Plan for I-80: No tolls for short runs

August 7th, 2008, posted by RobHop

If Washington allows I-80 to be turned into a toll road, most short-distance drivers on the heavily traveled interstate wouldn’t pay any fees at all under a plan presented yesterday by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

By stretching out collection stations and giving local drivers incentives to use E-ZPass, seven out of 10 cars, pickup trucks, SUVs and school buses would be spared tolls.

Under the plan, there would not be toll collectors or even the option to pay cash. Instead, an electronic arch, or “gantry,” would be erected over nine toll locations across the 311-mile interstate that would read E-ZPass transponders in what is known as “open-road tolling.”

Motorists would pass under the gantries at regular highway speeds, avoiding backups normally associated with toll booths, even those that now take E-ZPass. Cameras would photograph the license plates of cars that do not have E-ZPass, and invoices would be mailed to the owners.

To spare local commuters from paying tolls, drivers who use E-ZPass would get to travel through one toll point free and would not start being charged until they drive through a second gantry.
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Why not just say “NO!”

On August 7th, 2008 Anonymous said:

Why not just say “NO!” to the tax addicts? They could reduce their spending, rather than always making the rest of us poorer.

Instead of this constant complaining, why don’t the “rest of you” get up and do something about it!!!
Talk to your representative and let him/her know how you feel and stop whining. They won’t reduce spending if you don’t push ‘em.

I 80 tolling

On August 7th, 2008 Anonymous said:

has anyone done a traffic count to show there are enough vehicles to pay tolls using the road after all the short runs are eliminated to pay for the costs of installing 20 toll booths? Sometimes a project has so many “stakeholders” that compromise ends up with nothing but ill conceived monetary solutions. How many years of tolls will it take to cover the costs of creating tolling booths, on and off ramps and personnel costs for just the first year of doing business. Are we being “penny wise and pound foolish”????

Apparently you haven’t

On August 7th, 2008 Anonymous said:

Apparently you haven’t been paying attention. A total of 10 toll gantries will be constructed. The project will utilize an open tolling structure, which will not require vehicles to slow down or additional slip ramps to be erected.

Regardless of your opinion on tolling, I hope people will educate themselves on the specifics that are available online, as opposed to spreading inaccurate information.

One positive is your question: How many years of tolls will it take to cover the project costs?

One of the good things....

On August 7th, 2008 Anonymous said:

...about a toll road (as much as we all hate them) is that you are basically paying a use tax. The money to maintain the roadway is paid by the people who actually use it, rather than by some poor schlump in Uniontown who has never been on I-80.

As to those who say “let’s save money, instead,” all I can say this that I heard this all my life…and, while Republicans make it a central plank of each and every platform…they never actually seem to get around to actually doing it. A perfect example is the current Federal government under Bush, which has spent like the classic drunken sailor and pours BILLIONS every month in Iraq…while still claiming they are the party of “fiscal responsibility.” Other than “Tom ‘Dr. No’ Coburn” of Oklahoma, none of GOP Members every “just say no” to spending…...

As to the local driver component of this proposal, which let’s them use the road for commuter-length trips? I think it’s great. Good bit of lawmaking…

Piltdown Man

“The money to maintain

On August 8th, 2008 Anonymous said:

“The money to maintain the roadway is paid by the people who actually use it, rather than by some poor schlump in Uniontown who has never been on I-80.”

While user fees are becoming increasingly popular, please keep in mind that the revenues from Philadelphia and Pittsburg registration and titling fees go toward maintenance of rural roadways. Without these funds rural counties would never be able to manage their transportation infrastructure.