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ATA chief: Congestion pricing, privatization will add unnecessary costs to economy

WASHINGTON — Congestion pricing and highway privatization add unnecessary costs to the economy and do not solve budget problems, the president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations said Thursday in discussing infrastructure spending in his latest entry on the National Journal’s Transportation Experts Blog.

The journal had posed the question “What Can We Learn About Transportation From Beyond Our Borders?”

Graves, along with several other experts associated with the transportation industry, responded.

The experts blog is part of the National Journal Group’s online properties.

The National Journal Group is a source of nonpartisan reporting on the current political environment and emerging policy trends.

“While few would argue with the idea that an investment in infrastructure must be made to reduce traffic congestion and pollution, funding schemes like congestion pricing and privatization do not provide long-term solutions, as seen by their lack of success in Europe and Asia,” Bill Graves wrote. “Adding capacity with new infrastructure funded by fuel taxes is the best solution.”

Groves said the premise is that congestion pricing will give motorists better road access for a price.

 â€œIn many instances, however, congestion pricing does not markedly reduce congestion; it merely raises revenues — or taxes,” he wrote. “Congestion pricing increases cargo transportation costs and hurts the economy. Higher manufacturers’ and retailers’ operating costs mean higher costs to consumers for everything from gasoline to clothing to food.”

Graves noted that in London, home of the model urban congestion pricing scheme, reports show that the program has had little effect on pre-program levels, which continue to worsen and much of the surcharge paid by each vehicle for entering the city’s center is spent on overhead expenses, he said.

“Motorists also lose a bit of their right to travel freely,” Graves wrote.

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