Is Congestion Pricing Ready for Prime Time

Although congestion pricing offers the potential of reducing traffic congestion and financing infrastructure, overcoming public resistance has proven to be difficult. The success of several international cities, most notably London, in implementing congestion pricing schemes has revitalized interest in this approach in the United States. Several high-occupancy toll lanes in California have successfully overcome public resistance by demonstrating how automated time-of-day road pricing can guarantee free-flowing traffic in a congested corridor without the inconveniences associated with toll booths. The federal government has shown its support for congestion pricing by offering federal funding to five cities with ambitious congestion pricing implementation plans. These plans combine congestion pricing of existing roads with improved public transportation and traffic management. These initiatives, plus the dozens of others launched across the United States in the last year, suggest that congestion pricing will finally have a chance to prove itself.