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Why be in a rush to fix something that drives traffic to the lanes they make money on? It’s not a problem, it’s a feature.
The state should have included provisions that tolls cannot be collected until the free lanes are completed. Obviously they didn’t and there is nothing to be done about that now but, it’s things like that (Cintra structured the deal to their favor and the state gov let it happen) why a lot of us will always have a bad taste in our mouths over this deal.
They’re still being fined $30K daily for the project not being done. The fines don’t end until they clean up the rest of the work in the free lanes as well as the barriers and sound walls.
Why be in a rush to fix something that drives traffic to the lanes they make money on? It’s not a problem, it’s a feature.
Could be wrong, but isn't at least some of the uneven-ness (if that's a word) in going from the free lanes to the express lanes? If that's the case, then some people may actually be scared to go in the express.
They’re still being fined $30K daily for the project not being done. The fines don’t end until they clean up the rest of the work in the free lanes as well as the barriers and sound walls.
I haven't seen anyone out there since they opened. Do they know the fines are racking up because it doesn't look like it.
They’re still being fined $30K daily for the project not being done. The fines don’t end until they clean up the rest of the work in the free lanes as well as the barriers and sound walls.
I read the fines are $10K/day per section, so I gather there are 3 sections left to complete?
I am sure Cintra wants to minimize their project cost, but $30K/day is peanuts in the overall scheme of things. We drove into Charlotte yesterday and there was a LONG fleet of asphalt trucks queued up (20 or so?), so it appears they've ramped up construction again. Hopefully they'll be done in a couple months, I'm looking forward to it.
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If the project total is still the original $647 million, a $30K/day fine is 0.84% ($5.5M) of the total project cost IF construction takes another 6 months. Pretty trivial in the big picture. It will be a big improvement when it's finally done. If you paid $647 for something, and took a penalty of $5.50 over six months, how concerned would you be?
I know I'm bumping an old thread but, they apparently aren't very bothered by these fines because the non-toll lanes are still an absolute disaster area. I went into the city for the first time in a while last weekend and I'm so happy that I don't have to drive that nightmare as part of my daily commute.
Relating to I-77 and the other highways in the area, is anyone else noticing a significant uptick in the amount of trash and debris on the highways? I know we like low taxes and all but, damn. They can't get some inmates out there or run a single street sweeper up the shoulders at like 3AM every so often?
I know I'm bumping an old thread but, they apparently aren't very bothered by these fines because the non-toll lanes are still an absolute disaster area. I went into the city for the first time in a while last weekend and I'm so happy that I don't have to drive that nightmare as part of my daily commute.
Relating to I-77 and the other highways in the area, is anyone else noticing a significant uptick in the amount of trash and debris on the highways? I know we like low taxes and all but, damn. They can't get some inmates out there or run a single street sweeper up the shoulders at like 3AM every so often?
NC DOT budget is all messed up and road cleaning was among the first to go https://abc11.com/nc-dot-interstate-...id-19/6316737/
"We have taken some huge economic hits recently. Because almost all of our funding comes from gas tax and DMV revenue COVID-19, we lost $300 million over April, May and June and early estimates for July 2020 thru June 2021 is another lost $500-600 million. Add more than $400 million spent for major weather events the past few years, and we have had to severely tighten the road maintenance budget for now.
"It means we are concentrating on safety maintenance first, such as potholes, damaged guard rails, lane striping in certain areas, sign repairs, shoulder repairs, etc. and of course storm response for possible flooding, hurricanes and winter weather when they come.
One option could be to significantly increase the gas tax on the smaller percentage of people actually commuting into the office daily, but that would also hurt the economic recovery and take money out of the pockets of consumers needed to re-start the economy. I definitely know my transition to work from home has hit the NCDOT. Used to fill up every 10 days or so. Now filling up every 30 days.
NC DOT budget is all messed up and road cleaning was among the first to go https://abc11.com/nc-dot-interstate-...id-19/6316737/
"We have taken some huge economic hits recently. Because almost all of our funding comes from gas tax and DMV revenue COVID-19, we lost $300 million over April, May and June and early estimates for July 2020 thru June 2021 is another lost $500-600 million. Add more than $400 million spent for major weather events the past few years, and we have had to severely tighten the road maintenance budget for now.
"It means we are concentrating on safety maintenance first, such as potholes, damaged guard rails, lane striping in certain areas, sign repairs, shoulder repairs, etc. and of course storm response for possible flooding, hurricanes and winter weather when they come.
One option could be to significantly increase the gas tax on the smaller percentage of people actually commuting into the office daily, but that would also hurt the economic recovery and take money out of the pockets of consumers needed to re-start the economy. I definitely know my transition to work from home has hit the NCDOT. Used to fill up every 10 days or so. Now filling up every 30 days.
What a mess. I think you could argue large pieces of debris like pallets half in the left lane are as much or more of a safety hazard than some banged up guard rail.
I'll say I'm sure the first two months of the lock down put a hurt them but, over the last few weeks the traffic on my commute is pretty much right back to the way it was pre-covid, only with drivers being even more aggressive than they were prior. My wife has also said she has noticed more people out driving around at odd times of the day presumably because they either are not working or able to work from home allowing more flexible schedules. So hopefully the funding is getting back to relatively normal levels.
If our already high gas tax is the major source of their funding this seems like something they were going to have to revisit anyway as cars become more fuel efficient and electric vehicles become more widespread it stands to reason their funding would be decreasing year over year with no actual decrease in road usage.
What a mess. I think you could argue large pieces of debris like pallets half in the left lane are as much or more of a safety hazard than some banged up guard rail.
I'll say I'm sure the first two months of the lock down put a hurt them but, over the last few weeks the traffic on my commute is pretty much right back to the way it was pre-covid, only with drivers being even more aggressive than they were prior. My wife has also said she has noticed more people out driving around at odd times of the day presumably because they either are not working or able to work from home allowing more flexible schedules. So hopefully the funding is getting back to relatively normal levels.
If our already high gas tax is the major source of their funding this seems like something they were going to have to revisit anyway as cars become more fuel efficient and electric vehicles become more widespread it stands to reason their funding would be decreasing year over year with no actual decrease in road usage.
Picking up a bit maybe, but I can't imagine it's "back to normal" with a lot of major companies still doing WFH.
I WFH before anyway, but will occassionally pick up food including going north on 77 between Huntersville to Mooresville between 5-6 and while there seems to be a pretty steady flow, I don't think I've really seen "traffic." And hardly any cars in the toll lanes. If people were speculating Cintra was going to go bankrupt anyway, this pandemic certainly can't be helping their profits...
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