Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Federal Highway Administration Announces More than $14 Million in Grants to Test New Ways of Funding Highways

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Eight projects to pilot alternative revenue approaches to support the Highway Trust Fund

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration today announced $14.2 million in grants for states under a new program to explore alternative revenue mechanisms to help sustain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.

“Reliable funding is essential to ensuring we have a sound transportation system to support the economy,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “More investment in transportation in greatly needed, and we must find new solutions to prepare for the travel demands of the nation’s growing population.”

The Surface Transportation System Funding Alternatives (STSFA) grant program will fund projects to test the design, implementation and acceptance of user-based alternative revenue mechanisms.

The program will help address some of the concerns outlined in Beyond Traffic, the USDOT report issued last year that examines the challenges facing America's transportation infrastructure over the next three decades, such as a rapidly growing population and increasing traffic. Gridlock nationwide is expected to increase unless changes are made soon.

The eight projects will pilot a variety of options to raise revenue, including on-board vehicle technologies to charge drivers based on miles traveled and multi-state or regional approaches to road user charges. The projects will address common challenges involved with implementing user-based fees such as public acceptance, privacy protection, equity and geographic diversity. The projects will also evaluate the reliability and security of the technologies available to implement mileage-based fees.

“We’re thinking ahead about ways to fund our highway system and be equipped for the nation’s economic future,” said Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. "It’s a system people rely upon for their jobs and essential services, for businesses to serve their customers and for freight shippers to deliver their goods.” 

STSFA was established under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

FY2016 Surface Transportation System Funding Alternative Program Selection

FY2016 Surface Transportation System Funding Alternative Program Selection

Recipient state and partners

Project Description

Funding

California Department of Transportation

Road User Charge (RUC) using pay-at-the Pump/ charging stations.

$750,000

Delaware Department of Transportation

User fees based with on-board mileage counters in collaboration with members of the I-95 Corridor Coalition.

$1,490,000

Hawaii Department of Transportation

User fee collection based on manual and automated odometer readings at inspection stations.

$3,998,000

Minnesota Department of Transportation

Use of Mobility-as-a-Service providers (MaaS) as the revenue collection mechanism.

$300,000

Missouri Department of Transportation

Implementation a new registration fee schedule based on estimated miles per gallon.

$250,000

Oregon Department of Transportation

Improvements to Oregon’s existing road usage charge program.

$2,100,000

Oregon Department of Transportation

Establishing the consistency, compatibility and interoperability in road user charging for a regional system in collaboration with members of the Western Road User Charge Consortium.

$1,500,000

Washington Department of Transportation

Testing critical elements of interoperable, multi-jurisdictional alternative user-based revenue collection systems.  Piloting methods of road usage reporting with Washington drivers.

$3,847,000

Total

$14,235,000

# # #

FHWA 48-16