Summary:

Traffic congestion is perceived as one of the most pressing problems in high density or high growth areas today. Addressing this issue generally involves some type of improvement in roadway infrastructure or capacity.

In recent years there has been a significant and widespreadinterest in the use of flat tolls, variable tolls, and other forms of road pricing, as asource of funding, a means to manage congestion, and a way to provide additional traveleroptions. This increase in interest and use is occurring in many states and regions that havehad little prior experience with road pricing, as well as in areas that have well-established tolling programs. Prior empirical research in transportation indicates that public acceptance of tolls and road pricing is low—in spite of the perception of traffic problems as serious. These prior studies did not have the broad set and more recent data that are compiled and presented in this synthesis.

URL: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_syn_377.pdf