Posted on 04/17/2012 3:47:55 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON -- The federal interstate highway system is showing its age, and, faced with the cost of repairing all those bumps and cracks, some states want to ask motorists to pay tolls on roads that used to be free.
When the interstate system was created in 1956, a federal per-gallon gasoline tax was enacted to provide a stream of revenue for the Highway Trust Fund. The federal government paid 90 percent of the construction costs, with the states making up the rest.
That model worked for decades, but no longer. Americans are driving less because of the economy and higher gas prices, and cars are getting better gas mileage. The federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents a gallon hasn't changed since 1993.
In recent years, the trust fund has required an annual infusion of general funds just to keep highway spending levels where they are. The Congressional Budget Office said in January that the trust fund might go bankrupt next year.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Last fall my electric provider was warning of potential outages on a certain day due to testing of communication between the power grid and electric cars.
That’s what I said!
At some point, fuel prices will make shipping via truck ineffective. The assertion made by hinckley buzzard that the highways will always be worth the investment is not necessarily true, as I think you and I would agree.
I don’t know if this Bob Poole guy received several million from a dead uncle, or maybe he just doesn’t drive or like to drive, but he is a VERY SICK MAN.
Keeping roads smooth and safe is VERY CHEAP. The total gas tax on drivers, now, is around 2 cents per mile. Increase it to 3 cents, and people in government would not even know how to spend it all.
But once you start putting tolls on highways, you’re looking at 10 to 15 cents, if they’re government-run. If they are privately owned, like this DINGBAT suggests, then it’s 30 cents to $1.00 per mile.
Again, we only need 3 cents per mile to upgrade and maintain today’s highways (and even expand them)...but this DINGBAT wants us to pay 30 cents to $1.00 per mile to drive? As I said, he is a VERY SICK MAN.
I’m glad I’ve lived to the age that I’ve been everywhere I ever wanted to go and seen everything I ever wanted to see and done everything I ever wanted to do.
I’m still annoyed with the bike lanes carved out of Brown St. Bikes do NOT fund pavement, paint, sealing and maintenance, yet we who pay through the nose in gas taxes and fees are constantly hit up.
Oh yeah, can’t forget the “rainwater tax” either.
“Any taxes on gas or tolls should go to maintain the roads. Nothing more.”
That NEVER happens, so stop wishing for it. Auto drivers are a “Revenue Engine” in the lingo of transportation planners.
In Pennsylvania, they wanted to put toll booths on I-80...but there was a deal with the feds - all the money had to go to that highway to maintain it. The PA government said NO DEAL, they intended the tolls to pay for public transportation in Philadelphia (along with the highway) - for they knew full-well they could collect in tolls TEN TIMES what it cost to keep the highway maintained.
To their credit, the Obama Administration told them to shove it, and I-80 remains a freeway (for now).
““Toll stamps” given out to the politically connected.”
They’re called transponders and yes, they are already given out by the THOUSANDS in the Northeast, to allow people who are connected (or who worked somewhere near a toll booth) to have free passage.
What do people expect, FAIRNESS???
“And the tolls will of course be the electric kind that can track your movements.”
Yes, of course. But it’s also covered by high-tech license plate cameras that record every vehicle passing, toll road or not. There is no longer ANY PRIVACY once you leave your driveway (and technically before that, thanks to smart meters).
What has to be done is to force DELETION of this data, or better yet, NO STORAGE, unless something sets off an alarm.
But do you really think that ANYONE other than us gives a damn?
McDevitt through Vandercook was cut from two lanes each way to one each way with a bike lane each way and a turn lane. It sucks especially considering the fact that there isn’t that much bike traffic down there.
Tolls are nothing more than a government jobs program to get more people indebted to the ruling elite and vote for them.
They cause traffic jams and waste fuel so where are the enviro-wackos?
Reasonable road taxes on fuel should pay for all roads and elimination of every toll in the USA should be the real goal unless of course you are attempting to build a permanent voting block.
Article I Section 9 Clause 4:
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
Would traveling in your car across state lines constitute an article being taxed by a toll?
Article I Section 9 Clause 5:
No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
Same argument. Your car on an "interstate highway" is assumed to be a vessel bound from one state to another. Would paying a toll on such a road constitute paying a duty to enter another state?
I've seen tolls on state highways and turnpikes, but not on interstate highways. I know that "interstate" is a description that has likely been morphed into "federally funded," because there are many "interstate" highways that exist only within a state, such as Interstate 12 in Louisiana, or city bypasses like 680 or 595 as offshoots of I-80 in California or I-95 in Florida.
So, is putting tolls on "interstate" highways constitutional?
-PJ
I have an idea. Make the government do what it is supposed to do, and quit doing what it isn’t supposed to do, and there will be enough money to keep the interstates paved and smooth.
This is BS. States pay a decent percentage - and tax us for it - of interstate repair, it,s not just federal money.
This is part of controlling travel. Tolls will become dhs tollways. This is agenda 21 related.
Yes they waste the money on crap other than road and bridge repair.
Plus they waste money building roundabouts instead on regular intersections, coming off the freeway exits/entrances. Cost 12 times what a regular intersection does.
I-294 around Chicago is a toll road. It’s interstate AFAIK.
We have MORE THAN ENOUGH money if the Highway Fund is not pillaged regularly. Likewise, the money would be MORE THAN ADEQUATE if the Union-only contracts were thrown out, and competitive bidding were allowed on Public Works Projects.
I don't favor having the federal gasoline tax increased to account for inflation. The federal tax pays for pork for high powered incumbent congressmen and senators. Texas, California, and Florida all pay in more money than they receive back (ever heard of the Ted Williams Tunnel). If states want more money for highway projects, they should either increase their own motor fuel taxes or figure out some other way to pay for them.
Amen!
Drove up from Florida a week ago and don't remember exactly how much I paid in tolls between DC and end of Maryland, but it was about $14 and was wondering how people who use 95 on a regular basis fare with this exhorbitant rip off.
Never mind the many delays and traffic tie ups from all the repair and construction.
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