Using Charges to Tackle Road Congestion
1 March 2006
By Emily Bulman with former NERA Consultant Simon Maunder and former NERA Director John Dodgson
Worldwide, pricing is increasingly being recognized as a useful tool in combating problems of growing highway traffic congestion in metropolitan areas. Road pricing can help policy makers unlock wider community benefits such as improved mobility, increased economic productivity, and environmental dividends. In the United States, no examples of area-wide road pricing are currently in operation, despite increasing highway congestion in many urban districts. However, given that the urban environment restricts the construction of extra highway capacity, road pricing is becoming an increasingly attractive option.
This NERA brief considers international experience of road user charging, in particular the central London congestion charge, and the potential benefits of road pricing in the US. The authors explore the policy tools that NERA has provided to European policy makers and how they could benefit those in the US.
