Posted on 01/14/2008 2:00:05 PM PST by decimon
Privatizing toll roads in the U.S. may result in significant diversions of truck traffic from privatized toll roads to "free" roads, and may result in more crashes and increased costs associated with use of other roads, according to a new study.
Peter Swan of Penn State – Harrisburg and Michael Belzer of Wayne State University will present the findings of their study, "Empirical Evidence of Toll Road Traffic Diversion and Implications for Highway Infrastructure Privatization" on Jan. 14 at the 87th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C.
The study used data from the State of Ohio, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Ohio Turnpike to predict annual Turnpike truck vehicle miles traveled, and therefore diverted vehicle miles, based on National truck traffic and Turnpike rates. The researchers then compare estimated truck traffic diverted from the Turnpike to truck traffic on Ohio road segments on possible substitute routes.
Both economic models support the hypothesis that rate increases divert traffic from toll roads to "free" roads.
"While recently privatized roads do not have enough history to determine how high actual rates will rise, adequate data do exist to determine what happens when toll rates increase dramatically on state-run toll roads," says co-author Peter Swan, Assistant Professor of Logistics and Operations Management at Penn State's Harrisburg campus.
The study concludes that if governments allow private toll road operators to maximize profits, higher tolls will divert trucks to local roads, depending on the suitability of substitute roads. The authors estimate that for 2005, a for-profit, private operator of the Ohio Turnpike could have raised tolls to roughly three times what they were under the public turnpike authority, resulting in about a 40% diversion of trucks from the Ohio Turnpike to other roads.
"The Ohio Turnpike substantially increased tolls during the 1990s to help finance construction of a third lane in each direction over substantial portions of the Turnpike," the researchers say. "Because the Ohio Turnpike raised its rates for trucks in the 1990s and later lowered them again, sufficient data exist to calculate a demand curve for the Turnpike based on demand and the toll rate. We then use the resulting demand curve to estimate diversion of trucks caused by the changes in the toll rates and to forecast how toll rates might affect Turnpike truck revenue."
The number of diverted trucks is important to both the State of Ohio and the Nation for economic and social reasons.
First, many of the substitute roads are two-lane highways with crash rates many times that of the Turnpike. Second, the increased traffic has reduced the quality of life for communities located along diversion routes and dramatically increased the maintenance costs of many of these roads, say the researchers.
Finally, higher truck tolls have two negative effects on the economy. Motor carriers eventually pass all tolls to consumers in the form of higher prices for goods. While higher toll rates may not decrease the efficiency of non-diverted trucks, they have raised costs.
Furthermore, diversion reduces the efficiency of these trucks because they clearly are taking a second-best route. The resulting loss of efficiency can stifle economic activity, according to the study.
Many of these economic and social costs may not be considered in future leases or sales, especially when such costs are paid by people in states other than the one making the lease agreement.
The study researchers question whether it makes good policy sense to substitute the existing fuel tax-based system of funding road infrastructure with a system that uses widespread tolls and to grant long-term leases to private enterprises that will operate them for profit.
"The combination of inadequate maintenance, lack of capital for new capacity, and ever-growing demand has led to renewed calls for tolls," Swan and Belzer state. "It is curious that national policy clearly supports sales or long-term leases of roads to private parties when such negative results can be expected.
"It does not appear that the U.S. Department of Transportation has considered how far tolling and highway privatization should go ... how such a market-based system of interstate highways will affect the parallel system of publicly-owned state and local roads ... or the effect of private tolling on interstate commerce - unless U.S. DOT is already committed to the toll-based funding for all roads."
"If the true problem is that political leaders are unwilling to face the voters with the reality that there is no free lunch, then the problem we seek to solve by tolling and privatization will not solve the problem at all. In fact, our research suggests that it will only make the problem worse," Swan and Belzer say.
I suggest you take a trip to Florida and gain some perspective.
You can’t drive across the state down there without hitting four or five toll booths in each direction.
Nothing is for free, and you folks are pay twice of not three or four times on those roads.
Did you know the Golden Gate bridge was paid of in the 1970s, perhaps even earlier, and the toll today is higher than ever.
Well, we don't any longer in Indiana--at least on 80/90. And the difference between "ordinary" highways and the 80/90 toll road is that that road exists almost solely for interstate traffic. It does not exist for the people of Indiana. We're not interested in paying for people to drive through our state to Chicago. If you want to cross, fine. Pay us.
I don’t really care what Florida does. I’m not concerned about Florida. I care about Indiana. And we got a great deal.
I don’t see the connection. Gas taxes do not cover anywhere near the cost of building and maintaining all of our roads, especially in densely populated parts of the country where land acquisition costs for new or expanded roads are staggeringly high. And neither do tolls completely cover the costs associated with toll roads. If you can show me actual examples of where the combination of gas taxes and tolls received by a given road building and maintenance authority are adding up to significantly more than it’s expenditures, then I’ll be opposed to that. I believe that in most cases, road expenses are eating up additional general tax dollars, beyond the tolls and gas taxes that go to that particular road system.
Precisely. What do folks think this is really all about?
The government wants us out of our cars, pure and simple. Pretty soon it will be such a hastle to drive anywhere, we won't be able to.
And a lot of well meaning people will play right along until they bury themselves and the rest of the nation right along with them.
No kiddin'?????? They're just now figuring this out? heck, U.S. Route 30 between Pittsburgh and Philly is darn near impassable on many days because of the heavy volumes of heavy truck traffic taking that road instead of the toll-based PA turnpike. Route 30 runs right through Gettysburg and its small traffic circle. You can imagine how fun that is on any given day with all the big trucks running through the old town...
You got the golden shaft, nothing less and a whole lot more.
Yeah, I hate it when we get $4 billion and two new interstate highways. Gosh, what a raw deal.
Our stupid politicians are selling off the taxpayer owned assets to allow them to keep spending like drunken sailors. The Chicago Skyway is a perfect example. The Dan Ryan Expressway is packed with trucks while the Skyway is almost empty of them. Guess which one is free.
Your transportation dollars are being diverted to mass transit just like every other state’s transportation dollars are.
How do you think our father’s generation built the transportation infrastructure they did for us? Something is rotten in denmark, and IMO it’s all the liberal swill that we have suckered for over the years. It is not the cost of hiways.
“We are heading to a day where it will be impossible to drive from state to state with out “papers” from some private firm.”
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Close... Out here in Cali, we have a thing called a “Fast Track.” It’s a transponder that deducts an appropriate amount from a pre-paid fund you allow the company to tap.
When travel gets this difficult (read _expensve_), the government has succeeded in exerting that much control over you — especially your movements. My “instinct” tells me that this is the overriding goal of our self-styled betters in the government, and has been for a long time.
Don’t know why, exactly, it just seems to be at the heart of everything.
BTW, it now costs TEN DOLLARS at rush hour to drive a 15-mile segment of the 91 Riverside Freeway. That’s what I mean by “expensive.”
Well you won’t be around in 2080 when your grandkids are still paying for that road, so don’t give it another thought.
Selling a permit to operate a toll road is not selling the road. If it is a good road truckers will pay the toll rather than take twice as long to get anywhere.
What part of we don't pay for it don't you understand?
What part of those tolls will still be collected in 2237 do you not understand? Bud, what part of this is so hard for you to understand? You get a one time payment, and an eternity to pay tolls...
wow! I see,we pay for a road with taxes,the government burns all the money for anything under the sun,except roads,and to get even more they tell the public”We are selling your road and you will like it”. The foreign entity(in most cases) charges us through the nose,lets the road crumble for 75 years,then we get it back and walaa! wasted money,bad road,everybody’s broke,welcome to another banana republic,,geeshh,are we in America?
So what? People pay to use the road. Great. I don't care. They paid to use the road before it was leased. They pay to use the road after it was leased. Nothing changed.
Nothing changed, except, of course, we got $4 billion and we don’t have to take care of the road anymore. And some shiny new interstate highways, courtsey of some foreigners’ money.
At least now we get to see who does a better job of it — private industry or the gubmint.
I’m beginning to realize that you don’t understand that the Indiana Toll Road was a toll road before it was leased. It didn’t turn into a toll road once it was leased. It always was a toll road, except now someone else runs it.
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