Jeffrey F. Paniati

Associate Administrator for Operations

Federal Highway Administration

Department of Transportation

Enabling Congestion Pricing in the United States

ITS World Congress and Exhibition on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services

London, UNITED KINGDOMOctober 2006

SS 12 – “Strategies for Future Funding: Enabling Road Pricing and Congestion Management”

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Presentation Outline

• Congestion in the U.S.

• Congestion Pricing as a solution

• U.S. Congestion Initiative - Moving forward on pricing

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Congestion on I-95 in Northern Virginia

Crisis of Congestion: A Tax on the Nation

• Commuting costs: Each motorist stuck in traffic wastes on average

47 hours and 30 gallons of fuel every year – at a cost of $800 per person annually.

• Quality of life: Reduced air quality, less time with family and friends.

• Productivity: Delays to trucks and unreliability of delivery times increase costs for businesses and reduce economic competitiveness.

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• Over the past 20 years, the number of hours lost each year by an average driver to congestion increased from 17 to almost 50.

• In the 13 largest cities, drivers now spend the equivalent of almost 8 work days each year stuck in traffic.

Annual Hours Lost to Congestion Per Peak Hour DriverVery Large Metro Areas, 1983 v. 2003*

Phila

delp

hia

Ho

urs

100

80

60

40

20

0

19832003

Atla

nta

Was

hing

ton

Dal

las

LA/L

ong

Beach

Chi

cago

San

Fran

cisc

o

Det

roit

Mia

mi

Bost

onN

ew Y

ork

Phoe

nix

Hou

ston

City

Aver

age

Crisis of Congestion: Wasted Hours

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Sources of Highway Congestion

Source: “ Traffic Congestion and Reliability;” FHWA (September, 2005)

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Challenges in Reducing Highway Congestion

• The price of highway travel (gas taxes, registration fees, etc.) bears little or no relationship to the cost of congestion.

• Unlike other public utilities, the public expectation is that the “service” is free or does not change with changes in demand.

• The highway industry has a long tradition of infrastructure building and has only recently begun to embrace the importance of system management and operations.

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1. Relieve urban congestion.

2. Unleash private sector investment resources.

3. Promote operational and technological improvements.

4. Establish a “Corridors of the Future” competition.

5. Target major freight bottlenecks and expand freight policy outreach.

6. Accelerate major aviation capacity projects and provide a future funding framework.

A Six Point Plan

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Peak period throughput, CA SR-91,priced vs. unpriced lanes

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

Priced lanes Unpriced lanes

Veh

icle

s/la

ne/h

r

Congestion Pricing: An Overview

• A charge that varies by traffic volumes or time of day.

• It shifts discretionary travel to off-peak.

• It increases vehicle throughput.

• Single most viable approach to reducing congestion - positive results both here in the U.S. and around the world.

• Reducing peak period travelers by just 3-8% can reduce delays by up to 50%.

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Summary of Key U.S. Road Pricing Projects Operating or Under Development

Under Development

Operational

Under Construction

Legend

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Express Toll Lanes

Example:

SR 91, Orange County, CA

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Express Toll Lanes Have Worked

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Priced Free

Speed(mph)

SR 91:

• Toll-payers save 20-30 minutes.

• Trip time is reliable.

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Express Toll Lanes Have Worked

0

400

800

1,200

1,600

Priced Free

Vehiclesper lane

SR 91:

• HOT lanes carry more vehicles per lane.

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HOV to HOT Conversion

San Diego, I-15• Eight miles, two

reversible lanes. • Tolls vary

dynamically.• Ensures free-

flowing traffic.

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HOV to HOT: Public Opinion

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Highincome

Lowincome

Percentapproval(I-15)

I-15

• 70% approval for existing HOT lanes.

• 84% favor HOT lanes extension.

• Considered “fair.”

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Variable Tolls on Toll Facilities

Examples:

• New York’s water crossings.

• Ft. Myers bridges.

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Variable Tolls on Toll Facilities Have Worked

Midpoint BridgeFt. Myers, FL

-20%

-15%

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

6:00

AM

6:30

AM

7:00

AM

7:30

AM

8:00

AM

8:30

AM

9:00

AM

9:30

AM

10:0

0 A

M

10:3

0 A

M

11:0

0 A

M

11:3

0 A

M

12:0

0 P

M

12:3

0 P

M

1:00

PM

1:30

PM

2:00

PM

2:30

PM

3:00

PM

3:30

PM

4:00

PM

4:30

PM

5:00

PM

5:30

PM

6:00

PM

6:30

PM

7:00

PM

Time of Day

Per

cen

t C

han

ge

in T

raff

ic

Du

rin

g E

ach

Hal

f-H

ou

r Discount

Other

Peak

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Challenges with Pricing Strategies: Public Acceptance

• Public acceptance issues:– Geographic, income, and user equity.– Public attitudes – double taxation, tolling

existing lanes, trust in government to use revenues “wisely.”

• Strategies to address issues:– Toll discounts or credits based on income.– Reduce existing tax burdens.– Increase public understanding of traffic

management benefits.

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Challenges with Pricing Strategies: Technical

• Issues:– Costs and financial feasibility– Enforcement– Traffic operations

• Strategies to address issues:– Improve financial feasibility by tolling some

existing capacity.– If all vehicles pay, enforcement is easier.– New technologies are helping solve

operations and enforcement concerns.

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Moving Forward: Urban Partnership Agreements

• The Objective:

To advance the U.S. Congestion Initiative by enabling cities to systematically progress towards implementation of broad congestion pricing over the course of the next three years.

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US DOT Congestion Mitigation Initiative - Urban Partnerships

• Four components:– Broad congestion pricing– New or expanded bus rapid transit– Expanded telecommuting/flexible work

schedules– Technology/operations strategies

• Plus:– Expedited completion of key capacity projects

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Moving Forward through the Value Pricing Pilot Program

Target Projects:• Pricing of existing major roadways

in a broad area• Priced Managed Lane Networks• Cordon Pricing• Parking Pricing

Phases:• Constituency Building/Public Outreach• Project Development/PPP• Implementation/Evaluation

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Moving Forward with HOT Lanes and Express Toll Lanes

Target Projects:• Existing HOV lanes that are underutilized.

• Existing HOV lanes that have degraded service levels due to high traffic volumes.

• Proposed new HOV lanes.

• Proposed freeway expansion projects.

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“Congestion is not a fact of life. We need a new approach, and we need it now.”

Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta

May 2006