This report summarizes a National Conference on State Highway Finance by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) on the subject of "Understanding the Highway Finance Evolution/Revolution." Five major highway funding mechanisms were addressed: user fees; nonuser fees; special benefit fees; private participation, and debt financing. The general issues, findings, and conclusions identified by the several workshops are presented in this publication.

This comprehensive text examines the evolution of urban transportation planning in the United States, from early developments in highway planning in the 1930s to today’s concerns over sustainable development, security, and pollution control.

Conference participants sought to identify gaps in the data and analytic tools needed to support economic analysis as related to transportation investment and to develop research proposals designed to fill those gaps. The opening day of the conference featured presentations by economists, transportation analysts, and policy makers on the theory and practice of economic analysis and its usefulness to decision makers. The second and third days of the conference revolved around participatory workshops. Six separate working groups deliberated over three questions: (1) What is the appropriate level of investment in transportation to encourage economic health? (2) How should projects be prioritized within a multimodal transportation program? (3) How much revenue is likely to flow from user charges, tolls, and other sources? At the conclusion of its deliberations, each working group developed a list of research proposals, which it then presented to the conference as a whole.

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