Rick Scott's Toll Lanes Definitely Newsworthy ... but an Exposé?

Sunshine State News ^ | September 17, 2014 | Nancy Smith

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

In August 2011 Gov. Rick Scott first made it plain he likes toll lanes on major highways and wants more of them. They speed up traffic, he said. In October 2011, PolitiFact Florida checked out his assessment, rated it "mostly true."

So it was a little surprising to see the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR), whose stated purpose is "to expose corruption, waste and miscarriages of justice," expose Scott's commitment to toll lanes.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great this news is well and truly in front of the public again. And shame on all of us for not keeping up with the story since 2011.

But timed as it is, making the connections to developers all slimy-like as it does, the FCIR report feels like another weapon the liberal media brought to the election battlefield to bang over Scott's head.

I admit, I like express lanes. I've gratefully used them in South Florida. So, I agreed with Scott when I first heard him bring the expansion idea up publicly on a Daytona Beach talk-radio show. He explained to show host Marc Bernier the state can designate toll lanes on federal highways as long as it adds a new lane, and he talked about changes to Interstate 95 in Broward County as an example of how such lanes can work to transform an insufferably sluggish commute.

"We did that down in Broward County," the governor said. "It took the rush-hour traffic for the nontolled lanes from 25 mph to 45 (mph). So, for people not paying the toll, it was a big benefit. We're going to start doing that across the state."

My point here is, Scott didn't exactly sneak his intentions through. Toll lanes have been on his dance card almost since his inauguration and he's admitted it enthusiastically. Certainly in 2011 -- with the PolitiFact report -- toll lanes got a lot of media attention. Then, in 2013, when Scott and the Legislature gave the go-ahead to new toll lanes on I-4 to help pay for a massive overhaul of the interstate, they made prominent headlines again.

While fully admitting toll lanes make commutes quicker, FCIR reporter Eric Barton seems shocked that "there has been little debate about the need for the projects – not one resident will cast a vote on the lanes or the billions spent to create them."

He also claims toll lanes are an option for the wealthy, pointing to "a state-issued report on toll lane drivers, which found that 87 percent of motorists who use the lanes most frequently have an annual household income of more than $76,000." (In South Florida, why am I not surprised?)

I remember when I was a kid, much the same thing was said in the pre-construction days of the Garden State Parkway, which was designed for cars only and runs 173 miles virtually parallel with the New Jersey Turnpike. "It's going to be a rich man's road," commuters complained. "Ordinary people won't be able to afford it."

All the New Jersey Legislature did was create a highway authority and get on with it. There was no voter referendum on the parkway, no public hearings. It took four years to build, was completed in 1956 and cost $330 million. Construction costs were paid for by state-sponsored bonds, while tolls -- fairly sizable for travelers driving end to end -- covered operation and maintenance.

Even back then -- in a time when most families had only one car -- from the day the Garden State opened, users sang its praises, relieved to be out of the competition with bumper-to-bumper 18-wheelers on the noisy, smelly New Jersey 'pike.

Transportation infrastructure is a big-ticket item. Gas taxes no longer do the trick. I'm a fiscal conservative, so, yes, I like the pay-as-you-go plan to keep roads and bridges in good repair. And guess what? So does Barack Obama.

The White House announced in April it is is allowing more state and local governments to begin charging tolls on highways, to address the rapidly disappearing federal money available for highway repair. The reversal of the longtime federal ban on tolling is contained in the new $302 billion transportation bill the executive branch introduced.

Highway repairs in much of the country were federally funded through gas taxes collected in the Highway Trust Fund, says The Washington Post. But with cars becoming more fuel-efficient, tax revenues have dropped and the fund may soon run dry.

Meanwhile, the thinking on toll lanes in some states -- Rick Scott and Florida, by the way, don't stand alone in this regard -- has anticipated the White House:

• Orange County, California has toll roads on its insanely busy State Road 91, and is looking to add them to its 405 Freeway..
• Maryland is completing toll lanes on I-95 just north of Baltimore..
• Texas is floating a bond for toll lanes in Harris County.
• Toll lanes are on track for a spring 2015 start along I-77 to help Charlotte, N.C. commuters..
• In Colorado, the Boulder-Denver Turnpike is getting not one, but two toll lanes, a lane in each direction.

One last point:

The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting does a lot of connecting highway developers involved in the toll lane projects with campaign donations to Rick Scott and even HNTB of Kansas City, a brief former employer of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad. This is what good investigative reporting is all about -- shining a light on every perception of favoritism or corruption in the public arena.

But my problem with this report is, virtually every large transportation contractor in Florida -- as every major industry and as large lobbying firms and whoever else with a lot of money needs to ingratiate him/herself to those in high office -- gives campaign contributions to both parties. They are equal opportunity givers or takers or both. They hedge their bets. Especially in a year like this, with the promise of a close election between Republican Scott and Democrat Charlie Crist.

Frankly, campaign "gifts" from people fishing for something specific are all repulsive to me. But the problem is working out which is intended as business as usual and which is an out-and-out quid pro quo.

Toll lanes are a plan entirely within the realm of Scott's authority. The transportation secretary works for the governor, but he also follows legislative process as required. So, where's the beef in this "exposé"? Presenting as a sneak attack a 3-year-old plan seven weeks from the election -- a plan even the White House would approve? I'm sorry, but it just feels like a put-up job.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I think Rick Scott was actually talking about the Miami-Dade express lanes in that quote. I'm not sure that the Broward express lanes are open yet.

[Blue Ink]

Toll lanes are an abomination.

EVERYBODY’S taxes pay for those existing roads, off-ramps, bridges, etc. You should be able to drive in whatever lane you want — for free.

And this author is an innumerate elitist moron when he insists that gas taxes don’t cover maintenance anymore. YES, THEY DO. If anything, technology has made road construction cheaper. An insatiable government just wants more revenue — which they’re NOT gonna spend on roads, they’ll pad their retirement.

Oh, and “toll lanes speed up traffic.” It’s the EXTRA LANE that speeds up traffic, you idiot. The fact that you pay on them to drive in them is irrelevant. When extra FREE lanes were added to the 101 here in California, traffic sped up. It’s indisputable. You just lost that argument, too.

Unfortunately there are plenty of suckers like you in California champing at the bit for toll lanes because you think you can pay to get out of traffic. You can pay to cut in line in front of someone else.

The reality is more free lanes mean faster traffic — for everybody.

[4integrity]

Media trying anything they can to defeat Rick Scott for Fla Governor. Almost every day the TBTimes has some negative ‘story’ or column about Rick Scott.

[napscoordinator]

I just can’t wait until Florida excepts the EZ Pass. I have both of them on my car since Florida decided to have their own, but I heard in a year or so they are going to join the EZ Pass. I tell you one thing. You do not even notice the costs anymore with the pass. I guess you get a monthly statement sent to you with EZ Pass but The Sun Pass does not send a statement or I have not seen one.

[Ray76]

It bears repeating:
Toll lanes are an abomination.

[zaxtres]

Sorry man, no lane on any highway is FREE. Period. You pay for those in so many ways. And in so many ways the Highway Fund gets robbed to balance the budget. The taxes collected for roads are one of the biggest scams this government purports on its its citizens.

However to hear someone say a lane, road or whatever else out government, whether local, state or federal, builds constructs and allows to the general public FREE OF CHARGE has the wrong mentality to th issue and I call BS on all those who use the mantra “FREE” when speaking of items from our government. This is the same mentality as the 99% Occupiers continue to have. Wrong attitude.

Nothing in this world is free! Everything has a price/cost and that price/cost is just how much you are willing to pay or how much get ripped out of your hands.

[dennisw]

dittos... and you got champing correct!

[Blue Ink]

“Sorry man, no lane on any highway is FREE. Period.”

You know I used the adjective “free” to distinguish public roads from toll roads. Public roads ARE free — you don’t have to pay every time you drive on them. Public parks ARE free — there is no admission fee. I don’t have to pay to kit out an individual soldier to defend my freedom — our taxes cover it. Stop pretending you don’t understand this difference.

Nobody thinks roads are “free” in the sense that “we citizens don’t have to pay for them.” Some things the government should do, because everyone benefits. Roads, jails, and armies spring to mind. That’s why we’ve given them the power to tax, to pay for the stuff everybody needs that only government should do.

But when they’re paid for with taxes, they’re paid for, and I get to use it. You don’t get to charge me more than someone else who isn’t driving in that lane that day simply because “nothing is free.” Wrong. I ALREADY PAID.

I don’t have to pay when I call the police to investigate after my car is stolen, but if “toll road” types in government get their way, soon I will. Does everyone see where this “toll road” mentality lies? GOVERNMENT CHARGING INDIVIDUALS FOR SERVICES OUR TAXES HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR.

NO, NO, AND HELL NO.

Oh, and by the way? Private business ALWAYS muscles in on toll road collections. Why is that allowed? Shouldn’t public money collected for the use of public property go one hundred percent back to the public coffers?

[italianquaker]

Miami Herald has been hitting him from every angle also

[1010RD]

I love tolls. Let the drivers who drive them pay. I’d like to see the Florida State Police removed from the toll roads and them treated like the Autobahn.

BTW, all my Democrat friends in FL hate the toll roads too. Let somebody else pay, that’s what they say.

[BobL]

The people of Florida DESERVE just what they’re getting and if Crist can effectively use opposition to toll roads to become their next governor, well then REPUBLICANS there deserve it.

No one FORCED THEM to extort drivers trying to save a few minutes in their commute, and if Republicans in that state weren’t able to foresee that people would be MAD AS HELL about paying $1.00 PER MILE, perhaps Republicans there are simply too OUT OF TOUCH to be governing.

[Blue Ink]

How do you not get that you’re already paying for the lanes with your taxes?

[Blue Ink]

You’re abso right. I won’t vote for someone who illegally charges the public to use what belongs to them.

You can have gas taxes or tolls, thieves. Not both.

[BobL]

Yea, living in Texas we had a hell of fight with Perry. Seems he calculated that charging us 20 to 50 cents per mile in tolls (with most of that money going to foreign companies) to drive on our highways was preferable to raising the gas tax by what amounts to, at most, 1 cent per mile (for most cars). You see, tolls are “user fees”, which is JUST FINE, in his twisted mind, whereas the gas tax is a “tax” and he would have none of that.

We slowed him down, but he is still doing a LOT of damage.