[Henry10]

Death by a thousand cuts.

[BeyondtheHorizon]

Originally Posted by BPt111

How will tolls impact traffic in Fairfield County ? Alot of drivers going backup local roads to avoid tolls.

That won't happen unless the tolls are really high. You'd spend more in gas/wear and tear on a vehicle in route 1 in stop and go traffic than you'd save from a toll, never mind it taking twice to three times the time to get where you are going. There's really no reasonable route to avoid 15/95 without being delayed. That will get old real quick and people will just pay the toll as they do in other states. People are going to be hassled like that to save a dollar.

It likely will have zero impact on traffic.

[Henry10]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheHorizon

That won't happen unless the tolls are really high. You'd spend more in gas/wear and tear on a vehicle in route 1 in stop and go traffic than you'd save from a toll, never mind it taking twice to three times the time to get where you are going. There's really no reasonable route to avoid 15/95 without being delayed. That will get old real quick and people will just pay the toll as they do in other states. People are going to be hassled like that to save a dollar.

It likely will have zero impact on traffic.

This 2009 study for Toll impact in CT says the opposite. Diversion will happen and have negative impact on QOL, local character, businesses, etc.

Page 9 for example.

https://westcog.org/wp-content/uploa...pact_study.pdf

[7express]

Originally Posted by BPt111

How will tolls impact traffic in Fairfield County ? Alot of drivers going backup local roads to avoid tolls.

Originally Posted by BeyondtheHorizon

That won't happen unless the tolls are really high. You'd spend more in gas/wear and tear on a vehicle in route 1 in stop and go traffic than you'd save from a toll, never mind it taking twice to three times the time to get where you are going. There's really no reasonable route to avoid 15/95 without being delayed. That will get old real quick and people will just pay the toll as they do in other states. People are going to be hassled like that to save a dollar.

It likely will have zero impact on traffic.

I remember about 7 or 8 years ago I had to run some things down to Stamford. I finished about 12:30 and since I didn't have work or school that day, I decided to take route 1 back to Trumbull just to see how long it would actually take. I'll post my time in the following paragraph after I fast forward 7 or 8 years to the present. 3 weeks ago I'm up at East Hampton High school out in the woods of Central Connecticut. I deiced to have some fun again, and take the back roads home (or at least the back roads to the Foxon section of New Haven before getting back on the highway for the final 15 miles) and wanted to see how long it would take. I left East Hampton at 8:35 PM and got to the Milford Mall around 10:10, so add 15 extra minutes back home (if I didn't stop for dinner) and that's less than 2 hours to drive about 55 miles using mostly back roads. I've also taken route 10 straight down from Keene, NH to Cheshire 2 or 3 times and had it take less than 4.5 hours.


My time from Stamford to Trumbull?? Left Stamford at 12:30, got back to Trumbull around 2:45. More time to take the back roads from the same county than it took to come back from central Connecticut because route 1 is that slow. NO ONE would get off the highway to save $4 to get there 60 minutes later!

[Raider111]

Originally Posted by BPt111

How will tolls impact traffic in Fairfield County ? Alot of drivers going backup local roads to avoid tolls.

Yes will have a huge impact not only on Rt 1 but also backroads south of 95. As you know most exits on 95 are very close so getting off and back on in some cases could take just minutes and not cause any wear and tear. Im surprised the other commenters didnt know this. Tolls should be placed early in Greenwich or up in Bridgeport where getting on and off can be more complicated. Hopefully the state is smart enough to recognize this but I doubt it.
In addition daily commuters would be more prone to take backroads or post rd as the daily savings would add up

[Henry10]

The study that I posted showed that most people, probably 80% will rather pay the toll that try to avoid it via local traffic. BeyondtheHorizon's and 7express's views are the majority view for sure.

However the remaining 20% that will divert into local roads.

For a Danbury i-84 toll that meant 13,800 vehicles daily that would take the local roads. Interesting is the other scenario where many locals Danbury area commuters coming from 684 would spill over onto Ridgefield, because congestion + toll on 84 would double-disincentivize drivers to take the 84.

Politicians know it, everybody knows that tolls will make roads and congestion worse.

So, let's call this what it really is -- simply another tax raising scheme, cloaked in the "future of CT" bs.

[BPt111]

CT could lose money on tolls in Massachusetts it not going too well

State could lose between $15M and $16M a year in uncollected tolls under new Mass. Pike electronic tolling system | masslive.com

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Raider111

Tolls should be placed early in Greenwich or up in Bridgeport where getting on and off can be more complicated.

Nope. You put EZ Pass transponder readers and license plate cameras at every on and off ramp. Most states have killed off cash toll booths. They've made the license plate billing costly enough that everybody gets a transponder.

Originally Posted by BPt111

CT could lose money on tolls in Massachusetts it not going too well

State could lose between $15M and $16M a year in uncollected tolls under new Mass. Pike electronic tolling system | masslive.com

Yeah, but do the math on what Massachusetts used to pay for union labor at those toll booths. They're way ahead automating it. The fully burdened cost of a toll collector was well over $100K. Health insurance. Pension. Paid sick and vacation time. "Toll Collector II" made $75K and there were people in 6 figures from overtime. There were endless articles about it.

Examples:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.s...rtation_p.html
http://pioneerinstitute.org/blog/blo...ll-collectors/

For in-state drivers, you already can't renew your license or registration if you owe parking tickets so it's inevitable that the same will be true for unpaid tolls. With all the license plate readers in the cop cars, they'll start pulling out-of-state drivers over for unpaid tolls and impounding their cars.

[BeyondtheHorizon]

Originally Posted by Henry10

The study that I posted showed that most people, probably 80% will rather pay the toll that try to avoid it via local traffic. BeyondtheHorizon's and 7express's views are the majority view for sure.

However the remaining 20% that will divert into local roads.

For a Danbury i-84 toll that meant 13,800 vehicles daily that would take the local roads. Interesting is the other scenario where many locals Danbury area commuters coming from 684 would spill over onto Ridgefield, because congestion + toll on 84 would double-disincentivize drivers to take the 84.

Politicians know it, everybody knows that tolls will make roads and congestion worse.

So, let's call this what it really is -- simply another tax raising scheme, cloaked in the "future of CT" bs.

I'm 100 percent against tolls. It's a regressive tax. Unfortunately we are a drive through state and if any state should have tolls, it's CT. I'd totally support a law to federally end all toll roads in all states. A billionaire paying the same amount as a commuter driving to their normal job is ridiculous.

People are using arguments about "safety" and "back roads being congested" to try to stop in the incoming tolls. I don't think those are an issue at all.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Raider111

The NIMBYers are a joke here. Don't think there's much you can do with 95 expansion, but there is plenty of room to expand The Merritt and bring it up to modern day standards. This is exactly what the Pres talked about tonight in regards to crumbling infrastructure. People here are going to cry over crumbling bridges.

This

Rip down all the bridges. 4 lanes each way with full shoulders and modern on/off ramps. Run elevated electrified high speed rail down the median. Put automated tolls on it to pay the bond.