I say we fight that with all our might. People should just stay home every day until those tolls are removed. When the economy tanks perhaps our leaders will get religion. I don’t really know what else to suggest. If it takes general strikes here in the US, then that’s what we should do. I’m sick of our leaders bending us over for their enjoyment.
They squander hundreds of billions, then carp about the cost of new bridges. Then they act is if we haven’t figured this out.
We pledged $45 billion to African nations over the last three years. $45 friggen billion! I’m thinkin that may have bought us a few bridges.
Doesn’t it seem like we could have developed a new way to build strong bridges at a reasonable cost by now? Sure seems like a possibility to me.
Here in Pennsylvania, we have huge infrastructure issues.
First, the state get incredible fuel tax revenue as we are the major corridor to NY, Boston and DC from the west.
Our Dept of Transportation spends over 95% of its budget on maintenance. That means our roads do not get expanded to handle the larger traffic loads.
The recent budget passed under Democrat Governor Rendell called for turning Interstate 80 into a toll road with the money collected to be used for mass transit.
Folks, I-80 does not run through any parts of the state that require mass transit. It is mostly rural farmland.
This is the type of political decisions that led to the I-35W Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis.
PS: If a construction project is given to a private contractor, they are forced to pay "prevailing wages" starting at $25 per hour for all workers on state paid jobs.