Are there alternative approaches for paying for road construction and maintenance?
How to pay for our state’s roadways is a key question under consideration by the Texas Legislature.
How to pay for our state’s roadways is a key question under consideration by the Texas Legislature.
As vehicles move away from traditional fuels to energy sources like electricity, the importance of identifying new ways to finance our transportation infrastructure grows. That effort is well underway at TTI.
TTI Senior Research Engineer Ginger Goodin and Associate Transportation Researcher Trey Baker testified before the Subcommittee on Funding of the House Select Committee on Transportation Funding last October on one possible exploratory study of using vehicle mileage fees (VMFs) in Texas. A similar briefing was held for legislative staffers prior to the current session. Their testimony is available on TTI’s Strategic Transportation Solutions website.
Moving toward an actual ‘user fee’ for roadways represents a significant change over the current funding system, which taxes fuel purchases as a proxy for road use. The VMF study gathered input and perspectives from Texans, as well as engaged a panel of technology experts to outline possible deployment options for such a fee. Public concerns the researchers encountered included privacy issues, administrative costs and questions about enforcement.
To hear the Goodin and Baker testimony, visit the Expert Testimony page on TTI’s Strategic Transportation Solutions Center website.
