Alex Anas

The cost of congestion and the benefits of congestion pricing in the Greater LA Region: A general equilibrium analysis

A map of the Los Angeles region.

Alex Anas

The Regional Economy, Land Use and Transportation (RELU-TRAN) model is a computable general equilibrium model of urban spatial organization and development. We have modeled the benefits of congestion pricing in the Greater Los Angeles Region. If all the roads in LA County were priced, about $ 3 billion annually would be raised, on average 84 cents per car round trip. The economic benefits are $ 236 per consumer annually, but when the aggregate toll revenue is recycled to cut the income tax of the poorer workers, the benefit to the economy rises to $ 645 per consumer annually. A user interface, now in its early stages, allows users of the model to run it remotely and query its geographically detailed outputs.

The research was supported by the University of California Office of the President's Multi-campus Research Project Initiative competition of 2009. award 142934 (January 2010 — July 2016).