Appeals court upholds I-77 toll project

The Greensboro News & Record ^ | May 2, 2017 | Doug Clark

[vooch]

conservatives should be pushing for full privatization of the interstates and repeal of federal gas tax.

let the free market reign

[raybbr]

How would you justify the taxpayers pissing away the hundreds of billions of dollars already spent on them?

[Dr. Sivana]

conservatives should be pushing for full privatization of the interstates and repeal of federal gas tax.

New roads would require giving private entities de facto eminent domain rights. Roads are included in teh constitution, and gasoline taxes are far more efficient than tolls.

I also don't need a Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk nuying a segment of highway, and restrict use to certain kinds of cars or even certain kinds of drivers.

Public roads should be public. Unlike laptop computers, automobiles, clothes and office supplies, provision of key roads does not lend itself to commoditization. This is one area where a pure privatization approach would make more problems than it solves.

[sauropod]

I see the Lexus Lanes have struck again.

With respect to “use the toll lanes or don’t”, that’s only if you have options. I happen to live in the only county in MD where I have to pay tolls to go home from work.

[ladyjane]

The contract to build this road is going to a foreign company. Plus it’s giving that foreign company rights to the land.

Is it fair to use taxpayer’s money to build a road? Is it fair to give these rights to foreigners?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

And because your toll isn’t spread out over all 40 miles of I-95 covered by the MdTA, you have to pay the whole dang thing!

[sauropod]

It’s the one for I-95 or Pulaski Highway going over the Susquehanna. $8.00.

[shanover]

Americans at most levels these days are nothing but tax paying serfs with minimal rights and narrow options of legitimate grievance.

[mabarker1]

I live in Mooresville. This I77 deal IS A DISASTROUS MESS!!! They have dozed down thousands of older established trees to make the changes.

Large debris is rampant and flying into cars daily. I’m talking TEETH OFF OF BACKHOE AND EXCAVATOR BUCKETS AS WELL AS OTHER LARGER ITEMS MADE OF METAL!!! It’s amazing that nobody has been killed yet.

Traffic is backed up all the way to Statesville on the Southbound side all the time.

We the People are getting F’ed big time. Crammed up Our backsides with no hope of fixing it...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

You don’t have EZ-Pass? This would be a good time to get one. Larry Hogan dropped the EZ-Pass toll at the I-95 booth from $7.20 to $6.00, and the monthly charge for the transponder has been dropped.

You can save yourself $2 a trip with the EZ-Pass.

[vooch]

Selling the interstates suggests that the buyers are going to pay more than it cost to build them way back when.

So privatizing should be a big net gain

[vooch]

why would socialism work for the interstates when it fails in every other realm ?

[vooch]

the foreigners are paying €650 million for the right to build and fill a couple of lanes on this interstate.

Seems like a win for everyone

[raybbr]

That still doesn’t address the billions already paid for upkeep as well. Unless the taxes are actually cut then people will be paying double.

[Tax-chick]

Meanwhile, the Monroe Bypass is coming right by the end of my nose.

[Dr. Sivana]

why would socialism work for the interstates when it fails in every other realm ?

Provision for roads is in the Constitution, and governemtn roads predate the invention of socialism.

Our entire military fought World War II under "government funding", if that is your definition of socialism.

Our present interstate system works fine, and it would be unworkable to have private entities taking care of and funding every individual road.

If we tried to make canals and rivers private, what would stop and enviro-crazy from stopping ALL commerce from going past a choke point that happens to pass their section of river, and they would not sell for any price.

Even Adam Smith allowed for government funding for various things (including charity and provisions for the handicapped) The free market is a great essential framework. I will not let it become my straight-jacket.

[vooch]

our present interstate system is a misima of corruption waste mismanagement and fraud requiring hundreds of billions of taxpayer bailouts every few years.

privatize it and costs will plummet plus quality will skyrocket

[Dr. Sivana]

A wealthy entity was considering making a limited access private super-highway from Chicago to Denver, with no speed limit, with long-haul truckers in mind. Word got out, and present landowners priced the plan out of feasibility.

[sauropod]

Because I am a resident of Ceciltucky, I can get a Hatem Bridge pass for $20/yr. So that’s what i do.

But the price you pay is all the traffic congestion trying to get through Havre Disgrace (with the lights) and once you cross the bridge, there is 15 more drive time minutes of congestion and lights, and all the wear and tear it puts on your car all the way home.

$2.00 savings off an $8.00 toll? COME ON!