State officials might start paying for road projects based on your odometer instead of how much gas you put in your car.
Delaware and other I-95 corridor states applied for a $1.5 million federal grant to run a pilot program to charge drivers a per-mile rate to help repair crumbling infrastructure.
The state’s 23-cent gas tax currently pays some of that bill, but officials argue better fuel efficiency and alternative fuel vehicles have taken a chunk out of the formerly reliable funding stream.
“We’re looking at something that would take the place of the gas tax that would be a little more stable, it would be more equitable across the board whether your drive a Prius or a Cadillac. If you drive 10 miles, you pay for 10 miles," said state Transportation Sec. Jennifer Cohan.
Cohan chairs the I-95 Corridor Coalition, which helped submit the grant request. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Vermont are also hoping to participate.
Different mileage tallying options could come in the form of a flat fee for an all-you-can-drive buffet, a GPS tracker or an E-ZPass-like system.
Privacy concerns have plagued proposals calling for tracking software, though Cohan says there would be little difference from that and a smartphone's GPS navigation system.
Critically, states want to account for out-of-state travel to properly dole out money that's due to each of them.
"Precedents already exist, the technology already exists," she said, noting a multi-state agreement to redirect gas tax revenue collected from trucking companies.
A future formula would also include an environmental surcharge, another fee for peak travel times to reduce congestion and other potential state and local fees.
If awarded, the pilot program will kick off in October, with a combination of state workers, legislators and others making up the test pool.
Regardless of the results, Cohan says it could be nearly a decade before anything replaces the gas tax.
