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Home / Washington Business - November/December 2007 / Policy: Congestion Pricing: New tolling scheme may be the answer to crowded highways |
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Policy: Congestion Pricing: New tolling scheme may be the answer to crowded highways |
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Written On: November/December 2007 |
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Written By: by Mike Luis |
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Ever since some ancient troll figured out he could extract a fee for crossing his mossy timber bridge, tolls have been a part of the world of transportation. But until recently, tolls primarily served the purpose of paying for the road or bridge, whether an entrepreneurial venture or a public facility. Increasingly, however, tolls serve a new purpose: managing traffic.
"Congestion pricing," as it has become known, is a favorite idea of planners, economists, environmentalists and free-market libertarians. The fundamental principle is simple: space on congested roads is an "economic good" that is subject to the usual rules of scarcity. In any market where demand exceeds supply, some allocation method is needed to determine who gets the scarce good. In the case of congested roads, space is currently allocated according to the willingness of drivers to spend time sitting in traffic. Congestion pricing offers an alternative way of allocating that scarce space—money.
A true congestion pricing system differs from traditional tolls, such as those now collected on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, in a couple of important ways.
First, in most cases, drivers have a choice between taking the toll lanes and taking non-tolled lanes, so paying the toll is not mandatory in the corridor. This way, people can choose which allocation method they prefer, money or time.
Second, the toll varies, recognizing that the availability of space on the highway changes over the course of the day. During the middle of the night there is no reason to pay a toll since the non-tolled lanes are uncongested. But during rush hour, many people will happily pay to save a half hour or more. Sensors along the highway monitor the speed of the toll lanes, and adjust the price, in real time, to keep the traffic flowing at the speed limit. As traffic on the toll lanes slows, the price goes up. Electronic toll collection systems read a transponder in each car and ding the user's account automatically upon entering the lane.
The simplest way to introduce congestion pricing is by converting existing HOV lanes into High Occupancy Toll lanes. On these highways, the HOV lane is still available for transit and carpools, but also available to single occupant vehicles that pay the toll. Transit and carpools have first priority, and whatever capacity is left is sold to other users.
The HOV lanes on SR-167, in South King County, are being converted to HOT lanes scheduled to open in 2008. The SR-167 project is a Washington State Department of Transportation demonstration program that will provide an indication of both technical feasibility and public acceptance.
The next step in congestion pricing is construction of new toll lanes parallel to existing congested freeways. The first of these projects to gain national attention was the 91 Express, between Orange and Riverside counties in Southern California. These lanes were added to an existing freeway as toll lanes in the mid 1990s. The price on the 91 Express can get as high as $10 per trip.
The third stage of toll road development is the use of public-private partnerships under which private firms build and operate toll roads. Texas has been a leader in these programs in the United States, although the model has been proven elsewhere. According to the Reason Foundation, a major proponent of road pricing, "Long-term toll-road concessions, like Texas', aren't just a private-sector version of public toll agencies. These deals have a proven track record in Europe and Australia. They've shown they can mobilize more capital and shift significant financial risks away from taxpayers on onto private investors."
The new Tacoma Narrows bridge was originally structured as a public-private partnership under an ill-fated effort begun in the mid-1990s. Through the Public Private Initiatives in Transportation program, WSDOT entertained proposals for a number of projects, including replacements for the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the State Route 520 bridge, but the program ultimately fizzled under public pressure. The Narrows Bridge survived the turmoil, but was later taken over by WSDOT.
Perhaps the most radical application of congestion pricing has been its introduction into heavily congested central cities, such as London and Stockholm, which charge drivers a fee (now about $16 per day in London) to enter the central zone. Proponents claim that the charge has reduced traffic in London by 30 percent, but merchants have been understandably angry.
How, we might ask, has a concept that appeals equally to the Sierra Club and the Reason Foundation not taken off like a Porsche? Washington is now about to dip its toe in the water with the State Route 167 project, but after the disappointing experience of the Public Private Initiatives program in the 1990s, agencies have been reluctant to dive in. Destination 2030, the Puget Sound Regional Council's blueprint for transportation in central Puget Sound, merely suggests that the region "consider" congestion pricing.
Perhaps it is the egalitarian nature of Washington politics that bristles at allowing "Lexus lanes" to offer wealthier drivers a chance to buy their own way out of a problem we have collectively created. Or maybe the transponder is just a modern day troll, a bully that extracts a price for something that should be a universally available public good.
But the world of highways has changed. Ninety percent of interstate highway funds once came from the federal government, which now doles out only a small fraction of even the most significant projects, leaving gaps that even very high gas taxes cannot bridge. With most urban stretches of the interstate highway system now reaching capacity, there is a growing acceptance of the idea that there is no such thing as a "free" way. In this new landscape the far right and the far left of politics might just convince the center that the era of cost-free driving is coming to a dead end.
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