Road pricing, toll financing of major infrastructure, and devolution of some functions should be part of the transportation bill.
As director of transportation policy for Reason Foundation, I’ve been writing this monthly column in Public Works Financing for more than 25 years. For readers who don’t know much about Reason, you can get some perspective by perusing our website. We are a nonprofit public policy organization with divisions focused on journalism and policy research. Reason is based on the belief in free minds and free markets, and makes the case for limited government, individual liberty, and the rule of law.
Transportation is one of many research areas we engage in. Among Reason’s transportation principles are the user-pays/user-benefits principle, market pricing, federalism (where each level of government is responsible for its transportation infrastructure and operations), and the idea that benefits should exceed costs, wherever possible. This leads to Reason supporting road pricing, toll financing of major infrastructure, public-private partnerships (P3s), and devolution of some functions from higher to lower levels of government.
In anticipation of reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program in 2026, our transportation team has developed a set of eight policy recommendations, which are posted on our website. Not all of the principles are relevant to the focus of this newsletter, so I will summarize three of the most notable for this audience here, and another one next month.
reason.org
by Robert Poole
Director of Transportation Policy
September 10, 2025