May 28, 1998

NEW HIGHWAY COST ALLOCATION STUDY SHOWS USER FEES TO BE MORE EQUITABLE

The owners of passenger vehicles, such as automobiles, minivans, and small pickup trucks, continue to pay more than their share of highway taxes compared to large trucks, according to a study recently conducted by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

According to the study, passenger vehicles are responsible for only 60 percent of total highway costs, yet pay 64 percent of all highway taxes.

This was part of the information contained in the 1997 Federal Highway Cost Allocation Study, recently released by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Battelle researchers analyzed infrastructure damage, environmental impacts, and other costs attributable to different highway users.

Battelle led a team of consultants that worked with the Federal Highway Administration to produce the study. The study’s findings will provide Congress with current information on pavement, bridge, and other costs associated with different types of trucks and automobiles.

Among the study’s key findings are:

• Although passenger vehicles pay more than their fair share, the federal highway user fee structure is more equitable today than in 1982, when the last study was conducted. Changes in composition of the Federal highway program and in federal taxes account for most of the difference.

• Passenger vehicles account for 93 percent of all vehicle miles traveled on public roads in the United States. While large trucks account for just 7 percent of the miles traveled, they account for the most damage to the infrastructure.

• Trucks on average, including both single-unit and combination tractor-trailer trucks, pay 90 percent of their cost responsibility.

• There is a disparity in the equity among various truck classes. Lighter trucks pay more in highway taxes than their share of highway costs, while the heaviest trucks pay considerably less than their share of highway costs. In general, the more axles that support heavy vehicles, the lower their highway cost responsibility.

• Safety, congestion, environmental, and other social costs of highway use remain large despite significant progress in reducing those costs through regulatory and highway improvement programs.