Road user charges in Central America

The application of the principles of pricing of road user services to Central America is described. If the maximum net benefit from the highway network is to be achieved, the correct price to be charged users is a price equal to the cost of the resources used up when the journey is made. An attempt is made to estimate the variable maintenance costs generated by vehicles using uncongested highways. Current charges are in considerable excess of the economic costs of using uncongested highways. A high degree of congestion exists in all major Central American cities. Failure to reflect this congestion in the costs of using urban streets is rapidly leading to an intolerable situation. A general recommendation is made that road user charges be reduced in rural areas and increased in urban areas. Gasoline taxes, import duties, and general license fees could be lowered at the same time as urban congestion charges and diesel taxes are raised. Excessive border crossing procedures should be eliminated. Data that should be collected in order to facilitate transport decision making should include traffic counts, velocity studies, freight rates, maintenance costs for select road sections, and post investment studies.