Robert Poole
Director of Transportation Policy, Reason Foundation
Robert Poole is director of transportation policy and Searle Freedom Trust Transportation Fellow at Reason Foundation.
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New York needs to revisit and improve congestion pricing plan
A sensible congestion pricing program should provide a revenue stream that could reverse the city’s anti-roadway policies and help improve MTA’s buses and subways.
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How DOGE can make smart, safe air traffic control reforms
The solution is for the United States to make air traffic control a public utility.
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Paying for roads and bridges as the national debt grows
The surface transportation reauthorization bill offers an opportunity to start forging a different way forward.
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Congress needs to remove the cap on private activity bonds for public-private partnership infrastructure projects
The case for both removing the cap and expanding the scope of tax-exempt private activity bonds for transportation infrastructure.
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Solving two major highway problems the bipartisan infrastructure bill ignored
A study found that the estimated cost of rebuilding the Interstates over several decades was approximately $1 trillion.
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Why U.S. airport public-private partnerships may finally happen
The United States needs to "“move toward the airport financing model prevalent in Europe and other parts of the world where private companies take over development and management of airports under long-term leases with governments.”
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In latest political move against tolling and public-private partnerships, Texas buys out private toll road
State leaders in Texas have turned against tolling, but the regional transportation organizations continue to embrace user-financed highway projects.
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The growing bipartisan push to reform environmental litigation laws
Environmental litigation has gone too far, preventing needed energy, housing and transportation projects from being built, or delaying them for years and increasing their costs.
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Preparing states, cities and the transportation sector for federal insolvency
The national debt and looming insolvency of entitlement programs greatly impact federal transportation spending.
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Tolling is facing increased political attacks from all sides
The needed transition to per-mile charges should be phased in carefully in a way that clearly replaces state fuel taxes, not adds to them.
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The economic problem with California’s effort to slash vehicle miles traveled
If California planners manage to reduce vehicle miles of travel, the likely result will be a serious decrease in urban area productivity.
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The Key Bridge collapse shows we must do a better job protecting bridges and ports
Lessons to learn from the Key Bridge collapse and policy recommendations to protect bridges, ports, drivers and the economy.
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Key differences in highway public-private partnerships in the United States, Europe and Latin America
Only Australia and the United States have bankruptcy as a viable risk transfer mechanism for infrastructure megaprojects.
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Fact-checking the trucking industry’s claims against tolling
Trucking organizations attack tolls as unfair and costly to collect by ignoring the low cost of all-electronic tolling collection and the economies-of-scale institutions already in use.
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The future of U.S. toll agencies
The toll industry should be helping state transportation departments show motorists there's a customer-friendly way to begin the transition away from unsustainable gas taxes.
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Reduced purchasing power of federal gas tax and national debt will force highway funding changes
Policymakers and transportation officials need a new paradigm for funding highways and other vital infrastructure.
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The Highway Trust Fund is running out of money
The Congressional Budget Office projects that the highway and transit accounts of the Highway Trust Fund will be out of money in 2028.
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Louisiana bridge debate shows P3 advocates must communicate benefits to drivers and policymakers
A wake-up call on the need for increased educational efforts on tolling and long-term public-private partnerships.