Built-in automatic toll collection for every vehicle
By: Drivers.com staff
Date: 2009-01-01
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At the recent World Congress on Intelligent Transportation systems in New York City (November, 2008) Transportation and technology consultant Ed Regan described a "national pricing system" that would replace the gasoline tax as a source of road infrastructure funding with an automated road pricing system in which every vehicle pays by miles driven.
Speaking for Wilbur Smith Associates, a transportation consulting company with engineering, planning and economic expertise, Regan described his vision of a road pricing future.
Every vehicle in the United States would be equipped with a device for fully automated road toll fee collection. GPS technology would ensure that vehicles would only be charged for miles driven. The federal government, Regan surmises, would pay initially for the cost of installing the devices but would soon recoup the costs in road fees.
Regan’s vision is in response to recent projections that the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which is the federal government's primary source for financing U.S. highway, bridge and transit projects, is dwindling. With more economical cars, less driving and the poor state of highway infrastructure, the HTF can't keep up. This means that alternative sources of funding must be found.
The technology Regan envisions could, he reckons, be more than just a toll fee collection system. It could be a "killer app" that opens the door to all kinds of information exchange about road conditions, traffic, location-based services and safety systems. It could be a key part of the "Vehicle Integration Initiative" which sees vehicles exchanging information with one another and with the roadway system to manage traffic and safety.
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