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. Reason’s Transportation Research and Commentary