July 21, 2025
Researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance (IURIF) and analysts at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) hosted dozens of attendees at New Transportation Finance Alternatives for Minnesota and the Upper Midwest on June 4, 2025, at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs in Minneapolis. The event, geared for policymakers, public-sector transportation agencies, private industry partners, advocates, and community members, featured presentations from two speakers and a roundtable discussion about distance-based fees as a mechanism for transportation funding.
Mark Muriello, vice president of policy and government affairs at the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), provided a keynote presentation on trends shaping the future of road operations and public infrastructure investment. The trends show increasing strain on current revenue sources to fund ongoing infrastructure and expansion—and a need for alternative revenue sources to help match demand. Muriello shared guiding principles for developing a road usage charge (RUC) model alternative to the gas tax, which would make use of next-generation tolling while building on lessons learned from past tolling practices. He concluded his presentation by underlining those areas that would require additional focus at the national level.
Following the keynote, Peter Olson, lead alternative funding and finance analyst at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), shared an update on newly executed policy agreements for electric vehicles and charging station fees and summarized the state of revenue collection based on electric vehicles. Olson then provided an overview of RUC programs and pilots in the US, as well as the pros and cons of different ways RUCs can be collected.
The subsequent panel discussion included Muriello and Olson; Peter Wajda, principal - strategies at mobility company Via; and IURIF’s Camila Fonseca-Sarmiento. Olson began the discussion by providing the history of RUC demonstrations in Minnesota. He explained MnDOT’s current pilot in partnership with Via, using original equipment manufacturer (OEM) data for distance-based fee calculations. Wajda discussed the advantages of using embedded telematics data to calculate distance-based fees and explained Via’s role in ensuring data privacy. Fonseca-Sarmiento then shared further details of MnDOT’s previous 2017 RUC demonstration and reviewed IURIF’s current agenda concerning the topic, which includes organizing public outreach events, conducting financial analysis, and policy research related to RUC models.
Related Resource
Article: States explore fee alternatives to fund roadway infrastructure