This synthesis will be of interest to administrative and financial officials of toll authorities, as well as members of the governing boards of these agencies. It will also be of interest to state departments of transportation and to legislators who are exploring innovative methods for financing major highway facilities. This synthesis also provides useful information for bonding and other financial institutions. It presents information on the current tolling policies and practices employed by highway, bridge, and tunnel tolling authorities throughout the United States. Administrators, engineers, and researchers are continually faced with highway problems on which much information exists, either in the form of reports or in terms of undocumented experience and practice. Unfortunately, this information often is scattered and unevaluated and, as a consequence, in seeking solutions, full information on what has been learned about a problem frequently is not assembled. Costly research findings may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked, and full consideration may not be given to available practices for solving or alleviating the problem. In an effort to correct this situation, a continuing NCHRP project, carried out by the Transportation Research Board as the research agency, has the objective of reporting on common highway problems and synthesising available information. The synthesis reports from this endeavour constitute an NCHRP publication series in which various forms of relevant information are assembled into single, concise documents pertaining to specific highway problems or sets of closely related problems. This report of the Transportation Research Board presents a profile of the traditions, pricing practices, and operational aspects of the tolling industry. Based on information derived from survey responses from 41 toll organisations, representing over 90 percent of annual U.S. toll transactions, the research for the synthesis indicates that the tolling industry employs a wide range of policies and practices, including many innovative approaches, used in response to the need to provide improved highway facilities. Case studies of several selected innovative tolling practices are discussed: variable/congestion pricing; high-occupancy toll, or "HOT" lanes; public-private partnerships; interagency partnerships; and others such as state infrastructure banks (SIBs), shared resource agreements, and transportation utility fees. Detailed information on the experience of states with privatisation of highway facilities is also presented. A unique summary of the future issues to be addressed in the tolling industry as gleaned from the survey concludes the document. To develop this synthesis in a comprehensive manner and to ensure inclusion of significant knowledge, the Board analysed available information assembled from numerous sources, including a large number of state highway and transportation departments. A topic panel of experts in the subject area was established to guide the research in organising and evaluating the collected data, and to review the final synthesis report. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As the processes of advancement continue, new knowledge can be expected to be added to that now at hand. (A)
Abstract