Posted on 09/13/2010 8:15:34 AM PDT by Willie Green
WASHINGTON - Imagine having to pay to travel on most of the major roads in the region.
The idea creating 1,650 miles of "variably priced" lanes on Capital Beltway, Interstates 270, 66 and 95, Route 50, the George Washington Parkway and others, is being floated as a "what-if" scenario by area transportation officials.
"Congestion is a major threat to the economic vitality of the region and the quality of life its residents enjoy," says a new report from the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board.
Charging a variable toll to drive major commuter routes would increase speeds 15 mph to 20 mph on average, according to estimates. Officials say that widespread tolls would help minimize their overall cost.
"This is not a proposal, it's a 'what if' study that provides very interesting insight into the implications of tolling for our region," says Arlington County Board Member Chris Zimmerman.
The report emphasizes that this analysis is "designed to elicit discussion, not to provide conclusive answers."
Other "what if" scenarios explore the expansion of bus service, changing patterns of development and the impact of workers moving closer to their jobs.
The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board meets Wednesday to discuss the report.
Ummm, wouldn't it do this by forcing traffic onto side roads?
How much gas taxes do electric and hybrids pay?
This is about cities panicing and trying to replace revenue before it leaves.
Think red light cameras.
Fire the police, or lay off police, and replace them with “traffic enforcement” cameras.
The goal is to automate the pick pocket taxation.
We all already pay to drive in the form of state and federal gasoline taxes (on top of automobile sales taxes, property taxes, license and registration fees, toll fees, etc., etc.)
This is simply a way to slip in yet another layer of taxes. Increasing any of the existing taxes causes too much political backlash (pesky voters). By continuously coming up with new taxes, it keeps the sheeple from knowing exactly how much taxes they are paying.
My last post basically lines it out. People don’t drive the Beltway in DC (or any city) for fun, they do it because they have a job to get to.
happens all the time with commercial truckers.
the solution for the tax and spenders is to set up exits which MANDATE autopay and prohibit traffic everywhere else.
“Fire the police, or lay off police, and replace them with “traffic enforcement” cameras.”
Can’t happen soon enough!
Back to the law of the jungle!!!!!!
Silly me...I thought that was why we paid state and Federal gasoline taxes!!!!
It wouldn't apply to all lanes; the toll lane would be a commuter choice. As is, we have HOV lanes that restrict access based on the number of occupants. This is a wholly inefficient allocation of a significant portion of roadway. By definition, a variable toll lane would be most efficient in an economic sense. An HOV lane is an enviro-debacle. I pay for the lane, and am unable to use it unless I enlist a comrade (or sometimes two) to ride with me. And the use of the word "comrade" is intentional.
I had a conversation with my congressional candidate back in June. He said the high speed rail fantasy is DOA. He went further and told me that it was never even a likelyhood and the promoters knew it. It was always about dangling non existent money in front of unions, city councils, and planners. (Theft)
He has seen preliminary plans and says the eminent domain and evironmental fights alone would triple the costs by his conservative estimates.
Absolutely!
Just raise the price high enough and there won’t be any congestion.
Or commerce.
my favorite is how there are not epass only exits on toll roads. These epass only exits are conveniently to the nicer neighborhoods where politicians and the like live.
You keep the riff raff via pocket money. (see the old loitering laws where you were required to have $5 in your pocket or you were a vagrant. struck down by USSC)
The idea creating 1,650 miles of “variably priced” lanes on Capital Beltway, Interstates 270, 66 and 95, Route 50, the George Washington Parkway and others, is being floated as a “what-if” scenario by area transportation officials.
I got your “what-if” scenario.....What if we re-allocated the damn taxes they already waste on more freeways?
"Willie Green" posts articles like this a few times a week. He won't be happy until everyone in the US has their own personal Amtrak train to ride to work.
Best not to feed the trolls. :-)
Uh huh. 20 minutes to the metro, 5 looking for parking, 15 waiting for a train. Then the train ride itself with the nice chance of standing the entire way, listening to some idiot babble on a cell phone, or shriek to their friends about American idol. Then a what, 5 to ??? walk to my destination? No thanks.
Once upon a time the Florida State Capital was going to be moved to more central orlando. The politicians stopped it because they did not way the voters to have too easy a way to get to them for redress of grievances.
So the capital stayed in very inconvenient tallahassee.
body odor of person next to you, smell of urine in the cab.
cost of car being vandalized every day because thieves know you are gone for 8 hours...
(car insurance going up)
I get 27 mpg If I were drive a truck or SUV that got 15 mpg or less it would actually be cheaper to use the toll road. Toll road cost vs fuel economy.
That’s an interesting position for you Willie. It would seem that you now are against building costly mass transit and high speed rail as none of these systems is self-sustaining.
You are wrong.
I have consistantly opposed highway privatization dating back to when the NAFTA Highway and Trans-Texas corridor first became an issue.
I believe that ALL our transportation infrastructure rights-of-way (airways, highways, roadways, waterways AND railways) should be publicly owned, not privatized. Private companies should own and operate the vehicles that operate on the rights-of-ways, and they should be granted equal access to those rights-of-ways to enable them to compete against each other. But no private company should have monopolistic financial control over the right-of-way itself.
Within that paradigm, I favor passenger rail systems in densely populated regions/communities where they would have sufficient utilization to dramaticly reduce our fossil fuel consumption and dependence on imported oil.
Actually, if it were truly my own personal train I'd probably be OK with it... ;-)
WG, Lurker is probably correct, or at least should be. The states are using the fuel taxes for other than road projects. Just like here in Texas, 50% of the fuel taxes are not used for what they were promised, roads. 25% is used for E D U C A T I O N !!!!! For all the chilrun, ya know.
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