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Studies
and Reports
Minnesota Studies Mileage-Based User Fees to Fund Transportation
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Add Minnesota to the list of states looking at mileage-based user fees (MBUF) as a way to secure transportation funding in the future. The report, put out by the Mileage-Based User Fee Task Force and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, concludes that MBUF is an effective way to ensure that all road users pay for their fair share of road costs regardless of fuel type. However, the report also acknowledges that there are many unresolved issues that need to be addressed before endorsing a full or partial transition to a MBUF-funded transportation system.
Concurrently, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is conducting a MBUF technology demonstration project, which is exploring potential design models for MBUF systems. After the demonstration project concludes, the task force recommends that the Commissioner of Transportation provide state policy makers with plans for how the state can best proceed with MBUF implementation.
Building
a Better Gas Tax
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The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy recently released a study recommending that states address the chronic underfunding of state transportation networks by increasing their gas taxes and indexing gas tax rates to the cost of transportation construction. Unfortunately, most states (and the federal government) rely on a fixed rate gas tax that has seen its purchasing power decrease by over 20 percent due to the rising cost of transportation construction and the proliferation of more fuel efficient vehicles. Overall, states are now losing over $10 billion a year as a result of failing to index their gas taxes to transportation costs, according to the report.
The report doesn’t completely ignore the elephant in the room (i.e. the need to raise the federal gas tax), but it does
suggest that states may be better off raising their own gas taxes rather than waiting on the President and Congress to agree on a federal gas tax increase.
While the study focuses on information that is already well known, its appendices have a lot of useful information on each state’s gas and diesel tax structure and how much tax rates need to rise to return to enacted levels.
Outsourcing
Comparison by State
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More than 80 percent of reports from around the country conclude that state DOTs routinely pay more – sometimes much more -- for engineering services by outsourcing this work. The findings are in a California DOT preliminary investigation of state, federal and other reports comparing the cost of performing design work in-house versus outsourcing it to consultants. If you are aware of similar reports, please share them with us and we will pass them on.
Among the reports cited in the preliminary investigation: NASHTU’s 2007 Highway Robbery II report which is found to have a “wealth of references that assess outsourcing of design and engineering with state
DOTs.”
Cost
of Congestion
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The 2011 Urban Mobility Report, released by the Texas Transportation Institute, has found that congestion costs the United States over $100 million annually or $750 per commuter. And that's the good news. The bad news is that congestion is forecast to get worse as the U.S. economy recovers costing as much as $133 million or $900 per commuter by 2015. The report has prompted Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to call on Congress to pass a surface transportation authorization that invests in our future by creating jobs and rebuilding
America. Click
here to learn more.
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Click
here for the press release.
Outsourcing
Costs
Outsourcing Failures from
Around the US
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