Rush Wickes

Governor Mark Warner announced today that the Smart Tag electronic toll
collection system operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation will
become interoperable with the multi-state E-ZPass system by Fall, 2004.

Existing Smart Tag customers can keep their transponders and will not have
to exchange them for new ones in order to use E-ZPass facilities when
reciprocity occurs.

http://www.virginiadot.org/comtravel...ss-default.asp

--
Rush Wickes -- remove the '=' to reply via e-mail
Blacksburg, VA

Dave Head

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 15:26:14 -0400, "Rush Wickes" <rush@rush=w.com> wrote:

>Governor Mark Warner announced today that the Smart Tag electronic toll
>collection system operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation will
>become interoperable with the multi-state E-ZPass system by Fall, 2004.
>
>Existing Smart Tag customers can keep their transponders and will not have
>to exchange them for new ones in order to use E-ZPass facilities when
>reciprocity occurs.
>
>http://www.virginiadot.org/comtravel...ss-default.asp

Big whoop.

When I heard this on the radio this morning, it said we could drive all the way
up the east coast without paying tolls. I said, "Great - its about time."
Heck, I thought they were going to get rid of the dang tolls. Ha.

If they keep making it easier and easier to collect tolls, you'll be paying
$400 each way to drive coast to coast. They'll be a toll collection device at
the end of your street. Flying will be cheaper (It actually already is if you
consider motel prices.) A lot cheaper.

Dave Head

Rush Wickes

"Dave Head" <rally2xs@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:ejnnkvs9pslajmler0j05l06umeu1il8t7@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 15:26:14 -0400, "Rush Wickes" <rush@rush=w.com> wrote:
>
> >Governor Mark Warner announced today that the Smart Tag electronic toll
> >collection system operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation
will
> >become interoperable with the multi-state E-ZPass system by Fall, 2004.
> >
> >Existing Smart Tag customers can keep their transponders and will not
have
> >to exchange them for new ones in order to use E-ZPass facilities when
> >reciprocity occurs.

> When I heard this on the radio this morning, it said we could drive all
the way
> up the east coast without paying tolls. I said, "Great - its about time."
> Heck, I thought they were going to get rid of the dang tolls. Ha.

Tolls are often the only steady source of dedicated revenue for
highway/transportation project financing. If you don't use the road, you
don't pay the toll, you don't support the toll road expansion/construction
through your taxes either.

When you pay your per gallon share of the state gas tax, it doesn't go
directly to your locality, but rather the revenue that is accrued gets
divided among the nine transportation districts of the state. When you pay
a toll for a road, you're helping pay for the construction and completion of
that road at a pace often far ahead of that which would have been provided
under the state budget.

> If they keep making it easier and easier to collect tolls, you'll be
paying
> $400 each way to drive coast to coast. They'll be a toll collection
device at
> the end of your street. Flying will be cheaper (It actually already is if
you
> consider motel prices.) A lot cheaper.

No, tolls cannot be imposed upon already constructed interstate highways,
with the exception of three corridor projects nationwide that would have to
be authorized by the US Congress. Tolls that are there on existing
interstates are there due to the road being constructed prior to the
authorization of the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act of 1956.

--
Rush Wickes -- remove the '=' to reply via e-mail
Blacksburg, VA

Dave Head

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 19:17:42 -0400, "Rush Wickes" <rush@rush=w.com> wrote:

>"Dave Head" <rally2xs@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>news:ejnnkvs9pslajmler0j05l06umeu1il8t7@4ax.com.. .
>> On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 15:26:14 -0400, "Rush Wickes" <rush@rush=w.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Governor Mark Warner announced today that the Smart Tag electronic toll
>> >collection system operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation
>will
>> >become interoperable with the multi-state E-ZPass system by Fall, 2004.
>> >
>> >Existing Smart Tag customers can keep their transponders and will not
>have
>> >to exchange them for new ones in order to use E-ZPass facilities when
>> >reciprocity occurs.
>
>> When I heard this on the radio this morning, it said we could drive all
>the way
>> up the east coast without paying tolls. I said, "Great - its about time."
>> Heck, I thought they were going to get rid of the dang tolls. Ha.
>
>Tolls are often the only steady source of dedicated revenue for
>highway/transportation project financing. If you don't use the road, you
>don't pay the toll, you don't support the toll road expansion/construction
>through your taxes either.
>
>When you pay your per gallon share of the state gas tax, it doesn't go
>directly to your locality, but rather the revenue that is accrued gets
>divided among the nine transportation districts of the state. When you pay
>a toll for a road, you're helping pay for the construction and completion of
>that road at a pace often far ahead of that which would have been provided
>under the state budget.
>
>> If they keep making it easier and easier to collect tolls, you'll be
>paying
>> $400 each way to drive coast to coast. They'll be a toll collection
>device at
>> the end of your street. Flying will be cheaper (It actually already is if
>you
>> consider motel prices.) A lot cheaper.
>
>No, tolls cannot be imposed upon already constructed interstate highways,
>with the exception of three corridor projects nationwide that would have to
>be authorized by the US Congress. Tolls that are there on existing
>interstates are there due to the road being constructed prior to the
>authorization of the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act of 1956.

It seems that most places in the midwest can get along without all these toll
roads, tho. Only one in Ohio is the turnpike, and that was set to lose its
toll at the end of the bond payoff. Maneuvering by politicians in Columbus got
the toll extended indefinitely, but they don't _need_ the toll for the turnpike
any more than they need it for I-75, I-71, I-70, etc. They collect it simply
because they _can_ - the same reason they _doubled_ the toll amount on all the
Maryland toll bridges last year.

I don't think there are _any_ toll roads in Michigan. Wonder how they do it.
Wisconsin? Don't think so. Minnesota either. N. Dakota. S. Dakota. I guess
the Kansas turnpike is still a toll road, but that just goes to show that tolls
never go away once inacted, or extremely rarely. They probably paid that off
30 years ago, too, like Ohio.

Now, if you don't need to build toll booths and fancy interchanges to get cars
to them, you can put up a lot more toll roads. Maybe all of 'em.

Then they can divert the gas tax 100% to mass transit (that tax will never go
away, either, no matter what), which people still won't use, and we will have
lost yet another good thing - the freedom to move around relatively cheaply.
Might even cost you $1 to drive to the grocery someday - over and above the gas
prices.

Dave Head

Rob

"Dave Head" <rally2xs@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:hirnkvsppsrghmu1ivku48ckqh09guu3k3@4ax.com...
> >Tolls are often the only steady source of dedicated revenue for
> >highway/transportation project financing. If you don't use the road,
you
> >don't pay the toll, you don't support the toll road
expansion/construction
> >through your taxes either.

My biggest problem with tolls in Northern Virginia is the total unfairness.
My tax dollars *are* funding billions of dollars' worth of improvements to
I-95 and the mixing bowl which is a great deal if I happen to live in
Springfield or somewhere south of the Beltway. And VDOT is likewise doing
tons of road construction elsewhere in the state -- all funded by taxes and
free to the beneficiaries who use those roads daily.

But for those of us that just happen to live *west* of D.C., it's a
different story. First we got the Dulles Toll Road, which was not only paid
for via tolls but is now being considered for vastly *higher* tolls as a
perpetual cash cow to fund mass transit and other projects. As the
population continued to spread westward from Dulles, the State and Feds
again ignored their obligations to fund road improvements west of the
Beltway -- instead allowing a private corporation to build the Greenway
(what a great name, if you think about it!). The Toll Road was bad enough
at $.85, but the Greenway's need to turn a profit for private investors led
to tolls currently around $2.00 for a similar distance. Apparently that's
not enough... now that their Greenway has led to enough population growth
that Rt. 7 is hopelessly gridlocked as an alternative, the Greenway's owners
have petitioned to raise the max. toll from $2.00 to $3.00. A Leesburg
resident commuting to Tyson's will soon pay almost $8, or $40/week in tolls
alone! Meanwhile, non-Virginia residents commuting similar distances to
Tyson's pay *nothing* to use the roads.

Ignoring for a moment that collecting tolls just adds to the huge traffic
problems we face and costs us lots of $$ to maintain a bureaucracy to hire
toll collectors and build toll plazas, I'd have less of a problem if tolls
were applied fairly and uniformly to *all* area highways -- not exclusively
those serving the western suburbs.

Rob

Bob

At Wed, 27 Aug 2003 14:59:32 GMT, "Rob" <rvonder-nospam@ix.netcom.com>
reached down, grabbed what he thought was the keyboard and started
stroking in va.general:

>
> Ignoring for a moment that collecting tolls just adds to the huge
> traffic problems we face and costs us lots of $$ to maintain a
> bureaucracy to hire toll collectors and build toll plazas, I'd have less
> of a problem if tolls were applied fairly and uniformly to *all* area
> highways -- not exclusively those serving the western suburbs.
>

Here's a thought ... DC has been talking about a commuter tax for those who
work, but not live, there. Perhaps Virginia could set up tolls at the
borders on major arteries where you have to pay to get out ... heck, you
have to pay to get out of New Jersey (Hudson river crossings, Delaware
Bridge, I-78 to Allentown). Why can't we do the same thing?


================================================== ===============
Bob Ashley - UNIX Geek - Centreville, VA
usenet (at) house (dash) bowlrz (dot) org


Are you auto-extracting e-mail addresses? Then uce@ftc.gov and
report@fraud.org should be of special interest.

FLAMES > /dev/null
================================================== ===============