Wanna Bet? How Casino Gambling Will Pay the Way for Highway Funding in Arkansas, Part 1
By Thomas Beckett, NMA Arkansas Member Editor’s Note: In 2020, for the Driving in America blog, Thomas has already written three posts on how a small state like Arkansas is working to fund infrastructure projects. His last post is about raising speed limits in the state. Check out all four below. Driving in America—Arkansas Report […]
More Fallout in Pennsylvania over Turnpike’s Elimination of 500 Jobs
By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director The technology revolution grinds on, and more jobs will be eliminated as more companies realize they can automate functions. That’s exactly what happened in Pennsylvania during the COVID-19 Crisis. Due to the pandemic, the state’s turnpike commission stopped accepting cash payments for tolls due to safety and announced this […]
Motorists Vote 2020: Arkansas Ballot Issue 1
By NMA member, Tom Beckett Editor’s Note: A couple of months ago, Tom wrote the NMA National Office an email with some information on what is going on in his home state of Arkansas with regards to infrastructure funding. We asked him to write more formally about the situation, and we feel his insight gives […]
Driving in America—Arkansas Report Part 1
By NMA Member Tom Beckett This is the first of a series of occasional reports on the activity of the Arkansas legislature regarding highway transportation. I’ll cover not only various legislative acts but also other things of motorist interest that come to my attention here in the Natural State. To begin, an overview of how […]
Driving in America: Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates Update
Editor’s Note: The National Motorists Association and the Alliance for Toll-free Interstates or ATFI are in agreement about tolls. ATFI recently emailed this newsletter out to supporters, outlining the latest tolling in America news from the summer and fall of 2019. The NMA has permission to repost its email newsletter in the Driving in America […]
The Road User Charge by Any Other Name: NMA E-Newsletter #555
We recently completed a series of newsletters (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) about the renewed calls for levying a set of surcharges–or thinly disguised taxes–on motorists to help rescue the Federal Highway Trust Fund. National calls are picking up in momentum for the implementation of a system of travel fees layered on top […]
Are We Slinking Ever Closer to a Universal Road User Charge? Part 3—Regional and Local Efforts: NMA E-Newsletter #551
In Parts One and Two of this series, Are We Slinking Ever Closer to a Universal Road User Charge?, we explored what is happening on the national level and in Congress respectively. Road User Charges (RUC) are also called Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax (VMT) or Mileage-Based User Fees (MBUF). A number of states are experimenting […]
Are We Slinking Ever Closer to a Universal Road User Charge? Part 2—Congress: NMA E-Newsletter #550
Last week, in Part one of Are We Slinking Ever Closer to a Universal Road User Charge?, we examined the efforts of various groups that are currently pushing road user fees onto the American public. (A road user charge or RUC is also commonly referred to as the Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax or VMT Tax […]
Universal Road User Charges Really? Many Questions that need Answers by the Rest of Us
Editor’s Note: One of our Texas members wrote the following guest post as a response to this past week’s first part of the NMA three-part newsletter called: Are We Slinking Ever Closer to a Universal Road User Charge. Parts two and three will be on the website www.motorists.org on July 28 and August 4, respectively. […]
Are We Slinking Ever Closer to a Universal Road User Charge? Part 1—the National Landscape: NMA E-Newsletter #549
A road user charge or RUC (also referred to as the Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax or VMT Tax and Mileage Based User Fees or MBUF) currently permeates nearly every discussion of how our country will pay for infrastructure in the future. Many transportation planners and elected officials seem to agree the time has come to […]