Interstate Tolls Could Be Revenue Stream for Trump's $1 Trillion Plan
December 30, 2016 10:57 AM
Bob Poole, director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation
"Totally removing the existing restrictions that stop states from tolling existing interstate highway capacity would unleash P3s in this country. Congress likes the idea of more funding for infrastructure but they want to get it out of a magic pile of money from somewhere. Tolling the interstates would provide $1 trillion of new federal infrastructure funding without raising the gasoline tax."
Terri Hall, founder and director of the Texans for Toll-free Highways political action committee
"We are very disappointed in Mr. Trump's plan. It's really a mystery to us and a big betrayal of the working class voters who supported him. He is going to get a lot of pushback from taxpayers who are tired of these crony-capitalism deals that guarantee huge profits to contractors and investors."
Chris Spear, president, American Trucking Associations
"Tolling the interstates is a total non-starter. It is toxic and we will fight it, tooth and nail. Tolling is the worst type of approach. The rural states would be hurt the worst because they don't have the population or the traffic needed to make interstate tolling work. We will work with the new administration and do what we can to get an infrastructure bill passed."
Pat Jones, CEO, International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association
"Lifting the ban on interstate tolls would be absolutely huge. It would not require a single dime of federal funding to boost infrastructure funding by billions of dollars every year. State transportation officials are looking more and more at tolls to make up the difference in what they get from the gasoline tax and the funding needed for highways."
Marcia Hale, executive director of Building America's Future
"P3s are not going to solve the infrastructure funding problem. There are not enough projects with a revenue stream to expect P3s to be a big part in resolving the infrastructure situation. That leaves a lot of infrastructure that states and local governments will have to fund out of their resources."
Ananth Prasad, director of the transportation practice, HNTB
"Congress should allow states to toll the all the existing interstates. Don't require them to do it, but give them the authority to toll the existing interstates. Populous states like Texas, Virginia, and Georgia are either tolling new express lanes on interstates right now or building them. Illinois and other states are looking at it. But there's a limited number of roads out there with the traffic that you need for successful express toll lanes."
Dr. Jonathon Gifford director of the Center for Transportation Public-Private Partnership Policy, George Mason University
"If the Congress and President-elect Trump want to enable and incentivize more use of P3s, they could look at ways to remove existing regulatory and procedural barriers to project delivery. There will always be the need for the muni credit market. It's a large, liquid market that plays well in the project funding mix."
