Re: Virginia: The $5 Transportation Solution

Larry G <gross.larry@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:



one of the reasons people don't want to pay higher gasoline taxes is
that they believe there is virtually no transparency and
accountability as to how it is spent.

For instance, nowhere in Virginia do folks know for their own county -
how much that county generates in gasoline taxes and how much it gets
back in maintenance, operations and new projects.

so there is always the suspicion that if taxes are raised that they'll
be spent somewhere else with more political clout.

If people want better LOCAL roads they can pay more LOCAL taxes like
they do in 46 other states.

And in the majority of those 46 states, Larry, those local roads are
crap. FHWA studies over and over and over again show that two lane
rural roads (i.e., local roads) have the highest crash and fatality
rates of any type of road. The reason is mostly because they are way
too often designed "on the cheap", with little to no design standards
and slipshod maintenance.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, your response is "if the local users want
better roads they can pay for them". It's my opinion that the lower
you go down in government, the higher the level of corruption and
"petty politics" ends up playing a part in the decision making
process. Everyone pays attention if the Governor hires his brother to
a state contract; no one pays attention if a county commissioner hires
his brother Joe to upgrade a road.

If we want more state level roads then they ought to be toll roads
where everyone including the truckers can make a quid quo pro decision
every time they need to travel.

Far more state roads aren't controlled access (not qualified for
tolls) then there are ones with controlled access (and capable of
being tolled). State roads serve a purpose beyond property access;
they provide the connection between the local and arterial routes in
every state, as well as providing adjacent property access. You could
no more toll "state level roads" then you could toll the road in front
of your house to raise money for needed improvements.

When trucks have to pay tolls, they are forced to make efficiencies in
how they operate.

No, they take other, often less capable routes to avoid them, if at
all possible.

When the public pays for roads - there is no
incentive for trucking companies to become more efficient.

Nonsense. Competition between companies, and the demands of their
customers, have already caused all sorts of efficiencies in the
trucking industry.

John Lansford, PE
--
John's Shop of Wood
http://wood.jlansford.net/
.

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