NyQuil for the Constituents...

Congestion Tolling is a pill by any other name...

Photo by davide ragusa on Unsplash

Today, across this Country, Cities and States are looking at funding mechanisms to support the highway system. In need of help, our highways provide the very lifeline that gets commerce moving and delivered. Without them, our cities would be islands to one another.

Considered a way to fund the highway system, and a way to keep us out of our cars, Congestion Pricing is the newest form of tolling coming to America and… it has a synonym that has the potential to rock our world… Cordon Pricing.

Proposed in Oregon for cities and possibly freeways, it is scheduled to begin in New York City in early 2024. One of the big concerns is that States appear to have complete control of where Cordon Pricing can be applied without the need for Federal approval.

Also Thomas Buckley, a journalist from LA, explorers how Congestion Pricing may soon function as Cordon Pricing in Los Angeles.

In Short

Article 1 - Thomas Buckley, writes articles to inform, discuss and alert people of what might be going on behind the scenes. In this article, he discusses how the transportation system in LA is broken, unsafe and that the people do not trust the government.

If the topic doesn’t get your attention then you will surely enjoy his wit and delivery.

Article 2 - ODOT loves to state that Congestion Pricing is not new and that they are the first to look at equity pricing… both not true. The Manhattan project, yes a play on words, will be the first Congestion Pricing program launched in the US and they started the work on equity tolling a few months before ODOT.

There are pro and con views for this project as this Commercial Observer article points out. And as this project plays out, so may others, across the US.

Article 3 - Are toll roads a bad idea? Is a program that is put on the people, without competition, fair? This article, posted on the National Motorist Association, asks questions that we had not thought of… why not let companies compete to provide toll roads, providing better service and competitive pricing.

Article 4 - Because we cite our sources, this link is to the Federal Highway Administration’s Congestion Pricing page. Note “Zone-Based Pricing, including Cordon and Area Pricing”, under Congestion Pricing Strategies.

Weekly Articles

California Globe article on a SoCal VMT

Manhattan Congestion Pricing is the first of its kind

Competitive Tolling... why not...

Federal Highway Administration's Congestion Pricing includes Cordon Pricing