A novel idea, ask voters. Hey, how about use gas taxes for roads as they were supposed to be used?
They should have to vote on every toll road. We shouldn’t be required to pay for roads twice.
Toll roads are cash cows for states. When a standard road may take decades and have billions in cost overruns, a toll road can be put in quick and the cash will start to flow in.
Oklahoma said they would make their toll roads free just as soon as the tolls pay for the construction. Many of their toll roads were paid off fifty years ago but are still toll roads because of the revenue generated by them.
Ask Dallas about their bike/pedestrian bridge is working out.
The road? No.
The toll? Yes.
What a novel idea of taxation and representation. The toll system is a scam like the lottery.
People sometimes say they like “growth” but often don’t want to pay for it. They don’t want to get stuck with cost-of-living or tax increases TO PAY FOR “growth”. They pretend its great as the property value of their home goes up, until they get the property tax bill that acknowledges the higher value of their place.
Citizens need to admit and say they either want a new highway or not, and quit pretending that one way of getting the money out of their pocket for it is any better or any worse than another - you want it, or you don’t; nothing else matters.
Yes, let citizens vote for any new highway, regardless of how it is to be financed - whether tolls, state general and fuel taxes, whatever, it all comes out of your pockets.
bump