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Article on passenger rail and Fred Frailey

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[quote user="V.Payne"] You do know that the states were paid back out of the HTF for the toll roads built prior to the interstate network and later incorporated into the system. I believe it was in the 1991 ISTEA bill. So the leveraging inherent in the gas tax continues across almost the entire system.  What exists now is a toll/ leveraged gas tax/ general fund hybrid system. All of the recent toll proposals I have looked into have a significant non-user financial component. The tolls are being used for a minority of the revenue and of course congestion management. I went into some of this in the marketplace paper. The point is that the number chrunchers 70 years ago realized that you couldn't charge enough in the marketplace to users through tolls to build the network we understand to be the interstates. Hence the expansion of the gas tax and leveraging. They were just trying to figure out a way to stop the carnage on the two lane US and State routes and overcrowded due to underpricing.  This is the marketplace Amtrak exists in, partial coverage of costs. If you went to full coverage of costs the amount of travel would be much less. [/quote] Please provide a reference to the 1991 ISTEA Bill, i.e. how the construction costs of the toll roads were reimbursed and the amounts toll road by toll road, as well as a reconciliation of the funds generated by the toll roads and reimbursed by the federal government. Having grown up in Pennsylvania, I would like to see a longitudinal reconciliation for the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  I have long agreed that most Americans don't understand how their transport options are financed. Having said that, if someone pays a toll, they have a better understanding of its impact of on their pocket book than if the fee is buried in the fuel tax. And a greater potential to shape their behavior that could result in a better balanced transport system. Had the nation's major highways been paid for in part by tolls, we may have had a better outcome. The decision not to place tolls on most of the interstate highway system probably was more political than technical. Turning to more toll roads in Texas has generated a political firestorm that was expected.  Nevertheless, the Lone Star state is building more and more toll roads. In additional to a reduction in urban sprawl, which is not a given, a reduction in wasted travel, especially driving, may have been a good outcome.  It is history.  We will never know how the scenarios might have played out. Passenger trains lost out to the airplane and car because they are better options. The airplane took the brief case trade because of speed and time.  The car took most of the coach trade because it is more convenient and flexible. That is the way it was; that is the way it will be long into the future.  Especially outside of the high density corridors that exist or may exist in the future. Irrespective of the mode of transport Americans pay for it. To the extent that it is not covered by user fees, the monies come from a variety of tax generated resources. As a result, wealthy motorists pay a proportionally higher share of the taxes and, therefore, amongst other things, subsidize motorists less well off.
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