LA Governor Not for Toll Roads

From Governor Blanco's website, it appears she is no fan of pseudo-taxation...

August 11, 2006: "I want to assure the people of Louisiana that my administration has no plans to establish a toll on Interstates 10 and 12. The misinformation regarding my support of a toll road is false and misleading to our citizens. I no more want tolls than I want another hurricane.

The Louisiana Legislature instructed DOTD Secretary Johnny Bradberry to pursue ALL options regarding transportation opportunities. Like any good business person, Secretary Bradberry and his staff are doing just that-exploring the options. Whether they are popular or unpopular, we owe it to ourselves to explore every angle. The toll idea is one of many ideas Secretary Bradberry and his staff are compiling for consideration, but it's dead on arrival.

"Furthermore, if a toll was given serious consideration, it would have to be brought to and voted on by the legislature. At this point, my secretary was simply doing the necessary research on this and other possibilities."

Wow. Can you imagine if we had a governor in Virginia who actually cared about the people this much?

You're not fully informed about the genesis of the Toll Roads.

No one in state government in Virginia has had any say about this other than the old head of VDOT, and he could not stop it, even if he had wanted to.

Fluor made its UNSOLICITED proposal to steal our public highways and, because of a misguided Republican-sponsored law on private-sector suggestions, the state was FORCED to contend with the proposal, which got set in stone the minute Clark Construction showed up to compete for the job.

Even though VDOT did not have a tollway in its long-range plans.

With skillful political maneuvering, Fluor set the terms of the debate as: either build toll roads or do nothing and watch as the area gridlocks.

Here are just a few of the alternatives that were NOT considered by the state: HOV-4, longer HOV hours, expansion of commuter lots, government-created-and-sponsored vanpools, subsidization of Omniride tokens, analysis of the traffic conditions and causes on I-95, creation of an Eastern Bypass to divert NYC traffic, and so on.

Your "analysis" is not valid or well-thought-out. You seem like a Fluor Troll, if anything.

After your oft-quoted 300K new people per year come to the region, how high will the tolls have to be set to ensure they don't clog up?

Come that day, will there be enough room on these lanes for sufficient toll-payers to make it profitable, as well as all the HOV-3 vehicles?

When push comes to shove in ten years, do you think Virginia can reduce the number of toll-payers, or will it be legally required instead to restrict the number of free users?

Sonny boy, they done already said in the Washington Post that even with three lanes they are already looking at restricting HOV access to ensure a quality experience for the paying customers.