Value Pricing Pilot Program: Lessons Learned

This Lessons Learned Report provides a summary of projects sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Congestion and Value Pricing Pilot Programs from 1991 through 2006 and draws lessons from a sample of projects with the richest and most relevant experience across selected project categories. Since the inception of the Congestion Pricing Pilot Program in 1991, over 50 pricing projects have been funded by FHWA. More than a dozen operational projects are providing important findings regarding traffic and congestion impacts, transportation funding issues, public acceptability, administrative matters and future prospects for addressing congestion using various pricing strategies. In addition, useful information and valuable lessons have been provided by project feasibility studies and by pricing projects that did not progress to implementation or exhibited unexpected outcomes. This report aims to synthesize the experience from the projects in the federal pricing programs regarding effectiveness at meeting their objectives and the political and technical aspects related to implementation. In an epilogue, the authors look forward to possible future roles for pricing strategies in addressing emerging congestion, capacity and funding problems.