Overview: This Handbook provides recommendations for conducting National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) studies for projects involving toll lanes and toll roads. It covers issues associated with the NEPA process itself, as well as a range of related issues, such as developing tolling policies in the transportation planning process and coordinating NEPA studies with a competitive procurement for a public-private partnership.

Tolling has received increased attention in recent years as a method for addressing transportation needs. This trend has resulted from many factors, including the expanded availability of electronic toll collection; the inadequacy of traditional funding sources for transportation projects; the removal of certain legal restrictions on tolling under federal law; and the success of toll projects both in the United States and around the world. Recent legislation—the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Effi cient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)—seems likely to accelerate the trend toward tolling, by creating new programs that allow for the development of toll lanes and toll roads.

For NEPA practitioners, the consideration of tolled alternatives presents a range of new issues to consider. This Handbook provides an overview of the key issues and offers suggestions for consideration in preparing a NEPA study for a project that includes tolled alternatives. It is important to bear in mind that approaches to these issues are rapidly evolving; decisions for each study must be made on a case-by-case basis by the agencies involved, and may be different from the approaches suggested in this Handbook.