Karl Baker

The News Journal

Years down the road, Delawareans might have to pay every time they drive to help fund the billions of dollars needed for future highway repairs.

Departments of transportation from the First State and four others on the East Coast have floated a proposal to charge motorists a fee based on the distance they travel.

The idea is in response to calls from federal transportation officials who are encouraging states to dream up ways to pay for road construction in the face of stagnant gasoline and diesel tax revenues – the traditional funding sources that fuel highway construction projects.

Delaware and its partner states, including Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont, requested a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration to partially fund a mileage fee pilot project that would test the system with a sample of volunteer drivers. If successful and the public indicates support, a road-use fee could become a reality in 10 years and would transform how the state pays for highway construction, said Jennifer Cohan, secretary of the Delaware Department of Transportation.

"It would completely eliminate the gas tax," said Cohan, who also chairs the I-95 Corridor Coalition, an organization of East Coast states that sent the grant application to federal officials. "If you drive 10 miles, you are going to pay for 10 miles."

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Two state legislators could be among the volunteers, Cohan said, though she declined to name them. If Delaware wins the federal grant, the project would begin in October and last for one year.

State officials will examine various ways to track mileage and how to charge drivers, said Cohan. They could take odometer readings when a vehicle pulls into a gas station and charge a driver there for the vehicle mileage, she said, or an electronic device could be installed to track vehicles. The latter would likely raise privacy concerns, state and federal officials have said.

The pilot project will help transportation officials determine what privacy concerns the public might have and how to address them, Cohan said.

Gas tax money is expected to decline during the upcoming decade as more people drive electric and other fuel-efficient vehicles. Delaware currently charges 23 cents on each gallon of road fuel purchased in the state. Pennsylvania charges 26 cents. Maryland charges 23.5 cents, and New Jersey charges 10.5 cents.

The federal government tacks on another 18.4 cents for each gallon of gasoline and 24.4 for diesel.

Lawmaker efforts to raise the fuel tax in both Delaware and nationally in recent years have failed.

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I-95 Corridor Coalition officials estimate that East Coast states along I-95 will need to double their road construction spending to $71 billion by 2040. The only viable way to do that, they say, is to find a sustainable funding alternative to fuel taxes.

"Projections are very bleak for revenues," said Trish Hendren, executive director of the I-95 Corridor Coalition.

Transitioning away from a fuel tax would also be more fair to drivers, she said. Today, a person driving an older Cadillac is likely paying more into road construction coffers than the driver of a Honda, she said.

"The gas tax is not a long-term solution," Hendren said.

It is too early to determine how much Delaware would charge for each mile driven if a user-fee program were adopted in the coming decades, but it would have to be enough to offset Delaware's gas tax revenue, said Cohan. Whether the public ultimately is in favor of such a program is still unknown, she said.

"It might work out; it might not work out," Cohan said.

Many drivers fueling up their vehicles on Friday expressed tepid support for a road-use fee.

Laray Raiford just moved to Pennsville Township, New Jersey, from Delaware but still drives in the First State frequently in his Cadillac DeVille to various gigs as a videographer. If everyone were to switch to electric power for their vehicles, states would have to make up for lost fuel tax revenue somewhere, he said. A mileage fee would be fair, he said.

"As far as paying by the mile, I think that would be something I would stick to," he said. "If [officials] could make that work."

George Simpson, a resident of Chelsea Estates who drives a diesel pickup truck, said if state officials would guarantee that a user fee will not be an overall tax increase, then he would consider supporting it.

"The people with gas and diesel engines shouldn't pay the other people's part," he said.

Simpson is unequivocally opposed, however, to any technology that would track his location while he drives. While officials could check his total mileage on his odometer, he would not allow a state-issued GPS on his vehicle.

"I'll go back to horse and buggy before that," he said.

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.