U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000


Skip to content
Facebook iconYouTube iconTwitter iconFlickr iconLinkedInInstagram

Home / Briefing Room / Press Releases

Briefing Room

Subscribe to FHWA Press Releases


U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Public Affairs, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C. 20590, www.dot.gov/briefingroom - News Follow us on Twitter @USDOTFHWA USDOT briefing room

FHWA 48-16
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Contact: Nancy Singer
Tel.: (202) 366-0660

Federal Highway Administration Announces More than $14 Million in Grants to Test New Ways of Funding Highways

Eight projects to pilot alternative revenue approaches to support the Highway Trust Fund

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration today announced $14.2 million in grants for states under a new program to explore alternative revenue mechanisms to help sustain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.

“Reliable funding is essential to ensuring we have a sound transportation system to support the economy,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “More investment in transportation in greatly needed, and we must find new solutions to prepare for the travel demands of the nation’s growing population.”

The Surface Transportation System Funding Alternatives (STSFA) grant program will fund projects to test the design, implementation and acceptance of user-based alternative revenue mechanisms.

The program will help address some of the concerns outlined in Beyond Traffic, the USDOT report issued last year that examines the challenges facing America's transportation infrastructure over the next three decades, such as a rapidly growing population and increasing traffic. Gridlock nationwide is expected to increase unless changes are made soon.

The eight projects will pilot a variety of options to raise revenue, including on-board vehicle technologies to charge drivers based on miles traveled and multi-state or regional approaches to road user charges. The projects will address common challenges involved with implementing user-based fees such as public acceptance, privacy protection, equity and geographic diversity. The projects will also evaluate the reliability and security of the technologies available to implement mileage-based fees.

“We’re thinking ahead about ways to fund our highway system and be equipped for the nation’s economic future,” said Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. "It’s a system people rely upon for their jobs and essential services, for businesses to serve their customers and for freight shippers to deliver their goods.”

STSFA was established under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

FY2016 Surface Transportation System Funding Alternative Program Selection
Recipient state and partners Project Description Funding
California Department of Transportation Road User Charge (RUC) using pay-at-the Pump/ charging stations. $750,000
Delaware Department of Transportation User fees based with on-board mileage counters in collaboration with members of the I-95 Corridor Coalition. $1,490,000
Hawaii Department of Transportation User fee collection based on manual and automated odometer readings at inspection stations. $3,998,000
Minnesota Department of Transportation Use of Mobility-as-a-Service providers (MaaS) as the revenue collection mechanism. $300,000
Missouri Department of Transportation Implementation a new registration fee schedule based on estimated miles per gallon. $250,000
Oregon Department of Transportation Improvements to Oregon’s existing road usage charge program. $2,100,000
Oregon Department of Transportation Establishing the consistency, compatibility and interoperability in road user charging for a regional system in collaboration with members of the Western Road User Charge Consortium. $1,500,000
Washington Department of Transportation Testing critical elements of interoperable, multi-jurisdictional alternative user-based revenue collection systems. Piloting methods of road usage reporting with Washington drivers. $3,847,000
  Total $14,235,000

# # #

FHWA Press Releases

Page posted on August 30, 2016
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000