NATSO Urges Congress to Support Smart Infrastructure Investment

Most truckstops are located within mile of an Interstate. These businesses which are often the
largest taxpayers in their communities rely on Interstate travelers to survive. The communities
along highway interchanges rely on the health of the off-highway businesses that cater to the
traveling public. As Congress begins to consider a massive infrastructure package, lawmakers
should (i) Support raising motor fuel excise taxes to fund further investment; and (ii) Oppose tolling
existing Interstates and commercializing Interstate rest areas.

Infrastructure Funding:
Congress should increase the gas tax and diesel tax to ensure that transportation revenue
in the United States is self-sustaining and raised efficiently.
The United States faces nearly a $1 trillion backlog of unmet capital investment needs for
highways and other transportation projects. These investments would spur fast
economic growth and improve efficiencies for all sectors of the economy.
Voters support smart infrastructure investment. Hundreds of state legislators
throughout the country have voted to raise fuel taxes in recent years, and 90% of these
legislators were re-elected.
Tolling:
Tolls are an inefficient way to collect revenue Approximately 30% of revenue raised via
tolling goes toward administrative costs; conversely, more than 99% of revenue raised
via fuel taxes is invested back into the Highway Trust Fund.
Tolls divert traffic to secondary roads that were not designed to handle Interstate-level
traffic. This contributes to traffic accidents, increased maintenance costs, and delays for
first responders. It also harms off-highway businesses that have invested in real estate
along newly tolled Interstates by diverting potential customers to secondary roads.
Tolling treats rural America unfairly. Many of the countrys crumbling roads and bridges
are in less populated areas that are not traveled frequently enough to generate sufficient
toll revenue. If we rely on tolling to pay for infrastructure, rural Americas needs would
go unfulfilled.
Rest Area Commercialization:
Congress has long prohibited states from offering commercial services at Interstate rest
areas. This protects off-highway communities and businesses from losing business to
government-sponsored competition on the right-of-way. In reliance on this ban, many
businesses have invested in expensive real estate located close to Interstate exits.
Commercializing rest areas would divert travelers away from off-highway businesses to
on-highway rest areas. This would result in a massive shift in tax revenues from off-
highway towns to state coffers.
Thousands of off-highway businesses would go under if Congress were to commercialize
rest areas. Competition will be reduced. Tens of thousands of jobs would be lost.
Communities would be devastated.

For more information, contact David Fialkov, NATSO Vice President of Government Affairs at
703-739-8501 or dfialkov@natso.com.

1330 Braddock Pl . Suite 501 . Alexandria, VA 22314 . (703) 549-2100 . Fax (703) 684-9667 . www .natso.com