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I don't think these boards are representative of the numbers of people who absolutely hate the tolls. I think raising rates will backfire.
Truth is, my guess is that it's part of a larger plan to prove that they "need" to toll all of 540.
I agree with you. The Turnpike Authority will be looking for any opportunity to widen the northern part of 540 and use that as the reason to introduce Tolls on that section as well, as they need to increase revenues as with so little usage on the current tolled section they must be missing their forecasted numbers.
I found a Report showing the Average Weekday Traffic Voulmes and they seem to be embarrassingly low for a $1Bn investment in the Toll section of 540. Anyone found any more recent comparative analysis between actual traffic volumes and projected traffic volumes? I think it would make interesting reading.
Introducing a reduced off peak Toll Tariff would be a major win for the Turnpike Authority as it would seduce drivers on to their massively under utilized white elephant, and also improve traffic flows in Morrisville, Apex and Holly Springs for the benefit of everyone.
What time is your commute though? I take it both ways during the week and it's quite bustling. I actually got pissed the other week because all the lanes were full and I couldn't pass because there was an idiot driving 60 mph in the far left lane.
8:30 and 5pm. No traffic until I hit 40 on the way to Leesville Rd.
I agree with you. The Turnpike Authority will be looking for any opportunity to widen the northern part of 540 and use that as the reason to introduce Tolls on that section as well, as they need to increase revenues as with so little usage on the current tolled section they must be missing their forecasted numbers.
I found a Report showing the Average Weekday Traffic Voulmes and they seem to be embarrassingly low for a $1Bn investment in the Toll section of 540. Anyone found any more recent comparative analysis between actual traffic volumes and projected traffic volumes? I think it would make interesting reading.
Introducing a reduced off peak Toll Tariff would be a major win for the Turnpike Authority as it would seduce drivers on to their massively under utilized white elephant, and also improve traffic flows in Morrisville, Apex and Holly Springs for the benefit of everyone.
I suspect it'll be the closing of the loop and the beginning of the widening project that will finally allow them access to everyone's pockets.
I'm not fond of toll roads. That said, having such high gas taxes coupled with such high tolls isn't going to win them any votes. Something has to give.
I agree re: off-peak fares. They need to implement that asap.
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At least it's not as bad as the toll roads in Pennsylvania, granted PA has 550 miles of toll roads as compared to the 19 miles in NC.
The PA Turnpike Commission and PennDOT are two separate entities. Well, back in 2007 the state thought it was a great idea to use the Turnpike to help fund new non-turnpike roads and fix and repair non-turnpike roads/bridges and help fund mass transit. So they enacted Act 44, where the Turnpike commission had to give PennDOT, over $500 million a year until 2057, which is more than half their budget per year, plus the commission is in the process of rebuilding the entire length of the original turnpike which is over 70 years old, and pretty expensive to do.
Well the turnpike commission decided the only way they can operate, rebuild and maintain their 550 miles, is to keep on increasing the tolls every year since 2007. In its first 69 years of operation, the turnpike raised tolls only five times. Tolls have risen 101.5 percent for cash customers and 45 percent for E-ZPass subscribers in the past seven years. The total that the turnpike has paid to PennDOT so far is about $4.5 billion.
A new law enacted last year corrected the ridiculousness of Act 44 somewhat, Act 89 reduced the payment to $450 million a year, which will continue to 2022, then from there until 2057, the turnpike commission will only have to pay $50 million a year to PennDOT.
And yesterday, PA just increased their state's gas tax 9.8 cents per gallon, bringing the state’s gas tax to 51.6 cents per gallon, one of the highest in the nation. The tax will not change again until January 2017, when an increase of at least 8 cents per gallon is due.
So I guess it could always be worse, NC 540 doesn't seem that bad after all!
I feel like I am on the only one paying for this road! There is only a few cars out there during my commute both ways. I am going to look for alternate routes.
Really? I leave HS at around 8:20am and drive to the Davis Dr. exit, and leave work around 5pm. There's a bunch of cars on the road during both the morning and the evening. It's not very heavy between HS and Apex, but from the US 64 exit all the way to RTP there's a bunch of cars.
At least it's not as bad as the toll roads in Pennsylvania, granted PA has 550 miles of toll roads as compared to the 19 miles in NC.
The PA Turnpike Commission and PennDOT are two separate entities. Well, back in 2007 the state thought it was a great idea to use the Turnpike to help fund new non-turnpike roads and fix and repair non-turnpike roads/bridges and help fund mass transit. So they enacted Act 44, where the Turnpike commission had to give PennDOT, over $500 million a year until 2057, which is more than half their budget per year, plus the commission is in the process of rebuilding the entire length of the original turnpike which is over 70 years old, and pretty expensive to do.
Well the turnpike commission decided the only way they can operate, rebuild and maintain their 550 miles, is to keep on increasing the tolls every year since 2007. In its first 69 years of operation, the turnpike raised tolls only five times. Tolls have risen 101.5 percent for cash customers and 45 percent for E-ZPass subscribers in the past seven years. The total that the turnpike has paid to PennDOT so far is about $4.5 billion.
A new law enacted last year corrected the ridiculousness of Act 44 somewhat, Act 89 reduced the payment to $450 million a year, which will continue to 2022, then from there until 2057, the turnpike commission will only have to pay $50 million a year to PennDOT.
And yesterday, PA just increased their state's gas tax 9.8 cents per gallon, bringing the state’s gas tax to 51.6 cents per gallon, one of the highest in the nation. The tax will not change again until January 2017, when an increase of at least 8 cents per gallon is due.
So I guess it could always be worse, NC 540 doesn't seem that bad after all!
Shhhh! Don't let the toll rats have any new ideas.
I found a Report showing the Average Weekday Traffic Voulmes and they seem to be embarrassingly low for a $1Bn investment in the Toll section of 540. Anyone found any more recent comparative analysis between actual traffic volumes and projected traffic volumes? I think it would make interesting reading.
To be fair though, that report you linked to is a Q1 report, which statistically so far always appears to tank as far as transaction volume. People probably aren't traveling as much around the holidays and winter. More remote work potentially (just my guess). That report comes from this section of the NCDOT website.
Also because there doesn't seem to be a good chart of a compilation of this data over time, I went ahead and made one. I downloaded each "Quarterly Operations Statistics Report" from 2012 to the now (Q3 2014) and charted it:
This range starts with tolling on Jan. 3, 2012 of Phase I. The first big peak you see occurs when tolling of Phase II starts on August 2, 2012. That next huge jump you see at the end of 2012 is when Phase III tolling started on Jan. 2, 2013.
Transaction counts actually don't look too terrible when you view the broad picture. It has been progressively trending upward. That's 2,780,586 transactions as of September 2014. So now when someone wants to argue "oh well nobody uses that road", I'm just going to keep these metrics updated in my little spreadsheet and throw this out there.
Yes every state wants to toll that road. I think it's like 20 bux to get through delaware on that road. Can you imagine the income? Now with the plate tolling systems run buy these companies they can stealthly charge whatever, you get a bill in the mail and you have no choice. It's the perfect gotcha, don't pay well next year you can't register your car. The infrastructure and slowing being developed and tested to put cameras all over and start tolling every road and the investment is next to nothing. Not booths, state employees, just 3rd world people getting paid pennies. It's perfect.
I flew to Denver and drove downtown, I acrued a toll for like 12 bux and I had NO IDEA until I got a 45 dollar charge from the rental company. I am looking at the GPS, paying attention to the road and an information sigh (one you don't pay attention to if you are worried about other stuff) lets you know it's 12 bux to keep driving on this road. Ooops you missed it oh well, 12 bux.
They don't want to toll it just for the heck of it.
NEWSFLASH! I-95 through NC is a 50 year old, outdated death trap. Someone dies every week. The toll proposal is for the $7 BILLION needed to improve the East Coast's most vital artery for the next 50 years.
NC has neglected this highway because it mostly benefits out-of-staters. You should be happy about that.
However, the time has come now to address I-95 through NC.
To be fair though, that report you linked to is a Q1 report, which statistically so far always appears to tank as far as transaction volume. People probably aren't traveling as much around the holidays and winter. More remote work potentially (just my guess). That report comes from this section of the NCDOT website.
Also because there doesn't seem to be a good chart of a compilation of this data over time, I went ahead and made one. I downloaded each "Quarterly Operations Statistics Report" from 2012 to the now (Q3 2014) and charted it:
This range starts with tolling on Jan. 3, 2012 of Phase I. The first big peak you see occurs when tolling of Phase II starts on August 2, 2012. That next huge jump you see at the end of 2012 is when Phase III tolling started on Jan. 2, 2013.
Transaction counts actually don't look too terrible when you view the broad picture. It has been progressively trending upward. That's 2,780,586 transactions as of September 2014. So now when someone wants to argue "oh well nobody uses that road", I'm just going to keep these metrics updated in my little spreadsheet and throw this out there.
Thanks for the analysis which I was looking for but only the 1st Quarter report came up in Google search results. Interesting that the Turnpike Authority is publishing very minimal and almost useless statistics with no comparison against the original business case for building the Toll Road, which suggests that they are not even close to meeting the original projected volumes. My gut feel is that more journeys occur on a daily basis on Davis Drive and NC55 than on NC540, but again limited traffic volume data published.
It has always baffled me that the Turnpike Authority was too stupid to build the 'connector' at Morrisville Parkway when they opened the Toll Road so as to attract more users immediately rather than wait until 2016 at the earliest before access at the potentially busiest sector is opened. The substantial growth in West Cary population since the Toll Road opened is the main driver of equal growth in traffic flows on NC55 which would be alleviated by access at Morrisville Parkway had it been built 3 years ago. MI homes built the extension of Morrisville Parkway last summer from Green Level to within 300 yards of NC540, and that road will remain unused for the next 2 years due to a failure of 'joined up government'. In the meanwhile 35,000 West Cary residents have to put up with very poor access out of their neighborhood to the rest of the Triangle and the Turnpike Authority misses out on its biggest potential revenue opportunity for at least another 2 years.
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Now with the plate tolling systems run buy these companies they can stealthly charge whatever, you get a bill in the mail and you have no choice. It's the perfect gotcha, don't pay well next year you can't register your car. The infrastructure and slowing being developed and tested to put cameras all over and start tolling every road and the investment is next to nothing. Not booths, state employees, just 3rd world people getting paid pennies. It's perfect.
