Using Road Tolls to Cut Congestion, Protect the Environment, and Boost Access for All

Environmental Defense has released a report that explores how toll roads and public-private partnership contracts and legislation could promote environmental stewardship and equity. America's traffic problems are literally bringing the country to a standstill. Each year, the average commuter spends more than a full work week-47 hours-stuck in traffic. And forecasts by most state and regional transportation agencies suggest the problem will grow far worse over the next twenty years if we continue to follow now adopted plans and strategies. The delays cost America billions in wasted fuel and lost productivity. A recent poll shows city officials regard traffic congestion as the most critical condition needing timely attention. But the traffic nightmare also harms our health and our environment. More than half of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air. A main culprit is auto pollution, which has been linked to childhood leukemia, as well as heart disease and lung cancer in adults.Transportation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global climate change, threatening our environment and economy.

Even as they face these mounting problems, transportation agencies find themselves in a funding crisis. They often lack money to maintain existing roads, much less add new capacity. In a political climate focused on tax- and budget-cutting, the situation is unlikely to improve. Congress failed to reach agreement over transportation funding levels for two years before finally approving a new bill in July 2005. Despite the new allocations, federal officials forecast that the Highway Trust Fund will run out of money in 2008. State and local agencies face their own growing fiscal problems as they account for long-term costs of employee pensions and health care and infrastructure maintenance needs.

Seeking a way out, transportation officials increasingly are turning to tolling and private investment to fund transportation improvements. Across the nation, tolls are being used to fund and reduce traffic. Global private investment in transport infrastructure, which was virtually nonexistent before 1990, reached almost $30 billion in 1998. Public-private toll road projects are advancing in California, Texas, Colorado, Georgia and other states, involving $30-50 billion in near-term proposed road investments.

But will all this investment solve the nation's traffic problems? The answer depends utterly on how the projects are designed. Poorly designed toll projects could simply exacerbate existing problems, leading to more highways, more sprawl, more pollution and more traffic. On the other hand, well-designed toll projects have the potential to leverage billions of dollars in private investment to minimize fuel use and air pollution while maximizing mobility and economic development.