how do we pay for roads going forward?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

with more and more fuel efficient vehicles and less and less miles driven due to the rise in the price of petrol...what do we do? tax per mile? i don't know...but something is going to have to be done.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/18/travel/pay-per-mile-transportation/index.html

sP

[greymattermom]

1. toll

Missouri wants to make I70 a toll road. We'll all have toll tags like folks around Orlando do. The fee for a tag could be based on the weight of the vehicle.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

2. make every road a toll road?

not what you are saying but the beginning of it...we have one toll road here in ATL...not an interstate though. i don't think this works as it unduly taxes people that use that road and creates an 'elite', if you will, of people who can afford that road and are not forced to take alternates...

sP

[MadHound]

10. Toll roads are not the answer,

It just means more money being funneled from the bottom of society into the the hands of the one percent.

Why not have the federal government(after all, I-70 is an interstate highway) pay for a portion of what needs to be done. After all, given that this year alone the feds have blown a bit over 300 million on a project that is trying to give us the ability to bomb anywhere in the world within an hour, you think they could spare some money for infrastructure, such as federal highways.

[NYC_SKP]

13. No toll. NO NO NO NO NO. No toll.

Higher fuel taxes.

Tolls create a new and unnecessary level of bureaucracy and infrastructure.

Tolls slow down traffic and thus counteract the benefit of higher mileage.

Even if it's all fancy electronic toll measuring, that's very costly.

Just up the excise taxes on vehicular goods and fuel.

And lets promote mass transit more than we are.

:patriot:

[rug]

3. Fine people for driving in reverse.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

4. well... that's one method, i suppose nt

[mmonk]

5. Tolls and privatization.

We're moving to a feudal model.

[unhappycamper]

6. For starters, we should get out of the sandbox.

Then we could reduce US military presence around the world.

Then we could put the brakes on really expensive military hardware. Think about it for a minute.

NASA has proposed a $2.5 billion dollar project to Mars. Stop building $5 billion dollar submarines and $5 billion dollars destroyers.

For Christ's sake, the Large Hadron Collider costs 'only' $1 billion dollars.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

8. while i agree with that...

you still have to change the tax structure to fund road construction and maintenance. we would be having the exact same problem whether we build the destroyers and subs or not given the current model. that is what i am looking at changing and the 'how' of changing it...

sP

[NYC_SKP]

14. I agree. And, OT, but "Large Hadron Collider" is just the most unfortunate term....

I can't escape reading the middle word differently, it's just the 14 year old in me, I guess.

:hi:

[izquierdista]

7. The Repubs have that problem solved

Their next plan is not to have roads going forward, all roads will have to go backwards.

[OwnedByFerrets]

9. Havent you heard? We cant afford ANYTHING that doesnt

KILL things.

[MH1]

11. Simple. Establish a budget for necessary road maintenance and pay for it out of the general fund.

Probably federal funds should be allocated to states based on a formula involving population and the need for stuff like bridges, then let the states manage it, contingent on meeting some regulations.

Paying for NEW roads or widening existing roads should require meeting a VERY high hurdle, and paying for public transportation should be greatly increased. We need a better transportation system, and to maintain the infrastructure that we have, but for the most part we should NOT be building new roads for private vehicles.

Ok so it's not simple. But it makes more sense than gas taxes or tracking people's mileage or interrupting travel with toll booths.

[BadgerKid]

12. This topic comes up periodically

esp. on the tech web sites. Last I read, Oregon was trying to do something with this. I'm not an expert on these things (and many others) but....

Taxing per mile doesn't distinguish heavily traveled roads vs. less frequently traveled routes. For the heavily traveled roads, it could make sense to have those as toll roads; the lesser traveled might be funded by a general tax of some kind. Then again, there's the argument of "why pay for roads I don't travel?" Or, one could argue for some kind of GPS data collection with a bill sent to you after the fact. However, privacy advocates would caution against GPS because of potential abuses.(*) Paying by vehicle weight makes sense because those vehicles are more likely to cause road wear and tear, but heavier vehicles are usually less fuel efficient in the first place, causing an indirect "tax" at the pump.

As I see it, it's not a level playing field since most vehicles don't have hybrid features. (EDIT: said another way, hybrid features can mitigate somewhat a higher vehicle weight, e.g,. compare Ford Escape hybrid vs. Honda Civic sedan on gasoline). In my view, every car could be built with some hybrid features. Also it's my feeling that next-generation energy is emerging as a trickle-up concept than being imposed by government downward.


(*)Not to poo-poo those privacy concerns, but there are already ways our data could be absued. Toll plazas allow calculation of an average speed; motorists could be given speeding tickets based on that data (I haven't heard of it being done so far). Personal passes on public transportation systems also put you (or your pass) at certain time points. Cell phones constantly broadcast cell location. In-car motor assist and commerical GPS can locate you to within 20-30 ft.

[thelordofhell]

15. Luxury Car Tax

[TheKentuckian]

16. From the general fund