LA Governor Not for Toll Roads
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Topic: LA Governor Not for Toll Roads
Posted By: SpongeBob
Subject: LA Governor Not for Toll Roads
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2006 at 11:05am
From Governor Blanco's website, it appears she is no fan of pseudo-taxation...
August 11, 2006: "I want to assure the people of Louisiana that my administration has no plans to establish a toll on Interstates 10 and 12. The misinformation regarding my support of a toll road is false and misleading to our citizens. I no more want tolls than I want another hurricane.
The Louisiana Legislature instructed DOTD Secretary Johnny Bradberry to pursue ALL options regarding transportation opportunities. Like any good business person, Secretary Bradberry and his staff are doing just that-exploring the options. Whether they are popular or unpopular, we owe it to ourselves to explore every angle. The toll idea is one of many ideas Secretary Bradberry and his staff are compiling for consideration, but it's dead on arrival.
"Furthermore, if a toll was given serious consideration, it would have to be brought to and voted on by the legislature. At this point, my secretary was simply doing the necessary research on this and other possibilities."
Wow. Can you imagine if we had a governor in Virginia who actually cared about the people this much?
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Replies:
Posted By: NoSUV
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2006 at 6:44pm
Sponge - I'm pretty sure the guv really does care about the people. The problem is that there are simply too many of them for the roads. Choice becomes either to build more roads or find a way to get people to use mass transit. It takes time and $ for the roads, neither of which seem to be in abundance - and the budget stalemate clearly points out that such a solution is a challenge.
Now, how do we get people to use mass transit? Charge them more to use POV than mass transit. That's done by increasing the cost of either purchasing or using a vehicle so that it balances the cost of using mass transit. Purchasing could be affected by taxes and incentives (like the hybrid credit); use can be affected by taxes (such as gas - we could pay European costs), parking fees, or tolls. Guv has little influence on taxing gas more since folks in NoVA will jump the border; no influence on parking fees since many work in DC or on Federal land; which leaves tolls.
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Posted By: SpongeBob
Date Posted: 24 Aug 2006 at 11:44am
You're not fully informed about the genesis of the Toll Roads.
No one in state government in Virginia has had any say about this other than the old head of VDOT, and he could not stop it, even if he had wanted to.
Fluor made its UNSOLICITED proposal to steal our public highways and, because of a misguided Republican-sponsored law on private-sector suggestions, the state was FORCED to contend with the proposal, which got set in stone the minute Clark Construction showed up to compete for the job.
Even though VDOT did not have a tollway in its long-range plans.
With skillful political maneuvering, Fluor set the terms of the debate as: either build toll roads or do nothing and watch as the area gridlocks.
Here are just a few of the alternatives that were NOT considered by the state: HOV-4, longer HOV hours, expansion of commuter lots, government-created-and-sponsored vanpools, subsidization of Omniride tokens, analysis of the traffic conditions and causes on I-95, creation of an Eastern Bypass to divert NYC traffic, and so on.
Your "analysis" is not valid or well-thought-out. You seem like a Fluor Troll, if anything.
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Posted By: NoSUV
Date Posted: 29 Aug 2006 at 11:54am
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Sponge - your alternatives do little for those in the regular lanes. Toll does.
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Posted By: SpongeBob
Date Posted: 29 Aug 2006 at 5:00pm
After your oft-quoted 300K new people per year come to the region, how high will the tolls have to be set to ensure they don't clog up?
Come that day, will there be enough room on these lanes for sufficient toll-payers to make it profitable, as well as all the HOV-3 vehicles?
When push comes to shove in ten years, do you think Virginia can reduce the number of toll-payers, or will it be legally required instead to restrict the number of free users?
Sonny boy, they done already said in the Washington Post that even with three lanes they are already looking at restricting HOV access to ensure a quality experience for the paying customers.
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Posted By: n/a
Date Posted: 30 Aug 2006 at 8:59am
Wait a minute, I thought we tax payers ARE paying customers! Oh, you mean paying customers who are willing and able to pay MORE, those paying customers. It seems the politicos have forgotten about the paying customers who elected them in the first place, and who paid for the roads the first time, and who have been paying for years to keep up our infrastructure. But of course by the time there is a backlash from us paying customers, against the HOT advocates who court the paying MORE customers, those politicians will have moved on. Us paying customers will have been screwed, along with the paying MORE customers (we will all end up paying and paying).
Sorry, with all this paying and paying MORE, I'm getting dizzy. Wait, did I just get pick-pocketed? Someone stop that politician!
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