Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 59
62 Road Pricing: Public Perceptions and Program Development
are intended to help provide assistance in effectively carrying out federal planning requirements.
Key items from the interim guidebooks (FHWA and FTA, February 2008) and briefing book
(FHWA and FTA, September 2007) include the following:
· Road pricing (RP) planning will be constrained by planning cycles. For example, the Metropol-
itan Transportation Plan has 5-year updates (every 4 years in non-attainment areas). The Trans-
portation Improvement Program or TIP is done every 4 years. Only the Unified Planning Work
Program (UPWP) is done annually. Thus, if an RP proposal arises through the formal regional
planning process, it will be bound by these timelines or, if it comes from outside the planning
process, it may be "adopted" into the plan, which may constrain project timing.
· States may legislate their own provisions for congestion management planning, as in California
where an entirely separate agency from the MPO can be formed to carry out congestion man-
agement planning. In such cases, the Secretary of Transportation must "find" that the processes
are consistent with federal congestion management requirements.
· The congestion management process (CMP) as described in guidance provides an opportunity
to consider road pricing. MPOs [or Congestion Management Agency (CMA) in places like Cal-
ifornia] in transportation management areas (TMAs)--those metropolitan areas with over
200,000 population--must have a congestion management process that includes congestion
management objectives and identifies "travel demand" and "operational strategies"; road pric-
ing is a logical candidate for consideration as a strategy. The CMP is intended to be fully inte-
grated into the metropolitan transportation planning process.
· Planners seeking attention to road pricing in federal guidance will not find it featured strongly.
The documents provide reference to the strategy, but more attention to road pricing within fed-
eral guidance documents may aid in consideration of road pricing in metropolitan and statewide
transportation planning.
· Conformity requirements in planning provide an opportunity for attention to road pricing. The
briefing book points to transportation control measures (TCMs) as a means to help attain con-
formity; road pricing could qualify as an emissions reduction strategy.
· Road pricing may aid in meeting the metropolitan planning process requirement to be "fiscally
constrained," meaning expected revenues and costs balance. The MPO must demonstrate how
it expects to fund projects included in the plan, and that there is a balance between the expected
revenue sources for transportation investments and the estimated costs. Revenues may include
those from "user charges," which would include road pricing revenues.
3.7 Strategic Highway Research Program 2 Project C01
The keystone project under the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP 2) capacity
focus area is the development of a Collaborative Decision-Making Framework (CDMF) for deci-
sion points in various phases of the transportation decision-making process (Project C01). The
work by ICF is useful for identifying possible points for road pricing to enter planning and deci-
sion making. The framework is derived from about 25 detailed case studies of transportation
projects and the decision-making processes that led to their adoption. Important findings
include the following:
· Road pricing may be considered at several steps in the long-range planning process. Early steps
setting out regional objectives such as sustainability, improving system efficiency, improving air
quality, and managing congestion provide opportunities for attention to road pricing. The CMP
provides another opportunity where transportation deficiencies in the region are acknowledged
and where alternatives such as pricing and demand management strategies are considered and
prioritized. The CMP also can spur corridor studies or major investment studies in areas where
OCR for page 60
Summary of Literature Review on Planning for Road Pricing 63
congestion is greatest, and bring attention to potential congestion-relief solutions such as road
pricing.
· Corridor planning offers good potential for attention to road pricing because it is specific by area
and by level of analysis. Corridor planning is the level of planning detail required for environ-
mental review, suggesting both planning and environmental analysis for road pricing might be
done simultaneously, thereby shortening development and implementation time.
· According to the C01 project, there are two paths for road pricing under environmental review.
When a road pricing project involves significant new capacity, an extensive environmental
review process may be required via an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The review may
be necessary either for compliance with NEPA at the federal level or for a state-level environ-
mental review required by law in some states. Another path may be lesser reviews or an exemp-
tion, particularly for pricing projects on existing facilities, where trip reduction and air quality
benefits are clear cut and where revenues support auto use alternatives.
