Finally, a good idea on road funding

With many cars and trucks getting a lot higher gas mileage than before, and a small but growing number of vehicles not using gas at all, the traditional way of funding roads with a gas tax is gradually becoming obsolete.  Furthermore, many big new road projects are being built as toll roads, some without the traditional coin-tossing toll collection booths and machines. 

So it makes sense to come up with a way to fund roads based on who drives on them, and how much they drive on them.  There is a supposed privacy problem, because you have to use GPS to only record the mileage on your own state's roads.  However, I have a feeling that as this becomes the norm, it will become inter-state and every state will charge drivers for the mileage driven on their roads.

That's a way off, but I can see a day when it's the accepted way of doing things.   The first step in getting to that place is a trial -- and that's what this article is about, a trial of VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled).  Because of the changes in the way roads are used as I described above, I think that eventually this will be implemented nationwide.  That or revenue-collecting interstate highway speed cameras, something I advocated a couple of years ago on this blog.  But since that involves collection of fines based on our right to break the law, maybe this VMT idea is better.

Oregon to test mileage-based gas tax