Tolls on the rise as highway funding dries up

With shortfalls in federal transportation spending and the Highway Trust Fund, the Brookings Institution's Robert Puentes says that states and localities are exploring more tolls to support new capacity and other ongoing improvements.

"In 2013, for instance, tolls covered about 5,400 miles across all interstate and non-interstate roadways nationally, a 15.1 percent jump since 2003," he writes. "Toll roads have expanded their mileage by nearly 350 miles, or 7 percent, since 2011 alone. By comparison, total system mileage has grown by only 3.6 percent over the past decade."

Which leads us, as always, to stalled discussions over replacing the Brent Spence Bridge — where tolls seem to be an inevitability except to the Kentucky legislators who control the project.

Cincinnati Magazine partnered with UC's Niehoff Urban Studio recently to look at the future of transportation, including an interesting option to build the new highway bridge west of Longworth Hall (see rendering above).

Read the full Brookings article here.