Posted on 11/17/2005 3:10:51 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(AXcess News) Washington - Drivers who are sick of rush-hour gridlock may one day soon be able to buy their way out by paying to get into toll road lanes.
That's the goal of some environmental and transportation groups, one of which made a sweeping call Tuesday for highway planners to consider tolls as an option for every new U.S. road.
Led by the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, lobbyists said toll roads would help improve under-funded transportation projects by connecting them to private investors' capital.
"There's a transportation funding crisis in this country," said Patrick D. Jones, the association's executive director. "There are not enough funds in this country to support the infrastructure we have today."
Tolls are not the solution for all new roads, but they are an option that should always be considered, Jones said.
"Tolling provides an effective and politically acceptable way to begin to address our nation's infrastructure needs," he said, adding that investors are poised to spend $40 billion on U.S. toll roads.
Dating back to Greek mythology, toll roads or turnpikes have been used throughout history to ensure upkeep of property and compensate landowners or local rulers. Early toll roads in the U.S. included the Lancaster turnpike in the early 1790s, which connected Philadelphia to the town about 60 miles away.
The U.S. has 5,200 miles of toll roads, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and a proposed Texas superhighway system could double that number.
Drawing intense criticism, the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor would pave up to 8,000 miles of highway and take up 1.6 million acres. The toll roads would mostly parallel existing highways and skirt cities.
Opposition to the Texas proposal comes from groups saying the project will serve business interests, not Texans.
"The corridor is not being driven by traffic needs," said David K. Stall, co-founder of CorridorWatch.org. "It's strictly being driven to generate revenue from traffic."
The Trans-Texas Corridor would sandwich car lanes between truck lanes, Stall said. This eliminates the possibility of regular access ramps, forcing the construction of more expensive bridge interchanges.
"There are no cost controls because the operators are going to recover the revenue in tolls," Stall said. "And the higher toll fees will get passed on to the consumer."
Funding for road upkeep, which comes from gasoline tax revenue, falls far short of needs. In 2006 this gap will reach $50 billion, according to a study by the National Chamber Foundation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The public's mentality about access to roadways will soon shift, say toll road advocates. Neil D. Schuster, president of Intelligent Transportation Society of America, said highway access will soon be considered in the same way people think of a seat on a bus or train – not a guaranteed public resource but rather a product for sale.
"We're no longer going to be road users," Schuster said. "We're going to be road consumers."
Advances in technology such as radio frequency toll systems like the E-ZPass are creating the infrastructure for a new wave of tollbooths, he said.
“Technology is changing how we drive," Schuster said.
Environmental advocates said toll roads can make highways more efficient. "Smart use of tolls can cut traffic congestion, clean the air and help finance clean transportation choices," said Michael A. Replogle, transportation director of Environmental Defense, which works to make practical environmental improvements.
PING!
Works for me, but then again, I can afford it...
Like we don't pay enough in freaking federal gas tax??
I wonder if any lib has come up with the idea of a tax on breathing oxygen yet.
CorridorWatch.org CALL TO ACTION (11.15.05)
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
What a crock! It's like the HOV lanes today. We all built them and then, because the government wants to engage in social engineering we are told that those that fall in in line can use the special lane that we all paid to build. There's no way they can build the roads in the first place withour tax money taken from all of us. The next thing will be the exemptions for the tolls. Government employees will be able to ride in them with "passes" paid for by, guess who.
WE PAY TAX FOR GAS
WE PAY TAX FOR THE CAR
WE PAY STATE TAX FOR THE ROADS
NOW THEY WANT A TOLL ROAD?
It's not a bad idea, *if* the tolls are offset by tax cuts elsewhere. Of course, I doubt that would happen.
They are trying to tax water in Maine.
When I lived outside Washington DC, I always found it amusing that during rush hour, Interstate 66 (the major limited-access highway into DC from the west) inside of the Capital Beltway is COMPLETELY HOV during rush hour in the main traffic direction. You cannot use the highway at all heading into (morning) or out of (afternoon) DC unless there's 3 or more people in the car.
A few times I had to ride the Metro into DC in the afternoons, the Orange Line paralleling I-66, and at 4:30, the outbound lanes--all HOV-3--were practically empty. Virtually nobody was using them. But there were state troopers all over the place to bust HOV violators. Meanwhile, all the non-HOV surface streets in the area--Arlington Blvd (US 50), Lee Highway (US 29), Chain Bridge Road, etc.--were parking lots. And this was a good 17 years ago.
People would rather sit in traffic for 30 extra minutes or more than carpool. It's crazy, as much as we all loudly proclaim to hate traffic, but it's the truth.
Oh, and as for special exemptions? They're already doing it in Kahleeforneeea. Hybrid vehicles can get special decals that allow them to use HOV lanes on the freeway system, even with only the driver in the car. And now the hybrid owners are complaining because the decals are "ugly!" Wouldn't surprise me if they gave hybrid owners a break on tolls if they used one of the automated toll transponder systems.
}:-)4
Gas taxes and license fees are supposed to pay for highways.
They can take their toll booths and place them on liberal asses, where they have to pay to...
And they're trying to tax views in New Hampshire. Must be a New England thing.
We are still tied to the internal combustion engine, a technology that came a few decades after the steam engine. The steam engine went the way of the horse. Heck, you can't charge $3 for a gallon of water. That's why it's profitable to keep with the old technology. It's time we wean away from gasoline engines and cars tied to terra firma.
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