Tolls, the grift that keeps on getting.
Toll the roads to support building rail. A liberal's dream come true.
Houston opened the Sam Houston Tollway back in the 80's. They had a free concert featuring "The Bangles" to open it up.
The county promised the toll booths would come down when the road was paid for. It's been paid for years and it's still one of the most expensive toll roads in the country per mile.
I’d bet good money that the number of tolls for bridges and roads that governments have sunsetted can fit into a Post It note.
New York promised to end Thruway tolls once the bonds were paid off. Never happened.
The Hatem bridge has been long since paid for. As has, I believe the Susquehanna river bridge.
I remember when the tolls were raised from $2 to $5, the Baltimore Sun (a.k.a. “the Blight for All”) had a snotty editorial that stated $5 was not too much to pay. People could afford it, etc. etc.
When the MTA raised the tolls to $8, I attended a town meeting about it. There was fear over what the truckers would do at the toll booths (truckers pay much higher rates, based on the number of axles).
There was universal opposition. So what did the MTA do?
Put in the $8 rates.
They will hike it again. Just watch.
Over 50 per cent of drivers now have the "EX-Pass" type transponders that automatically deduct tolls from their bank accounts. So people drive through them without even knowing how much they are being charged.
At some point, there will be automated tolls on virtually ever highway and it will cost the average motorist between $500 and $1,000 per month to drive he roadways.
To much money to grifted by government.
Well how else would they pay for the now retired Expressway employees Pensions?
There fixed it.
There is nothing as long-lived as a temporary tax.
HaHaHaHaHa!!!!
Ask the Bay Area how many times the Golden Gate bridge has been paid off,, and what it subsidizes today.
Bridges are like golden geese.. slap some tollbooths up and reap the wealth.. well, spread it around anyway.
The bond for the Mass Turnpike has been paid off a dozen times over. Yet the Pols keep floating a new bond whenever the old one is close to being paid off. The tolls will never go away because a politician never met a tax he didn’t like.
They’ve hired hundreds of people to manage the tolls and would hate to fire them...
1. It's the closest thing to a "user fee" that governments have. It generates revenue from the road users, and gives a highway authority a source of money that doesn't have to compete with other spending from general tax revenues.
2. It gives the highway authority a lot of flexibility to run their system like a responsible private business owner would -- through things like variable tolling, discounts for electronic tolling, etc.
3. It allows the highway authority to have its own bonding capacity and its own bond rating, separate from a fiscally irresponsible government.
4. It gives a state or municipal government a mechanism for collecting revenue from people and businesses outside its jurisdiction who use its infrastructure and services. This is an important consideration for small states with a lot of long-distance traffic passing through it.
Personally, I think toll roads are going to become more common -- but they are also going to offer more benefits to their users. Ohio, for example, is looking at ways to make the Ohio Turnpike more attractive to motorists and truckers -- by potentially allowing higher speed limits, heavier weight limits, or a combination of both.
If the commuter rail system needs subsidy from the highway toll, get rid of the rail system. Econ 101.
Wow, this is good news for me. I will be 102 in 2042 and can ride FREE!
Actually, I don’t mind paying the tolls. I use the roads and don’t like driving I-4 so I avoid it when able.
HAHAHAHA! By law the Massachusetts Turnpike was to have been paid off in 1977. Today, in 2016, it is still a toll road, paying comfortable lives for an army of government parasites.
state road 528(formerly known as the Beeline now known as the Beachline) that connected Orlando to the east coast(brevard county) was a toll road...it still is. However, the deal was when the road was paid off, the tolls were supposed to come down. In the 80’s the road was paid off, however, The folks in charge said we need the money to continue to pay for other roads and upkeep. Brevard residents said no. They then said we have to keep it up to pay for the toll booth demolition. My understanding was that a resident of brevard county that owned a construction crew said he would do it for free and he did! Brevard has had no tolls since then! Yeah, brevard!
Orange County still has their tolls on 528 along with a to. Of other toll roads.
> support commuter rail
Toll autos to support a train. How about a toll on trains to support autos?