[from occupied ga]

I favor fuel taxes to pay for roads

The implication is that it will pay for roads, but it is a "transportation" tax not a road tax. Doubtless large fractions of it will be squandered on things like transit, light rail (always a politician's favorite), bike paths, etc. make no mistake about it this is plundering of the GA taxpayers pure and simple. What they should have done is cut spending elsewhere to pay for this, but easier to stick it in the taxpayers' collective backsides than risk offending any of the mouthy special interest groups that grow fat on taxpayer loot.

[jjotto]

Correct. Usually when the say taxes are for ‘roads’, they are lying.

[sphinx]

Spending fuel tax dollars on mitigation activities gets tricky. The road lobby, which includes the suburban commuter set, tends to lose sight of the fact that new and/or expanded roads are noisy, dirty, and often destructive intrusions in the neighborhoods they cross, as well as barriers to people on foot or bicycle. I live in one of the "in the way" neighborhoods that the highway engineers have tried repeatedly to destroy. Around here, I am glad the roadbuilders were blocked. IMHO, sidewalks and frequent pedestrian/bike crossings (overpasses are great) should be considered part of the deal. A phrase that crops up in some circles is "complete roads," and I think it's a fair term.

I sometimes think the easiest solution would be to stop using eminent domain for roads being built primarily to convenience commuters. (This would involve some hard line-drawing questions, but leave that aside.) If people want to live 30 miles from their jobs, fine ... but they ought not to be able to smash other people's neighborhoods to shave five minutes off their commutes. If we stopped subidizing sprawl, we would have much more compact development and probably more good, diverse, entertaining urban neighborhoods. I am fortunate to live in one such, and as a model for major metro areas, I think quality neighhborhoods are much preferable to remote suburban pods connected by speedways. I'm spoiled, I know: I live in the middle of DC on a quiet tree lined street with home, job, church, groceries and light shopping, daughter's school, etc. all within a mile radius. Good city neighborhoods are like small towns. They should not be sacrified on the altar of the car culture.