Highway bill could pave way toward more tolls on interstates

[LiviaOlivia]

Boston Globe
Highway bill could pave way toward more tolls on interstates
By Alan Wirzbicki
April 10, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A provision in the $284 billion highway bill under consideration on Capitol Hill could open the way for more tolls on the nation's congested interstates, marking a departure from long-standing federal highway policy that has traditionally frowned on collecting tolls to pay for roads built with federal tax dollars.

Under the transportation bill passed by the House of Representatives last month, states would be allowed to convert overall up to 25 segments of the interstate highway system into toll roads over the next six years. The Senate is expected to vote on similar legislation this month. The proposals, backed by the Bush administration, would "greatly expand state tolling authority" over roads that were constructed with federal dollars, said Darrin Roth, the director of highway operations for the American Trucking Association, which opposes the changes.

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The proposal marks a response to the growing clamor among state highway officials that the federal government's gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon is no longer enough to fund the nation's transportation needs. Congress has little appetite to raise the tax, leaving tolls as one of the few remaining funding options for road builders.

"Gas taxes are deemed something we can't touch. It's political suicide to add a gas tax," said Neil Gray, a spokesman for the International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association in Washington. "In that bind, what are your options? You can't do nothing." Backers of the proposed legislation envision states adding toll lanes with less traffic next to existing free highways, giving motorists a choice, but opponents say the bill could also allow states to simply turn existing interstates into toll-only roads.

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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/04/10/highway_bill_could_pave_way_toward_more_tolls_on_interstates/

[Lars39]

1. This is horrible.

:(