(soft tense music)
- [Narrator] Traditional ways,
we fund infrastructure projects like the state
and federal gas taxes are not keeping up with rising costs
and increased populations,
not to mention better fuel efficiencies
and the advent of electric vehicles.
That's why an interactive tool was developed by a team
from the University of Texas's
Center For Transportation Research.
- The objectives of the project were really twofold.
First, we wanted to assess
what sorts of innovative financing mechanisms
are used by other DOTs within the United States
and other places in the world.
The other is to be able to compile together
all these different innovative financing mechanisms
and be able to assess them against the characteristics
of different projects and then recommend
what's the most appropriate funding and financing mechanism
for this particular type of project.
- So say, they need a new bridge.
What type of revenue source should they seek out for that?
And how they do that
is by entering different characteristics of the project
in order to determine which financing mechanisms match best.
- Along with these different funding
and financing mechanisms
are descriptions of what each of them are
and references on where one can go for more information,
plus there's information on pros and cons of using them,
like where they can be used, where they cannot be used.
- There's projections and then there's appropriateness.
So the appropriateness says,
how appropriate a certain mechanism would be
for a type of project.
And then the projections tell you,
if we increase these mechanisms,
how much more revenue will TxDOT get in the next 30 years?
- A future work that we would love to do
is to be able to pair the appropriateness part
with the projections.
I think if we're able to do that,
then we have a tool that can really be used comprehensively
both in the planning stages,
but also for the time that funding is allocated to projects.
- It is really beneficial for anyone in TxDOT
who's looking to understand financing mechanisms better
for specific projects,
as well as what different financing mechanisms
can bring forth to the table
as to how much more revenue they can get.
- This tool, this mechanism and research project
helps TxDOT to be able to communicate to the legislature,
the options that we have for funding
and how we can fund projects on the long-term.
- One of the most immediate objectives of this tool
is to be able to use it as an education tool,
to tell policy makers what kinds of funding
and financing mechanisms are available
and to tell them, "Hey, given a particular future scenario,
this could be possible."
- [Narrator] For more information,
and to find the publications for this project,
please visit the TxDOT Research Library
at the link shown below.