University of Iowa News Release

December 12, 2006

UI Seeks Participants for Road User Study

With gas prices going through the roof, more and more Americans are looking to buy fuel-efficient vehicles. While this is of course a good thing, both for the environment and our pocketbooks, there is a cloud to this silver lining. The gas tax hidden in the price of a gallon of gas is the way that America pays for its roads. Over the past ten years, as fuel efficiency and use of hydrogen fuel cell cars has steadily increased, the gas tax has failed to generate the funds necessary to keep our roads and highways in top form.

Clearly a new approach is needed. The U.S. Department of Transportation is looking for new and innovative ways to meet future demands. As a result, the University of Iowa Public Policy Center was awarded a federal grant to test a new system. The study tests an approach that will allow drivers to pay only for the actual number of miles they travel. The system was designed to be a fair and confidential way to collect fees for road use, and could eventually replace the gas tax.

The University of Iowa Public Policy Center is currently looking for drivers to take part in this national study. Study participants would agree to have small computers with a global positioning system (GPS) temporarily installed in their vehicles. The devices will store a record of miles traveled, and this data will be uploaded to a billing center. All transactions are private, and the system is not intended to monitor where a vehicle is at any particular time. If the system were to be put into place, the center would then collect the fees from drivers and distribute them to the states in which the travel took place. For the study, however, no money will be collected.

The study will take place over the next two years in cities across the United States, including San Diego, California; Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; the Research Triangle in North Carolina; Boise, Idaho; and Eastern Iowa. Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, the Quad Cities and many other communities in eastern Iowa.

Approximately 1,200 participants are needed for the first year of the study, and an additional 1,500 will be recruited for the second year of research. Participants will be paid a total of $1,165 over 12 months for taking part in the study.

Lori Jarmon, project manager of operations for the study, says its goals are to test the performance of the technology and user acceptance of the new approach, while ensuring the privacy of every motorist.

Interested individuals residing in one of the selected Iowa locations (Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, Jackson, Jones, Linn, Muscatine or Scott counties) should visit http://www.roaduserstudy.org/ for complete study information and to fill out a participant recruitment survey.