I live in New England where toll roads are quite common. I hate toll roads. I hate the very concept of a toll road. Why? Because toll roads are a cheap hustle foisted on people by local, state and national gov'ts, who ought to be more interested in serving the general public, not hustling them.
Most toll roads start out with the idea that there's a location that would be really well served by a new road, or bridge, or other piece of infrastructure. Trouble is, there's no money in the budget for it and no politician wants to propose a tax hike. So, a proposal is made for a toll road. A road will be built at location X, stretching to location Y. It will be of n number of lanes, blah blah blah. It is quite common, at this stage of development (proposal) for a statement along the lines of "the total costs for the road should be covered by collected tolls over a 20 year period".
When's the last time you saw a toll road lose its toll? There are roads like these that have been operating for 50 years and they still charge a toll. As a matter of fact, the tolls usually go up periodically! Great bureaucracies grow around these roads, toll collector's unions, you name it. All wanting to continue to suck at the teat of the great toll hog.
And what is the deal with these 'turnpikes'. I've driven on many turnpikes and guess what. They're a hunk of highway indistinguishable from every other hunk of highway I've driven on. There's nothing special about them, yet one can spend healthy sums using them....why? Here in Massachusetts we have the Mass. Turnpike Authority. Guess what they do? They maintain a big road. The state manages to maintain a whole bunch of big roads, but for some reason we need an 'Authority' to maintain this road. Sounds like the Masspike has an attitude problem.
Maybe it's because of where I live that I don't see too many proposals for toll roads (or bridges) anymore. I hope they've gone the way of the Dodo bird. But if anybody starts talking about this crap in your neighborhood, squelch them immediately?
These type of public works projects should be handled the American way. Like the Big Dig here in Beantown. The largest construction project in the world. Proposed at 4 years and 3 billion dollars, came in at 11 years and 38 billion dollars. Several people killed the first year as pieces of the underpasses fell on cars.
But at least we won't be paying tolls on it for 50 years to come!
Most toll roads start out with the idea that there's a location that would be really well served by a new road, or bridge, or other piece of infrastructure. Trouble is, there's no money in the budget for it and no politician wants to propose a tax hike. So, a proposal is made for a toll road. A road will be built at location X, stretching to location Y. It will be of n number of lanes, blah blah blah. It is quite common, at this stage of development (proposal) for a statement along the lines of "the total costs for the road should be covered by collected tolls over a 20 year period".
When's the last time you saw a toll road lose its toll? There are roads like these that have been operating for 50 years and they still charge a toll. As a matter of fact, the tolls usually go up periodically! Great bureaucracies grow around these roads, toll collector's unions, you name it. All wanting to continue to suck at the teat of the great toll hog.
And what is the deal with these 'turnpikes'. I've driven on many turnpikes and guess what. They're a hunk of highway indistinguishable from every other hunk of highway I've driven on. There's nothing special about them, yet one can spend healthy sums using them....why? Here in Massachusetts we have the Mass. Turnpike Authority. Guess what they do? They maintain a big road. The state manages to maintain a whole bunch of big roads, but for some reason we need an 'Authority' to maintain this road. Sounds like the Masspike has an attitude problem.
Maybe it's because of where I live that I don't see too many proposals for toll roads (or bridges) anymore. I hope they've gone the way of the Dodo bird. But if anybody starts talking about this crap in your neighborhood, squelch them immediately?
These type of public works projects should be handled the American way. Like the Big Dig here in Beantown. The largest construction project in the world. Proposed at 4 years and 3 billion dollars, came in at 11 years and 38 billion dollars. Several people killed the first year as pieces of the underpasses fell on cars.
But at least we won't be paying tolls on it for 50 years to come!
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