[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Trans-Texas Corridor PING!

By the way, Cintra is only a certainty for the first 316-mile portion of TTC-35.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

What nutty analogy...toll roads actually increase congestion because most will still use the non-toll road...esp local truck traffic because those vehicles are charged more.

Bunch of nonsense to justify building the NAFTA Superhiway to move cheap Commie Chinese crap through Mexico

[PAR35]

I recently drove 35 between the metroplex and San Antonio, for the first time in years. There are chunks of that road that haven’t been improved since the interstate was opened. Other stretches were potholed and rutted. If the Cintra contract goes through, I guess we can write off ever getting 35 brought up to standards, due to the non-compete clauses.

[Psycho_Bunny]

This reminds me of how I've often thought that taking government money out of the university system would improve education by creating accountability and frugality.

......and free up cash for roads.

[mylife]

I should have voted for Kinky

[OCCASparky]

I drive I-95 in NH. I’m here to tell you the toll booths aren’t exactly speeding traffic along, and that’s a mild understatement.

[Doe Eyes]

Step 1: Toll roads cost cost more, but allow the user to travel quickly due to less congestion.

Step 2: Toll roads discriminate against the poor, so poor people, minorities, children ... are exempted from tolls.

Step 3: Toll roads are as crowded as other highways.

[Theodore R.]

I’m not reading this article, but it could be that these professors have been hired by the toll road companies?

[ZULU]

“...run by the Spanish firm Cintra. “

The selling of America.

[Froufrou]

“Kaupert said toll roads have come about as a solution to poor planning.”

And, she said a mouthful! Why couldn’t Tx DOT have looked to the DFW area, particularly the HEB for a model??? Our kids live in Hurst and they don’t have this nightmare.

[Sicon]

First of all, coming from college professors, this doesn't surprise me. After all, their description of the tolls is a lot like the whole notion of "targeted taxes/tax cuts". It is a way to attempt to control behavior by taxing or otherwise punishing people for doing what they want to do.

Second, I live in NJ, where we have plenty of toll roads and bridges. I can't think of a single instance where tolls reduce congestion. They increase congestion on the roads where there are tolls simply by impeding the flow of traffic, and increase congestion on non-toll roads and bridges because some (especially trucks) avoid the tolls and create congestion elsewhere. In any case, NJ roads are so congested that tolls or no tolls really makes little difference - its all congestion all the time here.

And as someone else pointed out, enjoy the 17 cents a mile rate while you can, because you can be sure that it will double or triple in short order.

[RightWhale]

Radio Moscow used to be a source of considerable amusement for schoolkids. One day they had an article about the joys of working in the salt mines, and then one about the health benefit of eating connective tissue.

[wolfcreek]

The 183-A toll road, north of Austin is 4.5 miles long and cost $1.50 (without a TexTag) and about 62,000 people use it each day It has reduced the traffic on old 183 through Ceder Park /Leander by 27%.

I guess if it’s worth saving 5 or 10 mins. on your commute (yes, that’s about all the time you save), by all means, pay the money and get out of my damn way.

[21stCenturyFreeThinker]

Talk about a major tax increase. Here is the equivalent of the gas tax for these roads:

Mpg	Cents per gal toll tax
10.00	1.70
15.00	2.55
20.00	3.40
25.00	4.25
30.00	5.10
35.00	5.95
40.00	6.80

If you car gets 10mpg these roads cost you 1.7 cents per gallon of gas. If your car gets 40mpg these roads cost you 6.8 cents per gallon of gas. That's on top of the taxes you already pay for these roads.

Do we really want to penalize responsible people who buy a car with good gas mileage? Wouldn't it make more sense to take a few cents a gallon at the pump and take down the toll/tax stations? I'm glad they didn't build the Interstates this way. It would have been a huge economic drag on the entire country.

Rural Texans get get road construction and maintenance in proportion to the amount of gas taxed paid in their area. That's no longer true for urban Texans.

[Tribune7]

Toll roads are a way to for a government to get revenue and pretend that they are not instituting a tax.

Building a new road -- even a toll road -- can obviously relieve congestion.

There is no way putting toll booths on an existing highway is going to relieve congestion.