What are some alternative means of funding roads/highways?

[Ned Weasel]

A couple of ideas occurred to me when I was thinking about how unlikely it is for Missouri to ever have toll roads (new roads or tolls on existing roads).

(1) What exactly is stopping DOTs from using concessions to build revenue for new or expanded roads?  My understanding of whatever law that prevents every state except Connecticut and Maryland from having service areas on non-toll roads is admittedly vague.  There seems to be so much potential here: gas stations, food courts, gift shops, tourist attractions, truck stops, etc. With truck stops, they could even charge for parking, considering how truck parking is always in such high demand.

(2) Advertisement funding.  Almost every website is funded this way.  Why not roads?  Billboards are usually on private land, so the revenue stream typically only benefits land owners fortunate enough to own land adjacent to the road.  Why not use ROW for billboards and collect the revenue to fund the road?  Going back to Missouri, this seems like it could be particularly applicable on I-70.

Other ideas/thoughts?

[Rothman]

Concessions at plazas are now considered state-subsidized competition with local businesses.  This is why NY's "Taste of NY" stores on its highways were initially shot down by FHWA.  I still don't know how NYSDOT got the approval -- one argument I had heard from the CFO was that the stores were "little more than vending machines"...but I doubt that's what convinced FHWA.

[kalvado]

As of now, a ballpark estimate of gas taxes is $250 a year for my area. That is, 13k miles a year at, for simplicity, 26 mpg means 500 gallons annually, taxed at 50 cents federal, state and local.
I simply don't spend anything close to that in rest areas. If that would be added as overhead for places near the road, driving further inland would be  a second option (and packing more drinks and food before leaving - a first one).
Airport and toll road places are already overpriced , but I don't think they contribute too much towards the bottom line. Limitations on outside food and drink in airports does help, though.

[Roadgeekteen]

I think that Interstates should be able to have service plazas.

[jmacswimmer]

Airport and toll road places are already overpriced , but I don't think they contribute too much towards the bottom line. Limitations on outside food and drink in airports does help, though.

Whatever revenue the DOT's/toll authorities gained from service plazas is even less in many states now, as a lot of the deals for reconstructing service plazas in the northeast allowed the concessionaire to keep most of the revenue in return for financing the rebuild.

(1) What exactly is stopping DOTs from using concessions to build revenue for new or expanded roads?  My understanding of whatever law that prevents every state except Connecticut and Maryland from having service areas on non-toll roads is admittedly vague.  There seems to be so much potential here: gas stations, food courts, gift shops, tourist attractions, truck stops, etc. With truck stops, they could even charge for parking, considering how truck parking is always in such high demand.

Just wanted to note that CT & MD weren't exempt:

-The Merritt/Wilbur Cross Parkways & Connecticut Turnpike were formerly tolled, so these service plazas are grandfathered in.
-The toll plaza a mile north of the Tydings Bridge is technically for the entire JFK Highway stretch of I-95 from Baltimore to Delaware, which explains the existence of the Maryland House & Chesapeake House plazas.  There also used to be ramp toll plazas at the exits along this stretch.

[SkyPesos]

KY still have an operating service plaza on the WK Pkwy, decades after tolls were removed.

[deathtopumpkins]

There is no prohibition on having service plazas on non-tolled roads. Federal law only prohibits service plazas on interstate highways, with an exception for those built prior to 1960. Tolls are irrelevant, it only matters whether the road is an interstate or not, and when the service plaza was built.

E.g. there are service plazas on the MA 128 portion of I-95, which was never a toll road, but was not built as an interstate.

Some states have laws prohibiting businesses from operating at rest areas (e.g. California), but many do not. In those states there would theoretically not be any law preventing the state DOT from building a service plaza along a non-interstate road.

[Roadgeekteen]

There is no prohibition on having service plazas on non-tolled roads. Federal law only prohibits service plazas on interstate highways, with an exception for those built prior to 1960. Tolls are irrelevant, it only matters whether the road is an interstate or not, and when the service plaza was built.

E.g. there are service plazas on the MA 128 portion of I-95, which was never a toll road, but was not built as an interstate.

Some states have laws prohibiting businesses from operating at rest areas (e.g. California), but many do not. In those states there would theoretically not be any law preventing the state DOT from building a service plaza along a non-interstate road.

Massachusetts has 1 on MA 24.

[OCGuy81]

In Illinois, are the establishments you see that span the tollways, kicking some of that revenue to transportation?  I'd assume so....

[HighwayStar]

I would say that removing the gas tax and using an alternative tax is a MUST in light of EVs.

Taxing tires would in theory be a pretty good approach, but you run into a perverse incentive where you discourage people from spending on safety equipment, so that is no good.

Some counties assess by the size of the lot for local roads. That tends to screw rural property owners however.

[CtrlAltDel]

In Illinois, are the establishments you see that span the tollways, kicking some of that revenue to transportation?  I'd assume so....

They seem fairly keen to get rid of the oases, so I can only assume that they don't really make a lot of money, at least for the Tollway authority.

[SectorZ]

There is no prohibition on having service plazas on non-tolled roads. Federal law only prohibits service plazas on interstate highways, with an exception for those built prior to 1960. Tolls are irrelevant, it only matters whether the road is an interstate or not, and when the service plaza was built.

E.g. there are service plazas on the MA 128 portion of I-95, which was never a toll road, but was not built as an interstate.

Some states have laws prohibiting businesses from operating at rest areas (e.g. California), but many do not. In those states there would theoretically not be any law preventing the state DOT from building a service plaza along a non-interstate road.

Massachusetts has 1 on MA 24.

MA 3 in Plymouth and MA 128 in Beverly as well. Kind of one on US 6 in Barnstable, if you want to consider that kind of a freeway.

[kalvado]

I would say that removing the gas tax and using an alternative tax is a MUST in light of EVs.

Taxing tires would in theory be a pretty good approach, but you run into a perverse incentive where you discourage people from spending on safety equipment, so that is no good.

Some counties assess by the size of the lot for local roads. That tends to screw rural property owners however.

So far, I ran about 40k miles on my set, would probably have to replace them at about 50k. Gas tax is about 2 cents a mile (NY total rate - state, federal, local) would mean $800 tax for a set of tires on top of probably $600 rubber price. Sticker shock?

[JoePCool14]

(2) Advertisement funding.  Almost every website is funded this way.  Why not roads?  Billboards are usually on private land, so the revenue stream typically only benefits land owners fortunate enough to own land adjacent to the road.  Why not use ROW for billboards and collect the revenue to fund the road?  Going back to Missouri, this seems like it could be particularly applicable on I-70.

Gross. Would you want every highway to be like this but worse? Imagine if we had to add gantries over roads just for billboards. No thank you. We get enough advertising on TV, radio, online, sports, etc.

[Scott5114]

(2) Advertisement funding.  Almost every website is funded this way.  Why not roads?  Billboards are usually on private land, so the revenue stream typically only benefits land owners fortunate enough to own land adjacent to the road.  Why not use ROW for billboards and collect the revenue to fund the road?  Going back to Missouri, this seems like it could be particularly applicable on I-70.

Engineers would probably put the kibosh on this due to message loading concerns. Obviously, they can't exercise any control over this when billboards are on private land adjacent to the road, but on the other hand, signs are a lot more ignorable that far off the traveled way. You could maybe get away with doing billboard gantries if they're more than a mile from adjacent interchanges.

The Lady Bird Johnson Act may also make this illegal, but I'm not familiar enough with its provisions to say for sure.

[Scott5114]

Tax on electricity. Obviously not all electricity use is for powering electric cars, but not all gas is used on roads either (some of it goes to things like lawnmowers and generators).

Road-maintenance fees on license plate stickers and driver license renewals. Of course, this means the tax burden is entirely on the residents of a given state, and not shared with drivers passing through, like the gas tax does. (This is a problem with tire taxes as well. Also, if you live in a metro area adjacent to a state line, you can buy tires in whichever state has the lower tire tax.)

Wind turbines positioned to generate electricity off the drafts of passing trucks. You could also construct solar panels in the middle of loop ramps. This electricity is then sold to the local power utility.

Traffic fines go to the state DOT rather than the police department or general fund.

The area under elevated highways is leased to private businesses. Obviously there aren't a lot of customer-oriented places that would want to be located under a freeway overpass, but it would be a good place for something like a self-storage business or a marijuana grow facility.

[kphoger]

You could also construct solar panels in the middle of loop ramps.

I'm thinking that rollover truck accidents might become a lot more expensive that way.

[1995hoo]

Virginia has introduced what is called the "highway use fee." If it applies to your car, it's charged when you renew your registration–I had to pay it last week when I renewed the registration on my wife's Acura TLX. It applies to vehicles whose fuel efficiency exceeds a certain mpg rating; as to those vehicles (such as the TLX), the amount is calculated based on some kind of sliding scale using the EPA fuel economy figures. The fee also applies to alternative-fuel vehicles, including electric vehicles, and I believe those vehicles are subject to a flat fee that is calculated based on some combination of estimated average miles driven per year and estimated average fuel economy.

The funny thing is, when they introduced this fee, they also reduced the cost to register your car by $10 per year. So while our TLX was subject to the highway use fee, that fee came out to around $9.17 for two years, which means we actually came out ahead under the new system.

Here's the explanation from the DMV's website. I haven't looked at the statutes to see whether this is complete–I don't know what they do as to non-EV alternative-fuel vehicles, nor do I know whether it applies to diesel-powered cars (which I doubt because diesel is taxed differently from gasoline in Virginia).

Va. Code §§ 46.2-770, § 46.2-771, and § 46.2-772

The purpose of the highway use fee is to ensure a more fair contribution to the Commonwealth Transportation Fund from fuel-efficient and electric vehicles using highways in the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Transportation Fund is funded, in part, by motor fuels taxes. The highway use fee is effective July 1, 2020 and will be updated on a yearly basis.

"Fuel-efficient vehicles"  are defined as vehicles that have a combined fuel economy of 25 miles per gallon (MPG) or greater, while, "electric motor vehicles" are defined to mean vehicles that use electricity as the only source of motive power.

In addition to a vehicle's combined MPG rating, two other factors are considered when calculating highway use fees: (1) the fuels tax rate at the time the vehicle is registered, and (2) the average number of miles traveled by a passenger vehicle in Virginia.

Electric vehicles are required to pay a fixed highway use fee, which is currently $88.20, to reflect the amount in fuels taxes electric vehicles will not pay during a single year due to not purchasing motor fuel.

The highway use fee for fuel-efficient vehicles, or vehicles manufactured in a year in which the average combined MPG rating for all of the vehicles produced in that year is 25 MPG or greater, is calculated to reflect the difference between the amount of fuels tax that the vehicle pays in a single year, based on its combined fuel efficiency, and the fuels tax paid by a vehicle with a combined fuel efficiency of 23.7 MPG.

DMV uses the combined fuel rating as provided by the manufacturer to determine if a vehicle is subject to the highway use fee. If the combined fuel rating is not available for a vehicle, DMV uses the estimated average fuel economy as determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for all cars of the same model year and all trucks of the same model year with a gross weight between 6,000 and 10,000 pounds.

The following vehicles are exempt from the highway use fee:

    Vehicles with a combined miles per gallon rating less than 25 MPG;
    Autocycles;
    Motorcycles;
    Mopeds;
    A vehicle with a gross weight greater than 10,000 pounds;
    A vehicle that is owned by a governmental entity;
    A vehicle registered under the International Registration Plan (IRP).

[Scott5114]

You could also construct solar panels in the middle of loop ramps.

I'm thinking that rollover truck accidents might become a lot more expensive that way.

I'm thinking more of the large loop ramps that you see at trumpet-type interchanges moreso than your typical 1960s cloverleaf. Norman has a loop ramp with a 660-foot diameter, for instance. The inside of that loop has enough empty space you could play football inside it. If your truck rolls over into the middle of that you are doing something hilariously wrong.

Besides, even if they do get damaged in an accident, just bill the responsible driver's insurance. DOTs already do this whenever an accident takes out a sign or delineator.

[Big John]

Wisconsin raised the registration fee on conventional cars by $10, but raised the fee on hybrid or electrical vehicles by a lot greater amount ($80 IIRC)

[OCGuy81]

Wisconsin raised the registration fee on conventional cars by $10, but raised the fee on hybrid or electrical vehicles by a lot greater amount ($80 IIRC)

Never underestimate politicians ability to collect when they see drops in tax revenue!

[vdeane]

(2) Advertisement funding.  Almost every website is funded this way.  Why not roads?  Billboards are usually on private land, so the revenue stream typically only benefits land owners fortunate enough to own land adjacent to the road.  Why not use ROW for billboards and collect the revenue to fund the road?  Going back to Missouri, this seems like it could be particularly applicable on I-70.

Gross. Would you want every highway to be like this but worse? Imagine if we had to add gantries over roads just for billboards. No thank you. We get enough advertising on TV, radio, online, sports, etc.

Or this 

[Ned Weasel]

Gross. Would you want every highway to be like this but worse? Imagine if we had to add gantries over roads just for billboards. No thank you. We get enough advertising on TV, radio, online, sports, etc.

That's kind of dismissive toward advertising as its own art form.  Arrays of signs and billboards provide a form of stim within an transportation landscape, heightening the user experience while also serving a useful purpose.

Engineers would probably put the kibosh on this due to message loading concerns. Obviously, they can't exercise any control over this when billboards are on private land adjacent to the road, but on the other hand, signs are a lot more ignorable that far off the traveled way. You could maybe get away with doing billboard gantries if they're more than a mile from adjacent interchanges.

The Lady Bird Johnson Act may also make this illegal, but I'm not familiar enough with its provisions to say for sure.

Maybe we just need to find an FHWA-sanctioned way of doing it in a manner that doesn't hinder safety.

[kalvado]

Gross. Would you want every highway to be like this but worse? Imagine if we had to add gantries over roads just for billboards. No thank you. We get enough advertising on TV, radio, online, sports, etc.

That's kind of dismissive toward advertising as its own art form.  Arrays of signs and billboards provide a form of stim within an transportation landscape, heightening the user experience while also serving a useful purpose.

Engineers would probably put the kibosh on this due to message loading concerns. Obviously, they can't exercise any control over this when billboards are on private land adjacent to the road, but on the other hand, signs are a lot more ignorable that far off the traveled way. You could maybe get away with doing billboard gantries if they're more than a mile from adjacent interchanges.

The Lady Bird Johnson Act may also make this illegal, but I'm not familiar enough with its provisions to say for sure.

Maybe we just need to find an FHWA-sanctioned way of doing it in a manner that doesn't hinder safety.

Art issues aside, google ads cost about
0.3 cents per impression. Assuming same rate for ads on billboards (targeted ads on google should be more valuable, though).
With 2 cents per mile gas tax rate, it takes 7 billboards per mile to match that revenue, and 14 billboards per mile if actual costs are half of revenue.
Not to mention oversupply issues.

[SectorZ]

(2) Advertisement funding.  Almost every website is funded this way.  Why not roads?  Billboards are usually on private land, so the revenue stream typically only benefits land owners fortunate enough to own land adjacent to the road.  Why not use ROW for billboards and collect the revenue to fund the road?  Going back to Missouri, this seems like it could be particularly applicable on I-70.

Gross. Would you want every highway to be like this but worse? Imagine if we had to add gantries over roads just for billboards. No thank you. We get enough advertising on TV, radio, online, sports, etc.

Or this 

And they were building another one on the other side of the highway when this was taken.

Even more dumb is if you check the other side of the sign, it's not even an ad, it's just pseudo-PSA feel-good nonsense, further wasting the already limited rationale for those monstrosities.