Session No. 1B
Next Generation Funding: Potential Paths Forward
Despite rising traffic and freight travel in our state, the funds available to maintain our transportation system have not kept pace due to shrinking gas tax and federal revenues. As a way to address Pennsylvania’s growing backlog of repairs and rehabilitation to major bridges, alternative funding methods allows the Commonwealth to act more quickly and with long-term sustainability to generate new revenues to work to meet Pennsylvania’s transportation needs. This session will review several potential alternative funding methods that could be leveraged by Pennsylvania and how the new transportation revenues can provide economic benefits, safety benefits, capacity improvements, and user experience improvements across Pennsylvania.
Moderator: Matthew Woodhouse, WSP
Bridge Tolling
- Matthew Woodhouse, Lead Consultant, WSP
Managed Lanes
- David Ungemah, Vice President & Managing Director, Transportation Operations Strategy Business Line, WSP
Road User Charging
- Michael Warren, Vice President, WSP
Bios
Matthew Woodhouse is a Lead Consultant in WSP’s Systems Finance and Economics group. Woodhouse has worked extensively in toll road operations, from developing operations and maintenance plans to implementing back-office systems to conducting gross to net revenue evaluations. He has overseen the procurement, development, integration and testing of several toll collection systems. In addition, Woodhouse has helped to advise clients on the operational and financial impacts of toll policies from the perspective of public toll operators and P3 concessionaires.
David Ungemah is Vice President of WSP USA and directs the Transportation Operations Strategy Business Line, which includes all aspects of Connected and Automated Vehicles, Congestion Pricing, Managed Lanes and Motorways, Road Usage Charging, and ITS Services. His 26 years consulting and research subject matter expertise pertains specifically to roadway pricing, priced managed lanes, distance-based usage fees, and freeway management. He has worked directly on over 120 road pricing projects in 24 states, Canada, and New Zealand, including signature projects in Colorado, North Carolina, Washington, California, Texas, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Oregon. His clients have ranged from state departments of transportation, to regional metropolitan planning organizations and tolling authorities, and local communities. Ungemah has participated in many U.S. Federal Highway Administration and National Cooperative Highway Research Program research activities towards establishing the state of the practice and guidelines for roadway pricing development. In addition to his service to WSP, Ungemah is the past chair of the Transportation Research Board standing committee on Congestion Pricing.
Mike Warren is a Vice President of WSP USA and is the managing director for WSP’s Road Usage Charge service area. For the past twelve years, Warren and his team have been helping clients across the country with feasibility studies, grant writing, policy considerations, and the design, operations, and evaluation of per-mile MBUF programs. He has led some of the most prominent programs in the country including the nation’s first MBUF program, OReGO, the California Road Charge Demonstration, the Oregon Open Architecture Tolling study, the Minnesota Distance Based Fee Demonstration, the Colorado Road Usage Charge Pilot, the RUC West Regional Pilot and Automated Vehicle Planning and Design Study, and the Wyoming RUC Feasibility Study. Warren brings more than 26 years’ experience in systems engineering and innovative project management experience within the transportation, defense, intelligence, homeland security, and telecommunications industries. His expertise spans many aspects of innovative mobility including per-mile distance-based fees, tolling, operations, emergency management, planning, design, and outreach. Warren is actively involved in many national working groups to promote distance-based fees including IBTTA, ITS America, AASHTO, and MBUFA. Warren has a Bachelor of Science in Technology Management from Regis University and has held a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification since 2007.
