5 ms·

I don't think interstate highways should be tolled, period. They were paid for decades ago, and maintenance should be covered by the existing gas tax. I am no

by bbarn 5y ago

I don't think interstate highways should be tolled, period. They were paid for decades ago, and maintenance should be covered by the existing gas tax. I am not opposed to convenience highways in metro areas being tolled, as long as there is a non-toll option that is reasonably similar in non-rush hour times. As it stands the major Chicago to New York and New York to DC routes are tolls almost the entire way. The nation paid for those routes, and now pays to use them as well.

arrosenberg 5y ago
It should definitely be tolled, but for a different reason. The only effective way to control congestion is to put a price on it, so the tolls should kick in iff there is heavy traffic.
- outworlder 5y ago
  > The only effective way to control congestion is to put a price on it The actual effective way is to provide alternative transportation options.
  - arrosenberg 5y ago
    Right, I think most people on HN get that. This was a thread about highway tolls.
  - Johnny555 5y ago
    I'm not sure that's true, just providing alternative transportation doesn't by itself control congestion-- London has good alternative transportation options, but also has a £15 congestion charge (i.e. toll) to limit traffic during peak hours. If the roads are free to use and not congested, many people will use them until the cost or inconvenience of using the road is greater than the alternative transportation. (that's not true of everyone, of course, some will use alternative transportation even at greater cost or inconvenience)
- ThunderSizzle 5y ago
  The other option is reduce the entrances/exits in metro areas so that most traffic on metro interstates is no longer traffic that is going from one area of the metro to another area. The metro areas should be responsible for handling intra-metro traffic, and that traffic should stay away from interstates.
Bud 5y ago
This seems like a reasonable argument, but in this case we're talking about 101, which is not an interstate highway.
- brewdad 5y ago
  It's a federal highway that predates the interstate system. It was still built using federal funds, so the argument stands.
  - Bud 5y ago
    Only if you assume that once built, highways are thereafter free. Which they of course are not.
devilbunny 5y ago
> As it stands the major Chicago to New York and New York to DC routes are tolls almost the entire way. The nation paid for those routes, and now pays to use them as well. Actually, no, the nation did not pay for those. The NJ, PA, OH, IN, and IL toll roads you're talking about were built with state-issued bonds, not Interstate money, because they're older than the Interstate laws. They got Interstate numbers later, purely as a matter of convenience for travelers trying to get from A to B. The only federally-funded Interstate that I know of that is allowed to charge tolls is the WV Turnpike, and that only because it was so horrifically expensive to build and yet was so valuable to the nation as an artery. The Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike is another such road (I-95 now), but tolls were removed when I-295 bypassing the area was built. There are other state-built toll roads in greater Richmond that continue to be tolled. The Virginia Beach Expressway was tolled until its initial bonds were paid off. On both roads, you can still fairly easily see where the booths were.

by bbarn 5y ago

arrosenberg 5y ago

It should definitely be tolled, but for a different reason. The only effective way to control congestion is to put a price on it, so the tolls should kick in iff there is heavy traffic.

outworlder 5y ago
> The only effective way to control congestion is to put a price on it The actual effective way is to provide alternative transportation options.
- arrosenberg 5y ago
  Right, I think most people on HN get that. This was a thread about highway tolls.
- Johnny555 5y ago
  I'm not sure that's true, just providing alternative transportation doesn't by itself control congestion-- London has good alternative transportation options, but also has a £15 congestion charge (i.e. toll) to limit traffic during peak hours. If the roads are free to use and not congested, many people will use them until the cost or inconvenience of using the road is greater than the alternative transportation. (that's not true of everyone, of course, some will use alternative transportation even at greater cost or inconvenience)
ThunderSizzle 5y ago
The other option is reduce the entrances/exits in metro areas so that most traffic on metro interstates is no longer traffic that is going from one area of the metro to another area. The metro areas should be responsible for handling intra-metro traffic, and that traffic should stay away from interstates.

Bud 5y ago

This seems like a reasonable argument, but in this case we're talking about 101, which is not an interstate highway.

brewdad 5y ago
It's a federal highway that predates the interstate system. It was still built using federal funds, so the argument stands.
- Bud 5y ago
  Only if you assume that once built, highways are thereafter free. Which they of course are not.

devilbunny 5y ago

> As it stands the major Chicago to New York and New York to DC routes are tolls almost the entire way. The nation paid for those routes, and now pays to use them as well. Actually, no, the nation did not pay for those. The NJ, PA, OH, IN, and IL toll roads you're talking about were built with state-issued bonds, not Interstate money, because they're older than the Interstate laws. They got Interstate numbers later, purely as a matter of convenience for travelers trying to get from A to B. The only federally-funded Interstate that I know of that is allowed to charge tolls is the WV Turnpike, and that only because it was so horrifically expensive to build and yet was so valuable to the nation as an artery. The Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike is another such road (I-95 now), but tolls were removed when I-295 bypassing the area was built. There are other state-built toll roads in greater Richmond that continue to be tolled. The Virginia Beach Expressway was tolled until its initial bonds were paid off. On both roads, you can still fairly easily see where the booths were.