The California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) Road Charge Pilot Program is in full swing with more than 6,000 volunteers signed up, but Caltrans is still seeking potential participants to ensure the study best represents the geographic, demographic and socioeconomic diversity of California. In particular, volunteers from rural areas are sought to participate in the study and help determine if a road charge is an equitable and sustainable way to replace the deteriorating gas tax and better fund transportation infrastructure.
California is studying a road charge system – where drivers would pay based on the number of miles they drive, rather than by how much gas they consume – as a possible way for the State to better pay for and keep pace with its road maintenance and repair needs. The State’s current transportation funding system relies on revenue from fuel taxes, which are in sharp decline due to overall improvements in new vehicles’ fuel economy, including gasoline and diesel powered vehicles, and increasing hybrid and electric vehicle adoption in California. For example, the 2014 California Statewide Local Streets and Roads Needs Assessment estimated the total funding needs over the next 10 years is $108 billion, and the resulting shortfall is $56.1 billion for pavements, $20.9 billion for essential components, and $1.3 billion for bridges. The total shortfall is $78.3 billion over the next 10 years.
During the design of the pilot, a Technical Advisory Committee recommended that the impacts of the road charge on rural drivers, versus their urban counterparts, should be carefully observed and assessed. As such, the pilot program is seeking to ensure the composition of the volunteer pool reflects this concern, and is encouraging more rural drivers to participate as volunteers. By oversampling rural participants, the pilot can ensure that sufficient data is available to fully assess the impacts of a possible road charge on rural drivers.
Detailed information about the California Road Charge Pilot Program and instructions on how to apply to be part of the pool of potential volunteers can be accessed here.