Tolls are hardly a perfect solution. But to many states and communities, they’re the best option available.

“It’s very hard in this environment for states to add capacity without charging a toll because they can’t afford to do it,” said Joshua Schank, president of the Eno Center for Transportation, a Washington think tank. “They’re barely able to maintain what they’ve got, and there is an urgent need for capacity.”

Some changes already are under way

In addition to the tolls allowed on Interstates in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest, the U.S. has agreed to pilot toll projects on Interstate 95 in Virginia and North Carolina and on Interstate 70 in Missouri.

A commission created by Congress to recommend ways to pay for upkeep of the nation’s transportation system predicted in 2009 that the U.S. will face nightmarish congestion unless it spends more. The commission estimated all levels of government were spending a cumulative $137 billion less each year than is necessary to maintain and expand the current system. Without action, there will be a $2 trillion-plus backlog by 2035, it said.

It’s been nearly two decades since Congress last increased the federal gas and diesel taxes that have historically paid for highways. Meanwhile, the cost of road and bridge construction has gone up and the purchasing power of fuel taxes has declined by more than a third. Revenue is also down because people have been driving less due to the uncertain economy and because cars are becoming more fuel-efficient.

Federal and state fuel tax revenues peaked in 2007 at $72.4 billion, then dropped to $68.6 billion in 2010, the most recent year for which data are available. Meanwhile, state toll collections rose from $4.9 billion in 2000 to $8.9 billion in 2010, and locally administered tolls rose from $1.6 billion in 2000 to $2.5 billion in 2009.

The trust fund that pays for federal highway programs is forecast to go broke sometime next year, though the House and Senate are trying to negotiate a bill to shore up the funding and overhaul transportation programs. It’s unclear whether they’ll reach a deal, but if they do, it’s likely to contain only a short-term financial fix. That means lawmakers will be back again, scratching for more.

Tolling is the easiest near-term way to pay the bills, says Robert Atkinson, who chaired the financing commission. “If you could allow modest tolling on Interstates, you could raise a lot of money,” he said.

Fifteen states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest, that had turnpikes before the 1956 advent of the Interstate system have grandfathered permission to collect tolls on 2,900 miles of the 47,000-mile system. But federal restrictions prevent other states from placing tolls on federal-aid highways except in limited circumstances.

States want Congress to increase their ability to charge tolls and to allow them to use the money for a variety of transportation needs — not just upkeep of the roads where tolls are collected, said Eugene Conti, North Carolina’s transportation secretary, at a Senate hearing last month.

But states also have a history of slapping tolls on roads traveled by a large share of out-of-state motorists. When Pennsylvania applied to put tolls on Interstate 80, a route favored by truckers, the federal government rejected the plan partly because some of the money raised would have gone to support public transit in Philadelphia, even though the highway doesn’t touch the city’s metro area. In 2004, Chicago leased its Skyway, an eight-mile road and bridge, to a private toll operator for 99 years in exchange for $1.8 billion that was used to pay off city debt. The resulting toll increases fell heavily on Indiana commuters who use the road to get to jobs in Chicago.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., has introduced a bill to give the secretary of transportation oversight of tolling practices. The financing commission made a similar recommendation.

What to do about tolling isn’t addressed in the highway bill now before Congress because of a standoff earlier this year between senators who favor and oppose easing tolling on Interstate highways. The issue is expected to be revived next year after the retirement of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who has led the opposition to greater tolling.

One concern is that the Interstate system is aging, which means money must be found to repair and replace the roads.

“The roads are out there and we’ve paid off the mortgage, but that doesn’t mean the system is paid for. … Now the roads are crumbling and we have to upgrade them,” said Patrick Jones, executive director of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, which represents toll facilities.

Some relaxation of the ban is in the works. The Transportation Department has selected the three states — Virginia, North Carolina and Missouri — for pilot toll projects.

A $2 billion project now under way would add High Occupancy Toll lanes on Interstate 495 in the Virginia suburbs of Washington. The state can’t afford to build the lanes on its own, but money raised by a private investment partnership and a $586 million federal loan made the project possible.

Motorists who buy an E-ZPass that can be read electronically will be able use the lanes. Toll prices will fluctuate depending on traffic density. If toll lanes are crowded, prices will keep rising until enough motorists decide to remain in the slower lanes. The aim is to give motorists a way to travel quickly, but only if they are willing to pay for it — an idea that has stirred controversy. Cars with three or more passengers will be able to use the lanes without paying.

The administrative costs of tolling are far greater than the gas tax, even when using electronic tolling, said Phineas Baxandall, a senior analyst with the private, consumer-oriented U.S. PIRG.

Some tolling agencies could also use “a dose of sunshine,” Baxandall said. Because many are quasi-governmental, public disclosure, open meeting and other transparency rules don’t always apply, he said. As a result, they frequently operate out of public sight, creating opportunities for corruption or manipulation by industry, he said.

A report by the New Jersey comptroller in March said cronyism and mismanagement at the Delaware River Port Authority had wasted millions of dollars. The authority operates four bridges, a ferry and a rail line across the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently raised cash fares on six Interstate bridges and tunnels to $12 for cars. By 2015, it will cost a five-axle truck paying cash $105 to cross between New York and New Jersey, three times as much as for any other bridge or tunnel in the country, according to the American Trucking Association. Bill Baroni, the authority’s deputy executive director, told a Senate hearing the fare hikes are necessary to make up for years of neglect and mismanagement.

Despite concerns about more and higher tolls, it’s difficult for lawmakers to tell state and local governments not to pursue greater tolling when Congress isn’t providing a comparable alternative source of funds.

Jones, of the tolling industry association, predicted that as traffic congestion worsens, people “are going to demand, ‘We need better roads, we need more efficiency,’ and they are going to ask for tolling and direct user fees to build the transportation that they need.”

___

Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

Williams’ driving privileges were also suspended 18 times between 1987 and 2007, according to the documents. New York state licensing officials have previously said that Williams, who also has a criminal record, used multiple names on licenses, one of which was suspended before the fatal bus crash.

The NTSB had previously determined that a tour bus driven by Williams was traveling at 78 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone when it hit a barrier and traveled 480 feet as it fell over. Then it slid into a vertical sign support that sheared the bus in half from front to back at the window line. Of the 32 passengers on the bus, 15 were killed and the rest injured, some severely. The bus was returning to Manhattan’s Chinatown from an overnight trip to a Connecticut casino. Williams has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Williams told investigators that he has no trouble sleeping. The documents quote him as saying, “I go right to bed and drop.”

Three days before the accident, Williams rented an SUV from Zipcar, which accumulated 228 miles during his off-duty hours, according to data downloaded from car’s telematics unit, which records when the ignition is on and how many miles are driven.

A hot dog vendor in Nassau County, N.Y., interviewed by police recalled serving Williams, whom he identified from a picture, and that he drove a Zipcar.

Williams also talked frequently on his cellphone while driving the bus, and the phone numbers he called while on duty match the numbers called during the hours when he had claimed to be sleeping, according to the documents.

Fatigue can be a problem for any driver on the road overnight, especially between the hours of 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. when the human body’s circadian rhythms — physical and behavioral changes that respond to light and darkness — are telling the brain to sleep, according to sleep experts.

Williams’ work schedules the week of the accident called for him to pick up passengers in the evening, arrive at the casino between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., and then rest for a few hours while passengers were inside gambling. He would then drive back to New York, leaving between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. and arriving about 9 a.m. or 10 a.m., the documents show.

Williams told investigators he would sleep with his feet stretched across two seats while the bus was parked outside the casino. He also claimed he slept four to six hours a day during the day, documents show. Those are the same hours when his cellphone and rental car were getting peak usage, according to a chart created by investigators.

Williams and his attorney didn’t reply to questions from investigators about whether anyone else had access to his cellphone or rental car during those three days. The attorney, Sean Rooney, didn’t return phone calls from The Associated Press.

There were 24 motor coach crashes last year, resulting in 34 fatalities and 467 injuries, according to an unofficial tally kept by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has estimated that 13 percent of truck and bus crashes involve driver fatigue as a factor.

___

Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

___

National Transportation Safety Board www.ntsb.gov

Government research shows the technology could prevent up to 56 percent of rollover crashes each year — the deadliest among all crash types — and another 14 percent of loss-of-control crashes.

NHTSA estimates that a standard requiring the safety systems on large trucks and large buses would prevent up to 2,329 crashes, eliminate an estimated 649 to 858 injuries, and prevent between 49 and 60 fatalities a year.

The safety systems are already required in passenger cars, sport utility vehicles and light trucks, beginning with the current model year. But safety systems have been available in all SUVs and many passenger cars for years.

“We’ve already seen how effective stability control can be at reducing rollovers in passenger vehicles,” NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said. “Now, we’re expanding our efforts to require stability enhancing technology on the many large trucks, motor coaches, and other large buses on our roadways.”

David Champion, senior director of automotive testing for Consumer Reports, has called electronic stability control “the single most important advance in auto safety since the development of the seatbelt.”

Some of the cases are years old, but Lerner said air traffic controllers and other FAA whistleblowers continued to point out safety problems after making their initial allegations because the agency failed to take promised actions to correct the problems. Other cases are more recent.

For example, Lerner said an investigation has confirmed most of the complaints made last year by Evan Seeley, a controller formerly assigned to one of the world’s busiest air traffic control centers on Long Island, N.Y. Among the allegations that were substantiated were that controllers slept in the control room at night, left shifts early, used personal electronic devices while on duty, used improper air traffic control procedures and engaged in work stoppages to gain overtime pay.

While the FAA has taken action to correct those problems, Lerner said another controller has recently made nearly identical allegations about a different air traffic control facility which she didn’t identify.

The FAA has one of the highest rates of whistleblower filings per employee of any government agency, Lerner said.

The counsel’s office has received 178 whistleblower disclosures from FAA employees since 2007, 89 of which related to aviation safety. Forty-four cases were referred to the Transportation Department for investigation, and all but five were substantiated.