[GeorgefromGeorgia]

I worked at the Pentagon for 5 years in the 90s and the HOV lanes were a lifesaver. I carpooled for a couple of years, and then when the carpool died, I "slugged." Slugging is common in Northern VA. You stand at the bus stop in a line, and cars that need more riders for the HOV pick you up at no charge. I did it three years and it worked like a charm. Absent the HOV lanes, commuting would have doubled my one hour commute.

[Ben Mugged]

Car pooling and new roads are not the solution. More drivers are being added to the highways faster than we can pave new ones. The real solution will not be liked by almost anyone but still remains the only one that will work.

Get drivers out of their cars.

[Niteranger68]

Deep tax incentives for businesses that “telecommute” workers. That’s the ticket.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

About once or twice a month I use a 30-mile stretch of interstate highway. Any other time I am on country backroads. However, when I lived in a huge city I used the tollroad whenever possible because you can drive without congestion. So to a certain extent, this plan makes sense. But will it bring cries from the minority groups and advocates for the poor?

[freeangel]

Did I miss something? I thought gasoline taxes were the "fees" I pay for using the roads.

[antiRepublicrat]

Critics of such fees argue that road tolls would make new highways reserved mostly for wealthy drivers

They had a similar proposal for the Autobahns in Germany. The German automobile club came up with some interesting facts that you can add up:

1) Highways are safer to drive than secondary or city roads
2) Enacting a fee for highway use will make more people use secondary or city roads to avoid the fee

This brings up a few conclusions:

1) Deaths will go up do to increased usage of less safe roads
2) Congestion on the secondary roads will go up
3) If the alternate route goes through residential neighborhoods, pedestrian deaths are likely to go up

[savedbygrace]

A Republican administration proposing new taxes. Imagine that.

[SoCalPol]

I live in San Diego, a large city and never owned a car.
Went to work for decades by bus.
Grocery shoping, etc walking or bus and I am on forearm crutches also.

If I can do this, so can most. Use public transportation or walk.

[bondjamesbond]

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.

Well, if you want to talk global warming... Mr. Moneybags in his gas-guzzling vehicle might burn 2 gallons of gas to drive 20 miles of clear roadway, but would burn 4 gallons of gas to if the roadway is congested. Meanwhile, Greenie Thriftyman might burn a half gallon to drive those 20 miles if the traffic is clear, and one gallon if the roadway is congested.

So, you see, if one or the other driver must be stuck in traffic, holding up Mr. Moneybags and his gas-guzzler will result in the burning of an additional two gallons of fuel, while holding up Greenie Thriftyman will only result in the burning of an additional half gallon.

Therefore all good citizens should agree that we must let Mr. Moneybags go along his way unimpeded, in order to save the environment!

[AnotherUnixGeek]

"If a roadway is priced -- that is, if drivers have to pay a fee to access a particular road

Then not a dime of my taxes should have gone into any aspect of that roadway's construction.

But I agree that carpools are a joke - the lanes are empty most of the time while traffic crawls along in the other lanes. The only solution is more freeways.

[Logical me]

This is the biggest pile of crap I've heard in a long time. Everyone in this Country, even if they drive or not, benefits from the highways. Goods, transportation, etc. Everyone should pay taxes for these roads. Name me one who does not benefit from this mode of transportation. Remember, I said "Goods". That includes food etc.

Just a way to tax more for the highways. What in the hell are we paying taxes for, just to be double taxed for the same slab of cement. How stupid. All toll and charges for highway travel should be eliminated. What in the heck do we pay taxes for?

[voltaires_zit]

Rather than having **any** solution enforced from on-high by a bunch of chair polishing bureaucrats, how about relaxing the rules so that municipalities and local governments can more easily try their own creative solutions?

[MEGoody]

I wouldn't have a problem with paying a fee to use roads IF they cut all the taxes they currently levy for building and maintaining roads.

[Cymbaline]

Carpooling won't do much to reduce U.S. highway congestion in urban areas

Absolutely true. I lived both in L.A. and the SF Bay Area, and the diamond lanes were a joke. The main lines of the freeway are at a complete standstill, and the diamond lane has like 5 people in it, all going 90mph. They do NOTHING for traffic conjestion. Their only purpose is to give liberals a way to directly punish you for not being politically correct.

[Gator113]

Horse lanes are our only fix!

But wait.....with the dims in charge, even less people will need to bother to work for a living. They can simply hang out and wait for their checks to come in. This should clear up traffic problems, eliminate drive-by shootings and get the USA back on the right track.

On second thought, I'll stay with the horse lanes.

[weegee]

Or as in the case of Austin Texas, existing highways can be stolen from the public and converted into toll roads.

[lentulusgracchus]

[Article] The administration argued that congestion pricing is already used by many providers of goods ....

Their goods are not public property. They have no fiduciary duty to administer the goods faithfully and fairly for the public benefit, or to treat citizens as equals under the law.

[absolootezer0]

fine. build more roads, charge for use, but you'd better give me better speed limits. if i can't do 90mph+ then forget it.

[The Pack Knight]

"It is increasingly appropriate to charge drivers for some roadway use in the same way the private market charges for other goods and services,"

That's just it. The roadways are NOT a private market. They are taxpayer-funded public rights of way. If the government wants to do it this way, they should sell the roads to private companies and let them charge whatever tolls they want. I'm for free market solutions to our problems, but half@$$ed pseudo-free market solutions are problematic at best, because free markets don't work so well absent the profit motive. That said, using gas taxes to fund highways isn't exactly "fair" either. My Cherokee doesn't "use" the road any more than a Prius does, but I pay twice the gas tax per mile. The truth is that while our road system is in many ways the finest in the world, it's still a government program, and is just as much a mess as any other.

[skr]

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.

That's a "slam"?

More people on the toll roads means fewer people on the public ones. Sounds like a win-win to me.