Funding Transportation Infrastructure Research Articles

Distribution of Highway Infrastructure Cost Responsibility and Revenue Contribution Shares Among Highway Users in North Carolina: Present Conditions and Future Alternatives

As the proportion of fuel-efficient and electric vehicles is rapidly increasing, US states are challenged to meet the greater needs of the aging transportation infrastructure with less funds. The purpose of this study is to support state authorities in understanding the equity implications, feasibility, and effectiveness of many of the currently available transportation funding mechanisms. To fulfill this objective, the study analyzes data from North Carolina (NC) between 2014 and 2017. As a first step, we estimate and compare the transportation infrastructure cost responsibility and revenue contribution of NC highway users. Results indicate that lightweight vehicles contribute substantially more to the revenue compared with their share of cost responsibilities. Single-unit trucks with four or more axles and multi-unit trucks are found to underpay their cost responsibilities by 37% to 92%. We use these results in combination with previous research to assess different scenarios for funding transportation infrastructure in the future. Each alternative is evaluated for its revenue generation potential, equity-related improvements, applicability, and public acceptance. Findings suggest that a moderate increase in traditional taxes such as motor fuels tax, vehicle sales tax, or the state sales tax are practical and reasonable approaches for generating significant additional revenue in the short run without strong opposition from the public. However, all the scenarios analyzed by this study, which are based on tax and fee structures planned or implemented in the USA, are found to have minor impacts in improving equity between the cost responsibility and revenue contribution across vehicle classes.

Who should pay? Public acceptance of different means for funding transport infrastructure

Who should pay? Public acceptance of different means for funding transport infrastructure

Person-Based Micro-Simulation Demand Model for National Long-Distance Travel in the U.S.A.

As the nation and various states engage in funding transportation infrastructure improvements to meet future long-distance passenger travel demand, it is imperative to develop effective and practical modeling methods for analysis of long-distance passenger travel. Evaluating national-level infrastructure improvements requires a reliable analysis tool to model the demand for long-distance travel. The national travel demand model presented in this paper implements a person-level tour-based micro-simulation approach for modeling individuals’ long-distance or national activities in the U.S.A. This paper reviews the model framework, explains the model calibration, and presents applications of the model for policy evaluation and demand prediction. The model was estimated using the latest long-distance travel survey in the U.S.A., which is the 1995 American Travel Survey. As the estimation data is old, and no new long-distance travel survey with appropriate sample size is available to re-estimate the model, model calibration is the solution used to update the model and make it capable of capturing up-to-date travel patterns. Calibrating such a large-scale model can be challenging, because each calibration iteration is very costly. This paper describes the calibration effort conducted on the national long-distance micro-simulation model to showcase how a large-scale travel demand model can be calibrated efficiently. A fuel price scenario is analyzed to show how the national travel demand will change under a national fuel price increase scenario in the future year 2040. Another scenario analysis corresponding to construction of high-speed rail (HSR) is conducted to observe the effects of adding a HSR system to the northeast corridor on travel demand from a national perspective.

Value capture taxation: alternate sources of revenue for Sub-Central government in Australia

PurposeAustralia’s Future Tax System (2009) among its recommendations identified the need for realignment of tax revenue across the tiers of government in Australia, as well as the need to raise additional revenue from land-based taxes. In achieving these objectives, this paper aims to examine the revenues generated from land and how capital gains tax may be reconceptualised as a value capture tax resulting from the rapid urbanisation of Australia’s cities. The development of a theoretical framework realigns the emerging rationale of a value capture tax, as a means for revenue to be divested from central government in the form of capital gains, to sub-central government as a value capture tax.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research methodology comprising grounded theory and phenomenological research is used in undertaking the review of tax revenue collection from state land tax, conveyance stamp duty, local government rating and Commonwealth capital gains tax. Grounded theory is applied for constant comparison of the data with the objectives of maximising similarities and differences in these revenues with an analytical construct as defined by Strauss and Corbin (1990, p. 61).FindingsThe paper finds that realigning revenue from land-based taxes against the principles of good tax design provides greater opportunity to raise additional revenue to fund public infrastructure while decentralising revenue from central government. It provides an alternate mechanism for revenue transfer from central to sub-central government while conceptually improving own source revenue from value capture taxation as a new revenue source.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of this paper is the ability to quantify the potential increase that would be generated in the form of value capture revenue. It is demonstrated in the paper that capital gains tax took over 15 years for revenue generation to crystallise, a factor that would likely occur in the potential introduction of a value capture tax for funding transport infrastructure.Practical implicationsThe pathway to introducing a value capture tax is through re-innovating capital gains tax as a value capture tax directly hypothecated to funding transport infrastructure that results in the uplift in values of the surrounding property from which revenue is raised.Originality/valueThis paper provides a new approach in contributing to funding the capital outlay of public infrastructure in lieu of central government consolidated revenue allocated through the Commonwealth Grants Commission. It provides a much-needed approach to decentralising revenue from the Commonwealth to sub-central government in Australia which has one of the most centralised tax systems in the OECD.

Why the Dot's Role in Funding and Regulating Transportation Should Be Reduced

We analyze the role of the US Department of Transportation (DOT) in regulating transportation safety and funding surface transportation infrastructure. These two aspects of DOT policy are important in light of recent trends and problems with our transportation system. Government officials and transportation experts have expressed growing concern about deteriorating surface transportation infrastructure. Transportation safety regulation, which continues to increase, disproportionately burdens low-income Americans and small businesses. This paper synthesizes and updates the literature from past debates about the costs and incentive effects of safety regulation. A counterfactual analysis using historical evidence and economic research on safety regulation indicates that without regulation, the private sector would provide many safety features in response to market incentives. Economic research also shows that when the DOT mandates safety features, people must then spend less on other things they value more. Similarly, we demonstrate, based on economic theory and evidence, that existing policies for funding transportation infrastructure contribute to investment decisions that do not accurately reflect the traveling public's preferences. Evidence from other studies suggests that these policies also create excess demand for highway space in many cities and excess supply of mass transit service. To promote a more efficient and equitable transportation system, the role of the DOT in funding surface transportation should be reduced and the role of state and local governments and private firms should be increased. The DOT should also reduce its role in regulating transportation safety so that travelers and shippers have more freedom to choose the level of safety they desire.

Funding transport infrastructure at a dry port - with special reference to Nagpur: a stock take on MIHAN and CONCOR

The research work specifically analyses the prime facets of funding and development of transport infrastructure at a dry port, particularly for Nagpur and the hinterland of Vidarbha. The Government of Maharashtra has allocated crores of rupees to fund infrastructure projects in the state. Funds have also poured in through strategic alliances or joint ventures and public private partnership (PPP). Hence, it can be reasoned that funds are not scarce for viable projects. The research work undertaken is a ‘stock take’ of progress to date on: 1) a major infrastructure development project Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN); 2) operations of a logistic solution provider and infrastructure developer CONCOR-ICD Nagpur since 1997. A critical study of these vital projects helps analyse the developments in the region by way of funding transport infrastructure.

Understanding spatial variations in the impact of accessibility on land value using geographically weighted regression

In recent years, land value capture has attracted increasing attention as a result of its potential for funding transport infrastructure. There has been substantial research into this issue recently in the US, but, in the UK, only a few studies have examined the evidence of the impact of transport infrastructure on land value and these studies have concentrated on London. As the capital, London is different in many aspects from other cities, and conurbations such as Manchester, Sheffield and Tyne and Wear are more representative of British cities. This study focuses on the impact of the Tyne and Wear Metro, a light rail system, using a Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model with property prices as the dependent variable which is then explained by independent variables designed to standardise for household features as well as some spatially defined factors including the transport accessibility of the house location. This methodology allows the estimation of the importance of transport accessibility in determining house prices and helps to identify the potential for land value capture associated with transport investment. The results from the global regression model (equivalent to a hedonic model) show that the internal factors of the property and socio-economic classification of its location are the dominant determinants of property prices while transport accessibility variables, as key components of property location reflecting land value, are significant too in determining property prices. The results from GWR (the local model) show significant spatially varying relationships between property prices and the variables concerned and allow the impact of accessibility on house prices to be identified. This study contributes both to a quantification of the impact of public transport infrastructure on accessibility and its policy implications, and a demonstration of a new methodology in the transport field that elegantly takes account of the spatial nature of the data required in this process.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in Transportation: An Analysis of Alternatives

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are in the forefront of approaches to funding transportation infrastructure improvements. Highlighted in the highway area by long-term leases of the Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road, a variety of states are investigating the use of public private partnerships either as “Brownfield” leases like the Chicago and Indiana cases, or “Greenfield” Design, Build, Operate, Transfer arrangements. These and other PPP projects raise a variety of issues, including the length of the lease, toll escalation permitted, and use of funds. This paper develops a rationale for PPPs in transportation, evaluates several approaches to PPPs using this rationale, and analyzes some of the difficult issues that can surface.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Funding Transportation Infrastructure

There is growing concern around the world about insufficient capacity and poor condition of transportation infrastructure. Congestion on roads and at airports, bottlenecks at seaports and railway terminuses, the dilapidated state of highways and other problems are mounting. Traditional revenue sources such as property and fuel taxes are unlikely to suffice in the future either to pay for adequate maintenance or to fund investments in new and improved infrastructure. Shortages of funds, and increasing support for the user pays principle, are behind calls to give an increased role to user charges such as highway tolls and airport fees related to congestion and other user-imposed costs. And the private sector is increasingly being called upon to help design, finance, build, operate and maintain infrastructure -- often through Public Private Partnerships.

Relationship Between Transport Accessibility and Land Value: Local Model Approach with Geographically Weighted Regression

In recent years, land value capture has attracted increasing attention because of its potential for funding transport infrastructure. It is well acknowledged that transport infrastructure can improve accessibility to employment and amenities; thus one might expect that it is the improved accessibility that adds value to land. Therefore, the issues in the relationship between transport accessibility and land value rise in connection with the concept of land value capture. A study looked at the relationship between transport accessibility and land value with the implication of a local model, geographically weighted regression (GWR). Traditional techniques, such as hedonic models, used to understand the attributes of land value, are global models that could be misleading in examining the spatially varying relationships, such as transport accessibility and land value. By using the Tyne and Wear region in the United Kingdom as a case study, the study revealed that nonstationarity existing in the relationship between transport accessibility and land value indicates that transport accessibility may have a positive effect on land value in some areas but a negative or no effect in others; this suggests that a uniform land value capture would be inappropriate. The use of GWR allows such spatially varying relationships to be revealed, leading to a better understanding of the factors determining positive land value uplift and the implications of spatially dependent transport access premiums in housing values in the context of value capture policies.

Relationship between Transport Accessibility and Land Value

In recent years, land value capture has attracted increasing attention because of its potential for funding transport infrastructure. It is well acknowledged that transport infrastructure can improve accessibility to employment and amenities; thus one might expect that it is the improved accessibility that adds value to land. Therefore, the issues in the relationship between transport accessibility and land value rise in connection with the concept of land value capture. A study looked at the relationship between transport accessibility and land value with the implication of a local model, geographically weighted regression (GWR). Traditional techniques, such as hedonic models, used to understand the attributes of land value, are global models that could be misleading in examining the spatially varying relationships, such as transport accessibility and land value. By using the Tyne and Wear region in the United Kingdom as a case study, the study revealed that nonstationarity existing in the relationship between transport accessibility and land value indicates that transport accessibility may have a positive effect on land value in some areas but a negative or no effect in others; this suggests that a uniform land value capture would be inappropriate. The use of GWR allows such spatially varying relationships to be revealed, leading to a better understanding of the factors determining positive land value uplift and the implications of spatially dependent transport access premiums in housing values in the context of value capture policies.