Drawing on previously unavailable archives, Paying the Toll describes the high-stakes struggles for control of the Golden Gate Bridge, and offers a rare inside look at the powerful and secretive agency that built a regional transportation empire with its toll revenue.

A transportation expert makes a provocative case for changing the nation’s approach to highways, offering “bold, innovative thinking on infrastructure” (Rick Geddes, Cornell University). Americans spend hours every day sitting in traffic. And the roads they idle on are often rough and potholed, with exits, tunnels, guardrails, and bridges in terrible disrepair. According to transportation expert Robert Poole, this congestion and deterioration are outcomes of the way America manages its highways. Our twentieth-century model overly politicizes highway investment decisions, short-changing maintenance and often investing in projects whose costs exceed their benefits. In Rethinking America’s Highways, Poole examines how our current model of state-owned highways came about and why it is failing to satisfy its customers. He argues for a new model that treats highways themselves as public utilities—like electricity, telephones, and water supply. If highways were provided commercially, Poole argues, people would pay for highways based on how much they used, and the companies would issue revenue bonds to invest in facilities people were willing to pay for. Arguing for highway investments to be motivated by economic rather than political factors, this book makes a carefully-reasoned and well-documented case for a new approach to highways.

This report contains selected information on toll facilities in the United States. The information is based on a survey of facilities in operation, financed, or under construction as of January 1, 1999, and is presented in six tables. Table T-1 contains information such as the name, financing or operating authority, location and termini, feature crossed, length, and road system for toll roads, bridges, tunnels, and ferries that connect highways. Table T-2 contains a list of those projects under serious consideration as toll facilities, awaiting completion of financing arrangements, or proposed as new toll facilities that are being studied for financial and operational feasibility. Also included are four tables containing data on receipts and disbursements of toll facilities. These four tables are published in the "1997 Highway Statistics" as Table SF-3B, Table SF-4B, Table LGF-3B and Table LGF-4B. Beginning with this issue of "Toll Facilities in the United States," a section has been added containing available names, addresses, and phone numbers of toll authorities; all toll authorities are not included.

"This volume explores transportation technologies that enable congestion pricing. This document contains the following: the functional processes for tolling and congestion pricing; what technologies there are to consider; how the technologies are applied; examples of how technologies have been applied; what technologies may make it work better in the future"--p. 2.

"In The Road to Renewal: Private Investment in U.S. Transportation Infrastructure, R. Richard Geddes surveys the current state of the American transportation system and finds that, like the roads themselves, the existing policy approach is in desperate need of repair. Drawing on the basic economic principles behind supply, demand, competition, and incentives, Geddes argues that a shift toward increased use of public-private partnerships (PPPs)--contractual agreements between public agencies and private parties that allow private participation in the design, construction, operation, and delivery of transportation facilities--could significantly improve the quality of America's transportation infrastructure. By learning to see themselves as customers and investors--rather than mere users--of roads and highways, Americans should expect to receive a reasonable return on their investment: thorough, effective maintenance of America's transportation infrastructure. The Road to Renewal shows how incorporating increased private participation can halt the deterioration of America's transportation system and become the foundation for a safer, more efficient transportation future."--P. [4] of cover.