Tolling Texans: More Cities Planning Toll Lanes
A series on the growth of toll roads and lanes around the state.
For Texas drivers, the distinction between free roads and toll roads is starting to blur.
Across the state, multiple projects are under way to add toll lanes to free roads, or to build highways with free and toll lanes alongside each other. While toll lanes, sometimes called express lanes, have been used for years in Houston, the state’s largest city, the concept is poised to spread to the next five largest cities in Texas. The trend is part of a larger boom of tolling projects sweeping ...
Comments (13)
Frank Lee
The state should put time limits ( 6 years) on these toll roads. Texans own the land that roads are built on already. We shouldn't be double & triple charged.
Legislative campaign reform to prevent private road oligopolies from buying votes on this matter
is imperative.
Perpetual tolls are ridiculous... When it's paid for it should become a freeway.
Rob Hallenbeck via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Pay for what you use. If you don't want to pay for it, don't use it. It's a pretty simple & widely-accepted concept.
Faith Ntx via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The "free for all" socialists are hard at work! Don't like it? MOVE!
Faith Ntx via Texas Tribune on Facebook
"Tolls also have the advantage of charging only those drivers who use the road. Drivers who prefer not to pay a toll will always have a non-tolled alternative. Texans can decide which road suits their needs best." Gas tax or toll roads"??? You can't drive around a "gas tax" DUH!
"Over the past 25 years in Texas, our population has increased 57 percent and use of our roads has almost doubled. However, state road capacity increased only 8 percent during this time.
Expanding our road system to ease the crowding faces a major speed bump. It's called funding. Highways in Texas have traditionally been funded with gas taxes. But state and federal gas taxes no longer generate enough money to keep up with the cost of building new roads and upgrading and maintaining current ones. In fact, the majority of the 38 cents per gallon in taxes that motorists now pay at the pump is used to cover upkeep of our 79,000 miles of state highways. Even a significant hike in the gas tax would not provide enough money to build the new roads we need to solve our worsening traffic problems."
Sonora Hartley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Since 1972, when we travel by car we use toll roads - less congestion and construction and better maintained.
Mary Warren via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Texas needs to grow up and accept responsibility for providing safe and well-maintained roads through progressive tax revenue. Toll roads and lanes divide our communities by economic status and limit the opportunities for work and owning small businesses for those who cannot afford to pay daily tolls. We all need reliable transportation, and we all benefit from publicly funded transportation and roads. we will all be paying for these toll roads in many ways, including the cost of tolls added on to goods and services.
Leon Drozd
Let commuters and consumers pay! This is yet another TAX on incomes and consumer transactions.
Who might be getting an "atta girl" or "atta boy" when this occurs? Maybe a pay bonus? To boot, think of the political "tithing" made by contractors, land speculators and materials and equipment vendors which, of course, flowed into the local economies --- radio, TV, newspapers, consultants, consultants and consultants. Maybe those who already benefitted should pay higher tolls to use those roads!
The story below provides a dot of thought. Something wrong with these pictures. .
As Companies Seek Tax Deals, Governments Pay High Price
A New York Times investigation into the incentives that governments offer businesses has found that states, cities and counties are giving up more than $80 billion a year to attract or keep the companies and the jobs that they provide. The beneficiaries come from virtually every corner of the corporate world, encompassing oil and coal conglomerates, technology and entertainment companies, banks and big-box retail chains.
But the cost of the awards is certainly far higher. A full accounting, The Times discovered, is not possible because the incentives are granted by thousands of government agencies and officials, and many do not know the value of all their awards. Nor do they know if the money was worth it because they rarely track how many jobs are created. Even where officials do track incentives, they acknowledge that it is impossible to know whether the jobs would have been created without the aid.
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/us/how-local-taxpayers-bankroll-corporations.html?emc=na
Mary Bell Lockhart
Follow the money, Tribune. Who profits and who pays?
Rob Hallenbeck via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The toll roads in Texas are principally for people commuting from suburbs to cities or suburbs to suburbs. If you choose to live in the suburbs, you're consciously choosing one of three things: a) Becoming part of the traffic problem ("getting stuck in traffic" is a complete misnomer), b) Paying tolls, or c) Taking mass transit. While the Houston Metro's park & ride system is commendable from a cost & time-optimization standpoint, it's still under-utilized - in part because too many companies are choosing to locate outside the Central Business District/Texas Medical Center (ahem, XOM...). Actually improving the situation will require many things, including city + state + federal leadership to expand funding options (I'm ambivalent to tolls or increased gas taxes) and increased funding of mass transit (bus, light rail & commuter rail). For businesses, it requires making long-term decisions that benefit the company & community, not just their short-term needs. For individuals, it requires a recognition & re-evaluation of the full cost of choosing to live in some distant suburb/exurb.
Enrique Marquez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
DA BEARSS
Ann Jennings Pharr via Texas Tribune on Facebook
LOL --- from the Harris County --- Owning an EZ TAG gives you the freedom to travel non-stop on Texas toll roads ( yeah for a price) REAL freedom lol makes Harris county millions a year
Georgia Coleman via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I LOVE TOLL ROADS!!!
Loren White via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I can only hope thats sarcasm Georgia Coleman.