Mayor wants to turn Truman into Toll road...

[masonbauknight]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

It would have made sense to toll the thing when they were building it, like the state did for Ga 400 north of Atlanta, but now that it’s finished .... no.

The Truman Pkway is a commuter artery just like Abercorn. It always had to be no-toll. Tolls would have been unfair to people (including you) living on the islands or in Sandfly, Halcyon Bluff, Mayfair, Beaulieu/Montgomery who depend on the Truman Pkway to get to their jobs in town. Many of these folks aren't affluent like Skidaway or Dutch Island residents. They really have little disposable income after paying for a car, car insurance, and gas.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

The Truman Pkway is a commuter artery just like Abercorn. It always had to be no-toll. Tolls would have been unfair to people (including you) living on the islands or in Sandfly, Halcyon Bluff, Mayfair, Beaulieu/Montgomery who depend on the Truman Pkway to get to their jobs in town. Many of these folks aren't affluent like Skidaway or Dutch Island residents. They really have little disposable income after paying for a car, car insurance, and gas.

[masonbauknight]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

A large proportion of Chatham's workforce is low-income or poor. Savannah's a low-wage southern town whose underclasses (in the plural) stun me every time I visit home. Toll roads in such a poor county would be obscene.

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

A large proportion of Chatham's workforce is low-income or poor. Savannah's a low-wage southern town whose underclasses (in the plural) stun me every time I visit home. Toll roads in such a poor county would be obscene.

I don't know the stats but would be interested to know what the demos are that you speak of

[masonbauknight]

Originally Posted by pink caddy

I don't know the stats but would be interested to know what the demos are that you speak of

Sort of like being interested in stats to prove that people in Chatham County aren't a lot heavier than people in Seattle or Brooklyn, right? Look around you. Chatham's poverty, crime rate, and lack of decent jobs have been discussed all over the Savannah Forums.

The city definitely shouldn't do revenue enhancement by enforcing road tolls on ordinary workers getting to their low-paid jobs. The workers will simply take residential streets plus Montgomery Cross Road or DeRenne to get to them, as they did before the Truman Pkwy opened. Fortunately, the bone-headed idea has been dropped.

[Airforceguy]

The state seriously needs to takeover maintenance of the Truman. It's really sad to see the city and county acting like children...

Hernandez said last week that he never seriously entertained the idea of using toll revenue for Truman’s maintenance and the idea was quickly dismissed by the city’s attorney since the city has no authority to charge tolls.

But the city is incapable of maintaining the parkway and its many bridges for the long-term and he is now looking at having the state take over maintenance responsibilities, Hernandez said. However, the Georgia Department of Transportation is under mandate to not increase the number of roadways in its inventory and if it wants to add a highway it must lose a highway, he said.

As a result, Hernandez said the city would have to take over stretches of another state road as a trade off and he is considering portions of Ga. 204 and 37th Street that would be less costly to maintain.

In the meantime, the city has been negotiating with county officials to have Chatham commit to maintaining of the final three phases of the Truman stretching from DeRenne Avenue to Ga 204/Abercorn Extension.

Savannah, Chatham County spar over Truman Parkway maintenance - News - Savannah Morning News - Savannah, GA

[WanderingImport]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

The state seriously needs to takeover maintenance of the Truman. It's really sad to see the city and county acting like children...

Savannah, Chatham County spar over Truman Parkway maintenance - News - Savannah Morning News - Savannah, GA

In the meantime, the parkway is showing signs of neglect and age. I hope proper care is taken before something bad happens