Reducing Congestion and Funding Transportation Using Road Pricing in Europe and Singapore

Congestion pricing use has been limited in the United States because of political, institutional, and public acceptance concerns. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study of Europe and Singapore to identify ideas and models for integrating road pricing approaches into U.S. practices.
The scan team found that countries with clearly defined and well-understood policy goals were able
to achieve targeted outcomes most effectively. The team also learned that a large-scale demonstration project is a good tool to build public acceptance of road pricing.
Team recommendations for U.S. implementation include enhanced outreach and communication on
road pricing use and research on public perception issues and implementation barriers. The team
also recommended development of a road pricing toolkit to provide transportation professionals
with a comprehensive decision analysis tool to assess the merits of road pricing options.