Proposed Act Forces Feds to Investigate Private Toll Roads for 'Unreasonable' Pricing and Consider Buying Them Out

The Affordable Commutes Act of 2025 is a proposed piece of legislation that aims to put the brakes on high toll prices by giving the federal government a direct role in monitoring and potentially acquiring private toll roads. This bill kicks off with a mandate for the Secretary of Transportation to immediately launch an investigation into how private companies set tolls. Specifically, they have to look for evidence of price gouging, unfair business practices, or tolls that are simply "unreasonable" (Section 2). If the investigation finds anything shady, those findings must be handed over to the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for enforcement action.

The Toll Booth Watchdog

For anyone who commutes on a private toll road, this first part is huge. Right now, if you feel like you’re getting ripped off by a toll that seems to climb every year, your options are limited. This bill creates a formal federal mechanism to investigate those complaints. The tricky part is that the bill doesn't define what makes a toll "unreasonable" (Section 2). That leaves a lot of room for interpretation by the Secretary. While that flexibility could allow the government to be aggressive in protecting consumers, it also gives them significant discretionary power over how private infrastructure companies operate and price their services. This is a direct shot across the bow of private infrastructure investors and operators, signaling that their pricing models might soon be under federal scrutiny.

Can Uncle Sam Buy the Highway?

Beyond the investigation, the bill requires the Secretary to conduct a detailed study on the financial and practical feasibility of the Federal Government outright buying these privately-owned toll roads and then transferring ownership to the state where the road is located (Section 3). The core goal here is to see if moving the road from private hands to state control would actually lower costs for commuters. For example, if you drive a stretch of highway owned by a private equity firm, this study could pave the way for that road to become state property, potentially leading to lower or capped tolls.

The Mandate to Execute

The most aggressive part of this bill is found in Section 4. The Secretary has one year to report the findings of both the pricing investigation and the feasibility study back to Congress, along with suggestions for dealing with unfair pricing. But here’s the kicker: the Secretary is also required to carry out the purchases and transfers detailed in the study. This means the bill doesn't just ask the government to think about buying roads; it mandates that they act on the study’s recommendations. This is a massive potential financial commitment and a significant expansion of federal power into infrastructure ownership, all based on the findings of a study mandated by the bill itself. State governments could stand to benefit greatly by receiving these assets, but federal taxpayers could bear the cost if the government has to purchase these roads at high market values. This provision essentially requires the executive branch to execute major financial transactions without necessarily going through the standard, detailed appropriations process for every single road purchase, which raises serious questions about federal spending oversight.