Road pricing applications in North America

This chapter discusses transport pricing and funding in the United States and Canada, with a focus on road pricing in the United States. The chapter begins with a brief history of road pricing in the United States from the earliest days of priced travel until 1995 when the first innovative, priced managed lane projects opened. Now a common part of highway networks in major metropolitan regions, these projects have been extensively studied. This chapter briefly discusses the growth in innovative funding and financing through those priced facilities before focusing on more recent insights into these innovative projects. We review three key issues with initiating pricing projects: (1) the ability of the priced facility to garner support and meet traveler expectations, (2) the industry’s ability to predict travel on, and revenue from, potential priced facilities, and (3) the choice of a dynamic or variable pricing mechanism. These three issues have gained increased importance as priced facilities have moved from infancy to a high growth stage. This chapter discusses transport pricing and funding in the United States and Canada, with a focus on road pricing in the United States. The chapter begins with a brief history of road pricing in the United States from the earliest days of priced travel until 1995 when the first innovative, priced managed lane projects opened. Now a common part of highway networks in major metropolitan regions, these projects have been extensively studied. This chapter briefly discusses the growth in innovative funding and financing through those priced facilities before focusing on more recent insights into these innovative projects. We review three key issues with initiating pricing projects: (1) the ability of the priced facility to garner support and meet traveler expectations, (2) the industry’s ability to predict travel on, and revenue from, potential priced facilities, and (3) the choice of a dynamic or variable pricing mechanism. These three issues have gained increased importance as priced facilities have moved from infancy to a high growth stage. This chapter discusses transport pricing and funding in the United States and Canada, with a focus on road pricing in the United States. The chapter begins with a brief history of road pricing in the United States from the earliest days of priced travel until 1995 when the first innovative, priced managed lane projects opened. Now a common part of highway networks in major metropolitan regions, these projects have been extensively studied. This chapter briefly discusses the growth in innovative funding and financing through those priced facilities before focusing on more recent insights into these innovative projects. We review three key issues with initiating pricing projects: (1) the ability of the priced facility to garner support and meet traveler expectations, (2) the industry’s ability to predict travel on, and revenue from, potential priced facilities, and (3) the choice of a dynamic or variable pricing mechanism. These three issues have gained increased importance as priced facilities have moved from infancy to a high growth stage.