Congress’s next surface transportation authorization bill should fund basic research, technology development, and pilot programs to begin moving the United States to a mileage-based user fee system (VMT system) by 2020.

The research should be overseen by a multi-modal body within U.S. DOT that combines technology, policy, tax administration, and systems expertise. As recommended by the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, the first set of studies should be wide-ranging and experimental, testing various self-selected VMT fee processes. Subsequent tests would be more prescriptive to facilitate the selection of a single, nationally interoperable system.