ASPIRE Spring 11 - Aspire - The Concrete Bridge Magazine

PERSPECTIVEFinancially SustainableIndividual MobilityEquating benefits and costs via pricing systemsby Kenneth C. Saindon,PBS&J, an Atkins companyYou have to love the irony—transportation is at a crossroads!Why? Because aggregate demandfor individual mobility has renderedthe traditional funding mechanismfor surface transportation, the federalgas tax, obsolete. Unsustainable bestdescribes this funding mechanism, in itscurrent form, to meet current and futuremobility demands. Individual mobility isthe freedom of where to go, when togo, and how to go; the challenge to thetransportation industry is how best tomeet the demand for individual mobilityin a financially sustainable manner.“Free” MobilityGeneral highway mobility and thecongestion experienced in many areasrepresent a classic case of economicsrelated to “free” resources. Theperception to drivers that drivingon highways is “free” causes trafficcongestion, with highway capacitybeing the resource in short supply. It isnot difficult to see why highway mobilitydemand is growing. The individualfreedom offered by traditional highwaymobility is unmatched in terms ofunrestricted arrival/departure times anddestinations, scalability to group size, allweatheroperation, protection of usersfrom the elements, and accommodationof personal belongings (e.g., groceries orrecreational equipment). From this reality,demand management strategies that seekto equate supply and demand via pricingsystems represent the best practice foraccommodating individual mobility in afinancially sustainable manner. Althoughan increase in the federal gas tax wouldgenerate more revenue, it does notpermit the establishment of equilibriumbetween supply and demand that wouldnaturally develop through the use of apricing system.Selmon Expressway with Tampa, Fla.,skyline. Photo: Tampa HillsboroughExpressway Authority.Cost Versus BenefitSustainability in transportation hasthus far focused almost exclusively onthe cost side of the mobility equation.Increased effort has been spentrecently on discernment of incremental“impacts” to the environment. Theseare used in part as a means to justifyeverything from subsidizing transit withfederal gas tax revenues, to growthboundaries, and to transit-orienteddevelopment (including high-densityhousing). Nevertheless, the only sanedefinition of sustainability related tothe cost side of the mobility equation isadopting lowest life-cycle costing andasset management methodologies.What about the benefit side of themobility equation? Is there a way toquantify the benefits of individualmobility? Quantification of the mobilitybenefit via pricing systems wouldenable appropriate decision makingregarding future expenditures, such ashow much capacity should be addedand what mode or modes should beadvanced. Many fine examples offinancially sustainable transportationincorporating pricing systems supportthe hypothesis that users value theirindividual mobility highly. So what doesfinancially sustainable individualmobility look like?Selmon ExpresswayPerhaps the best example of financiallysustainable transportation that respondsto individual mobility demand isthe Tampa Hillsborough ExpresswayAuthority (THEA) Selmon Expresswayin Tampa, Fla. The Selmon Expresswayis an important east-west link neardowntown Tampa funded entirely with10 | ASPIRE, Spring 2011