The Trump Administration’s 2018 budget proposal supports commercializing rest areas and allowing existing roads to be tolled.
Under the proposal, private-sector businesses would be permitted to construct, operate and maintain rest areas. States also would be permitted to assess their own needs and toll interstate highways. Tolling on interstate highways is restricted under current laws.
The proposal is opposed by the National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO), which represents American travel plazas and truck stops. Maintaining existing rules is vital to the success of the travel-plaza industry and businesses located near interstate highways, NATSO said.
“‘Public-private partnership’ sounds innovative; proponents talk about attracting ‘new money’ for construction,” NATSO President and CEO Lisa Mullings said. “What we need to understand is that public-private partnerships in the context of surface transportation are nothing more than toll roads. It would be great if we had a magic pot of money to pay for construction and maintenance of our roads. We don’t. Under this proposal, the same people who have been paying fuel taxes to build and maintain these roads will have to pay tolls, too.”
NATSO supports infrastructure investments and is willing to work with the administration to find a solution that works for everyone.
Tolling is opposed also by the Alliance of Toll-Free of Interstates, with increasing support for federal investment in infrastructure.