Tolls On The Interstate (Portland, Bend: buy, construction, taxes)

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I'd like to hear opinions on Oregon's application to be a allowed to charge tolls for use of the interstates.

The application says it is to relieve congestion in Portland. I'm not creative enough, I guess, to figure out how charging tolls on the highway is supposed to relieve congestion. Like maybe the traffic fairy sits in the toll booth and magically makes every 5th car disappear forever? Or changes it into a bicycle?

[jjpop]

If the entire justification is simply that it would relieve congestion, without saying HOW it would do that, then I don't buy in.

Maybe they're hoping that people would take surface streets instead of the interstates (particularly through Portland)? And is it really just interstates? So OR-217, US-26, US-97 through Bend would not be tolled while I-84 through Ontario would be?

I'd need a heck of a lot more information to decide whether I'd support that.

[Surging Chaos]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I'd like to hear opinions on Oregon's application to be a allowed to charge tolls for use of the interstates.

The application says it is to relieve congestion in Portland. I'm not creative enough, I guess, to figure out how charging tolls on the highway is supposed to relieve congestion. Like maybe the traffic fairy sits in the toll booth and magically makes every 5th car disappear forever? Or changes it into a bicycle?

The tolls would likely be done electronically through a transponder. Having a toll booth would just turn all of the freeways into parking lots.

[Thom52]

They have been doing this recently in the Seattle area.

It is an unqualified disaster.

It reduces traffic for the rich, while all the peasants have even more traffic to deal with on the "free" alternatives.

Nice that we get to pay for the roads with our taxes, then are expected to pay again with tolls.

Even more interesting is that the toll system is managed by a Texas company, and most of the money goes to Texas and never even helps the state economy.

Fight this! It is a very bad idea.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

All I know is what was on the news. I am left with the impression, but not the certainty, that interstate tolls will be charged all over the state, but that the funds will "eventually" go towards releiving traffic congestion in Portland. I checked online and didn't come up with much more than that.

Pushing traffic out onto surface roads is not relieving congestion.

Traffic tolls can not be all electronic, because other people use the interstate besides the people who live in that area. If there are tolls, there must be toll booths.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I'd like to hear opinions on Oregon's application to be a allowed to charge tolls for use of the interstates.

The application says it is to relieve congestion in Portland. I'm not creative enough, I guess, to figure out how charging tolls on the highway is supposed to relieve congestion. Like maybe the traffic fairy sits in the toll booth and magically makes every 5th car disappear forever? Or changes it into a bicycle?

Tolls are just a sham way for the government to charge taxpayers, to drive on the roads that they already own. You will be charged to drive on your own property, that you have already paid for.

Tolled public roads were originally a way to fund construction of new roads and bridges. Once the cost of construction was paid off, the roads became free. It was a bad precedent, but it made some sense. Then they started making the tolls permanent, and it just became another revenue stream for the government.

I hope Oregonians see through this sham, and put a stop to it, before it even gets started.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

All I know is what was on the news. I am left with the impression, but not the certainty, that interstate tolls will be charged all over the state, but that the funds will "eventually" go towards releiving traffic congestion in Portland. I checked online and didn't come up with much more than that.

Metro area only, I think, in part to fund upgrades in certain bottle neck areas - you know, the ones they have pretty much no viable solution for, like the Rose Quarter south to the Marquam.

Oregon to seek federal approval for tolls on metro freeways | OregonLive.com

The ones I have seen that really annoy me is when a part of a highway built by tax dollars is "leased" to a private tolling company, as happened in Calif in a couple places (Hwy 91 by my son's house).

[FullArmor]

I spend very little time in Portland, but the traffic is bad enough as it is without introducing toll booths. Like was said before, our taxes already go to infrastructure, we don't need to pay for it twice.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Tolls are just a sham way for the government to charge taxpayers, to drive on the roads that they already own. You will be charged to drive on your own property, that you have already paid for.

Tolled public roads were originally a way to fund construction of new roads and bridges. Once the cost of construction was paid off, the roads became free. It was a bad precedent, but it made some sense. Then they started making the tolls permanent, and it just became another revenue stream for the government.

I hope Oregonians see through this sham, and put a stop to it, before it even gets started.

There is something to be said for making the motoring public pay their way instead of relying on government subsidies. Once you build roads you have to maintain them. They have been grinding up I-5 south of Cottage Grove for a couple years now, and are still at it. There are dozens of bridges on the interstate that need to be either repaired or rebuilt. 100 million here, 100 million there, pretty soon you are talking about real money. Your state gas taxes pay for state highways, but the interstates are funded by Washington DC.

[V8 Vega]

They have them is some parts of Calif. not in my normal travels. I hear horror stories of people not familiar with them going along at 65 or here more likely 80 and having to quickly read unfamiliar signs. If they accidently go on the toll road part a big fine arrives in the mail.
It's terribly unfair.