Do Drivers Cover the Cost of Roads? Not By a Long Shot
David Alpert at Greater Greater Washington shares this fantastic chart from a new study of transportation funding by the Pew Charitable Trusts [PDF]. Alpert explains:
This chart from Pew shows where the transportation money comes from; it’s not all drivers.
Basically, the bluish areas are revenues which come specifically from drivers: gas taxes, vehicle taxes, and tolls. The greenish ones are other revenues: property taxes, general fund transfers, and other funds.
In this chart, you can see that the levels of government that subsidize roads the most — state and local — also spend more on transportation overall than the feds:
And here you can see that at all levels of government, roads get the lion’s share of funds:
Elsewhere on the Network today: Human Transit compares commute times in some of the world’s major cities. This Old City discusses how U.S. DOT’s new guidance on protected bike lanes could improve street safety in Philadelphia. And Treehugger reports that truck sideguards — a piece of safety equipment that can save pedestrians’ and cyclists’ lives — are now required in Boston.
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