SEEKING NEW REVENUES TO FINANCE TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENTS: PLACING TOLLS ON UNTOLLED INTERSTATES AND THE CHALLENGES OF ESTIMATING CHANGES IN DEMAND

摘要

Tolls have been used as a major source of transportation revenue for more than 50 years and withrecent innovations in all-electronic tolling technology, tolling interstates is being considered aviable alternative transportation funding approach. A transportation revenue approach beingconsidered by State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) involves the collection of tolls onexisting interstate highways on which tolls are not presently collected; however, there arechallenges associated with estimating demand changes on these roadways.Central to this paper is a case study that focuses on the formulation and preliminaryevaluation of a toll based revenue approach potentially suitable for consideration along asegment of Interstate 93 in Boston where tolls are not currently charged. The literature andprevious work show that elasticity based methods have been used and are an appropriate firststep for estimating transportation demand changes. In this case study, the evaluation includestwo different analysis approaches of the expected change in demand: one that takes into accountthe cost of congestion and one that does not.The results in this paper will guide transportation planners and analysts interested inestimating expected demand changes due to the placement of tolls on interstates not currentlytolled. Moreover, these results will enhance our knowledge base concerning the analyticalchallenges associated with estimating demand changes on roadways that are not currently tolled.