Monday, November 28, 2005
Adding Toll Lanes To Expressways
I’m not a fan of tollways. Motorists are forced to pay twice—once at the tollbooth and a second time at the gas pump. And, maybe even a third time, since the Illinois Department of Transportation (not the Toll Highway Authority) gets federal aid for each mile of the tollway's Interstate highways.
In Illinois, tollways are used to suck money out of the six-county area to build freeways Downstate that cannot be justified on the basis of traffic count. (The general rule of thumb is that one needs 20,000 vehicles a day to justify a four-lane expressway. Some of the diverted money is spent on other Downstate highways.)
Chicago Tribune transportation columnist Jon Hilkevitch’s article entitled, “Wider I-55 is in talking (but not funding) stage,” however, pulled up a thought from my American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC, for short) days.
Serving as chairman of ALEC’s Transportation Task Force, I learned how the private sector is sometimes willing to finance public improvements. Locally, Peotone Airport comes to mind. There the private sector seems to have agreed to build the airport.
So, why not allow the private sector to add lanes to expressways?
For more information, click here.
In Illinois, tollways are used to suck money out of the six-county area to build freeways Downstate that cannot be justified on the basis of traffic count. (The general rule of thumb is that one needs 20,000 vehicles a day to justify a four-lane expressway. Some of the diverted money is spent on other Downstate highways.)
Chicago Tribune transportation columnist Jon Hilkevitch’s article entitled, “Wider I-55 is in talking (but not funding) stage,” however, pulled up a thought from my American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC, for short) days.
Serving as chairman of ALEC’s Transportation Task Force, I learned how the private sector is sometimes willing to finance public improvements. Locally, Peotone Airport comes to mind. There the private sector seems to have agreed to build the airport.
So, why not allow the private sector to add lanes to expressways?
For more information, click here.
