"More highway robbery."
Letters from Plano
Do the math on tolls
February 5, 2006
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006
Re: "Robin Hood for roads," Thursday "Tolling State Highway 121" Letters.
Steve Stovall is right – Gov. Rick Perry and his Texas Department of Transportation appointees apparently want to subject us to even more highway robbery, though it isn't quite Robin Hood when it hits everyone regardless of income.
No matter where you live in this great state, you take for granted that the state and county will provide good roads. All across Texas, roads have been built – some get used a lot and others relatively little. I can't imagine anyone ever thought about charging a toll on the road from Pecos to Marfa, yet highways got built and the state collected taxes to pay for them.
If I travel 12,000 miles this year with my car getting 20 miles per gallon, my fuel tax will be about a penny a mile, or $120. If I get better gas mileage, I get a break on my taxes, too – what a deal! Is it fair, then, that people who live in a certain area have to pay more than 15 times that rate per mile to have the roads they need to get to work efficiently?
My Quicken tells me that I have spent well over $5,000 on tolls since moving to Collin County 12 years ago. That's despite using Coit and Hillcrest roads more often than I care to mention to avoid tolls on trips to North Dallas.
Now there is mention that some of the money extracted from Collin County drivers wishing to use a safe and usable route across the county could be diverted to other routes. Most of all, it is not fair to permanently attach a toll to a particular route, just because it is urgently needed and wasn't planned for by the state. Or maybe I am naïve and it was in the plans.
Rick Tett, Plano
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co www.dallasnews.com
Do the math on tolls
February 5, 2006
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006
Re: "Robin Hood for roads," Thursday "Tolling State Highway 121" Letters.
Steve Stovall is right – Gov. Rick Perry and his Texas Department of Transportation appointees apparently want to subject us to even more highway robbery, though it isn't quite Robin Hood when it hits everyone regardless of income.
No matter where you live in this great state, you take for granted that the state and county will provide good roads. All across Texas, roads have been built – some get used a lot and others relatively little. I can't imagine anyone ever thought about charging a toll on the road from Pecos to Marfa, yet highways got built and the state collected taxes to pay for them.
If I travel 12,000 miles this year with my car getting 20 miles per gallon, my fuel tax will be about a penny a mile, or $120. If I get better gas mileage, I get a break on my taxes, too – what a deal! Is it fair, then, that people who live in a certain area have to pay more than 15 times that rate per mile to have the roads they need to get to work efficiently?
My Quicken tells me that I have spent well over $5,000 on tolls since moving to Collin County 12 years ago. That's despite using Coit and Hillcrest roads more often than I care to mention to avoid tolls on trips to North Dallas.
Now there is mention that some of the money extracted from Collin County drivers wishing to use a safe and usable route across the county could be diverted to other routes. Most of all, it is not fair to permanently attach a toll to a particular route, just because it is urgently needed and wasn't planned for by the state. Or maybe I am naïve and it was in the plans.
Rick Tett, Plano
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Sunday, February 05, 2006
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