Charging for the use of highway facilities through the collection of tolls has long been a means to generate the funds needed to develop and operate highway facilities when adequate public funding is unavailable. In recent years, the concept of directly charging users of highways has expanded to include various pricing schemes aimed at managing travel demand in and around densely populated urban areas. Many of the leading examples of road pricing to manage urban area congestion can be found outside of the United States, in major metropolitan areas characterized by high density urban cores, highly constrained roadway networks, significant transit capabilities and utilization, and limited public funding to pay for expanding transportation infrastructure. While there may be differences in land use patterns, travel preferences, transportation funding sources, and cultural/institutional issues between urban areas in other countries and the United States, many of the challenges facing road pricing initiatives and strategies to address them are similar. Since there is a longer history of road pricing in urban areas outside the United States, lessons learned from these international examples may help sponsoring agencies of urban road pricing in this country avoid some of the pitfalls that have impeded earlier initiatives and learn from their successes. This report explores the use of road pricing in various cities and countries outside the United States, with a focus on different road pricing schemes used to manage demand in urban areas. Also included are several distance-based heavy vehicle pricing schemes used in several European countries to address the growing post-European Union (EU) problems of foreign trucks traversing their highway system without purchasing fuel in those countries. As a result, these vehicles have avoided contributing to the cost if building, maintaining, and operation these facilities. The report summarizes the major kinds of road pricing schemes, the goals of these schemes, and the predominant locales were these approaches are being used. The report includes a series of case studies and cameos of actual road pricing initiatives, with case studies of successful projects and cameos of unsuccessful efforts. Through these case studies and cameos, the report provides insights and lessons learned regarding what to do and what not to do in developing and implementing urban area road pricing for demand management. The report is aimed at transportation planners and policy-makers in the U.S. considering the application of pricing to urban highway networks in the U.S. It is intended to help agency staff in understanding both the challenges and opportunities of road pricing initiatives, to identify potential obstacles early in the planning process, and develop effective strategies to assure successful implementation. (Author/publisher)
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