Posted on 08/17/2016 5:02:55 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
People at work were talking about getting to work and back home the other day. In the conversation, they mentioned the toll roads in Austin, Texas and the cost thereof. I was in shock. The amount per month spent on toll roads for people ranged from $300-600 per MONTH. Then it hit me!
The poor can not afford to pay those charges. So, the regular roads in Austin are in bumper-to-bumper traffic overload. The well-to-do go to and fro with great convenience while the lower classes suffer pretty badly with some having a 2-hour trip EACH WAY from home to work. This for some reason smacks of discrimination. I'm not big on playing the discrimination card, but it seems that people are taxed to death over everything, including roads, and then have to pay an exorbitant price AGAIN to be able to get to work to make some money to pay the taxes. Something just doesn't seem right about the whole thing.
Power hungry psychopaths have been salivating over such a prospect for a long time, but only recently have they seen it as a real possibility.
Imagine the temptation of America's vast national wealth and nuclear arsenal to such a psychopath!
The clear-thinking among us have always seen the danger, but it's been almost impossible to convey it to everyone else.
I have the same problem. If I take the Selmon (Crosstown Expressway) it is about 5mi shorter in distance but more than twice as expensive. So I opt for the Skyway Bridge. Only saving grace for me is the view is stunning, and its mostly open highway until I get near downtown St Petersburg.
Our taxes pay for these roads. I know the tolls others face in other parts of the nation are even worse. But the severe cost of tolls now border on Highway Robbery done legally.
In Orlando we have toll roads that were built 40+ years ago ,, they were authorized based on the promise that tolls would be lifted after the road was paid for.. that occurred over 30 years ago... but the tolls are still here.
I'll have to think on the subject of private vs public roads. My inclination is to think that roads are an essential public work to enable people freedom of movement in daily life and in case of emergency. We pay income taxes and taxes at the pump for it, granted the income taxes are not equally shared, of course.
The company that owns the Texas toll road and others like the Chicago Skyway, filed for bankruptcy in 2014. I'll have to read up where they are now, and the debate of private vs public. The Wiki on privately owned roads is sorely outdated.
yeah....so what
a Long Island RR commuter ticket costs $300 per month and then the NYC subway is $110....
sales tax is 8.65%
and the city smells like a garbage dump/urinal/barfbag inhabited by lawless, smelly homeless and is on top of it all a sanctuary city run by a commie and his ex-lesbian companion...
Ouch! Did the HOV lanes start out free to encourage commuters to ride share? After looking at a table of Texas rates, looks like $600 might be for trucks.
While I don’t like spending about $45 - $60/month for tolls here in the Dallas area... I sure as hell LOVE not paying 10% of my income to a State bureaucracy. And, all the road/bridge construction going on here has to be funded somewhere.
I do sympathize with families struggling to make ends meet. Travelling non-toll roads isn’t always a viable option (possibly indirect/longer routes, more time, more gas, etc.).
You don’t seem to understand the economics of it all! Who benefits, or more plainly who gets the money!
With a free road, it may take twenty years to get 100 miles of road built. A little bit here, a little bit there, till done. Cost overrun is very high.
With a toll road the same road can be built in FIVE YEARS for much less. Roads are promised to become FREE ROADS after the bonds are paid off, usually in ten years. That is why toll roads built sixty years ago are still toll roads. The revenue income is too good!
And THAT is the way it works in Oklahoma!
Haven’t been that way in a while, but the few times I’ve driven it, I’ve enjoyed that sweet 85 MPH speed limit.
I forgot to include property taxes in our payment for public roads.
“Yes, but they put an 85 mph speed limit on it to attract more customers. You can sure go like he!! on it for ten bucks.”
What is the average speed traffic moves at? I’m guessing during commuting hours, when there’s plenty of traffic, it must be up there near 95 or 100?
It doesn’t actually go all the way to San Antonio, it only goes to sequin . But it is bankrupt .
I remember when the Sunshine Bridge in Louisiana was toll. After it was paid for, it became free. Heck, Louisiana has free ferries across the Mississippi. Pennsylvania sold one of their toll roads to a Spanish company. What that means is that the (Democrat) politicians in power then got all of that one time payout to spend and now drivers forever have to pay tolls to a foreign company. Sounds like the same thing happened in Austin.
Yes, clogged since I started driving it in 1973.
The San Marcos/Austin stretch was the worst as that stretch was always under construction for decades - seriously.
That or the programming defaults to fastest route.
Austin is foisting these un-Texican troll roads on the rest of Texas. It’s all about the money and Rick Perry.
“I could support toll roads on all or most major roads provided one thing happens - THE TAXES ON GASOLINE ARE ELIMINATED”
I was wondering when someone would bring that into the discussion. After what you suggest, the next logical step would be for cars to pay for miles driven using GPS. Leaving the intrusion of government tracking/privacy issues out of the argument, such a system has the most potential for being ‘fair’ regarding usage. There would have to be different cost ‘zones’ to account for areas that required more expense such as the difference between straight open highway vs. areas with curbs and traffic lights. As you mentioned, the system would also have to account for vehicle weight. Now having the technology, GPS and massive computers, such a system would have the best chance at being ‘fair’ for taxation for service provided. If you don’t drive, you don’t pay a cent. The more you drive, the more you pay for the road’s upkeep. That said, I really don’t like the idea of having every foot of vehicle travel I do being recorded. It’s along the lines of a cashless monetary system, but I fear both will eventually become the standard.
Except if the private service provider does not provide a quality service then they lose the contract. Most toll roads are awarded by contract to provide a service. Don’t perform and the contract goes out for reb-bid.
Private prisons are not except from government standards and laws. If they violate those laws or standards they lose the contract AND may be prosecuted criminally.
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