Speaking at an event at the Reason Foundation on the release of its new report, Interstate 2.0: Modernizing the Interstate Highway System via Toll Finance, Patrick D. Jones, executive director and CEO of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) applauded the report calling it “a serious effort to examine the costs of reconstructing and widening our 50 year old Interstate highway system using all-electronic tolling.”

The new study released Sept. 12 details how much it will cost to reconstruct and widen Interstate highways in all 50 states and shows how to pay for the modernization efforts with toll revenues.

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, the worldwide association representing toll facility owners and operators and the businesses that serve them, joined several other groups at the press conference, including the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), Associated General Contractors (AGC), Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) and Transportation Transformation Group (T2).

“When the interstate highway system was first being built in the 1950s, the emphasis was on paying to get it built, creating an interconnected national system and creating immediate jobs and economic growth. The Highway Trust Fund is one valuable tool to maintain roadways, bridges and tunnels, but it is not funded at a level needed to address the rebuilding of our interstate system. The recommendations outlined in the Reason Foundation report are critical to helping bridge the huge funding gap to fund our nation’s transportation infrastructure. Tolling is one proven funding option to address this huge gap,” Jones said at the press conference.

The new report, Interstate 2.0: Modernizing the Interstate Highway System via Toll Finance, makes the case for lifting the federal prohibition on tolling existing lanes of the Interstate highway system. The report states:

“…as the reality of the cost of interstate reconstruction and modernization sinks in at the legislative level, and the low cost and convenience of all-electronic toll collection becomes better understood, elected officials may catch up with public sentiment that is already receptive to tolling as better than (or less bad than) increases in transportation taxes to pay for major new investments in highway infrastructure.”

The report said, “The one thing states need from Congress in the next reauthorization is permission for all states to use toll financing for the specific purpose of replacing worn-out Interstate pavement and bridges with new and better ones.”

For more information, visit: www.IBTTA.org.

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