State-of-the-Art Highway Funding

The North Texas Tollway Authority here in Dallas/Fort Worth has successfully implemented cutting-edge license tag reading systems to collect tolls. This technology can replace the previous state-of-the-art, toll tags and EZ passes. Why not, as part of the huge infrastructure stimulus just passed, design and fund a massive deployment of those systems on highways across the U.S.? This would be a much fairer and more stable funding mechanism than the gasoline tax for theHighway Trust Fund.

This would not only stabilize highway revenues and reduce taxes for those who aren't using highways, it would save energy and lower emissions. Since license tags are correlated with specific vehicles, it would be easy to suspend or reduce tolls for high-efficiency vehicles (hybrids, electrics, etc.).