Variable road pricing is now generally viewed by economists as the most effective means to address peak-hour traffic congestion. To effectively address peak-hour traffic congestion and efficiently allocate scarce urban road space, Vickrey proposed an electronic variable pricing scheme to promote stable traffic flows, quite similar to today’s electronic transponder systems used by tolling networks such as E-ZPass. In attempting to address this queuing due to a lack of pricing, policy makers would then make decisions to inefficiently expand physical roadway capacity, generally at great expense to society. With traffic flows increasingly unstable, travel times would lengthen and travel time predictability would worsen. The problem, as Vickrey and other economists saw it, was scarce roadway space was inefficiently allocated by non-market means, so that the practical result of unpriced urban roads was queuing and a degradation of the network. Nobel-laureate economist William Vickrey, in a seminal 1963 paper, said of the then-and still-status quo of urban transportation management that in “no other major area are pricing practices so irrational, so out of date, and so conducive to waste.” Rather, modernizing federal law to permit greater flexibility at the state and local level to price road use is the best way to address peak-hour traffic congestion that plagues many of America’s metropolitan areas. Fortunately, in its role as a supporting partner to state and local transportation agencies, there are policy options available to members of Congress to promote effective congestion mitigation and management.Įven better, these tend not to involve increasing federal-aid highway spending. Given that traffic congestion is inherently a local phenomenon, the federal government has a limited set of tools to address it. The challenge facing policy makers is how to address this growing problem. My opening statement is below.Ĭhair Norton, Ranking Member Davis, Chair DeFazio, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify before you today.Ĭongestion is a persistent and growing problem facing America’s road networks. ” I argued in favor of eliminating outdated federal restrictions on road pricing, as pricing is the most valuable tool for addressing persistent peak-hour traffic congestion. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure at a hearing titled, “ Pricing and Technology Strategies to Address Congestion on and Financing of America’s Roads. This morning, I testified before the Highways and Transit Subcommittee of the U.S.
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