“Federal law still bans most forms of Interstate tolling.”
I never heard of that. Driving between DC/NY, one encounters tolls in every state, MD, DE, NJ, NY... the toll for bridges/tunnels between NYC/NJ is heavy (ask any commuter). Of course, those tunnels and bridges, except possibly one, preceded the interstate highway system, but I believe were incorporated into it. Maybe because of that they got an exception on tolling?
I always wondered why in driving down I95, say from NY to FL, there are tolls in all the states north of DC, but none south of DC. VA is the first state on that drive that one encounters that doesn’t have tolls on the interstate.
News to me. I405 variable tolling is in place here in WA The toll lane is the HOV lane. Pretty sure there are others.
Earlier toll roads were grandfathered into the Interstate Highway system.
Because that's the CommieWannaBe Corridor!
Up until the late 1980s or so, there were tolls on I-95 south of Washington. They existed between Richmond and Petersburg, VA and also in Jacksonville, FL. Furthermore, for many years the section of I-95 between Fort Pierce and Palm Beach Gardens, FL was unbuilt, and the most convenient alternate route was the Florida Turnpike (a toll road).
As for the tolls north of DC, they were grandfathered in, as they pre-date the interstate system.
Personally, I don’t have heartburn over having tolls at major bridges and tunnels, as these facilities are vastly more expensive to build and maintain than are regular surface roads. Thus, I’m OK with the I-95 tolls under the Baltimore Harbor (MD), over the Delaware River (DE-NJ), and over the Hudson River (NJ-NY). The bridge over the Susquehanna River (MD) is a gray area, IMO. But the rest of the tolls ought to go.