Posted on 03/24/2008 6:32:24 AM PDT by JZelle
How much would you be willing to pay to cut 30 minutes off your commute?
A study released this week suggests adding variably-priced toll lanes to highways in the Washington region could reduce traffic tie-ups while generating funds for road improvements.
The report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments evaluates several scenarios -- from adding new lanes and placing tolls on major and secondary highways to a more conservative plan to place tolls on existing lanes of the region's parkways.
Although costs vary depending on the plan, for I-270 in Frederick County, the study suggests tolls between 30 cents and $2 a mile, increasing to between $2 to $4 a mile near the Montgomery County line.
Tolls would vary depending on time of day and number of passengers.
Jenkins said the study would be useful to policymakers, he cautioned there is no "magic bullet" for congestion.
"I think tolls ultimately will be part of the solution," he said. "But they shouldn't be looked at as the panacea to solve all the problems."
He believes the trend in transportation planning is to focus more on mass transit -- for example, expanding Metro rail and adding express bus service.
Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr., meanwhile, sees tolls as a way to ease congestion not only in the Washington region, but in Frederick.
His "Appian Way" plan calls for placing electronic tolls at the Frederick County line and at several congested intersections along U.S. 15. The rate could be about 1 cent a mile, he said, but might vary with time of day. Not all lanes would be tolled.
All tolls would be electronic, with a sensor over the road to register vehicles with a device like an E-ZPass. Thompson believes the federal government will eventually require such devices in all vehicles.
(Excerpt) Read more at fredericknewspost.com ...
Sounds great. I mean, you just FLY into the city on the Dulles Toll Road.
[/sarcasm]
The only way to fix the traffic mess in DC is to just build a huge bypass around DC and Baltimore and route all of the thru traffic away from here.
Congestion based tolls are a great idea. Roads have a limited supply (only a certain number of cars can fit before a jam up, which is in effect a shortage, occurs).
However, it makes no sense to base the pricing on the number of passengers in the car. A car with one occupant uses the same amount of pavement as a car with four occupants. The passengers can of course split the toll, but it doesn't make sense to give them an additional discount.
With congestion based tolls, people who really value their time and cannot shift their demand of road space to another time pay the most. The HOV pricing makes no sense here.
But what about the poor?...................
15 corridor from 81
Evidently, they are looking for yet another income stream, and figure the consumer is too stupid to realize that this is yet another tax. For some reason, the solution to every problem comes down to, pay a fee, pay a toll, find another way to liberate even more money from the worker’s pockets. It isn’t enough that fuel costs have risen dramatically, now we have idiot politicians wanting to raise the taxes on that fuel, and now this, turn freeways into toll roads so that even more money can be collected.
This never works. In the end, almost everybody decides to suck it up and pay, and the roads are just as clogged.
Beware of studies by governmental or quasi-governmental agencies claiming to provide objective results.
I dealt with a similar bunch of folks in Ohio. Their only ‘contributions’ were the usual pie-in-the-sky recommendations about ride-sharing, light rail, staggered shifts, etc.
Once these people - who had never worked in the for-profit arena - had bored everyone to tears for months and failed to convince a single person the REAL work began on building and improving roads and highways and somehow these cube critters were shocked when it actually fixed the problem.
Pure and total B.S. The tie up at the tolls I have to go through on the way to work invariably costs me an extra 10-15 minutes.
Granted, it's still quicker than the back route. But when our tolls go up in September, I'll take the extra time.
Translation: Tolls will get POOR PEOPLE OFF THE ROADS FOR THE RICH PEOPLE...
IE like rome had two water systems, one good one for the rich people and another one for the rif raff...
Yes, it's fantastic how that Left-O-Crat wants to add another 0.50$/gallon to "help reduce our fuel use"... I guess that help that other crippling problem of obesity since food prices will increase with it.
It's about control.
Ding ding ding, we have a winner.
The folks in Northern Virginia are also considering tolling every major public road. The irony is that quite a few major roads in the area started out as toll roads during Virginia's colonial period (for example, the Little River Turnpike and the Leesburg Pike).
All tolls would be electronic, with a sensor over the road to register vehicles with a device like an E-ZPass. Thompson believes the federal government will eventually require such devices in all vehicles.
That's disturbing.
But, they will require such devices under the guise of "saving the earth from climate change" and then use them to track everyone's every movement or even remotely commandeer and disable vehicles. Believe me, it can and will be done.
And the Bay Bridge, Harbor Tunnel Thruway, Ft. McHenry Tunnel, Md Turnpike, New Jersey Turnpike...
Government wants a Cost of Governemnt Adjustment.
The states want to charge per mile because the gas tax collections go down with fuel efficiency.
They’re NEVER getting enoough money in Maryland!
After sticking us with the largest tax increase in history to “fix” the structural deficit, they are already moaning about tax income shortfalls. Here in Montgomery County, the chief executive is whining about a shortfall in county revenue and wants to raise property taxes.
That said, I would be willing to pay extra to save 30 minutes in my commuting time. It only takes me about 25 minutes to get to work, so I would be buying time!!
Let’s see.......toll roads were originally designed to pay for the road the toll was charged on. Once it was paid...the toll booths came down. Now..... the people are paying road useage taxes on auto registrations, gasoline and tolls? They are just asking for an all out revolution in this country.
Exactly.
Why a classic limo liberal like Bloomberg is so supportive of the “congestion pricing” plan in NYC. Get the rabble into the subways, busses and trains where they belong.
Clear the roads for the limos bearing the elites.
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