[sustran] USA - The President pushes congestion pricing

[Eric Britton]

The President pushes congestion pricing 

>From the Wall Street Journal this week, an article
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117064116425197878.html?mod=todays_us_p
age_one>  about President Bush's push for congestion pricing in his new
budget.
In his annual budget blueprint to be unveiled today, Mr. Bush intends to
showcase a highway "congestion initiative," according to White House
documents, with grants for state and local governments to experiment
with anti-jam strategies. 
... a plan depicted by administration officials as "congestion pricing."
The administration will award $130 million in grants starting this
spring to help cities and states build electronic toll systems that
would charge drivers fees for traveling in and out of big cities during
peak traffic times. The money also could go to other congestion
strategies such as expanded telecommuting, but administration officials
make it clear they think congestion pricing is the most powerful tool
they have. The White House will seek an additional $175 million for
congestion initiatives in next year's budget.
...transportation officials have armed themselves with studies
suggesting that traffic itself is becoming a big hidden tax on
businesses across the country, as well as the No. 1 quality-of-life
concern in many urban areas. 
Congestion pricing "is a lot cheaper than the way we're paying now ...
with time, unreliability, psychological hell," said Tyler Duvall, DOT's
assistant secretary for policy.
The DOT estimates the total cost of U.S. congestion at about $200
billion annually, or almost 2% of GDP, counting wasted fuel, delays,
environmental costs and increased inventory needs.
The White House, under fire for failing to embrace a more aggressive
global-warming policy, is portraying the plan as part of a climate
change strategy. Administration documents estimate that "travel delay
... wasted 2.3 billion gallons of fuel" in 2003, a total that "accounts
for more than 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions."
In cities and regions that have adopted congestion-related fees, the
most common approach is to offer solo commuters the choice of paying
during rush hour to travel in the high-occupancy lanes reserved for
car-poolers. Some tolls on existing turnpikes also have been adjusted
higher for rush-hour travel.
...
The Bush administration is distributing $130 million in grants to help
cities build the electronic systems needed. Department of Transportation
officials expect more than 10 major cities to apply before the April
deadline. (If you know Houston officials that might initiate such an
application, please forward this post to them. Thanks!)
...
Even a 5% reduction in traffic jams can increase traffic speeds by as
much as 50%, says Mr. Duvall. DOT officials figure a typical big-city
traffic jam can be cleared with tolls of as little as $2 to $2.50 a day,
if all lanes on a big highway are charged. But on some Southern
California highways where fees are charged only for the former
high-occupancy lanes, prices at the peak of rush hour have reached
$8.50.
Congestion pricing has already taken hold in Europe, and the success of
a congestion pricing system for London's roads three years ago motivated
U.S. officials and major businesses to consider the idea. Voters in
Stockholm approved a similar plan in September, after a test run during
the summer.
The article included the table below showing how Houston's ongoing
transportation infrastructure investments over the last two decades have
kept congestion growth well below most major cities. Also note that
extensive commuter rail transit investments have not relieved congestion
in Chicago, DC, or San Francisco - a benefit that is commonly promoted
with commuter rail proposals.

 
<http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5954/913/1600/951598/WSJ%20table%2
0on%20traffic%20costs%20per%20peak%20traveler%20by%20city%202-07.gif> 
My proposal would be for Houston to be very aggressive going after this
money to convert the left lanes of most our freeways to
congestion-priced EZ-tag lanes (this would be in addition to Metro's HOV
lane conversions), while letting commuter buses and vanpools use the
lanes for free. Having a comprehensive network of high-speed lanes to
all our job centers (not just downtown) would go a long way towards
encouraging car/vanpooling and transit ridership. More details
<http://houstonstrategies.blogspot.com/2005/05/mobility-solution-for-hou
ston-part-3.html>  here.
posted by Tory Gattis @ 5:48 PM
<http://houstonstrategies.blogspot.com/2007/02/president-pushes-congesti
on-pricing.html>
<http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=11321606&postID=117067963417
329054>  
 
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