Los Angeles is the latest city to consider congestion pricing to combat the traffic issues. While the idea is controversial, the fee could have the potential to increase land values that are currently burdened by congestion, according to Michael Manville, associate professor of urban planning at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs. Manville recently published research analyzing the impacts of congestion pricing.

“The general consensus about congestion pricing is that congestion is usually worst around the most valuable land, like dense urban areas where people are converging at peak times,” Manville tells GlobeSt.com. “That is a dis-amenity; it makes being there less desirable than it otherwise would be. You see that central areas of metropolitan regions are the most desirable areas of those regions are artificially devalued by the fact that we leave our roads free. If you were to price those roads and make them work better, that dis-amenity would no longer be capitalized into the land value, and you would see those sites become more valuable.”