Regarding I-44 yes I’ve seen that argument but there is a cost reward benefit with everything and I think doing away with all toll roads in the state except for the Indian nation and the urban turnpikes would have a great benefit on statewide travel and commerce. I would be more than satisfied if we just removed tolls on I-44.
The Indian Nation Turnpike doesn't generate enough traffic and toll revenue for it to be self-sustaining. If some people decided to remove the tolls on I-44 in Oklahoma then they might as well take down the toll gates on all the rest of the rural turnpikes in the state. I think the Creek Turnpike in the Tulsa metro and the Kilpatrick Turnpike in metro OKC are possibly the only ones that could carry on in a scenario of tolls being removed on I-44.
Removing the toll gates on all those turnpikes would bring about another consequence very few in the anti-turnpike crowd bother to consider: a BIG hike in fuel taxes.
Oklahoma's existing fuel tax base isn't big enough to take in the added burden of maintaining and improving nearly 600 miles of former turnpikes. Fuel tax hikes in this scenario could end up being pretty steep if current population movement trends in Oklahoma continue for a long term. OKC, Tulsa and a couple zones along the Red River are the only areas in Oklahoma making any net population gains. Most other areas in Oklahoma are losing residents. Smaller customer bases in these areas could increase the price of fuel deliveries and the price of gasoline in those areas. Oklahoma has a lot of roads and bridges built in rural areas. But as those places continue to lose population it will get more difficult to justify maintenance and improvement on those facilities.
Fuel tax alone doesn’t solely fund highway projects. Suggesting to remove tolls on a freeway because it doesn’t turn a profit is the same logic as making transit free. I’m not against toll roads just against interstates being tolled. I do however support HO/T lanes so as long as GP/free lanes are ensured a reasonable LOS which necessitates widenings to keep up with demand– you can’t however expect LOS A during peak usage though which is why I support HO/T lanes to provide that for those willing to pay and have it fund free BRT along THAT route and pay for road ONLY improvements.
Oklahoma needs to pay about 30-50 cents more a gallon on fuel. There needs to be more appropriations made to increase highway funding on the federal level. Electric cars should have a per mile tax on them, registrations fees increased to reasonable levels, and along with feds paying higher shares again should be more than enough to pay for the increased maintenance of having I-44 being funded other than tolls.
So I wonder if Oklahoma has 2 non tolled interstates and one tolled interstates how other states are able to do it if I-44 really can’t have tolls removed. I just don’t but that argument. There needs to be a study done. With that logic if having tolls on I-44 is such a game changer and doesn’t impact free trade that much, then I gotta ask, why don’t we just toll I-35 and I-44 so OkDOT can focus all of its resources on rural and urban state highway networks.
As I said and I’ll say it again, Oklahoma doesn’t need to tax itself like California which is overtaxed, but if the state wants to be a top ten state then higher taxes are in order. Local taxes are in order to be raised to to leverage funding from OkDOT without help from the feds. Though I wholeheartedly support freeway expansion and roads drivers need to pay their fare share or stop complaining about traffic congestion and poor maintenance. I give California a pass on that because something doesn’t smell right and I do think there is something criminal going on with politicians taking tax monies for one reason or another.
Apart from increased freeway expansion we need passenger rail between OKC and Tulsa, increased speeds and improvements on the heartland flyer, and an expansion of that route to Newton. So a better use of toll revenue for a period of time would be to allow tolls to remain after increased funding for freeways and use that revenue needed along with other identified sources to fund the billions needed for rail and mass transit investment.
Our current system sucks. Shitty highways that lack capacity(Oklahoma’s traffic congestion problems are easily fixable unlike other states), deficient interchanges, substandard freeway and highways designs, and horrible mass transit for a state of 4+ million people. There’s not even a single commuter rail in the state and yet we spend money on stupid projects like a streetcar. Something has to change and to reiterate I don’t buy removing tolls on I-44 is too much to take on. That state is doing shitty anyways with tolls on it.
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Topic: OKDOT Agency News (Read 30820 times)