Goverment is NOT the Answer for Infrastructure. Are Tolls The Answer Though?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

I could go for more roads like this nationwide, IF they cut the federal/state gas taxes in half to make up the difference. Make it a 'shared' idea between public and private. You can't implement this idea without deeply affecting the poor..

The most congested times of day are during rush hour when people are trying to be productive and get to work. I don't necessarily think it's a fair idea to make people pay more who work what are pretty much standard hours nationwide. It's counter-productive if you ask me....

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http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/28/geddes.sotu.obama.infrastructure/index.html?hpt=Sbin

(CNN) -- In his State of the Union address, President Obama promised to put Americans to work rebuilding the nation's crumbling infrastructure. That's a wonderful goal, but I'm most impressed with how he proposed to pay for it -- by "attracting private investment" and choosing projects based on "what's best for the economy, not politicians."

This is not hollow speechmaking or an impossible dream.

Broadening the use of public-private partnerships in transportation projects can build new roads, bridges, and tunnels quickly and efficiently without adding to the federal deficit.

PPPs can bring private capital and new jobs to struggling communities. But perhaps most significantly, they remove politics from the equation.

PPPs empower motorists by allowing them to become consumers, not merely users, of our nation's roadways. As consumers of transportation, Americans have tremendous power -- the power to demand the facilities and the services they need.

In a public-private partnership, a private investor assumes responsibility for financing, designing, building, and operating a transportation facility.

Because private investors shoulder upfront costs -- as well as the considerable risk that their investment might fail -- they have strong incentives to make sure projects are completed on time and on budget. In a government-funded roadway, that cost and risk are borne by taxpayers.

Investors also stand to profit from PPPs -- that's why they invest in the first place -- so it's in their interest to attract motorists through efficient operation, rigorous safety standards, and fast, thorough repairs.

PPPs by nature have a customer-service ethic that government-operated roadways lack.

Private investors profit from PPPs primarily through toll revenue. Tolls, though not generally popular, are the key to revitalizing America's transportation infrastructure, because toll revenue can be used to leverage enormous amounts of private capital.

Private capital, as Obama acknowledged Tuesday night, is the only feasible way to thoroughly renovate and expand the nation's transportation system. Even if government could allocate resources fairly and oversee projects efficiently -- and Alaska's "bridge to nowhere" suggests strongly that it cannot -- public funding will never be deep enough to finance the infrastructure we need.

Higher taxes and more government spending will not advance our foundering transportation system; they will only mire it further.

More toll-funded roads wouldn't necessarily mean more toll plazas clogging our highways. Advanced satellite tracking technologies allow "open road" tolling, in which motorists would be charged per mile of road used -- just as consumers are charged per kilowatt hour for electricity, per gallon of water, or per minute of cell phone use -- without the backup at the toll booth. Private investors have the resources to utilize this new technology.

Another critical benefit of tolls is that fees can be adjusted to reduce congestion. If traffic congestion can be compared to water flowing through a sink drain, then a congestion toll is like the handle on the spigot -- it increases during times of peak road use, decreases during off-peak times, and is adjusted in real time to keep traffic flowing smoothly.

Congestion tolling saves motorists an enormous amount of time that would otherwise be spent stuck in traffic, thereby reducing stress, saving fuel, and making trip times much more predictable.

But the key benefit of congestion tolling is its positive impact on the environment. Auto emissions are significantly higher in heavy traffic; less congestion, therefore, means less carbon dioxide and fewer pollutants.

Although PPPs are not new to America, they remain underused as an engine for transportation infrastructure investment.

investors have financed major infrastructure projects in other industries for decades -- including natural gas, electricity, cable television, railroads, and telecommunications.

Currently, 29 states have enacted legislation enabling private investment in transportation infrastructure, but the number of PPP-operated projects remains small.

We need greater public education about the economic and environmental benefits of PPPs, and we need federal action to encourage states' use of private investment in transportation projects.

Obama got it right Tuesday night.

The nation needs massive investment in its transportation infrastructure. But that investment must come from the private sector, not from the government.

Because they are market-driven, PPPs transcend partisan wrangling and place control of America's roadways in the hands of motorists as consumers.

And because they are profit-centered, PPPs are more likely than government projects to be efficiently operated and well maintained.

With Congress set to renew the federal transportation bill in 2011, we must keep PPPs at the center of our dialogue on transportation policy.

To bolster the vitality of our infrastructure, the strength of our economy, the health of our environment, and the quality of our lives, America's roadways need the power of private investment, now more than ever.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Back from Canada or back from suspension?

[^_^ 5,021]

Paul,

####### are you on about?

Poor people don't work. They're on welfare. When you work, they hang out in your neighborhood and rape er'body out there.

Edited January 28, 2011 by \

[slim 1,525]

More taxes is not the answer?

[^_^ 5,021]

More taxes is not the answer?

No. More guns are.

If a man needs to get somewhere and has no way to get there, give him a gun. He can use the gun to carjack some 3-series driving unarmed yuppie loser and then get to where he's going. And the best thing is that a carjacking done with firearms is perfectly constitutional.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Are we seeing a softer side of Paul? Did the FBI soften you up a bit?

[natty bumppo 297]

No. More guns are.

If a man needs to get somewhere and has no way to get there, give him a gun. He can use the gun to carjack some 3-series driving unarmed yuppie loser and then get to where he's going. And the best thing is that a carjacking done with firearms is perfectly constitutional.

a 3-series ...

that's a waste of a good jacking ....

[^_^ 5,021]

a 3-series ...

that's a waste of a good jacking ....

[Pooky 3,784]

No, Trolls are not the answer.

[rika60607 215]

Congestion tolling in the hands of a private company is a tool for increasing the profits via carefully controlled congestion-creating. The optimal congestion will be calculated and implemented.

[tmma 467]

lol- I read the title and thought it said ' Are trolls the answer'........

need more coffee.

No, Trolls are not the answer.

lol gmta.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Why not try discussing the posted article instead of taking pot-shots at the person who posted it, ok?

[luckytxn 2,264]

Why not try discussing the posted article instead of taking pot-shots at the person who posted it, ok?

Party pooper.

[DEDixon 39]

from the OP:

More toll-funded roads wouldn't necessarily mean more toll plazas clogging our highways. Advanced satellite tracking technologies allow "open road" tolling, in which motorists would be charged per mile of road used -- just as consumers are charged per kilowatt hour for electricity, per gallon of water, or per minute of cell phone use -- without the backup at the toll booth. Private investors have the resources to utilize this new technology.

from the article:

While critics derisively call them "Lexus lanes," and transportation engineers refer to them as "HOT lanes," short for "high occupancy toll lanes," Bay Area officials prefer to call the combined carpool-toll lanes "express lanes." And they have plans to eventually create an 800-mile regional network of those express lanes, blanketing the Bay Area.

Tolls will be set according to information gathered by sensors installed in the pavement that measure traffic flow, including speed and level of congestion, in both the toll and unrestricted lanes. Tolls rise along with congestion - and the value of a trip around the backup.

Furger said the minimum toll would probably be in the 30- to 50-cent range, with the maximum rate still being determined. The idea, he said, is to raise it high enough when the regular lanes are backed up to discourage enough drivers from entering the lane to keep traffic moving at 45 mph.

everything including billing is done electronically. sensors in the road sense when you are in the toll lane. sensors in the road calculate traffic in all lanes to determine how much to bill you for being in the toll lane. if regular lanes are running at 3MPH and the toll lane is running at 30MPH, you'll get bill a lot/mile. if regular lanes are running 25MPH and toll lane is running at 30MPH, you'll get billed less/mile.

personally, i look at it as double taxation.

personally, i look at it as the 'rich' guy's lane.

personally, i don't like it.

personally, i think they continue to look for ways to nickel/dime us to death.

personally, i am really tired of getting nickeled and dimed to death.

personally, it makes living in a country that can't afford to install all this ####### in order to nickel/dime me to death more attractive.

the article: http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-06-24/news/21923425_1_toll-lanes-express-lane-carpool

Edited January 30, 2011 by DEDixon