ADOT postpones anticipated new freeways (AGAIN)! (Maricopa: how much, hotels, employment)

[KarmaPhx]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Unfortunately, that sheepish attitude is one reason WHY these government agencies are ineffective and careless. When the public keeps saying things like, "well, there's nothing we can do about it", it sends a message that we as a public don't give much thought to how effectively our government is run, or how prudent they manage these funds. It's almost like giving them permission to squander our money any way they so desire.

In turn, this continuous squandering of funds and delaying of freeway projects is going to end up costing the taxpayers MORE money in the long run because construction costs keep increasing. These consistent delays and excuses by ADOT is solving nothing ... and we as taxpayers will end up paying escalated costs for freeway projects in the future which should have been completed many years ago!

Bottom line: don't vote to give ADOT any more tax money. They have proven to us more than once how bumbling and corrupt they are.

There is nothing you can do about it, sure you can write your local representatives, but that isn't going to do anything, like I said before all we can do is complain.

We can't stop giving ADOT money since as the public we do not have that power.

[observer53]

Having spent a lot of time driving in Florida, I'm for some toll roads. There's plenty of well maintained roads to get you anywhere you want to go.

[roundball]

Originally Posted by KarmaPhx

Doesn't really seem like there is a need for those, compared to other areas that need freeways, or wider freeways.

The postponed lanes on the 17 and 101 are needed.....

[KarmaPhx]

Originally Posted by roundball

The postponed lanes on the 17 and 101 are needed.....

They just added a Carpool lane to the 51 and 101, and they just widened the I17 up to Carefree, what else is needed?

[roundball]

Originally Posted by KarmaPhx

They just added a Carpool lane to the 51 and 101, and they just widened the I17 up to Carefree, what else is needed?

The freeways you are talking about are not even part of the postponement. I said nothing about the freeways you are talking about.



The postponed part of the 101, according to the picture in the article is "West" of the 17. It crawls in the a.m. from about 51st Ave. to the 17(and 51st W in the p.m.).

The postponed part of 17 is North of Carefree. That crawls even worse.

[KarmaPhx]

Originally Posted by roundball

The freeways you are talking about are not even part of the postponement. I said nothing about the freeways you are talking about.



The postponed part of the 101, according to the picture in the article is "West" of the 17. It crawls in the a.m. from about 51st Ave. to the 17(and 51st W in the p.m.).

The postponed part of 17 is North of Carefree. That crawls even worse.

You clearly said the 17 and the 101, you never mentioned a specific part. Don't get mad because you forgot to add relevant information.

Anything north of Carefree is pratically open road, it never "crawls" I travel on the I-17 often north of Carefree since I have family in Anthem and New River. I have never had a problem going 70-75 after the Carefree exit, and now with the extra lane everything runs much smoother.

[silverbear]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Valley freeway projects shelved

For those who have lived in the Phoenix metro area for a lengthy amount of time, this sounds all too familiar. The 1985 vote that approved construction of 231 miles of freeways for the Valley was delayed and scaled back by ADOT in the early '90s because of a recession at that time ... which an audit later revealed that ADOT actually mis managed the tax money that was granted to them for the construction projects! We are still feeling the effects from that boondoggle because, while we have a more adequate freeway system than 20 years ago, it is a reduced system than what was planned in 1985.

Five years ago, the public fell for ADOT's scheme again and approved Proposition 400 (the sales tax extension that promised even more freeway miles, especially for the far west Valley). They even claimed that this new funding would be "recession proof". Once again, they let us down, and went back on their promise AFTER they collected the tax revenue for these new freeways!

I certainly hope those of you who keep voting to give ADOT money will be wiser in the future. ADOT is highly corrupt, and well known for breaking promises & squandering money, as was the case with the 1985 half cent tax, and now with the 2004 extension of it. This is further proof that government agencies cannot be trusted with effectively managing our tax dollars.

So what is the solution? It is becoming more obvious that ADOT needs to get out of the freeway construction business (since the department can never seem to build the roads in a timely manner). It is time to highly consider privatizing the system, build new freeways as toll highways, and create a user fee type of system. When you think about it, it makes sense in the long run because not everybody uses all of the freeways ... and it really doesn't seem right to make everybody pay for roads that they don't use. That way, we wouldn't have to keep relying on an inept department of transportation to slowpoke along with freeway construction, and keep screwing things up along the way!

I'm no fan of ADOT, but there's a lot of oversimplification and exaggeration here. The implication that ADOT has already collected all tax revenues from Proposition 400 is misleading. Proposition 400 was a vote by the people of Maricopa County to increase their sales tax by .5% over a 20 year period with the revenues funding a mix of road projects, new bus lines, light rail extensions, etc. That means that the revenues come in over a 20-year period, not all at once up front. As the economy has slid into a deep recession, the tax revenues have fallen short of forecasts. If people are spending less, then that .5% tax is applied to a smaller pool of purchases. That's why projects of all types have to be scaled back or postponed. Maybe the forecasts were unrealistic and maybe ADOT has been wasteful. I'd probably say that both are correct at least to some extent. Nevertheless, the statement that ADOT "went back on their promise AFTER they collected the tax revenue for these new freeways" is incorrect. Since we are only four years into Proposition 400, there are 16 more years of potential tax revenue that has not even been collected yet.

[rambrush]

Have you been to this state website OSPB - Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting
and seen the proposed cuts coming for the State? ADOT is listed under transportation. Look at DPS proposed closing helicopter operations in Kingman, Flagstaff and Tucson. Lets see would I rather be employed by the state or layed off so a road can be built? by the way a lot of road projects are federally funded and not always state funds.

[AzDesertRat86]

Originally Posted by KarmaPhx

Sure it does, but there is nothing you or I can really do about it except complain.

There is something the average Jo can do, they can run for office.

[Ponderosa]

ADOT and the pay-as-you go tax plan is doing fine with the freeway program. The last thing we need is a bunch of greed-crazed "private sector" crooks gouging us with toll roads.