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Charging for access to roads funded by our tax dollars should not be permitted. While it is reasonable for a privately built and owned bridge to have a toll, ro

Charging for access to roads funded by our tax dollars should not be permitted. While it is reasonable for a privately built and owned bridge to have a toll, roads constructed with federal funds, such as those in Manhattan, should be accessible to everyone without additional charges. Allowing cities to impose fees on roads we've already paid for could lead to other areas, like small communities along highways, implementing similar tolls. For instance, a community in Chicago attempted to limit access to a public road during certain hours to residents only, but to do so, they had to finance the road entirely on their own, which they did. There is a community in Chicago where they tried to restrict access to a public road during certain hours except certain residents and to do that they had to pay for the road in it’s entirety, which they did.

acdha 2y ago
> roads constructed with federal funds, such as those in Manhattan Does this mean that you are calling for the federal government to take over road construction and maintenance in New York City? The people who want to get rid of congestion pricing don’t live or pay taxes to the city so that would be more fair in a sense.
- daft_pink 2y ago
  Not at all. I'm simply stating that when you receive Federal or State grants or assistance for a portion of your road system that you have to accept the restrictions placed on that funding and the road should benefit everyone. We build roads as a country so that everyone can use them not so your local government can use them as a revenue source. It's very likely that 30%-50% of the cost of the roads was paid for with Federal $'s. This is not any different than the idea that if you accept Federal money for research dollars, you should not turn around and charge enormous sums for access to the research. It doesn't mean that the Federal government took over your research.
  - acdha 2y ago
    By that logic, we shouldn’t have toll roads either but they’ve been necessary to pay for the enormously expensive projects demanded by users of the least efficient transportation option. The problem here is basic math: people driving cars need an order of magnitude more space than any other transportation option, and there simply isn’t room for that in a city. Basic economics tells us that when there’s more demand than a limited supply prices should rise to encourage more efficient decision. There just isn’t an option where suburban commuters can drive into Manhattan and magically have room for all of those cars, and that’s before you even attempt to price in all of the years of quality life lost due to the direct injuries and indirect pollution from their cars. The last month has been full of reports showing that everything is better for NYC residents due to reduced congestion, so their interests need to factor into this discussion about their city, too.

acdha 2y ago

> roads constructed with federal funds, such as those in Manhattan Does this mean that you are calling for the federal government to take over road construction and maintenance in New York City? The people who want to get rid of congestion pricing don’t live or pay taxes to the city so that would be more fair in a sense.

daft_pink 2y ago
Not at all. I'm simply stating that when you receive Federal or State grants or assistance for a portion of your road system that you have to accept the restrictions placed on that funding and the road should benefit everyone. We build roads as a country so that everyone can use them not so your local government can use them as a revenue source. It's very likely that 30%-50% of the cost of the roads was paid for with Federal $'s. This is not any different than the idea that if you accept Federal money for research dollars, you should not turn around and charge enormous sums for access to the research. It doesn't mean that the Federal government took over your research.
- acdha 2y ago
  By that logic, we shouldn’t have toll roads either but they’ve been necessary to pay for the enormously expensive projects demanded by users of the least efficient transportation option. The problem here is basic math: people driving cars need an order of magnitude more space than any other transportation option, and there simply isn’t room for that in a city. Basic economics tells us that when there’s more demand than a limited supply prices should rise to encourage more efficient decision. There just isn’t an option where suburban commuters can drive into Manhattan and magically have room for all of those cars, and that’s before you even attempt to price in all of the years of quality life lost due to the direct injuries and indirect pollution from their cars. The last month has been full of reports showing that everything is better for NYC residents due to reduced congestion, so their interests need to factor into this discussion about their city, too.