Toll Road Privatization May Result in Indirect Impacts

"The problem we seek to solve by tolling and privatization will not solve the problem at all. Our research suggests that it will only make it worse."

by Steve Hevner, Penn State University

Privatizing toll roads in the U.S. may result in significant diversions of truck traffic from privatized toll roads to "free" roads, and may result in more crashes and increased costs associated with use of other roads, according to a new study.

Peter Swan of Penn State- Harrisburg and Michael Belzer of Wayne State University will present the findings of their study, "Empirical Evidence of Toll Road Traffic Diversion and Implications for Highway Infrastructure Privatization" on Jan. 14 at the 87th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C.

Read the rest of the article HERE.