Why tolling is essential for Florida’s future growth

In a recent column, South Florida Sun Sentinel columnist Steve Bousquet derided tolls as a “hidden tax” on Floridians and argued against additional tolled highways. While this is a popular view, it ignores the role of tolling in Florida’s rapid growth. And it also ignores the coming decline in revenues from gas taxes, currently the primary source of highway funding.

Florida has grown enormously since I grew up here in the 1950s. In 2014 it surpassed New York as America’s thirdlargest state; its 21.3 million people are exceeded only by California and Texas. With gas tax increases generally limited by political concerns, the only way Florida could have built enough highways and expressways to cope with explosive growth has been tolling.

Beginning with Florida’s Turnpike in 1957, tolling has enabled the creation of much-needed bridges, causeways, and urban expressways, without which Floridians would be stuck in far worse congestion than we face today.

Today, 33 of 67 Florida counties have toll roads and/or bridges, amounting to 3,542 lane-miles, and motorists traverse 16 billion miles of travel on them each year.

Over the past five years, toll agencies have invested $10 billion in expanding and maintaining these facilities, with another $10 billion planned over the coming decade.

Such investments include widening of key portions of the Turnpike, extending the express toll lanes on I-95 into Palm Beach County, adding express toll lanes on highly congested I-4 in Orlando, completing the First Coast Expressway in Jacksonville, and building the new Kendall Parkway in western Miami-Dade County. Nearly all the toll revenue collected in Florida is reinvested in the counties served by the tolled facilities.

What about the future? Those who favor curtailing the use of tolls ignore a looming threat to highway funding: the coming decline in revenue from gas taxes.

Thanks to federal fuel-economy standards, the average car today goes twice as far on a gallon of gas as cars did in the 1970s. Gas taxes are based on gallons purchased, not on miles driven.

The only thing that has kept gas tax revenues from plunging has been the growth in population and driving. Nearly all forecasts show population and driving to continue growing, but that will no longer solve the problem.

Current federal fuel-economy regulations will require new cars by 2025 to average 54.5 miles per gallon, and as new cars replace old cars, gallons sold will begin a long decline — and so will fuel-tax revenue. In addition, the continuing increase in non-gasoline propulsion — hybrids, all-electric vehicles, etc.— will further reduce fuel sales and revenue. A recent projection from traffic experts CDM Smith indicates revenues from U.S. fuel taxes could be cut nearly in half by 2045 .

Transportation experts recommend that the United States begin a several-decade transition in how we pay for highways. Instead of paying a tax per gallon used, we should pay a charge for each mile driven. Obviously, the rate per mile would be much higher for heavy trucks than for passenger vehicles, due to the much greater wear and tear big trucks impose on pavements and bridges.

And the new mileage-based user fee should be charged electronically, as Florida already does via Sunpass transponders on vehicle windshields.

In making this transition over the next few decades, Florida starts with several large advantages.

First, we already have a large fraction of our major highways and expressways being paid for with tolls instead of gas taxes.

Second, we have the statewide Sunpass system. It is already compatible with electronic tolling systems in Georgia and North Carolina and will soon be compatible with the E-ZPass system used in 17 northeastern and midwestern states.

Third, Florida is already attracting highway investment from global infrastructure investment funds attracted by the state’s projected growth.

Yet, despite all these positives, there are threats to Florida’s head-start on highway funding for the future. Last month, two Miami-area legislators — Sen. Manny Diaz. Jr. and Rep. Bryan Avila, both Republicans from Hialeah — introduced a bill in their respective chambers that would put the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority out of business, forbidding it from issuing any new bonds and removing its tolls when current bonds are paid off. That would doom the much-needed Kendall Parkway, but would also lead to massive gridlock when the tolls are removed and the former tollways are overloaded with vehicles during peak periods.

Even more important, reducing the extent of tolled roads in Florida would be a step backward precisely when our state needs to be preparing for the phase-out of gas taxes and the phasing in of per-mile charging. Florida has a head start on this transition. Let’s not blow it via ill-considered bans on tolling.

JOE CAVARETTA/SUN SENTINEL Reducing tolled roads in Florida would be a step backward precisely when our state needs to be preparing for the phase-out of gas taxes — our primary source of highway funding —and the phasing in of permile charging.