Infrastructure Asset Management – How to Fund Roads?

If there is ever a question to start a discussion in infrastructure asset management circles it is how to fund roads.

The Economist Magazine has an article on Taxing Motorists: Roads Less Travelled relating to Vehicle Miles Travelled Fees being trialed in the US State of Oregon.

Paying for roads used to be easy – petrol taxes allowed for the costs to be recovered from motorists, and used for road construction and maintenance.  

Issues have arisen around electric and hybrid vehicles, less vehicle use, mode transfers and the use of more fuel efficient vehicles as these graphs from the Economist article demonstrate:

Road Funding mechanisms obviously vary from country to country and can include petrol taxes, user charges, vehicle registration charges, tolls, general taxation transfers, loans, and grants.

As modern GPS and data sensing technologies improve, options such as Vehicle Miles Traveled can be considered, although as the Economist article notes there are considerable privacy and trust issues to be dealt with.

There are two sides to Infrastructure Management – expenditure and revenue.

The funding of roads is an important consideration in revenue discussions – and as such, I commend this Economist article for your reading, consideration, and discussion.