Highway User Fees: Updated Data Needed to Determine Whether All Users Pay Their Fair Share
RCED-94-181
Published: Jun 07, 1994. Publicly Released: Jun 10, 1994.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed whether highway user fees should be based on weight and distance travelled, focusing on the: (1) rationale for and arguments against assessing wear-based user fees; (2) recent state experiences in assessing wear-based fees; and (3) potential approaches that could be used to overcome the obstacles to implementing such fees.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| If the results of the FHwA study indicate that certain highway users underpay their share of highway costs, Congress should consider examining policy options, including a national weight-distance user fee, that would increase equity and promote a more efficient use of the nation's highways. | The FHwA user fee report concluded that additional federal action would not necessarily improve economic efficiency, and that inequities that still exist could be best addressed at the state level. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Transportation | To determine whether all highway users are paying their fair share of federal highway costs and to ensure that FHwA and Congress have up-to-date information when making future decisions affecting federal highway user fees, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator, FHwA, to conduct a formal cost allocation study, with appropriate input from the affected parties. In conducting this study, the Administrator should utilize, to the extent possible, the data currently being developed by the Strategic Highway Research Program on the relationship between axle loads and pavement damage. |
FHwA concurred with the recommendation and hired a contractor to conduct a cost allocation study. DOT released the report late in 1997. The report concluded that federal user fees are more equitable than they were in the early 1980s, and that it is not clear that any change at the federal level would improve economic efficiency. FHwA plans to update its study periodically.
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Topics
Administrative costsGround transportationHighway planningHighway researchIntergovernmental fiscal relationsIntergovernmental relationsPavement performancePublic roads or highwaysState-administered programsTrucking operationsUser feesWeigh in motion