The Feasibility of Road User Fees and Other Alternative Sources of Transportation Funding

The nation faces an approaching crisis in transportation funding. This is a critical issue that is both relevant and essential to public administration. It affects all levels of government and extends across the nation. Rapidly declining sources of transportation funding pose short-term and long-term challenges for politicians, public administrators, and everyday citizens. In the face of inadequate revenues, new forms of funding are necessary to keep the transportation system solvent. This paper will briefly outline the history of transportation funding that created this problem and examine various proposed solutions. It will focus specifically on the emerging theory of road user fees. The philosophical principles of road user fees will be discussed along with specific policy proposals that embody them such as the vehicle miles traveled fee (VMT-F). The paper will assess both the strengths and weaknesses of the VMT-F along with various other alternative methods of transportation funding. The paper will conclude with recommendations for further research that may help secure adequate transportation funding sources for the future