Tag Results
3 posts tagged toll roads
Toll Roads: Blatant Rights Violations
In the U.S., public roads are paid for by the government, i.e. citizens through taxation. According to the Office of Highway Policy Information, highways, roads, etc. are funded by taxes we pay on tires, vehicle fuel, and other related taxes on vehicle goods. Thus, the roads we use are paid for by us.
So how is it then that in cases of toll raods, we are charged to utilize the very roads we paid for to begin with?
What Are Toll Roads?
To understand this question, one must first understand toll roads. There are three types of toll roads:
1. Those built through federal and state funding and then sold to a private company.
The reason the government gives for selling a road is that they do not have to use citizen taxes to maintain that particular toll road and instead use funds for other public roads. Citizens who wish to use the toll road pay a fee, i.e. tax, to a private company that maintains those roads. In any case where the government allows a private company to maintain a road, whether through lease (see below) or sale, citizens who use that toll road are the ones footing the bill for that road’s maintenance.
2. Those built through federal and state funding and then leased to private companies.
In this case, private companies pay the government a fee to “lease” a highway, maintain it, and then collect all fees citizen users pay to use the highway; many of these leases are a 75 year term.
3. Those in which private companies build and maintain.
In instances of this type of toll roads, private companies build the toll roads, maintain them, and are allowed to collect tolls for a limited period of time.
4. Those in which the government builds and maintains.
The government builds toll roads through state and federal funding (i.e. citizen taxes), maintains them, and charges citizens a fee to use them.
Regardless of the type, the government and private companies are charging fees for citizens to utilize the roads citizens already own.
Governments have begun leasing and selling roads because of deficits in highway funding. Due to the deficits, governments are supposedly unable to fulfill their plans to build new public roads and maintain existing roads for citizens in light of increased congestion on roads and the desire to not increase fuel taxes. Thus, they turn to private companies.
The Problems Toll Roads Cause
Supposedly, the purpose of toll roads is to cut down on traffic congestion. Some of us wouldn’t think twice about using a toll road and paying its fee. After all, you bypass the brunt of traffic, get home sooner, and avoid the stress traffic induces. But the simple fact is that citizens are enduring double taxation, taxation without representation, and not seeing the results that toll roads are purported to fulfill.
Those of us that use toll roads are enduring double taxation and those that don’t use them aren’t being allowed to access something they’ve paid for through their taxes. The I-10 “Katy Freeway” in Houston, Texas is a prime example of this. Interstate 10 is a main highway for travel from surrounding suburban areas to the city of Houston.
Congestion in recent years prompted the Harris County Toll Road Authority to build a toll road to supposedly cut down on congestion. The picture on the left demonstrates 4 lanes going in both directions, as well as 2 lanes going in both directions. Those two lanes, indicated with the blue arrow, are the Katy Toll Road. The other 4 are “free” lanes. If you look a little closer, you’ll see that there is adequate space to have created 2 more lanes in each direction that are being used as a shoulder and barrier between the free lanes and paid for lanes; these opportunity lanes are the space between the 2 red arrows.
So, instead of creating a free 8-lane highway, the government decided to have a total of 6 lanes on each side of the highway. If the goal was to cut down on traffic, to any logical person, 8 lanes seems like a more plausible plan to reach that result than 6.
Moreover, the two additional lanes would have aided in lessened congestion even more so than one would think. If you watch where the toll road entrances and exits are during rush hour, you will notice that much of the traffic on the “free” highway is caused by motorists entering and exiting toll road, not solely from the amount of motorists.
The Constitutional violation of citizens doesn’t stop there. There is rarely a citizen vote on toll rate increases. Thus, since the fees that citizens pay to utilize toll roads is essentially a tax to use the road, citizens also being taxed without representation.
The obvious question is this: How is this happening and who is responsible for allowing such blatant violations of our rights?
Gina Williams is a guest post and article writer bringing to us information on the rights that toll roads violate. Gina also writes about motorcycle accident statistics.
