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View Poll Results: Good idea or bad idea for the toll lanes on I-95?
Good idea! 6 18.18%
Bad idea! 25 75.76%
I have no opinion on it. 2 6.06%
Voters: 33. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 01-19-2008, 09:33 AM
 
Location: South Florida
564 posts, read 1,895,867 times
Reputation: 266

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Quote:
Originally Posted by tallrick View Post
There is no way that can guarantee traffic movement on I-95, no matter what the price. They can't even keep the Turnpike moving.
I bet they could if they raised the cap. Say on a busy day it was up to $100.00, who would pay that? Only enough to keep it uncrowded.
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Old 01-19-2008, 09:34 AM
 
Location: Miami
546 posts, read 2,141,332 times
Reputation: 183
Quote:
Originally Posted by eaglecall View Post
It is a horrible idea, and is not that easy to resolve. Florida laws limit highways to 12 lanes. I-95 already has 6 lanes on each side in cost of the tri county area; the places to expand are just a few and would not give any solution. 5 lanes go all the time and a 6th lane connects the on/off ramps.

Florida's Turnpike, is a private company. They will not do any change that affect their revenues, like any other corporate.

This idea of creating toll lanes for those who can spend more money is totally wrong. There is no need for that. We all pay taxes, like any other American town. We are perfectly able to resolve the problem with the money the city makes every year. The difference here, is that nobody knows where that money goes. For some reason, south FL being so overpopulated (which means more tax money for the city) is always short of money.

In my opinion, one of the solutions is metrorail lines; the same space they wanna take for extra toll lanes, we can use it for elevated metrorail lines. But of course the excuse for that is always the same: "there is no money for that" what a bunch of losers. That's where the reputation of "Third world" starts.

But the state governs the Florida Turnpike and we should argue and vote for more lanes added to the turnpike. This is our money in the first place. In California I-5 has 5 lanes in each direction and the turnpiike in some areas has only 2. Are we kidding? Is this a joke?

Your suggestion of a metrorail line instead of using toll lanes will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and extensive traffic delays for years due to the massive construction. Additional lanes would provide congestion relief for a fraction of the cost of your metrorail line and in less time. That extra money can be used to retain teachers for our public schools.
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Old 01-19-2008, 10:56 AM
 
Location: America
6,993 posts, read 17,315,562 times
Reputation: 2093
Quote:
Originally Posted by eufo View Post
I'm surprised this topic never got brought up here, but I'm curious to hear what others think about the idea of replacing the HOV lanes on I-95 with toll lanes that vary in price based upon the amount of traffic.

From what I understand, they're promising an average speed of 50mph any time of day, every day.

Personally, I think its certainly an interesting idea worth exploring.
im for it IF they use the money to build out a better mass transit system here. Other wise to heck with it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by eaglecall View Post
It is a horrible idea, and is not that easy to resolve. Florida laws limit highways to 12 lanes. I-95 already has 6 lanes on each side in cost of the tri county area; the places to expand are just a few and would not give any solution. 5 lanes go all the time and a 6th lane connects the on/off ramps.

Florida's Turnpike, is a private company. They will not do any change that affect their revenues, like any other corporate.

This idea of creating toll lanes for those who can spend more money is totally wrong. There is no need for that. We all pay taxes, like any other American town. We are perfectly able to resolve the problem with the money the city makes every year. The difference here, is that nobody knows where that money goes. For some reason, south FL being so overpopulated (which means more tax money for the city) is always short of money.

In my opinion, one of the solutions is metrorail lines; the same space they wanna take for extra toll lanes, we can use it for elevated metrorail lines. But of course the excuse for that is always the same: "there is no money for that" what a bunch of losers. That's where the reputation of "Third world" starts.
[slow clap]


Someone "GETS IT"
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Old 01-19-2008, 12:14 PM
 
Location: O-Town
1,781 posts, read 6,944,292 times
Reputation: 503
Bad idea too many tolls as it is and we really see nothing from this money.
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Old 01-19-2008, 12:30 PM
 
Location: South Florida
564 posts, read 1,895,867 times
Reputation: 266
I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see such negativity on this board.

For those that haven't bothered to read the article I linked, let me summarize...

- Carpoolers and Buses will continue to benefit from the new toll lanes at no cost, so no new tolls for anyone, unless solo drivers really want to pay.

- Some of the money will be used to improve mass transit. Better than what they're getting now.

- Regular drivers that don't want to pay will continue to use the regular lanes that were always available. They will not see a decrease in available lanes.

Can someone please explain why this is a bad idea?
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Old 01-19-2008, 02:00 PM
 
398 posts, read 1,406,500 times
Reputation: 250
Quote:
Originally Posted by randian View Post
Why would you want to do that? A metrorail line would have a fraction of the capacity of a highway lane at many times the cost.
What cost? cost of construction and maintenance? well, is MY money. I don't see my money well spent right now. I rather see it in a 21st century technology of public transportation. The toll lanes are way les expensive; yeah less expensive for the city but still drivers need to pay extra to the city for the use of those lanes; we pay enough already. The problem is not that the city is not producing enough money; the problem is that the city is stealing and wasting them money.

As far as capacity, I am positive 2 things will happen. Either just a few people will use these lanes, or it will be always backed up due to bad quality of drivers and/or accidents. A big train every 15 minutes will move more people fluently enough.

If each car had 4 passengers I'd believe you. But a line of 100 cars stuck on I-95 is barely carrying 100 people.
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Old 01-19-2008, 02:08 PM
 
398 posts, read 1,406,500 times
Reputation: 250
Quote:
Originally Posted by 305guy View Post
But the state governs the Florida Turnpike and we should argue and vote for more lanes added to the turnpike. This is our money in the first place. In California I-5 has 5 lanes in each direction and the turnpiike in some areas has only 2. Are we kidding? Is this a joke?

Your suggestion of a metrorail line instead of using toll lanes will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and extensive traffic delays for years due to the massive construction. Additional lanes would provide congestion relief for a fraction of the cost of your metrorail line and in less time. That extra money can be used to retain teachers for our public schools.

If the state can govern Turnpike, that's different. I didn't know that and that could be one of the solutions.


For the metrorail costs, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE MONEY. The money is there. If you don't see the money spent in a massive construction, YOU'LL NOT SEE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE. Money magically dissapear in South FL. It is stolen. Plain and simple. As far as construction traffic delays, well, it is a sacrifice we must take for a better future; but don't think it takes years as we see with other projects. The delays we see in other constructions are created by the city to keep people employed, to generate false expenses and delayed by construction companies to inflate costs. With a normal city administration that puts first the interests of its citizens, it can be done in much less time and at a lower cost.
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Old 06-12-2008, 09:32 AM
 
Location: Miami Beach, Fl
18 posts, read 35,018 times
Reputation: 10
ok...i had to register just to put in my two cents and here it is:

A) toll lanes are a horrible idea, yes it generates revenue but these same lanes would have to be closed off from 95 to prevent those who havent paid from entering or everyone will decide to dip in and out during rush hour. think of the hov lanes we have already, there are tons of people who just dip in and out everytime they see a cop, so tell me how does that improve the congestion.

B) south florida has such a horrible problem with congestion i highly doubt adding another lane will fix the problem. i dare say an extra two lanes would not fix the problem, there are various problems which cause this affliction that are not as exaggerated in other cities motorists such as completely stopping to gawk at the accident or even better at the accident on the other side of the highway, in addition the 'fast lane' does not truely exist here as it does in other cities. motorist's choose that since they've paid their tax dollars (some may not have though) they can drive as slow as they want in any lane. when you get enough of that elitist attitude at one time then yes traffic is going nowhere, adding more lanes just means those people will use more lanes to take up time. one benefit however of adding an extra lane is when accidents happen (which they always do here) it wont shut down the highway as much as it does now. the golden rule of an accident scene is to shut down an extra lane around the accident so usually at least two are shut down if 95 had an 7th or 8th lane that would leave you with the 6 we have now that would be unobstructed

C) just because you add a charge does not mean people will not use it, if it makes sense people will still pay, if its an outlandish fee then people will do what I said above and dip in and out of the lane if its not closed off. the temptation is just far to great to stay out of the forbidden lane when your running late for work and traffic is moving .5 mph

D) fixing the flawed design of the metrofail and extending its service along 95 makes tons of sense. here are my reasons why
1) yes just like one person said, the money will disappear if not used. look what happened to the '02 tax. damn near nothing! so use it or lose it
2) yes building the rail will take time but with no other options to really improve transit or congestion i believe its an ok trade off. not to mention building a new elevated section of highway lane is not going to just spring up either. the construction needed for another lane is going to be very similar to the metrorail line. just as the metrorail line is elevated most of 95 starting from just north of the golden glades interchange all the way to downtown is elevated they aren't going be able to magically build one elevated item faster than another
3)the metrofail would finally become a plausible excuse not to drive once completed along this route. i'm not sure about in this city, but most cities run their trains at speeds of 50-60 mph during rush hour to speed up their times (although not officially) with traffic on 95 not moving at even 5 mph, if they correctly meter the correct number of minutes between trains not this horrible exorbitant 6-10 minutes between trains during rush hour then people will begin to add up the benefits of using rail versus 95. you must remember rail doesnt slow down because there is an accident on the other side of the highway only if there is a problem on the tracks and that will happen less often than the highway accidents. trains need to be provided every 2-3 minutes during rush hour to really maximize efficiency an realize an increased benefit.

the problem now with the metrofail is it fails to really take people along routes that are needed. leaving 95 just as congested as ever as people know public transportation makes no sense as using a bus from north miami to downtown would be just as much of a pain as taking the good ol' car on 95 and they figure at least the car is private. extending the rail wont be an instant remedy but it would most likely thin the herd with the least amount of abuse to the new system but its inhabitants
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Old 06-12-2008, 11:16 AM
 
Location: Miami
763 posts, read 3,523,443 times
Reputation: 259
Ridiculous!
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Old 06-12-2008, 01:47 PM
 
Location: Houston, Tx
3,644 posts, read 6,287,582 times
Reputation: 1633
Elitism has no place on taxpayer paid for highways. Tolls should only be used (if at all) to pay for a road's construction and then removed once the road is paid for.
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