Posted on 12/09/2017 9:02:49 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Drivers in metro Washington, D.C. are experiencing the new realities of commuting in the U.S., and it’s not pretty: It cost drivers $40 to drive 10 miles on I-66, a main commuter route into the nation’s capital from the western suburbs in Northern Virginia, at one point this week.
Is this the future for private car owners across the U.S.? The answer is yes.
Tolls on public roads aren’t new. But the I-66 toll, which fluctuates based on demand and doesn’t have a ceiling, is by far the most expensive per mile.
This toll at “the peak of the peak rate” reached $34 to drive those 10 miles on express lanes inside the Beltway on Dec. 4, the first day of the new tolls. It then hit $40 at one point during the morning commute a day later. In the next two days, morning tolls peaked at $23.50 and at $25.50. Pricing changes every six minutes during rush hour, or from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. eastbound and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. westbound on weekdays, the only time they are imposed. Those who carpool, with at least one other person, can drive for free.
The sticker shock felt by these drivers is not an outlier; it’s like a harbinger of the future.
Across American, government is facing the reality of a big revenue deficit at a time of huge spending needs for roads. As our roads get older and busier, they need replacement, improvement and much more maintenance. And that’s expensive.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
I’ve worked the Bay Area freeways for close to 25 years and know them like the back of my hand practically. I think the wealthy are screwed on these because their design appears to make them useless when they’re most needed and they’d be willing to pay it.
The field Caltrans folks know their stuff more often than not, but up at the top in design and at the upper level/political interface they are either corrupt or dumb as a sack of rocks.
To be honest with you, I’ve never seen the entire movie before, only bits and pieces........
Actually, if I see a pothole one day, it's usually fixed by the next day.
Inflation, union wages and growing demand for materials like steel.
“government is facing the reality of a big revenue deficit at a time of huge spending needs for roads.”
Construction companies are capable of working twice as fast at half the cost.
Clean that corruption up, and we’ll find ourselves with more money.
the $40 toll is the right price
good points - we should privatize the interstates and let the free market do its magic
Because they help pay for the roads you drive on too. That's how federal taxes work out, more or less.
Only if taxes are reduced accordingly. Otherwise, you're paying twice.
Isn’t the State of Virginia increasing the toll price and getting the $’s?
Yes, probably. So the tolls aren't paying for everything, I'd guess.
And some states, such as California, charge sales tax on gas, in addition to the other taxes.””
A TAX on top of a TAX is illegal, but Calif has been doing it FOREVER.....
Not highest salaries but highest medium income in the US.
Let them pay the $40 toll.
It's already like that here, in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the past, heavy traffic was confined to the 7-8am and 4-6 pm time periods. Now it's pretty much all day, 6am-7pm. Crowded roads, lots of traffic, streets and malls full of people all day long. My younger daughter has worked flex-time and telecommuting for the last fifteen years, didn't make a difference when she was in Kansas, Texas or here as she did much of her work telecommuting. At her new job here, she works in the office two days, and telecommutes from home three days. Many of her co-workers have similar arrangements.
Streets seem more crowded at all times of the day now. People are not stuck in offices, they get out and around all day adding to day-long congestion. I remember in the past, my father commuting from SF to his job at Alameda Naval Air station - traffic flowed at 50mph across the Bay Bridge during rush hour. In the 1950s and 1960s that was considered heavy traffic, all lanes full but moving at 50mph. Now it's bumper to bumper much of the day. I have no solutions for what is happening, just commenting that there are more people now than before, and that's the cause of congestion.
This road always WAS a nightmare. A 1960s-era agreement prohibits Virginia from widening the highway beyond the existing two lanes each way. At the DC-end, it dumps you from the highway only city streets with one-lane feeders (and lights).
And the tolls ? Used to subsidize “express buses” and bike lanes. . .
Lol. Like I feel sorry for the bureaucrats and other ne’er-do-wells who commute in DC. Screw you b@st@rds.
>>It’s already like that here, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Well, its SF. Imagine what it would be like if all the people were all on the road at the exact same time? In my city, a lot of those mid-day drivers are service vehicles, retirees, and soccer moms. If the telecommmuters are hanging out in the mall all day, then I guess that’s why most businesses won’t permit it.
When I telecommute, I stay home because I have work to do. I might watch some TV, do some Amazon shopping, or watch a cat video or two—but I would do that at in the office too.
Actually, it’s easy enough for the govern-MENTALS to avoid the toll by carpooling, since they’re mostly going to the same areas, anyhow.
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