoking discussion of the opportunities and challenges facing the transportation industry. Panelists will engage the audience in forward-thinking ideas worth contemplating, developing and implementing long after the summit ends.

Register today for IBTTA’s Summit on Finance and Policy, May 19-21, 2019 in Philadelphia.