Book Accelerates the Debate Over Traffic Solutions

Orange County could raise enough money to relieve crowded freeways if motorists were charged “congestion fees” for commuting during peak traffic hours and if truck weight fees reflected road wear, according to UC Irvine economist Kenneth A. Small.

Those and other theories about highway financing are contained in a new book in which Small and two East Coast economists argue that the nation’s current system of highway financing is unable to cope with the real costs of maintaining and providing transportation facilities.

“Road Work: A New Highway Pricing & Investment Policy” was published last month by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. It states that transportation experts have virtually given up on solving the highway mess because of the tremendous financial burden involved. The authors say that ride-sharing, parking fees and other such means to improve traffic flow are fine but that they will never allow the system to catch up with the pent-up demand.

By making it more costly to motorists to jam existing roads, however, Small says, some of the existing license fees and road taxes could be retired. Car-pool lanes might not be needed because some commuters, rather than pay a congestion fee, would choose different work hours, travel by commuter trains or buses or find jobs closer to their homes.

‘Some Distinction’

It is an idea that would be especially applicable in Orange County, Small said in an interview.

“California has more congestion than most other states,” he said. “And certainly Orange County has some distinction on that score.”

In the book, Small--who came to UC Irvine from Princeton University six years ago--cites the planned 14-mile San Joaquin Hills tollway as an example of how a two-tier pricing system could work: Raising the price of a 50-cent toll to 85 cents during peak traffic periods would reduce estimated peak traffic 19% in 1995 and 30% by 2015, compared to the reductions that would result from a flat 60-cent toll, “even though the two toll structures would have virtually identical impacts on total daily traffic.”

By charging congestion-based tolls of $1 to $2 per trip during peak hours, most states would be able to pay for major increases in highway capacity, Small says. Small would, however, limit the use of such funds to the particular area that was generating the toll revenue. “I wouldn’t want to see congestion fees collected here be used for a new road way up in Eureka,” he said.

Singapore, which charges a toll of about $2.50 per day to enter its central business district, achieved a 69% reduction in rush-hour traffic over a four-year period in the late 1970s, according to the book. Residents display monthly window stickers bought in advance to pass checkpoints along the main highways into the district, Small said.

Technology Has Advanced

County tollway officials have not seriously considered higher prices for peak-hour use, Small said, because the tollway projects now under way are already heavily financed with developer fees. A congestion fee would be more practical, he said, if developers were not already footing up to 48.5% of the construction costs and if there was no possibility that the project could receive federal highway funds.

Still, county tollway chief John Meyer said he would recommend charging higher peak-hour tolls once the roads’ traffic capacity is reached.

The technology involved, Small argues, has advanced enough that queues at toll booths will not be a problem. Window stickers or license plates can be scanned electronically. Such a system is being proposed for Orange County’s tollways.

Small and co-authors Clifford Winston and Carol A. Evans acknowledge that there are many political obstacles to widespread implementation of their book’s proposals, primarily because special interest groups have competing interests.

The book’s timing could not be better, though, Small says, partly because of the media’s recent focus on the economic and social costs of traffic congestion. The book and its controversial policy proposals have already been discussed in several newspapers and magazines as well as on public television.

Criticism of Book

Its critics include former Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, a key member of the California Transportation Commission. Nestande, who is vice president of Arnel Development Co. in Costa Mesa, said he prefers car-pool lanes, flexible work hours and other such traffic mangement strategies, arguing that “congestion fees would be met with instant public outrage” and that doing much to adjust truck weight fees would be politically unfeasible.

“Academicians can come up with good-sounding proposals that might even work, but I’m in favor of doing what’s practical right now,” Nestande said.

Keith McKean, Caltrans district director in Orange County, is mentioned in the book as a supporter of Small’s congestion fee idea. In an interview, McKean said he would prefer to call the charge a “peak-hour users’ fee” because that would generate less public opposition.

McKean said he envisions annual vehicle registration cards that would be magnetically encoded by the Department of Motor Vehicles and displayed on the right side of the windshield. Every time the vehicle crossed into a peak-hour toll zone, a detector would record the registration code and a monthly bill would be mailed to the owner. Trucks, he said, would be charged higher peak-hour use fees.

Who Should Bear Costs

“My feeling is that if people want to use the freeway, they should use it in the off-peak hours,” McKean said. “But if they’re going to use it in the peak hours, let’s make them pay for it. Rather than tax all the people all the time, let’s (tax) people who insist on peak-hour use for improving the flow out there.”

The Orange County Transportation Commission recently voted to try to secure state approval for at least one privately built and operated toll road--possibly the extension of the Orange Freeway along the Santa Ana River. Small, however, says he is not in favor of “privatized” roads.

“I don’t trust government-granted franchise monopolies,” he said. “They are subject to abuse.”

Small concedes that he himself may not have to pay many tolls: “I bicycle to work.”

PAYING FOR CONGESTION

Here’s how a congestion fee might work:

Any road where traffic is a problem--a downtown city thoroughfare, a highway or a toll road--isdesignated as a congestion fee area.

A driver entering such an area has a window sticker, card or license plate automatically readby an electronic scanner.

The driver then is billed periodically, based on the information read by the scanner.

The fee could be a set amount--for example, $1 or $2. Or, in the case of a toll road, it wouldbe above the regular toll, for example, 85 cents rather than 50 cents.