KDOT is calling for Road Usage Charge survey volunteers

TOPEKA (KSNT) - The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is asking for Kansans input on a program that could replace the statewide gas tax.

With the rise of electric vehicles, the Sunflower State is losing gas tax which pays for the roads. It's now hoping to find alternative methods that's fair to all drivers.

Every time you pay for gas at the pump, about 25 cents of each gallon goes to the KDOT. A decline in gas powered vehicles, however, could be a problem for the state.

"With that advent of vehicles that don't use motor fuels tax, we're going to start to see as a state, and quite frankly, a country and other states, a reduction or a loss of that revenue stream," KDOT Director of Policy Joel Skelley said. "That actually provides revenue to build transportation and maintain transportation infrastructure like our highways and bridges."

The Road Usage Charge program would instead charge drivers by the miles they drive.

"It's important for us to start exploring that option or those options of how else we might look to be able to fund those transportation investments," Skelley said. "This would allow us to potentially look at a revenue stream that's based off of the usage of the roadway instead of the usage of the fuel."

Figuring out how to track that could prove challenging.

"We try and collect a revenue that's fair and equitable for those miles that are driven as an alternative,"Skelley said.

This is all preliminary, according to KDOT. No changes are currently on the horizon as this three month pilot survey will give KDOT an idea of what options could benefit everyone.

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