Traffic congestion is worsening nationwide, imposing extra costs on urbanareas and its citizens. These costs include lost time, increased fuel consumption, environmental impacts, and degraded quality of life. At the sametime, traditional transportation funding sources, such as the Highway Trust Fund at the Federal level and state fuel taxes are not keeping up with transportation needs meaning that most metropolitan areas are imminently facing transportation finance issues. Congestion pricing has emerged as oneof the most promising solutions to the transportation finance crisis due to its ability to balance mobility needs with reducing inefficiencies caused by traffic congestion. Congestion pricing uses market forces to shift travel from peak hours to off-peak hours when there is less congestion, from single-vehicle usage to higher occupancy travel or transit, and encourage travelers to eliminate some trips altogether. The reduction of congestion during peak periods improves the efficiency of the system, improving mobility for all users. At the same time, congestion pricing brings in significant revenue that can be redirected into smart transportation investments. This paper uses a sketch model to evaluate the costs, revenues, and benefits that different congestion pricing scenarios could generate in four ofthe most congested metropolitan regions in the United States, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, and Seattle. It does so as a cost effective means to draw observations and potentials of urban congestion charging withoutthe cost of expensive and detailed models. The paper begins by giving a general overview of congestion pricing, its benefits, and types of systems and scenarios. It will describes system design and system costs for the various scenarios modeled in this paper as well as presenting estimates of system revenue and future net benefits. Finally, in the final section of this paper, the next steps for congestion pricing in the cities studied willbe presented
Abstract