Tollroadsnews.com

[jeffandnicole]

It appears late last month www.tollroadsnews.com switched to a pay-subscription site.  You can still see the headlines, but by clicking the 'Read More', it asks you to sign in, which you can only do with a subscription (there appears to be a free 2 week trial as well).

This is just another inconvenience for a site that was previously well run.

Luckily, it does appear that by copying the headline directly into Google you can pull up the original source of the article and read it that way.

[plain]

I used to go on there from time to time but it's been a couple of years. Had no idea it was going to shit

[formulanone]

www.tollroadsnews.com switched to a pay-subscription site.

So not ironic that it is ironic.

[hbelkins]

Wasn't it basically a news aggregator site, plus some of the proprietor's not-always-based-in-fact opinions?

[wxfree]

Wasn't it basically a news aggregator site, plus some of the proprietor's not-always-based-in-fact opinions?

It is.  The previous proprietor was very opinionated.  He seemed to believe that every freeway should be a toll road with tolled managed lanes.  The new editors haven't been as opinionated.  I don't know how successful the new business model can be, since the site can be easily "shunpiked" with a free Google News subscription for "toll road."

[jeffandnicole]

Taking a quick glance, the site used to have 10 or more stories a day in regards to highway issues, mostly related to tolling. Looking at the past week or so it's only about 4 or 5 stories per day...and yet now require a subscription.  Guess the guy is trying to pay the bills somehow while maybe cutting staff or not trying as hard to find relevant news.

One of their biggest advertisers also has a photo of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, with the large VMS in the foreground. It's also the large VMS the bridge authority got rid of several years ago, so the picture is quite out of date.  While it's a nice picture, what I believe is some sort of technology company using a picture 5 or more years old isn't what I would consider cutting edge anymore. While some people wouldn't notice or care, for others a picture speaks volumes about a company.

[Roadgeekteen]

160 dollars per year! What a shit move.

[hotdogPi]

160 dollars per year! What a shit move.

Now I'm wondering how many companies will start charging ridiculous amounts of money just for usage of a website. So far, it's Photobucket and TrollRoadsNews.

[davewiecking]

...since the site can be easily "shunpiked" with a free Google News subscription for "toll road."

Nice new (?) usage of the word..

Perhaps if I put a transponder on my hat, they can find some way to charge me a quarter if I choose to use their site to find articles instead of taking the Google News Bypass.

[cpzilliacus]

It is.  The previous proprietor was very opinionated.  He seemed to believe that every freeway should be a toll road with tolled managed lanes.  The new editors haven't been as opinionated.  I don't know how successful the new business model can be, since the site can be easily "shunpiked" with a free Google News subscription for "toll road."

We got the publication in paper when it was in that format. Yes, Peter Samuel, the founder and former owner was (and is) an opinionated guy.  But - he also did some pretty good journalistic work on several fronts, including corruption  at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (to include ex-Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Fumo) controversy associated with  the  Maine Turnpike southern toll plaza and relocation of same; and closer to home (for me), he was one of the sources that exposed that the National Park Service was poisoning streams in some of its eastern parks to get rid of alien brown trout (not native to North America) at the same time that other federal agencies, to include the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and USEPA Region 3 were citing the same trout as a reason to block construction of the the MD-200 (ICC) toll road.

Letters were written to EPA Region 3 and the others reminding them that alien species are not protected under federal environmental laws.

[Beltway]

It is.  The previous proprietor was very opinionated.  He seemed to believe that every freeway should be a toll road with tolled managed lanes.  The new editors haven't been as opinionated.  I don't know how successful the new business model can be, since the site can be easily "shunpiked" with a free Google News subscription for "toll road."

We got the publication in paper when it was in that format. Yes, Peter Samuel, the founder and former owner was (and is) an opinionated guy.  But - he also did some pretty good journalistic work on several fronts, including corruption  at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (to include ex-Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Fumo) controversy associated with  the  Maine Turnpike southern toll plaza and relocation of same; and closer to home (for me), he was one of the sources that exposed that the National Park Service was poisoning streams in some of its eastern parks to get rid of alien brown trout (not native to North America) at the same time that other federal agencies, to include the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and USEPA Region 3 were citing the same trout as a reason to block construction of the the MD-200 (ICC) toll road.

Letters were written to EPA Region 3 and the others reminding them that alien species are not protected under federal environmental laws.

I met Peter Samuel in person and spent several hours talking to him.  Very sharp and interesting guy.  Originally from Australia and started his journalistic career there.  Had over 25 years experience in writing for newspapers before he started TOLLROADSNEWS.

[plain]

It is.  The previous proprietor was very opinionated.  He seemed to believe that every freeway should be a toll road with tolled managed lanes.  The new editors haven't been as opinionated.  I don't know how successful the new business model can be, since the site can be easily "shunpiked" with a free Google News subscription for "toll road."

We got the publication in paper when it was in that format. Yes, Peter Samuel, the founder and former owner was (and is) an opinionated guy.  But - he also did some pretty good journalistic work on several fronts, including corruption  at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (to include ex-Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Fumo) controversy associated with  the  Maine Turnpike southern toll plaza and relocation of same; and closer to home (for me), he was one of the sources that exposed that the National Park Service was poisoning streams in some of its eastern parks to get rid of alien brown trout (not native to North America) at the same time that other federal agencies, to include the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and USEPA Region 3 were citing the same trout as a reason to block construction of the the MD-200 (ICC) toll road.

Letters were written to EPA Region 3 and the others reminding them that alien species are not protected under federal environmental laws.

Yeah I remember that whole MD 200 fiasco. I had a feeling there was something fishy about it (sorry, I had to do it ). It went from almost being blocked permanently to given the green light in a year if that. He definitely wasn't afraid to air out controversies, I have to give him credit for that. He sure as hell made his feelings known when it came to the Pocahontas Pkwy bridge

[cpzilliacus]

Yeah I remember that whole MD 200 fiasco.

Not a fiasco any more.  The NIMBYs (finally) lost.

I had a feeling there was something fishy about it (sorry, I had to do it ). It went from almost being blocked permanently to given the green light in a year if that. He definitely wasn't afraid to air out controversies, I have to give him credit for that. He sure as hell made his feelings known when it came to the Pocahontas Pkwy bridge

It also helped that Maryland had elected a governor in Bob Ehrlich  who campaigned strongly in favor of the project, and that the George W. Bush administration made sure that it got the needed federal approvals. 

[Beltway]

Yeah I remember that whole MD 200 fiasco. I had a feeling there was something fishy about it (sorry, I had to do it ). It went from almost being blocked permanently to given the green light in a year if that. He definitely wasn't afraid to air out controversies, I have to give him credit for that. He sure as hell made his feelings known when it came to the Pocahontas Pkwy bridge

I read the article, but I am trying to remember what he said about the Pocahontas Parkway.  It was either on TOLLROADSNEWS or on the Transport-Policy Yahoo Group.

I think he said that the James River bridge was overdesigned, that they should have only built one of the spans initially.  My reply to him was that I didn't see how that could be done without at least one very expensive temporary I-95 ramp connection to the bridge, that would have to be partially demolished and rebuilt to tie into the second bridge when that was built in the future.