Surface Transportation Innovations

Reason's Surface Transportation Innovations newsletter regularly examines and analyzes the latest news and developments in toll lanes, congestion solutions, road funding issues, and more. If you would like to receive the Surface Transportation Innovations newsletter via email, please send an email with your contact information to Robert Poole, Reason's director of transportation studies.

Reason's transportation research and commentary is available here.

Issue 59- September 2008
Topics include: PPPs vs. traditional projects; PIRG on toll concessions; smart growth won't cut GHGs; bridge conditions one year later; tolling in California; tolls beat taxes in UCLA/USC study; and other news.
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Issue 58- August 2008
Topics include: USDOT's reform proposal; Congress stuck in old paradigm; further thoughts on McKinsey GHG report; America's second HOT network; how motorists are responding to high gas prices; premium lanes for New Jersey Turnpike; and other news.
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Issue 57- July 2008
Topics include: cost-effective greenhouse gas reduction; private-sector toll roads' cost of capital; short-sea shipping; long-range transportation planning questioned; state DOT use of contractors; and other news.
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Issue 56- June 2008
Topics include: new threat to HOT lanes; Georgia DOT's truck lanes study; risky start-up toll roads; $4 gasoline's impacts; what about "mode neutrality"?; greenhouse gases and urban sprawl; and other news.
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Issue 55- May 2008
Topics include: electric cars-this time for real?; toll concessions-one size does not fit all; cost of crashes vs. costs of congestion; where can toll truckways be built?; pension fund investment in toll roads; new data on toll road safety; and other news.
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Issue 54- April 2008
Topics include: robust public support for tolling; HOT lanes for the U.K.; Pennsylvania Turnpike lease; gasoline prices and driver behavior; rethinking the federal surface transportation program; food and transportation; and other news.
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Issue 53- March 2008
Topics include: the other national commission's interim report; the other shoe drops in Texas; strange truck lanes assessment in Georgia; busways as HOT lanes?; update on Indiana Toll Road; and other news.
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Issue 52- February 2008
Topics include: what to make of the National Commission recommendations; New Jersey confuses taxing and tolling; Seattle area ready for road pricing?; what now for Dulles Rail?; CO2 and traffic congestion; Japan's amazing highway sound walls; and other news.
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Issue 51- January 2008
Topics include: Oregon's mileage fee pilot program; undercutting future SoCal HOT lanes; the"foreign investment" controversy; new PPP coalition launched; Hutchison amendment threatens HOT lanes; technology responses to road pricing; and other news.
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Issue 50- December 2007
Topics include: an economist's look at urban transportation policy; Miami toll truckway proposed to ease port traffic congestion; low-cost bus lines; 10th anniversary of Toronto's 407ETR; what if there were "green" cars?; last "6320" toll road going private; and other news.
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Issue 49- November 2007
Topics include: broader support for PPPs; universal farecards for transit; market pricing of parking; toll truckways and LCVs; reducing congestion in Seattle; follow-up on eliminating toll booths; and other news.
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Issue 48- October 2007
Topics include: getting rid of toll booths; transit system report shows progress, limits; stopping sprawl to "save the planet;" federal grant for a toll bridge?; cost-effective four-laning; new congestion measures in Atlanta; and other news.
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Issue 47- September 2007
Topics include: FTA embraces HOT/BRT lanes; Indiana Toll Road one year later; thinking through long-term PPPs; cars vs. transit for the job-seeking poor; greenhouse policy run amok; and other news.
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Issue 46- August 2007
Topics include: impact of Minnesota bridge collapse; underestimating the role for tolls and PPPs; National Infrastructure Bank: a bad idea; time for California to switch to HOT lanes; cars vs. transit: packets vs. circuits; and other news.
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Issue 45- July 2007
Topics include: freight rail as congestion-reliever?; more information on bus vs. rail transit; congestion and economic health; new Reason policy papers; and other news.
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Issue 44- June 2007
Topics include: Bus Rapid Transit on inexpensive guideways; fragmentation of our highway system?; continuing battles over ports access; pension funds and transportation investment; ethanol and ozone; incentives work to repair California bridge; and other news.
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Issue 43- May 2007
Topics include: the basics of toll road concession deals; financing new roads vs. pay-as-you-go; guaranteed congestion relief?; rethinking Oregon transportation policy; rethinking CAFÉ standards; and other news.
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Issue 42- April 2007
Topics include: facts vs. fictions on toll road concessions; carpool lane follies in California; port emissions and congestion; fresh perspective on urban sprawl; CO2 and cars; and other news.
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Issue 41- March 2007
Topics include: studies conclude HOT lanes best bet; rail versus truck: Amtrak as obstacle; what if a toll road concessionaire goes belly-up?; toll roads and land values; transportation innumeracy and its consequences; and other news.
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Issue 40- February 2007
Topics include: a new solution for HOV occupancy enforcement; edgeless cities; arterial underpasses; intermittent bus lanes in Lisbon; more on the trucks-tolls debate; and other news.
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Issue 39- January 2007
Topics include: new evidence questioning "induced demand;" concessions advancing, along with the backlash; Bus Rapid Transit in Latin America; learning about Europe's tunnels; resisting transportation earmarks; and other news.
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Issue 38- December 2006
Topics include: reducing congestion in Atlanta; Urban Partnership Agreements boost pricing; the power of the concession model; AAA survey supports tolls over taxes; underutilized rail rights-of-way; refining the managed lanes concept; and other news.
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Issue 37 - November 2006
Topics include: talking tolling with stakeholders; paying for better transportation in California; reflections on the election results; video tolling comes to America; evacuation—another reason to add highway capacity; and other news.
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Issue 36 - October 2006
Topics include: Reason's new book on congestion; driving restrictions and air quality; the latest update from the guru of commuting data; two very different models of managed lanes; and other news.
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Issue 35 - September 2006
Topics include: Making urban highways more likeable through innovative design; Portland confronts goods-movement congestion; Brookings looks at costs and benefits of rail transit; and other news.
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Issue 34 - August 2006
Topics include: Reason's first Mobility Project study finds that adding capacity is key to cutting congestion; GAO study shows tolling's potential; feel-good, high cost air quality efforts; Tampa's new elevated express lanes; and other news.
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Issue 33 - August 2006
Topics include: why American cities don't work for transit; dueling technologies for future tolling; cleaner diesel trucks and the implications for transportation planning; feedback on the Winston/Langer paper; and quotable quotes.
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Issue 32 - June 2006
Topics include: Brookings' new study on highway spending vs. congestion; phasing out toll plazas; evacuations and toll roads; moderate growth projected in vehicle miles traveled; and news notes.
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Issue 31 - May 2006
Topics include: US DOT's new anti-congestion program; tolling key to adding highway capacity; Washington DOT congestion study recommends more lanes and pricing; debunking sprawl misconceptions; and Gabriel Roth's new book on market-based roadways.
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Issue 30 - April 2006
Topics include: new book on future of highways; long-term concessions in Texas; Fitch and S&P on private toll roads; sticker tags making real headway; pricing trucks at ports; gas tax contrarian; and other news.
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Issue 29 - February 2006
Topics include: TRB committee concludes tolls should replace fuel taxes; getting serious about traffic congestion; the future of ITS; electronic toll collection for rental cars; urban sprawl myths; and other news.
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Issue 28 - January 2006
Topics include: Reason's new Mobility Project; occupancy detection for HOV/HOT lanes; more HOV lane concerns; truck-only toll lanes moving forward; and other news.
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Issue 27 - November 2005
Topics include: telecommuting's cost-effectiveness; congestion and regional economies; PPPs for transport infrastructure; guidelines for state PPP legislation; and other news.
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Issue 26 - September 2005
Topics include: Reason's new Virtual Exclusive Busways study; Hudson's disappointing surface transportation report; design-build success stories; truck congestion pricing in L.A.; and other news.
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Issue 25 - August 2005
Topics include: Atlanta's look at innovative truck toll lanes; paying for better commutes; financial community bullishness on tolling; and transportation network vulnerability.
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Issue 24 - June 2005
Topics include: HOV/HOT lanes safety; affordable transponders; S&P's report on public-private partnerships; public support for toll lanes; and traffic signal timing.
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Issue 23 - May 2005
Topics include: paying for new lane construction out of toll revenue; the continued decline of car-pooling; tolling existing free lanes; incident-related congestion; and inaccuracies in rail and road traffic forecasting.
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Issue 22 - April 2005
Topics include: how congestion harms urban economies; trucking re-regulation in Congress; HOV enforcement; and other breaking news stories.
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Issue 21 - February 2005
Topics include: the need for tolls and public-private partnerships in California; tolling/pricing provisions in the federal transportation bill; building electronic toll collection into vehicles; new data on federal subsidies by transportation mode; and other breaking news stories.
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Issue 20 - January 2005
Topics include: DOT's recent report on public-private partnerships in transportation; getting the Feds out of transportation funding; second thoughts on shadow tolling; fixing California’s transportation funding shortfall; high speed rail and global warming; and other breaking news stories.
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Issue 19 - November 2004
Topics include: rethinking federal highway spending; making cost-effective highway improvements; congestion tolls vs. urban growth boundaries; "sustainable mobility," and other topics.
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Issue 18 - August 2004
Topics include: Longer Combination Vehicles (LCVs), electronic toll tag technology, adaptive cruise control to help reduce traffic congestion, and other breaking news stories.
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Issue 17 - July 2004
Topics include: the reauthorization's tolling provisions, academic support for tolled express lanes, Reason's latest transit study, and other breaking news stories.
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Issue 16 - May 2004
Topics include: the reauthorization bills, PPPs, managed lanes, and other breaking news stories.
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Issue 15 - April 2004
Special Focus on Federal reauthorization bills
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Issue 14 - February 2004
Topics include: Reason's toll truckways study, tolls and the Federal highway reauthorization, transportation costs and sprawl, and other breaking news stories.
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Issue 13 - January 2004
Topics include: a new approach to toll road financing, London's congestion pricing, transit and congestion, STPP's transportation costs study, and other breaking news stories.
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Issue 12 - November 2003
Topics include: transit's actual effect on congestion, Deloitte's new report on road pricing, new data on sprawl and commuting, best toll truckway corridors, and other breaking news stories.
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Issue 11 - September 2003
Topics include: the potential of FAST lanes, Texas' congestion reduction plans, TRB committee on future of fuel taxes, ULEVs in HOT lanes, and other features.
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Issue 10 - July 2003
Topics include: replacing the gas tax, megaproject megaflops, highways and growth, and making new tolls permanent.
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Issue 9 - June 2003
Topics include: the social welfare impact of HOT lanes, the emerging consensus for priced lanes in reauthorization, Battelle on innovative contracting, and a new approach for toll-road financing.
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Issue 8 - April 2003
Topics include: outsourcing highway maintenance, PPI's report on reauthorization, a first look at DOT's draft reauthorization bill, and HOT networks speaking engagements.
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Issue 7 - February 2003
Topics include: Reason's new HOT networks study, the HOT networks news conference in Washington, DC, and media coverage of Reason's HOT networks report.
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Issue 6 - January 2003
Topics include: using tolls and PPP for a major Interstate reconstruction, an impressive report on road pricing's future, Reason at the TRB Annual Meeting, and rethinking the Midstate Tollway.
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Issue 5 - October 2002
Topics include: lessons from Orange County toll roads, huge support for value pricing, Orange County's mega-tunnel prospect, and a new look at capacity expansion.
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Issue 4 - August 2002
Topics include: continued interest in toll truckways, a letter from a corporate supporter, and new research on HOT lanes.
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Issue 3 - June 2002
Topics include: Reason Toll Truckways study's successful launch, HOT networks effort moving forward, and the 91 Express Lanes franchise buyout.
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Issue 2 - April 2002
Topics include: accountability in privately developed build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects and Reason's new study to explore interstate reconstruction.
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Issue 1 - March 2002
Issue devoted solely to toll truckways.
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