Triangle Expressway

[goobnav]

If a proposal to go in Cary is ever aired they'll fight it tooth and nail.  It would be nice though, it would get them off of 40.

[Henry]

To all in regular toll land if the photo toll works here, don't be surprised if it shows up in your area soon.  Hey VA, won't be surprised if 95 is the next one with this toll system.

And then it'll spread up and down the East Coast, and perhaps across the rest of the country! With booth-free toll roads, the future has already arrived.

[CanesFan27]

Blog Entry on the new NC 147 with photos:
http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2011/12/tour-of-triangle-expressway.html

Flickr set with more:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamontheroad/sets/72157628373407041/

[CanesFan27]

NCDOT also has a virtual tour/promotion video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To005X91G7A

[NJRoadfan]

My relatives are going to think I'm weird when I drive up to the Tri-Ex to try it out when I'm visiting. Hey I can't pass up a freebie ride and fresh pavement! That and I don't have a Quickpass, hopefully they get the E-ZPass interoperability worked out when the Western Wake Parkway opens.

[OracleUsr]

When are you visiting?  Tolls don't go into effect until January.

[CanesFan27]

Bob Malme with a belated construction photo update from this past October.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2011/12/triangle-expressway-construction.html

[NJRoadfan]

Hopefully I'll make it up that way tomorrow and check out the new highway.

[cpzilliacus]

News & Observer:

First-day numbers for first NC toll road: 4,400 paying customers

[goobnav]

Toll rates are too high.  They might get more when the 540 extension reaches US 64 in August but, the toll rates even with the QuickPass is high.

[Takumi]

That's cheaper than most toll roads nowadays.

[goobnav]

True, but, people are so used to not paying tolls here.  The road is fiercely contested, especially since the other part of 540 is free but, that might change for future expansion projects.

The other comparison is 485 in Charlotte being completed w/o tolls, people here don't like being second fiddle to the Queen city in highway dollars.

[CanesFan27]

The toll is fiercely contested - no one here has doubted the need for the road.   In fact, people are wanting to preserve the original routing of the road from Holly Springs to Garner.

Actually, more folks in Charlotte feel that they are second fiddle for highway dollars.  The feeling in Charlotte is that Raleigh is building their second loop.  That the Eastern Part of the state gets more favoritism than Charlotte.

I have yet to see anyone in Raleigh say that Charlotte is getting better roads or money than Raleigh.  It's always been Charlotte complaining about Raleigh.

[goobnav]

Here is the 485 v. 540 issue.  We got tolls, Charlotte got a public/private program with no tolls:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6380091/

[CanesFan27]

I am well aware of Perdue's speeding up the completion of I-485 and the toll vs. non-toll issue. Which many will argue was all political.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/search/label/Interstate%20485
http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/search/label/Triangle%20Expressway

Charlotte also had 80+% of their outer loop completed while here in Raleigh it's what less than 50%. I live in Eastern Wake County - the only way I will see 540 be connected to I-40 will be if they have tolls otherwise it will be at least until 2035.  The people that are complaining about the tolls here in Raleigh, they should point more to Fayetteville which is seeing more of their loop being built without tolls or Wilmington or Greensboro.

But no one has said that Charlotte is getting better roads or more money.  It has always been the opposite.  And folks from Charlotte will argue that they have two planned toll roads versus one from Raleigh.

What I am saying is people are going to complain about the tolls no matter what the situation.  There's never been backlash on the need of the road or even the route. 

[goobnav]

Believe me I am not arguing the road or the route.  I used to live in Knightdale and commuted to Durham, moved in 2008. 

I went to State from Knightdale before the 64 bypass was built and dreaded the traffic.

I wanted to see I-640 but, as we know that will never be in our lifetimes.

I just came up with another fictional, see my post there.

[jcarte29]

I am well aware of Perdue's speeding up the completion of I-485 and the toll vs. non-toll issue. Which many will argue was all political.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/search/label/Interstate%20485
http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/search/label/Triangle%20Expressway

Charlotte also had 80+% of their outer loop completed while here in Raleigh it's what less than 50%. I live in Eastern Wake County - the only way I will see 540 be connected to I-40 will be if they have tolls otherwise it will be at least until 2035.  The people that are complaining about the tolls here in Raleigh, they should point more to Fayetteville which is seeing more of their loop being built without tolls or Wilmington or Greensboro.

But no one has said that Charlotte is getting better roads or more money.  It has always been the opposite.  And folks from Charlotte will argue that they have two planned toll roads versus one from Raleigh.

What I am saying is people are going to complain about the tolls no matter what the situation.  There's never been backlash on the need of the road or even the route. 

I do agree with the post I quoted above plus...

Winston-Salem and Greensboro have their own little rivalry. When I-73/74 were first discussed yearsssssssss ago it was planned both would swing through Winston-Salem, before Greensboro wanted to have one of them (nevermind that Greensboro already had 2 interstates to Winston's 1) Then what happens, Greensboro's loop starts construction before Winston's, which had been talked about for quite a while.

Granted, there was a lot of backlash within Winston from property owners in the intended path, and with all the "studies" that had to be done, blah blah blah the W-S Beltline was placed last on NC's priority list, before it was moved up (the Eastern section, due to being I-74 corridor). Even still, it's only a 2 mile section moved up, to start in 2014, from Green 40 to US 158.

[goobnav]

NIMBY's in Winston are still going to fight tooth and nail, can't see them giving up so easily.

[cpzilliacus]

Consider those baffling toll bills a warning

Elaine Petrone of Raleigh wants to know why she and her husband got bills in the mail from the N.C. Turnpike Authority, illustrated with photos of their license plates, for trips on N.C. 540 near Research Triangle Park.

The bills were for $0.00.

"I didn't see any signs that say this is a toll road," Petrone said. "It's a waste of resources to be running that thing you're not collecting tolls on, and sending out bills for zero dollars."

[deathtopumpkins]

You know what I find baffling? The fact that people are concerned about the "intrusive way of collecting money." Do these people in that article who find the idea of taking a picture of your license plate and mailing you a bill never travel at all, and thus not realize that that's standard operating procedure on toll roads, or are they just stupid? Most people love the idea of open-road tolling since you don't have to stop.
As for being concerned about giving the state your credit card number, that is just absurd. There is a difference between, say, a sketchy website and the state government. And if they wanted it in the first place, I'm sure they would already have it, because I'm sure that person uses it to pay countless other bills.

[mgk920]

You know what I find baffling? The fact that people are concerned about the "intrusive way of collecting money." Do these people in that article who find the idea of taking a picture of your license plate and mailing you a bill never travel at all, and thus not realize that that's standard operating procedure on toll roads, or are they just stupid? Most people love the idea of open-road tolling since you don't have to stop.
As for being concerned about giving the state your credit card number, that is just absurd. There is a difference between, say, a sketchy website and the state government. And if they wanted it in the first place, I'm sure they would already have it, because I'm sure that person uses it to pay countless other bills.

And the state government already has their Social Security number - we (perhaps grudgingly) give it to then at tax time and whenever a licensing issue of any kind (driving, professional, etc) comes up.



Mike

[broadhurst04]

You know what I find baffling? The fact that people are concerned about the "intrusive way of collecting money." Do these people in that article who find the idea of taking a picture of your license plate and mailing you a bill never travel at all, and thus not realize that that's standard operating procedure on toll roads, or are they just stupid? Most people love the idea of open-road tolling since you don't have to stop.
As for being concerned about giving the state your credit card number, that is just absurd. There is a difference between, say, a sketchy website and the state government. And if they wanted it in the first place, I'm sure they would already have it, because I'm sure that person uses it to pay countless other bills.

There are plenty of people out there who believe that government is just too nosy. It's not about collecting toll money. It's the idea that someone in the government knows that these people were travelling on a certain road at a certain time of day. That's what they really have a problem with. They feel like they're under surveillance, something they feel should only happen to suspected criminals. If some people had their way there would be no such things as driver licenses or car inspections. They see it as an insult that the state requires them to prove that they can drive a car safely and that they can keep a car in good working order.

[CanesFan27]

The FHWA is asking NCTA to take another look at the Red Corrido rfor the Garner Secton (US 401 to I-40) of the Triangle Expressway.  Basically, study this route or we withdrawl funding.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/10/1991882/us-take-another-look-at-red-route.html#storylink=misearch

[cpzilliacus]

The FHWA is asking NCTA to take another look at the Red Corrido rfor the Garner Secton (US 401 to I-40) of the Triangle Expressway.  Basically, study this route or we withdrawl funding.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/10/1991882/us-take-another-look-at-red-route.html#storylink=misearch

Wonder if FHWA is carrying water for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency here?

In Maryland, we went through several rounds of this with the Md. 200 (ICC) toll road project over the past 20 years.

Staff from Corps and the EPA were very much opposed to the longtime master-planned route, which crossed the upper reaches of the Paint Branch of the Anacostia River, and wanted the road re-routed north into the watershed of the Patuxent River, and this was studied as part of the environmental impact statement process that led to a Record of Decision in 2006.  The northern alternative, as it was called, was ultimately rejected because the Patuxent River is a source of drinking water, while the Paint Branch is not - and because the route through the Paint Branch watershed had long been anticipated in land use plans as the route of a major highway, and the routing through the Patuxent watershed was never anticipated as a highway route.

[mightyace]

You know what I find baffling? The fact that people are concerned about the "intrusive way of collecting money." Do these people in that article who find the idea of taking a picture of your license plate and mailing you a bill never travel at all, and thus not realize that that's standard operating procedure on toll roads, or are they just stupid? Most people love the idea of open-road tolling since you don't have to stop.
As for being concerned about giving the state your credit card number, that is just absurd. There is a difference between, say, a sketchy website and the state government. And if they wanted it in the first place, I'm sure they would already have it, because I'm sure that person uses it to pay countless other bills.

There are plenty of people out there who believe that government is just too nosy. It's not about collecting toll money. It's the idea that someone in the government knows that these people were travelling on a certain road at a certain time of day. That's what they really have a problem with. They feel like they're under surveillance, something they feel should only happen to suspected criminals. If some people had their way there would be no such things as driver licenses or car inspections. They see it as an insult that the state requires them to prove that they can drive a car safely and that they can keep a car in good working order.

Exactly!  If they want to know where I am, they should have to WORK for it.  (And, have a constitutional reason for doing so.)

At the present time, I'm not as worried about the government doing something with the data but someone hacking in and stealing the information.