CURRENT TRENDS IN TOLL FINANCING

User fees for the consumption of services provided by transportation facilities have been accepted for centuries and are receiving wider support today for future application. Currently in the United States, 28 states operate 36 toll roads and 43 toll bridges. In addition, 29 county and 27 municipal toll facilities, primarily bridges, are now in operation across the country. Despite the effects of the 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act, which discouraged the user-fee concept for highways, 20 new toll roads totaling 770 miles and 13 new toll bridges have become operational in the United States during the last 15 years. The toll concept has also become accepted internationally; France, Spain, Italy, Japan, and Britain are among the many nations operating successful toll facilities. Toll projects, especially toll roads, are gaining approval for several reasons. First, user fees can partly relieve the state governments of the financial burden of providing adequate and efficient highways. Second, toll facilities often provide better emergency and patrol services and a greater degree of safety than their nontoll counterparts. Last, through rate differentials, toll roads can encourage carpooling, thereby maximizing energy efficiency, or can offer special commuter rates for frequent users. Creative financing has become the key to expansion of the present toll-facilities system. Traditionally, financing has been accomplished with the use of revenue bonds when costs incurred in the construction and operation of toll facilities are covered completely by toll revenues. In 1965, the Dallas North Tollway was the last major new toll road to be financed with revenue bonds; the financing since then has been extensions of existing systems or included subsidies and/or pledges of other than toll income. The Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, privately financed and operated by the Detroit International Bridge Company, is one of the few major toll facilities still in private ownership. Future expansion of the toll concept depends heavily on actions of the federal and state governments as to possible use of federal funds to partly defray the construction cost of new toll facilities as well as on the extent to which federal contributions can be made to annual maintenance and rehabilitation costs. It is expected, too, that greater public and private-sector cooperation will play a vital role in the future of toll-facility financing. (Author)