As Road Pricing Summit 2025 approaches, CiTTi Magazine continues its profile series of confirmed speakers at the internationally recognised event.
Taking place on 18-19 September at the Hyatt Regency Miami in Downtown Miami, Florida, the summit will bring together senior public- and private-sector stakeholders to address one of the most urgent challenges in transport finance across North America: replacing declining gas tax revenues with sustainable funding for roads and infrastructure.
The two-day conference will convene policymakers, industry leaders and innovators to exchange best practice on the planning, financing, implementation and operation of tolling, road usage charging (RUC) and mobility pricing schemes spanning highways, urban roads and cross-border corridors.
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Among the confirmed speakers is Rick Geddes, founding director of the Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy (CPIP).
Geddes focuses on the funding, financing, and delivery of major infrastructure projects.
His publications have appeared in numerous academic journals, including Nature, the American Economic Review, Journal of Regulatory Economics, Journal of Legal Studies, Journal of Law & Economics, and Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, among many others.
Geddes holds MA and PhD degrees in economics from the University of Chicago and a BS in economics and finance from Towson State University and is also is a professor at Cornell’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.
At this year’s Road Pricing Summit, Geddes will discuss how eliminating traffic congestion through real-time, network-wide road pricing can be achieved.
The session will examine how there are no longer any technological barriers to the adoption of real-time pricing of road use and how such a road pricing scheme is the only way that traffic congestion can be eliminated.
Name: Rick Geddes
Job Title: Founding Director
Organisation: Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy (CPIP)
What is the most rewarding aspect of your role?
I am an academic economist at Cornell. The best aspects of my job are teaching smart, motivated young people, watching them succeed, and having the independence to pursue big ideas wherever they lead.
What is the most pressing challenge for user-financed transportation in 2025?
The biggest challenge facing those tasked with implementing user-financed transportation is addressing the equity concerns that such a funding approach often generates. People are often concerned that road pricing will hurt the poor the most, but both theory and evidence from New York’s congestion pricing programs shows that is not the case. Those responsible for user-funded infrastructure should have those points at their fingertips.
What is your best piece of advice for those implementing user-financed transport schemes?
My advice is to do lots of research, public engagement and education prior to the implementation of user fees. Using Oregon’s OreGo year-long ramp-up program as a model is a good way to go.
Does legislation support or hinder innovation in this sector?
That depends on the state. Some states are waking up to the need to reform their outdated laws and regulations about topics such as tolling interstate highways. Those that do are creating laws and regulations that facilitate greater use of user fees while updated old laws that may get in the way.
How will user-financed transport schemes evolve by 2030?
As examples of the success of road pricing schemes multiply, its adoption will accelerate. By 2030 real-time, network-wide road pricing will have become so successful that it will be the norm.
Why are you looking forward to speaking at the Road Pricing Summit?
It will give me a chance to explain how real-time, network-wide pricing of road use can eliminate traffic congestion while generating all the revenue needed to bring America’s transportation infrastructure into pristine condition.
With a comprehensive agenda, high-level speakers and exclusive networking opportunities, the Road Pricing Summit is the only independent annual forum of its kind for tolling and road pricing professionals across the USA. Register here!
