September 12, 2013, Washington, DC – The International Bridge, Tunnel
and
Turnpike Association (IBTTA) is throwing its support behind a study
released by the Reason Foundation that examines the use of tolls to pay
for road infrastructure renewal needed in the United States.
September 12, 2013, Washington, DC – The International Bridge, Tunnel and
Turnpike Association (IBTTA) is throwing its support behind a study released by the Reason Foundation that examines the use of tolls to pay for road infrastructure renewal needed in the United States.
The new study released today details how much it will cost
to reconstruct and widen Interstate highways in all 50 states and shows how to
pay for the modernization efforts with toll revenues.
The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association,
the worldwide association representing toll facility owners and operators and
the businesses that serve them, joined several other groups at a press
conference today including the American Road and Transportation Builders Association
(ARTBA), Associated General Contractors (AGC), Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC),
and Transportation Transformation Group (T2).
“When the Interstate highway system was first being built in
the 1950s, the emphasis was on paying to get it built, creating an
interconnected national system and creating immediate jobs and economic
growth. The Highway Trust Fund is one
valuable tool to maintain roadways, bridges, and tunnels, but it is not funded
at a level needed to address the rebuilding of our Interstate system. The
recommendations outlined in the Reason Foundation report are critical to
helping bridge the huge funding gap to fund our nation’s transportation
infrastructure. Tolling is one proven
funding option to address this huge gap,” Jones said at the press conference.
The new report, Interstate 2.0: Modernizing the Interstate
Highway System via Toll Finance, makes the case for lifting the federal
prohibition on tolling existing lanes of the Interstate highway system. The report states:
“…as the reality of the cost of Interstate reconstruction
and modernization sinks in at the legislative level, and the low cost and
convenience of all-electronic toll collection becomes better understood,
elected officials may catch up with public sentiment that is already receptive
to tolling as better than (or less bad than) increases in transportation taxes
to pay for major new investments in highway infrastructure.”
The report says, “The one thing states need from Congress in
the next reauthorization is permission for all states to use toll financing for
the specific purpose of replacing worn-out Interstate pavement and bridges with
new and better ones.”
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