Reason Foundation

Los Angeles (May 16, 2006) — Today the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a new initiative to battle traffic congestion with a six-point plan that includes offering incentives to states and urban areas to expand their use of market pricing and public-private partnerships.

"Congestion has become intolerable, and it's great to see the DOT declaring war on this national scourge," said Reason Foundation's Director of Transportation Studies Robert Poole, an advisor to the last four presidential administrations who has also consulted with the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the White House Office of Policy Development, and numerous state departments of transportation.

"DOT recognizes that it's going to take many billions of dollars in additional investment to add the capacity needed to catch up with transportation growth, after two decades of falling behind," Poole said. "That's why a national push for public-private partnerships and much greater use of value-priced tolling are so important to this effort."

"It's also very welcome to see the emphasis on long-haul, multi-state corridors and urban freight bottlenecks. It's often said that 'Trucks don't vote'; therefore, goods movement has been the poor stepchild in transportation planning for way too long. I hope DOT's new effort will jump-start emerging projects for truck-only toll lanes," Poole said.

"For 17 years, Mr. Poole has been the chief theorist for private solutions to gridlock. His ideas are now embraced by officials from Sacramento to Washington."
- The New York Times "Truck-only toll lanes are the brainchild of Robert Poole, an engineer who oversees transportation studies at the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank in Los Angeles."
- USA Today

Reason Foundation's Mobility Project

In the coming weeks, Reason Foundation will unveil the first in a series of new Mobility Project studies detailing specific solutions to significantly reduce congestion in U.S. cities.

Reason Foundation's Transportation Research

Reason Foundation's extensive transportation research and commentary is available here: http://www.reason.org/transportation/index.shtml. Some Reason policy studies include:

Virtual Exclusive Busways: Improving Urban Transit While Relieving Congestion (.pdf)
Should States Sell Their Toll Roads? (.pdf)
Easing California's Transportation Crisis with Tolls and Public-Private Partnerships (.pdf)
HOT Networks: A New Plan for Congestion Relief and Better Transit (.pdf)
Toll Truckways: A New Path Toward Safer and More Efficient Freight Transportation (.pdf)

About Reason

Reason Foundation is a nonprofit think tank dedicated to advancing free minds and free markets. Reason produces public policy research on a variety of issues and publishes the critically acclaimed monthly magazine, Reason. For more information, please visit www.reason.org.

Contacts

Robert Poole, Director of Transportation, Reason Foundation, (310) 292-2386
Chris Mitchell, Media Relations, Reason Foundation, (310) 367-6109