This is what I think of building highways to the 3rd world cesspit to our south
Posted on 11/10/2005 6:27:08 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
With all the construction on 83, the big time construction on 281 through Edinburg, plus the excellent roads in and out of the Valley on 77 and 281, I don't see why a real interstate is needed. Yes, you have to slow down on 281 in Falfurias and Premont but you can then cut over to Kingsville (lots of red lights). On 77 you've got pretty much clear sailing all the way to Bishop. Get past Bishop and when the construction in Robstown is completed, it will be just about clear all the way to I37. Both 281 and 77 are divided. I don't see the advantage of an interstate.
Let me add something ....
The combination of private enterprise and government regulation of a monopoly is probably worse than merely letting government run it. I have some personal experience with an electric company where they were guaranteed a certain percentage of profit over their expenses. So how do they boost earnings and profit? Easy. By spending money they don't need to spend. In the case I saw they spent extravagantly on new software that was not needed to accomplish their job. The result was higher rates and more profit, guaranteed by government.
This sort of thing can happen in a government run monopoly like roads, but it concentrates the corruption in a single place that can be monitored by outside non-profits, the media, and the DA. In a government/private monopoly regulation scheme, it's easy for one side to point fingers at the other and obfuscate the actual corruption.
Bottom line, toll roads suck. I refuse to drive on them, and by my observation of existing toll roads they do nothing positive for the economy.
Another example. All major inter-city roads in France are toll, and their economy has been dead for decades. Get the picture?
Who said a thing about government regulation of a monopoly? If a monopoly occurs, then it occurs. Contrary to the scare tactics of 'conservatives' monopolies are not always a bad thing. As stated the concerns of the late 19th and 20th century were completely overblown. The lawsuits stemmed from disgruntled competitors, not the public who was paying less than before. Your situation arose from a government regulated monopoly and therein lies the problem. Government regulated
Bottom line, toll roads suck. I refuse to drive on them, and by my observation of existing toll roads they do nothing positive for the economy.
Of course they don't. In its current form it is nothing more than another road tax going into government coffers.
This is what I think of building highways to the 3rd world cesspit to our south
Jeeeeezz..... not this shit again !!!!!
According to my American Map Road Atlas (which uses maps by Mapquest), US 281 starts at Brownsville, TX and runs west to McAllen. Then it runs north through San Antonio and from there all the way up to Wichita Falls before it continues into Oklahoma, either on or parallel to I-44.
Or Chris Rea.
My road atlas has 281 basically starting at Brownsville, going west to McAllen, then north through San Antonio, where it basically follows the rest of the route you described. However, I don't know how well the American Map Corporation and Mapquest know Texas.
If I were in charge, I would just raise the gasoline and diesel fuel taxes, as well as vehicle licensing and registration fees, up to a point where major road projects could be affordable again and built reasonably quickly. I would also dedicate the entire gas tax (not just 3/4) to road building. Narby states the practical reason for such a course of action more eloquently than I could.
However, I suspect most new and present highways (even those currently operating as freeways) are going to end up being tolled because there is little political will and zero popularity for gas tax increases. And furthermore, toll roads appear to get build faster than free ones (the upside to toll roads). And, of course, the upside to PRIVATE toll roads is that Big Dig-like pork-barrel politics fall by the wayside while government gets mostly out of the way. The roads would also be built where a lot of people want to drive and ship things, not in some powerful legislator's district just because he's powerful.
You're welcome.
It's a lot more than just toll roads that are killing France's economy. It's difficult to get hired, the state mandates that companies give 8 weeks of vacation time for employees, there's massive welfare-state socialism, it's nearly impossible to fire employees (hence there's an incentive to AVOID hiring people if at all possible), and, I'm sure, there's a much higher gasoline tax than necessary to maintain and build roads. And the muslim riots aren't helping any.
Wow. That's how I feel about Chuck Schumer. :-)
sigh... But when I want to access someone elses toll road from one of your access roads for a different destination I'll be routed out of my way, then have to pay for the inconvenience by way of YOURs and who knows how many other toll roads.
More than likely not. If I own a company I'm going to make access to my road easy as possible. That means cooperation between companies as well as the competition (i.e. connecting roads between 'products'). Competiting railroad companies in the 1900s would have made their rails different scales and no connections to prevent companies from transferring product on competitors rail systems if your argument was valid
Yes, but I hear I-666 is paved with good intentions. ;)
There are a lot of better uses for those hundreds of millions of dollars, even in Alaska.
Those highways go through New Orleans. I was thinking from Memphis to Greenville MS along the US-61 corridor (in the Delta area), then to Yazoo City and Jackson, then finally along the US-49 corridor to Biloxi. It would also be a big help for hurricane evacuation in the Mississippi Gulf Coast as well as economic development in the Mississippi Delta area...
Upgrading I-30 and I-35, plus regional improvements in Texas in the US-59 and US-281 corridors (I-45 southern extension/alignment shift?), should be the priority there.
Ditto. The Feds are just posturing to push for more state-backed land acquisitions per Texas House Bill 3588. No Federal dollars needed. What a sham! We are being taken over by the old royals in Europe in a sense, as Spain's "King" Juan Carlos is said to be a major owner of CINTRA. millions of acres are coming off the tax rolls - affecting school districts across the state. And the highway is designed to link MExican West Coast ports in order to bypass California. More cheap foreign labor at our expense.
What if you're just visiting in the cul-de-sac neighborhood? Who do you pay? The person you are visiting?
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