Could a commuter tax be on the way?

WASHINGTON -- Would you leave your car at home if you were charged for every mile you drove?

That's what a local transportation body wants to know.

On Wednesday, the region's Transportation Planning Board -- which makes key decisions about transportation projects in the area -- approved a study on what's known as road pricing.

The principle is fairly simple: You pay to use the roads you drive on.

For example, using GPS, the number of miles you drive can be calculated and then a charge is put in place.

With roads crumbling and crammed in our area, and the gas tax stagnant on state and federal levels, some say this is a potential solution to cut congestion and raise much needed transportation dollars at the same time.

"We are losing money for transportation every day. We have had one failed attempt to fund after another," said Arlington County Boardmember Chris Zimmerman.

"Most of us sitting at the (Virginia) table have voted for every single tax that we have had a chance to vote for, and we still can not get anything done. So we are not in a position to dismiss any possibility that may someday fund the infrastructure that is rapidly eroding and threatening the economic future of our state."

The study that the TPB approved Wednesday will gauge the public's perception and willingness to have a vehicle miles traveled tax put in place.

The research, which will include surveys in local jurisdictions, will be funded largely by the Federal Highway Administration.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Government will put up $80,000 for the study, the FHWA will match that with $320,000.

Opponents, like AAA Mid-Atlantic's Lon Anderson, argue that it is all a waste of time.

"Do they understand that we have a recession on, and that motorists are just regular people who have to work for every dime they get -- and many are unemployed," said Anderson.

"What needs to happen is our legislatures need to find some spine and enact some gas taxes. It is unusual for AAA to be asserting that we need gas taxes, but it is the only horse out there."

According to a report from the Brookings Institution -- which the TPB cites in carrying out this road pricing study -- the likely charge per mile if this program were to be set up would average 9.3 cents per mile.

The Federal Highway Administration's own analysis of congestion pricing along several freeways in the Washington region suggested charging 15 cents per mile.

"Somehow we are going to study a road-pricing scheme that effectively would be the equivalent of $2 to $3 a gallon tax for gas. It's outrageous," says Anderson.

But the study is going forward.

It's set to kick off in January and take a year to complete.

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