Support for and Behavioral Responses to Tolls

This chapter analyzes the experiences with tolling in the Hampton Roads region of Southeastern Virginia to better understand residents' and drivers' support for tolls and behavioral responses to tolls. The Hampton Roads region, with its population of 1.7 million and extensive network of highways, roads, bridges, and tunnels, has a long history of toll facilities that date back to the 1920s. The most recent tunnel tolls, associated with the Elizabeth River Crossing Project and introduced in February 2014, are the focus of this chapter. This chapter analyzes two sets of survey data to provide insights that have implications for policies regarding tolling: (1) The Life in Hampton Roads Surveys which includes questions about support for tolls and toll avoidance behaviors; and (2) two surveys (pre- and post- toll implementation) commissioned by the regional transportation planning organization.

A Regional Approach to Mobility Management

Across the United States there is increased pressure for communities, especially in states like Nebraska, to engage in sustainable transportation infrastructure development. Through a case study of an ongoing statewide transportation initiative in nonmetropolitan Nebraska, this chapter examines transportation sustainability and planning from a regional and collaborative perspective. The Nebraska effort can be adapted to other states with significant rural and dispersed population centers. Funded by the state and the federal governments, Nebraska's transportation initiative, using an innovative public-private partnership, is creating and enhancing regional transit services in small urban and rural areas, using public transportation as a means to promote long-term economic growth and sustainability. Smaller urban and micropolitan communities, often serving as regional growth centers, frequently are overlooked when it comes to research on transportation planning and policy.

Evolving Transportation Sustainability

Transportation policymakers and planners have begun to realize the importance of sustainable transportation with regards to health, social implications, and the climate. Focusing on more active travel is one way that these officials are beginning to evolve cities in a way that supports these broader sustainability goals. In this light, this chapter focuses on how active transportation has evolved, and how policy and finance can support it. It also looks at emerging issues that may reshape transportation, such as connected and autonomous vehicles, and how we can maintain transportation sustainability in light of these innovations.

Regional Institutions for Transportation Sustainability and Economic Development

The lessons described in this chapter outline the mechanisms for cooperation through building new institutional designs for governance to build transportation construction projects. The scale of these projects included billions of federal, state, and local dollars invested in the 1970 through current day. Funding of transportation projects in Southern California during the period 1975 through 2010 addressed a range of challenges to economic growth. The chapter proceeds in four parts: one, a discussion of the environmental context; two, description of the institutional design for governance that developed; three, an overview of the projects developed and economic impact; four, applying the lessons learned to the emerging challenges of fiscal constraints, demographic change, and institutional re-design for transportation funding.

Chassis

International trade requires efficient delivery between exporter and importer, usually by ocean vessels. Roughly 90% of cargo is transported in shipping containers, delivered for export by truck or rail, then received at the importer to be similarly discharged. This chapter discusses containerized trade, focusing on international chassis, the wheeled shipping container bed. The authors discuss the invention of containerization and give the historical context for US chassis provision. The chapter outlines the chassis logistical difficulties of US truckers. An overview of attempts to solve this by chassis pooling is provided. The chapter then addresses differences between chassis in the US and the rest of the world. Key chassis regulations are covered, followed by a discussion of the relation of chassis to sustainability. Antitrust issues concerning the main chassis providers and the three recently created ocean carrier alliances are covered. The authors conclude with three recommendations for improving US chassis access.

Contracting Out in the Transit Industry

Since the Government Accounting Office report “Transit Agencies' Use of Contracting to Provide Service,” there is a growing interest in contracting out and any measures increasing efficiency and cost-savings. This chapter looks at the results of a unique national survey of transit agency managers conducted in 2017 for a modern snapshot of the transit industry in the United States. While there are specific factors that make transit contracting easier (e.g., competition in the provision of services), there are also factors that require contracting out but make monitoring of contracts more difficult (e.g., no capacity to provide services and monitoring in-house). The authors discuss these factors and provide illustrative examples of factors that may enhance efficiency.

Cost and Cost Politics in Airport Takeovers

While it is well known that cost is a politically salient issue, much less is known about the role of cost development and how costs get elevated into the political discussion. This chapter looks at the role of cost accounting and cost development in the recent takeover attempts of two airports by the state of North Carolina. The Charlotte-Douglas airport takeover was a failed attempt, and the Asheville Regional airport takeover succeeded. The chapter makes three important contributions to the study of sustainable transportation financial management. First, it shows that costs are important to the political discussion of the takeovers. Second, it provides a discussion of the relevant costs in each case. Third, it provides research on the political dimensions of cost in the United States in the management of transportation assets, which may limit sustainable transportation policy.

Reducing Risk in Public-Private Partnership Contracts

In an effort to address financial constraints and environmental concerns states have increasingly turned to a combination of un-tolled (HOV) and tolled (HOT) lanes. Public-private partnerships (3Ps) are a popular mechanism for this more sustainable approach to highway infrastructure that couples environmental sustainability (efficient utilization of existing lanes, less congestion) with financial sustainability (private investment). This chapter offers an approach to 3P contract writing for HOV/HOT facilities that is structured by a stakeholder analysis of actors in the project accountability environment. By analyzing two Virginia 3P highway projects, the chapter shows it is possible to build into a contract a set of terms and conditions to enhance the likelihood of meeting the goals of multiple stakeholders. By necessity, such contracts cannot specify precise monetary returns and other stakeholder benefits, but they can be written to include trade-offs to minimize losses to one party at the expense of another.

Financing Transportation Through Local Sales Taxes

Fuel taxes have historically been the key revenue source for a great deal of transportation infrastructure, especially roads. For many reasons, such as reduced fuel tax receipts, governments at all levels have begun to explore additional financing options. This chapter explores an option that local governments have available to them in many states: local sales taxes earmarked for transportation projects. This chapter briefly discusses the literature on local sales taxes, the diversity of the laws regarding local sales taxes earmarked for transportation, potential consequences of increased reliance on local sales taxes earmarked for transportation, and briefly discusses a similar revenue source—the local fuel tax. This research is important to understanding the changing patterns of how public transportation is being financed in many states, and if the spread of non-earmarked local sales taxes are any indicator, how it is likely to be financed in many others moving forward.

From College to the City

This chapter focuses on how investment in the American rail infrastructure has shaped changes in the population and residential patterns. Specifically, the chapter examines the association between commuter rail systems, urban rail transit systems, and the movement of the college-educated young into the inner city. Two hypotheses are proposed about the characteristics of rail systems and the relationship to the growth in the percentage of young college graduates residing in close-in neighborhoods. Using a sample of central cities within the 51 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., the chapter compares the growth in young college graduates (ages 25 to 34 years) across cities with the different transit configurations. Using correlation analysis, the chapter explores the relationship between the presence of rail transit and the residential location choices of this population group. In the discussion and conclusion, the findings are summarized and implications for policy and sustainability are discussed.