Posted on 02/12/2007 1:03:09 PM PST by presidio9
Carpooling won't do much to reduce U.S. highway congestion in urban areas, and a better solution would be to build new highways and charge drivers fees to use them, the White House said on Monday.
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"It is increasingly appropriate to charge drivers for some roadway use in the same way the private market charges for other goods and services," the White House said in its annual report on the U.S. economy.
While some urban areas have designated roads for vehicles with two or more passengers, those high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are often underused because carpooling is becoming less popular, the administration said.
Based on the latest data supplied by the White House, only about 13 percent of motorists carpooled to work in 2000. That compared with 20 percent of daily American commuters in 1980.
"This trend makes it unlikely that initiatives focused on carpooling will make large strides in reducing vehicle use," the White House said.
Building more highways won't reduce congestion either, unless drivers are charged a fee, according to the administration.
"If a roadway is priced -- that is, if drivers have to pay a fee to access a particular road -- then congestion can be avoided by adjusting the price up or down at different times of day to reflect changes in demand for its use," the White House said. "Road space is allocated to drivers who most highly value a reliable and unimpaired commute."
Critics of such fees argue that road tolls would make new highways reserved mostly for wealthy drivers, who are more likely to travel in expensive, gas-guzzling vehicles.
But the White House said urban road expansions should be focused on highways where drivers demonstrate a willingness to pay a fee that is higher than the actual cost of construction, allowing communities to avoid raising taxes on everyone to build the roads.
The administration argued that congestion pricing is already used by many providers of goods and services: movie theaters charge more for tickets in the evening than they do at midday, just as ski resorts raise lift prices on weekends. Similarly, airlines boost prices on tickets during peak travel seasons and taxi cabs raise fares during the rush hour.
This is highly developed urban space ~ widening the highway would probably cost something in terms of billions of dollars per mile.
There really isn't somewhere else to put the highways!
As far as double-decking is concerned, the subsurface around here is disaggegated schist leftover from a massive meteor strike tens of millions of years ago. It's been infilled with wind blown loess.
The few spots where the Metro-line (the local "subway system") had to be built "overhead" were incredibly expensive ~ "mindboggling" actually.
Regarding the HOV rules, the system started out requiring "buses only", then HOV-4 was allowed, and finally HOV-3.
What you neglected to account for was the fact that drivers learn to use the system and highway management learns to deliver the service, and working together everyone improves the efficiency of the operation thereby allowing lighter loads per vehicle.
I never failed to have the requisite mob of people in my vehicle (2).
Although there's space between the cars using the expresslanes, they move more cars per lane per hour than the regular lanes do, particularly when they are at a complete standstill for hours on end.
CA should quickly expand the expresslanes to at least 2 full lanes in each direction to bring more speed and efficiency to commuter traffic.
With the proposal to tax health insurance benefits, this, and a few other things, it's clear that Bush no longer feels the need to even pretend to be a conservative.
Carpooling only works for Gov employees as they are just about the only ones that can work their day into a 8 tp 5 schedule.
Heavy objects produce more wear and tear on the underlying surface than light objects. That's Physics 101.
It's been the other way around for about 75 years. Living near the railroad is not exactly desirable.
Why not just sign an executive order requiring carpooling. After all, stroke of the pen, law of the land. Pretty cool /s
It is impossible for people to "assemble" without traveling to the point of assembly. The freedom of the people to assemble is explicitly guaranteed in the First Amendment. Q.E.D.
You lost that argument when they build what is now US 40.
But if the roads are getting congested, that must mean there are more car-miles being driven, right?
And if there are more car-miles being driven, there is more fuel being purchased, and more road tax being paid. So there ought to be more money available for maintenance and construction of roads.
The real problem is that the road taxes are being misappropriated.
We don't really need more taxes or fees...we need less corruption and waste.
If we are to have toll roads, then let's get rid of fuel taxes.
There are confused people everywhere. You just happened to inherit some of them.
So, it ought to work out fairly equitably, except for the fact that fuel taxes are being stolen and wasted on urban boondoggles like light rail.
Slugging worked for me, and I sometimes had to work long hours. Even when the slug line disappeared, I could take the bus. My normal work schedule was 7-5 (government employee).
So what's your point? Yes, cities exist along the Toll Road in Indiana. You have read the map. Well done!
The fact remains, though, that the Toll Road exists nearly exclusively for out-of-state traffic. In Ohio, (which, of course, is home to the same I-80 toll road as Indiana), up to 85% of the traffic is out-of-state. In Indiana, only 18% of the cars on the Toll Road are Indiana cars. Again, since the Toll Road exists for almost exclusively out-of-state traffic, why shouldn't out-of-state traffic pay for the upkeep of the road?
As far as your relatives go, there are a number of people that oppose the Toll Road deal in Indiana. My only comment to that is that there are, unfortunately, a huge number of woefully ignorant people in the Hoosier state, especially in considering this Toll Road deal.
Again, I note:
1. Indiana will regain posession of the Toll Road when the lease expires. The state never transferred ownership, and still owns the road.
2. The state was losing money on the operation of the Toll Road. Had been for years.
3. The state received $4 billion in cash for the lease of the road, which will fund dozens of road construction projects throughout the state, including the construction of a new interstate highway from Indianapolis to Evansville.
4. The state receives approximately $7 a second from interest on the $4 billion, which far exceeds the loss that the state realized on its operation of the Toll Road before.
I ask again: why do people think this is a bad deal?
The gas tax is over 200%. I know this because one gas station put stickers on the pumps stating what the gas actually cost before tax, and it wasn't any more than it cost here.
Gas in England and Germany is between $5 and $6. The difference between that and what AAFES gas coupons cost can be attributed to taxes.
Nope. AAFES puts a pretty heavy profit premium on top of the regular gas price to arrive at the price they charge for gas coupons. The real gas prices are a LOT less than what the coupons cost, but people rarely complain because the alternative is even more expensive.
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