There is merit to toll roads. After all, what is more fair than having the people who use the roads be the people who pay for the roads.
My biggest complaint with toll roads is that once the road is paid for, the tolls don’t disappear.
Does Texas collect taxes on gasoline for road usage?
Of course they do.
In Massachusetts, the tolls on the turnpike were specified to endure for 30 years until the initial construction costs were resolved.
Thirty years following that payoff, the booths remain and the gasoline taxes are increased almost regularly.
Define "paid for". Most need maintenance before becoming "paid for" and the maintenance need is an on-going thing. The difference between a toll road and a freeway is where most of the money comes from to build/maintain it. Everyone pays for "Freeways" and the brunt of the cost of a toll road is from the users.
All roads are paid for by the people who use them. Gas tax is around 38 cents a gallon. Tolls is a form of double dipping, in my mind.
” After all, what is more fair than having the people who use the roads be the people who pay for the roads.”
Who says that all of the money paid in tolls is used to operate and pay off the roads? In the case of Pennsylvania, after decades of complaining, the state had federal approval to set up toll booths on I-80 and was ready to go. But there was ONE CONDITION, the revenue could only be used for that highway. The state intended for most of the revenue for the transit systems in Phili and Pittsburgh...but with that stipulation, they didn’t even bother setting up the booths - because, once again, HIGHWAYS ARE CHEAP to operate, especially if they already exist.