Drilling Deep: Toll collectors are handling a lot less money

Tolls on bridges, tunnels and roads are plummeting in the wake of the pandemic. Unlike the broader system of highways whose upkeep is paid for by the rapidly depleting Highway Trust Fund, infrastructure funded by tolls generally has a steady stream of income to keep it in working condition.

But that is now threatened by a dramatic collapse in revenues due to the sharp drop-off in traffic. Steep cuts in capital expenditures are coming. Is this going to weaken this part of the nation’s infrastructure that already is considered well below the standards that the economy needs? Pat Jones of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association is going to join the Drilling Deep podcast to discuss the state of his organization’s members.

Host John Kingston also will look at an aspect of the oil and gas business that could be good news for the trucking sector: Some activity may be coming back. It may not be a lot but for all the trucks sidelined in the oil patch, it might be a “green shoot.”