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               Researh Sevice





The Moving Forward Act (H.R. 2) Would Both

Restrict and Encourage Highway Tolls



Updated July 28, 2020
Section 1110 of the Moving ForwardAct (IR. 2, as passed in the House of Representatives July 1, 2020)
would make substantial changes to the statutory and regulatory framework governing highway
transportation tolls. Some of the changes would increase federal oversight of tolling operations while
others encourage state and local governments to increase use of tolling. On the one hand, by reinstating
the requirement that a detailed tolling agreement be negotiated between states or public authorities and
the Secretary of Transportation before a previously untolled federal-aid highway, bridge, or tunnel is
made subject to tolls, the provision would increase the oversight role of the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT). On the other hand, the congestion pricing provisions in the act would increase the
ability of states to implement tolling on congested Interstate System highways. These new provisions,
together with the complexity of existing law, could create ambiguity about what is and what is not
permissible when implementing new tolling schemes.
Federal tolling law applies only to roads, bridges, and tunnels that are eligible for federal aid. These
facilities, referred to as federal-aid highways, make up about 1 million of the roughly 4 million miles of
public roads in the United States. Within the federal-aid highways is a category of designated major
highways referred to as the National Highway System (NHS), which includes about 220,000 miles of
highways. Within the NHS are the Interstate System highways, which make up just under 49,000 miles of
highways.

Toll Agreements

For many years, federal law required that before the Secretary of Transportation could authorize tolling of
a federal-aid highway, bridge, or tunnel, the tolling authority with jurisdiction over the facility had to
enter into an agreement with the Secretary. Toll agreements generally included such provisions as a
description of the facility, a commitment on the use of revenues, and a provision on federal access to
records. This requirement was eliminated in FY2013 by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 st
CenturyAct (MAP-21; P.L. 112-141).
The Moving Forward Act would reinstate a requirement that DOT and the state or local agency with
jurisdiction over the relevant federal-aid highway, bridge, or tunnel reach an agreement regarding the
implementation of tolls. This requirement would apply to any new tolling of a federal-aid highway. It
                                                                Congressional Research Service
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