Bill Testa's Blog: Congestion tolling and privately operated roads—An idea whose time has come?

A lengthy piece in the Chicago Federal Reserves Bill Testa's blog on the economics of highway privatization.

The use of congestion pricing, privatization, and new payments technologies remain in their infancy. Yet, because of the ever-increasing demand for driving, accompanied by little highway expansion and poor land use planning, heavy congestion will soon be a reality in many communities. For this reason, the Federal Reserve Bank will hold a one-day workshop this June to understand how pricing schemes, public–private partnerships, and emerging payment mechanisms can be used to address congestion and efficiency in commuter networks.

If I drive to the conference, I'll need to budget an hour to get accross St Charles on Rt 64.