Regional Boards > Mountain West
Tolls proposed for Cottonwood Canyons
vdeane:
I prefer taxes. Tolls are often higher, they have issues with shunpikers increasing traffic on parallel roads, and I can't use many toll roads outside of the E-ZPass area because I won't do bill by mail (due to a combination of not wanting to pay extra fees to pay a toll and the many, many horror stories on AET facilities). Plus tolls introduce strange situation where I have to pay to go anywhere due west, due south, or to the east, but not north or southwest (plus in NYC there's a ton of congestion due to a similar situation causing people to bridge shop instead of taking whichever one is the most logical to get between their origin and destination).
1:
--- Quote from: vdeane on March 06, 2018, 01:18:38 PM ---I prefer taxes. Tolls are often higher, they have issues with shunpikers increasing traffic on parallel roads, and I can't use many toll roads outside of the E-ZPass area because I won't do bill by mail (due to a combination of not wanting to pay extra fees to pay a toll and the many, many horror stories on AET facilities). Plus tolls introduce strange situation where I have to pay to go anywhere due west, due south, or to the east, but not north or southwest (plus in NYC there's a ton of congestion due to a similar situation causing people to bridge shop instead of taking whichever one is the most logical to get between their origin and destination).
--- End quote ---
East shouldn't be a problem for you. The Mass Pike is about 5¢ per mile using E-ZPass. You're only increasing costs by about 25% if you also consider gasoline costs and per-mile maintenance costs.
vdeane:
The main Thruway ticket system has approximately that rate (for NY E-ZPass), but the MassPike is actually closer to 7 cents per mile for an out of state E-ZPass.
I regularly drive between Albany and Rochester to visit family. The tolls are $9.50 (approximately) each way. The trip (round trip) uses about a tank of gas, which I can usually fill up for about $25, so the tolls add quite a bit. I can't say I've ever factored in per-mile maintenance into the cost of a roadtrip, but I do know that tolls are the biggest in-your-face expense I have (since gas stations don't tell you how much the tax is, and my car only holds 12 gallons anyways, so the price of gas would have to swing by a LOT for me to notice).
In any case, it's still odd that I have to pay more to go to New Jersey, Boston, or Syracuse, while Binghamton and Montréal are "free".
i-215:
--- Quote from: triplemultiplex on March 04, 2018, 06:29:40 PM ---
--- Quote from: Rothman on March 02, 2018, 09:57:18 PM ---Absurd for me to pay tolls for a road my taxes also paid for.
--- End quote ---
Why is that absurd? Especially when the revenue goes to improving and maintaining that road?
--- End quote ---
It's absurd because either ALL roads must be tolled or none. There is no way I can get a gas tax waiver for the mileage I spend on a tolled facility. It creates geographical unfairness within the region, which one area paying a disproportionately-higher tax rate than other areas with untolled facilities.
It sounds silly, but the week I spent in Chicago: The Tri-State Toll Road scared me the hell right out of the state. If I had to live in the midwest, I'd sure be more at ease in Des Moines than anywhere in Illinois. We've been killin' it with the economy out west, and I think untolled facilities are a huge part of that. It's gonna be a big mistake turning the west into the Northeast, imo. Big mistake.
Need to GPS my mileage? Fine. As long as it is uniform on ALL roads (like the gas tax). None of this double-dipping nonsense.
triplemultiplex:
--- Quote from: i-215 on March 07, 2018, 02:29:29 AM ---It sounds silly, but the week I spent in Chicago: The Tri-State Toll Road scared me the hell right out of the state. If I had to live in the midwest, I'd sure be more at ease in Des Moines than anywhere in Illinois. We've been killin' it with the economy out west, and I think untolled facilities are a huge part of that. It's gonna be a big mistake turning the west into the Northeast, imo. Big mistake.
--- End quote ---
That's quite the specious argument.
Strange to cite Illinois as an example against tolling when the toll roads are in way, way better shape than pretty much all the 'free' interstates.
That's the end I care about. Is the physical road good?
As an example, if ISTHA took over I-55, that would be marvelous. They'd whip that POS into shape in barely a decade.
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