Increasing vehicle standards means decreasing gasoline usage--and tax revenues. A new report suggests that a wholesale rethinking of how we pay for transportation infrastructure may be in order.
The study, released by University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs, points to a growing problem in transportation funding. Gasoline taxes have historically served as a user's fee, with taxes paid roughly proportional to miles driven, but with today's more fuel efficient vehicles, a mismatch between taxes paid and services consumed can occur.
The report suggests a better solution might be taxing vehicle miles traveled. Emily Badger writes:
'What's needed now is not a higher gas tax, but a whole new way of looking at how we pay our fair share for using public roads We shouldn't fill road coffers according to how much gas we buy, but how many miles we drive.'
Read the full story: Transportation Theorists Rally Around Vehicle-Miles-Traveled Tax
California Poised to Lose Up to $4 Billion in Gas Tax Revenue
States must find other ways to fund transportation projects as the transportation sector moves toward decarbonization.
Survey Finds Growing Support for a Mileage Fee Over the Gas Tax
An annual survey by the Mineta Transportation Institute found new levels of support for a change in the way the federal government raises money from, and for, highway infrastructure.
The Looming Era of VMT
The gas tax is becoming an increasingly outdated and unsustainable idea. This piece from Miller McCune looks at the prospect of replacing it with a tax based on vehicle miles traveled.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
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Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
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US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority