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I hate people that copy wral on here but this is actually worthwhile news
Raleigh, N.C. — The North Carolina Turnpike Authority will receive a $386 million loan from the federal government to help pay for North Carolina's first toll road.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Monday that the loan – under the department's Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act – will help finance the rest of construction on the 18.8-mile Triangle Expressway in western Wake County.
Moderator cut: Please post a link to the article
Last edited by Green Irish Eyes; 07-13-2009 at 02:39 PM..
Reason: Copyright violation -- please post links only.
If this happens I would definetely be more interested in living in the Holly Springs area. I know that with this road, there will be much more expansion and new traffic in the years to come, but it looks like it'll help out quite a bit.
Do they really think the Western part would be open by 2012? I love the area I live in NW Raleigh, but HS is also a nice area with cheaper home prices that only seems to be held back by the longer commute to RTP, Durham and parts of Raleigh.
If this road opens by 2012-13 then I would most definetely consider moving to Holly Springs.
Do they really think the Western part would be open by 2012?
I remember reading somewhere that the plan calls for 42 months of construction. Considering that we still don't have the bonds sold for it and contractors ready to go, that 42-month clock won't be starting for a little while yet. If they can get that stuff lined up over the few months, we could be looking at an early 2013 opening at the earliest. Through in some delays for whatever reason and we'll likely be pushed back a bit more.
In my opinion, all roads should be toll roads. Eliminate the gasoline tax altogether and make people pay the true cost of driving. Maybe rail would eventually become more viable this way.
Once this is done, how long before other roads become toll roads?
I don't think they can make existing roads toll roads. But yeah it's getting to the point where you can't built a new freeway without tolls as a source of funding.
Some Wikipedia info about toll roads here. From what I understood they named the new part of 540 NC540 so they could make it a toll road, they could not if they called it I540.
The NCTA was created with HR644, a bill which passed both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly and was signed into law by GovernorMike Easley on October 3, 2002. The law prohibits the NCTA from converting any existing roads in the non-tolled system to toll roads, but there is a loophole in the legislation. An existing free road can be converted into a toll road if it "is needed to help establish the financial viability" of a nearby toll project[2]. In addition, the law mandates the North Carolina Department of Transportation to maintain an existing, alternate, comparable non-toll route for each toll route constructed by the NCTA.[3]
^^^Do you realize how inefficient toll roads are? Not only do you have the traffic cost of people stopping/slowing down to pay the tolls even with "EZpass" or whatever it will be called, but highway accessibility is greatly decreased with toll roads. For instance they are discussing completely removing the 540 ramp onto Davis drive. There will be less access to these parts of 540 because they will not want to fund extra toll booths. Also, how is it fair for a select group of people be charged to use "540" because of the part they are using? In my opinion there should be a tax on the number of miles driven per year instead of a toll road. Talk to the vast majority of people who have lived where toll roads are and you will get the same answer.
I would be more in favor of toll roads than these "property" taxes on my vehicles.. Never heard of such a thing until I moved here.
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