A pay-as-you-go plan for the road
Motorists pay fees based on miles driven in system discussed in state
A recently completed pilot project in Oregon may hold the key to the future of Colorado’s transportation funding, but many question whether that future is years or decades away.
The subject of that project, the Vehicle Miles Tax, is simple in concept: Motorists pay fees based on each mile they drive, with cost added for traveling in congested areas during rush hour.
Implementation is not as easy.
For its experiment, Oregon installed in the cars of willing participants computerized receivers linked to Global Positioning System satellites. The receivers recorded mileage and let drivers know when they were in the extra-charge zones, said James Whitty, manager of innovative partnerships and alternative funding for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Short-range radio frequency devices installed on pumps at select gas stations read the mileage totals on the receivers electronically. The mileage total then is compared with the previous reading, charges are applied and the gas tax is deducted from the purchase.
The biggest advantage to this system, many say, is that those who use the highways more are charged more. At public hearings being held by Gov. Bill Ritter’s Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel, the Vehicle Miles Tax has been the most popular method of transportation financing when it is explained to the audience, said Flo Raitano, director of the Interstate 70 Mountain Corridor Coalition and a member of the technical advisory committee to the panel.
Surveys also found that 91 percent of the project participants would continue with the system if the new technology were added to every fueling station, Whitty told a transportation finance forum in Denver this year.
Another factor that sets it apart from other ideas is that it could replace the gas tax rather than supplement it. A Colorado Department of Transportation analysis predicted that if the Vehicle Miles Tax was implemented and the gas tax eliminated right away, the state would receive $1.95 billion more over the next 23 years than it would under its current funding system.
But officials found it difficult to retrofit many cars, a necessity because no automakers are building vehicles that include the receivers. And the radio frequency used by the receivers tended to drain the battery of some cars, Whitty said.
El Paso County Commissioner Wayne Williams, who sits on the technical advisory committee, expressed concerns about motorists’ privacy if a government system keeps track of everywhere they drive. For example, he asked, could information about where a particular car has driven be subject to open-records requests and available to all residents?
“I don’t think the average Coloradan wants the government having that much information about them,” Williams said.
State Treasurer Cary Kennedy, co-chairwoman of the blue-ribbon panel, agreed, suggesting that if Colorado were to set up a similar system, it should erase individuals’ driving history every time they pay at the pump.
The prospects of such a system are intriguing enough that most of the debate among transportation officials involves how soon the Vehicle Miles Tax should be in the state’s plans rather than whether it has any place in them.
Former CDOT director Ray Chamberlin suggested the best strategy is to recommend the tax be a part of the 2009 federal reauthorization of the highway funding package and to expect it to play only an incidental part of the long-term state goals.
Whitty asked also that states urge the federal government to adopt the program. Otherwise, governments could not reap the benefits from tourists who travel their roads.
But Raitano insisted that the state put together a task force immediately to study if it can follow Oregon’s lead.
“I think it would be shortsighted to say that because this is futuristic, we should avoid it,” Raitano said. “I don’t think this is 10 years away. I think this is more like two years away, and we ought to start planning for it now.”
The panel will recommend to Ritter this year how it thinks road building should be funded. Tax increases and an increasing number of toll booths are among the other options being considered.
