State Gas Taxes and P3s Fill Federal Transportation Revenue Void

"Before this burst, no state had raised its gas tax for nearly four years, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit research group," writes Josh Mitchel. The first state to break the gas tax increase freeze was Wyoming.

See ITEP's publication, "How Long Has it Been Since Your State Raised Its Gas Tax?" to see a chart that shows (as of April 1, 2014) "the number of years that have elapsed since each state’s gas tax rate was last increased." Alaska is the champion at almost 44 years.

More common is the use of public-private partnerships, also referred to as P3s, for specific projects that governments might otherwise be unable to finance.

Crimped for funds, a slew of cities and states such as New York, Texas and Indiana are teaming up with private companies to build roads, bridges and other public projects, moving into zones once funded by gas-tax dollars or traditional state bonds. These partnerships replicate a model long practiced in Europe, with private firms putting up initial funding in exchange for future guaranteed payments, through toll revenue or other sources.