re: Why is LA so against toll roads?

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No, I'm not that old, but I started digging into it after KHOU ran a Verify segment on it a week or so ago. It's a jacked up situation. The county paid for brochures to be printed that said it would be free once it was paid off, but they didn't include the language stating that it would ever be free on the ballot.



wow.

thats even worse.

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Well, technically, if the toll is used to maintain the span, then it will never be "paid off".

People seem to have a hard time grasping the concept of preventative maintenance. that's what tolls are supposed to be for.

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Well, technically, if the toll is used to maintain the span, then it will never be "paid off".

People seem to have a hard time grasping the concept of preventative maintenance. that's what tolls are supposed to be for.

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I am sure those numbers can be looked at to see how much goes into upkeep and how much goes into pockets. A Tollway should get you something. Like Orlando from the airport. Take this highway or take back roads. Or Destin I believe and a toll bridge. Gets you a main route that was needed. And is a more pleasant way to gouge tourists that a straight hotel tax.

I am mainly talking about Beltway 8 though. It gets you nothing anymore. When began it was the outskirts, well now it is just another loop in the middle of town. You have thousands and thousands of people who now have that as their main point A to B road. It really is no better that the 610 loop anymore which was its original selling point. It got eaten up by the sprawl of the city.

The lottery was passed in 1990.
It started in 1991.

I know John Alario has been around longer than that and he practically runs the Senate, but you know what I mean.

We elect the same types who cut deals, help friends, help lobbyist, and do not put the general public first.

Recent articles in the Advocate regarding films, nursing homes and other tax exemptions prove that.

A ten cent per gallon tax would net 300 million a year, a 17 cent tax nets 510 million per year. We give up 180 million a year (was more) for films and another 200 million a year more than necessary in nursing homes. That savings equals 12 cent a gallon gas tax.

Cut out the extra cent on sales tax, go with a ten cent a gallon gas tax and cut out the giveaways and I'd be happy.

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Over 70 million dollars was taken from the gas trust fund to fund State Police. Does that tell you something?

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No funds from raising the gas tax would be transferred to state police under the new bill.

Also, although $70M is a fair amount of tax revenue, we're talking an exponentially greater revenue stream (possibly $700M) from raising the tax that would be dedicated solely to infrastructure.

To whomever said contractors and engineers would benefit from it...well, of course we would. It's work. But we are also citizens in this state. We sit in the same traffic you do. We are faced with the same congestion and bottlenecks you do and we know how to fix it...but we can't because the state is woefully deficient in it's infrastructure budget.

This was a minor impact to you. And I know, who am I to say what a minor impact is to a citizen in this state? But to me, and most of the people I know around me, this would have been of minimal impact financially on a day-to-day basis but would have provided an immediate impact on our state-wide infrastructure problems.

A tax for infrastructure to fix infrastructure with bills tacked on for transparency and still this state finds a way to remain in the stone age.

PGBT



DNT @ PGBT (Literally a mile from where I live)



SRT @ 75



And the new 635 Texpress




ACTUAL TAX/TOLL DOLLARS YOU CAN USE AND SEE.

Show me one frickin interchange in LA that looks half as good as these road systems.



Edit: The DNT/PGBT interchange is being even further upgraded right now as well as the DNT being expanded.

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Dude I live in a place nicknamed "Taxachussetts". We have tolls and somehow survive.

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I'm not against tolls...i think they are harder to skim is probably why we don't have them.

Banana, I've been trying for years in here to get tolls or a new gas tax to help infrastructure.

They won't have it. They'd rather just complain about roads and traffic and how the government doesn't do anything.

They refuse to even have an honest discussion about infrastructure and it's spending, needs, etc.

And they refuse to learn about it.

They cant comprehend preventative maintenance. They think that once something is built, it should be left alone till it needs to be replaced.


But it's like someone in DOTD told me: wait till we start load posting bridges and closing roads because of deterioration. And it's coming sooner than later.

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ACTUAL TAX/TOLL DOLLARS YOU CAN USE AND SEE.

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NY/NJ teach a yearly masters class in this.

NY/NJ Tolls are a tad excessive.

It's basically not even an exit lane anymore. It's more of a runway where impatient drivers can speed up to dart in front of big rigs.