Economic and Financial Feasibility of Truck Toll Lanes

Abstract

The economic and financial feasibility of heavy-truck toll lanes was analyzed. This research expanded the line of inquiry of previous researchers by analyzing toll lanes for exclusive use by heavy trucks (i.e., large size and capacity). Implementation of such a toll system was studied relative to productivity changes, toll-lane fees, users' travel time and vehicle operating cost savings, and impact on infrastructure costs. The economic benefits were estimated using the Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Model developed by the World Bank. The analyses, complemented with sensitivity analyses of key variables, indicate that heavy-truck lanes are economically and financially viable.

Design and development of a stated choice experiment for interdependent agents: accounting for interactions between buyers and sellers of urban freight services

“…The distance-based charges considered ranged from A$0.04 to A$1.53 per kilometre, with means of A$0.30 and A$0.32 for transporters and shippers, respectively. This is consistent within the extant and hypothetical charges considered by Holguin-Veras et al (2003) in a simulation experiment testing the feasibility of various distancebased charges in recovering road wear damages. Specifically, the Ohio Turnpike charges US$0.24 per kilometre for trucks weighing from 52 to 57 metric tonnes.…”

The impact of a toll reduction for truck traffic using SH 130

“…Truckers stated that they would shift to the off-peak hours if the customers/receivers were willing to accept off-peak deliveries. Holguin-Veras et al (2003) indicated that 70% of the carriers did not change route after the 2001 PANYNJ toll increase; the customers' requirement was indicated as being the top priority which led many truckers not to change their delivery schedule.…”

Design and evaluation of road pricing: state-of-the-art and methodological advances

“…These schemes generally seek to generate revenues and/or recover costs of road building, operations and maintenance, rather than cover congestion and other externality costs, similar to the case of the privately financed toll highways by various concession schemes (see Section 3.4). Other pricing schemes have also been considered in the U.S., like the heavy-truck toll lanes [165] and mechanisms to address equity issues, such as credit-based congestion pricing [194], where revenues are redistributed uniformly among users as a sort of driving 'allowance', Fast and Intertwined Regular (FAIR) lanes [105], where toll credits are provided to users of adjacent lanes in multi-lane facilities, and the integrated multimodal strategy of FAST Miles [106]. Other options include vehicle mileage-based pricing strategies [277] and combinations with pay-as-you-drive insurance or car-sharing, which aim at converting the fixed charges for driving to variable charges [104].…”