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Forum LockedLetter- Who Benefits from HOT Lanes

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Bob View Drop Down
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    Posted: 31 Jan 2007 at 3:31pm
Good letter from someone in Fredericksburg paper:
Bob


Just who benefits from HOT lanes?
January 31, 2007 12:50 am
Just who benefits from HOT lanes?
After I read last Tuesday's Free Lance-Star article on HOV/HOT lanes, I am at a loss about who will benefit from this initiative [Toll lanes may come quicker, Jan. 23].

The initiative was described as a "public-private" partnership, but there is no information regarding how much of the $913 million (2003 estimate) our tax dollars will cover.

If it is like sports stadiums and other such projects, the taxpayers will pay most of the costs.

Now who will benefit? Based on the numbers in the article, a one-way fare between Massaponax and Arlington would be $15.12. That is $151.20 weekly and $7,257.60 annually (considering a 48-week work year), not including gas and vehicle maintenance.

Compare that with the cost of a commuter bus ride of $18 per day, for an annual cost of $4,320 for the same 48 weeks.

I don't see these numbers being much help to low- and middle-income Interstate 95 travelers.

Here's how I see it. The average commuter on the HOV/HOT lanes will have to endure frequent delays and inconveniences during construction, put up with more single-occupant Mercedes and BMWs (who else can pay more than $7,000 annually to commute?), and pay more taxes, while Fluor Virginia and Transurban USA get wealthier, and upper-income commuters avoid the traffic at our expense.

Our lawmakers must do a better job of explaining the benefits for the average commuter, if there are any, or pass up this option and spend our hard-earned tax dollars on highway projects that will benefit all of us.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkprime Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Feb 2007 at 8:14am
I totally agree, but think it will be even worse. It's somewhat good to see that someone else is pointing out that there will be big pains in commuting just during the time of installing new ramps and booths. I Wonder how hard it would be to convert an enlarged shoulder on 95/395 to an extra lane for peak hours like what's done on i66 instead. Surely that would be a cheaper option and open up more road space.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Luddite Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Feb 2007 at 8:40am
I'm always stunned that people still don't get it. We live in a capitalistic democratic republic. Fluor stands to make huge profits by orchestrating this deal which will drag out for years and years. They spend huge amounts of money on lobbying politicians through various pacs, fronts, backroom deals, etc. An idea doesn't have to be good for the people. An idea has to have a payout. Politicians, once they leave office, always have a cushy place to land after the public job. Get it? Its not really about efficiency. Its about profitability. Exactly like the hybrid scam. Its nothing new that those making the rules have a financial stake. Sheesh. How else can I say it?

I asked one of my reps once if they were ever approached by the hybrid lobby. He told me no one ever lobbied him. I believed him-still do. Later, after I had a chance to think about it, (I'm sort of slow on the uptake), I realized the lobbyists got to his people or his pac or his wife. Slippery folks these pols. all dressed up in the flag.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NoSUV Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2007 at 7:40am
Your representative may have also:
- voted with his conscience, realizing that promoting SULEV without spending taxpayer funds was a good thing
- voted with his party, realizing that those wiser than he would help him on issue in which he was better informed

It's quite probable that support for improving the environment isn't about hybrid lobbyist, but about saving the world.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkprime Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2007 at 8:03am
How do building toll booths help the environment?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NoSUV Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2007 at 11:22am
quote:
Originally posted by darkprime
[br]How do building toll booths help the environment?


dark, once again, read before you write. Please look at Luddite's second paragraph.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkprime Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2007 at 12:40pm
NoSUV, whether or not you meant it, what you wrote implied that helping the environment and tolls (what this thread is about, or did you forget that because you only seem to chime in whenever someone says something about about your precious hybrid exemptions) somehow go together. Please think before you write as you waste so many people's time with your nonsense garbage.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NoSUV Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2007 at 12:47pm
dark, again, read Luddite's second paragraph and my response. As you so clearly articulate, that paragraph has little to do with this thread.

Please write something useful - I know it's a new concept for you, but I'm sure many are hopeful that you eventually will.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote n/a Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2007 at 1:39pm
It's interesting that, independent of this forum, someone in F'burg makes a good argument and came up with some very good questions regarding the lunacy of HOT lanes.

Some nuggets of brilliance:

"...there is no information regarding how much of the $913 million (2003 estimate) our tax dollars will cover." "...the taxpayers will pay most of the costs."
"I don't see these numbers (HOT fares) being much help to low- and middle-income Interstate 95 travelers."
And finally, "The average commuter on the HOV/HOT lanes will have to endure frequent delays and inconveniences during construction, put up with more single-occupant Mercedes and BMWs (who else can pay more than $7,000 annually to commute?), and pay more taxes, while Fluor Virginia and Transurban USA get wealthier, and upper-income commuters avoid the traffic at our expense."

It seems to me that many other people may feel the same way and have the same questions. This is a good thing! People generally don't like being taken advantage of, and that is what this boondoggle is; a scam by VDOT to avoid the fiscal responsibility of highway maintenance made possible by our elected officials.

It also makes sense that the likes of NoSUV would support such a crime against average Joe the taxpayer. However, it is unfortunate that NoSUV is not as convincing as this neutral F'burg commuter. Contradiction doen not an argument make, NoSUV.

How exactly does a toll road promote SULEV vehicles, let alone an ecological initiative?
How does blindly voting with your party make you anything more than a sheep being lead to the slaughter?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkprime Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2007 at 2:30pm
NoSUV, why don't you keep your retarded comments to yourself and off of this site. You have no apparent interest in supporting the slugging community and simply troll these boards. Haven't you read all the posts from people complaining how moronic virtually all your posts are? Take a long look into the mirror (if you haven't broken it already) and try to see yourself as everyone else does here.
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