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Taking the ‘free’ out of freeway
1.
Stop being so closed minded and consider that smart people might actually be trying to improve the world. Not that you're a transportation engineer anyway....
2. For the price of a nice butt from walking and biking and a transit pass, you'll forget all about cars except when they piss you off when you're crossing a street and getting nearly run over, listening to horns and screeching tires late at night, inhaling asthma-inducing exhaust, and watching yet another nightly news reporter point out the dead kid's body killed by the drunk driver. Maybe I sound cranky, but maybe it'll be nice to retire a few years earlier on all that money you've saved since abandoned your car after years spent on the train or bus rediscovering your love of trash romance novels.
3. In the long term, we need to promote infill develop and build densities so that most of us won't worry about using freeways most of the time. Think it's a dream? Think again. Look outside LA to other cities where transit works. It might take a decade, but once you've gotten rid of the car along with its ever higher fuel costs, insurance, registration, and car payments.
4. Maybe you could just pay the toll and be happy you're not stuck in traffic and are home an hour earlier to spend time with your kids. If they do this right, it'll actually be an incentive to carpool. Either they let car or vanpools in for free or even if not, the passengers are still winning because they pay less per head. Not to mention the fact that all that toll money collected - that's a user fee that goes back to improving the infrastructure and investing in transit that works better.
5. America is still the land where we still have choices. Creating this system keeps choices alive and well. It forces all of us to think and to have the opportunity to make those choices. Keep thinking Michael and keep planning. Nice job.
6. to the first comment - it is called triple convergence, this theory helps explain why capacity on new roads is VERY quickly eaten up and does not last long. it draws people away from the alternative routes which have a perceived longer commute time (though in reality they are the same). many people are gravitated towards freeways, and the cost of a new lane of freeway is skyrocketing very quickly. new roads and new lanes are NOT the solution to getting rid of congestion. think of it this way - it is not a congestion problem, it is a mobility problem, not enough PEOPLE are being moved, there are too few people and TOO many CARS.
7. This plan for congestion pricing is not good. So why accept it? Just because we don't have other ideas? There are two issues: We have tons of traffic on our freeways AND surface streets, and we don't have the funds to build public transit systems while maintaining our roads and those freeways. Costs for doing so will always go up, while revenues will not. We need to increase public funds, and fairly. So, I propose we do congestion pricing for all freeways, all lanes, AND major arterial streets (so nobody cheats). We should all be contributing to the system, not just the wealthy, and not excusing the low-incomers.
8. …"if you build it, they will come.” I have shuddered every time I hear this argument. That argument has no merit in a discussion of solutions to traffic congestion. God does not sit up in Heaven and upon seeing new freeway capacity suddenly create a bunch of cars to fill the capacity. The cars either come from population growth, the movement of drivers to suburbs in search of affordable housing, or they come off of other roads. If the new capacity had not been created the cars would still be there, either causing more gridlock on the freeway, or on non freeway roads.
9. My name is Michael White. I live in Imperial Beach, CA and am an Honorably Discharged Retired Navy Veteran who strongly supports Freedoms. Michael Eshleman and others fail to remember that freeways are paid out of our "tax money". As a taxpayer, I'm outraged that toll roads on a freeway paid by taxpayers is even being proposed. It's not my fault that people who work for CALTRANS are overpaid and inefficient. I say lower their pay, force them to be more efficient or terminate them. It's time we started treating government employees like a business.
10. In Eshleman's defense, the claim that congestion pricing will increase fuel consumption is philosophically weak, unless Mr. Clary can produce studies (using California samples) that prove this to be true. Widening lanes and making freeway usage easier and more comfortable for taxpayers will actually increase fuel consumption, and harm the enviornment as a result.
Submitted by: John
2. For the price of a nice butt from walking and biking and a transit pass, you'll forget all about cars except when they piss you off when you're crossing a street and getting nearly run over, listening to horns and screeching tires late at night, inhaling asthma-inducing exhaust, and watching yet another nightly news reporter point out the dead kid's body killed by the drunk driver. Maybe I sound cranky, but maybe it'll be nice to retire a few years earlier on all that money you've saved since abandoned your car after years spent on the train or bus rediscovering your love of trash romance novels.
Submitted by: John
3. In the long term, we need to promote infill develop and build densities so that most of us won't worry about using freeways most of the time. Think it's a dream? Think again. Look outside LA to other cities where transit works. It might take a decade, but once you've gotten rid of the car along with its ever higher fuel costs, insurance, registration, and car payments.
Submitted by: John
4. Maybe you could just pay the toll and be happy you're not stuck in traffic and are home an hour earlier to spend time with your kids. If they do this right, it'll actually be an incentive to carpool. Either they let car or vanpools in for free or even if not, the passengers are still winning because they pay less per head. Not to mention the fact that all that toll money collected - that's a user fee that goes back to improving the infrastructure and investing in transit that works better.
Submitted by: John
5. America is still the land where we still have choices. Creating this system keeps choices alive and well. It forces all of us to think and to have the opportunity to make those choices. Keep thinking Michael and keep planning. Nice job.
Submitted by: Patricia Eshleman
6. to the first comment - it is called triple convergence, this theory helps explain why capacity on new roads is VERY quickly eaten up and does not last long. it draws people away from the alternative routes which have a perceived longer commute time (though in reality they are the same). many people are gravitated towards freeways, and the cost of a new lane of freeway is skyrocketing very quickly. new roads and new lanes are NOT the solution to getting rid of congestion. think of it this way - it is not a congestion problem, it is a mobility problem, not enough PEOPLE are being moved, there are too few people and TOO many CARS.
Submitted by: Kyle
7. This plan for congestion pricing is not good. So why accept it? Just because we don't have other ideas? There are two issues: We have tons of traffic on our freeways AND surface streets, and we don't have the funds to build public transit systems while maintaining our roads and those freeways. Costs for doing so will always go up, while revenues will not. We need to increase public funds, and fairly. So, I propose we do congestion pricing for all freeways, all lanes, AND major arterial streets (so nobody cheats). We should all be contributing to the system, not just the wealthy, and not excusing the low-incomers.
Submitted by: urbangoat84
8. …"if you build it, they will come.” I have shuddered every time I hear this argument. That argument has no merit in a discussion of solutions to traffic congestion. God does not sit up in Heaven and upon seeing new freeway capacity suddenly create a bunch of cars to fill the capacity. The cars either come from population growth, the movement of drivers to suburbs in search of affordable housing, or they come off of other roads. If the new capacity had not been created the cars would still be there, either causing more gridlock on the freeway, or on non freeway roads.
Submitted by: hkatz@katzfram.com
9. My name is Michael White. I live in Imperial Beach, CA and am an Honorably Discharged Retired Navy Veteran who strongly supports Freedoms. Michael Eshleman and others fail to remember that freeways are paid out of our "tax money". As a taxpayer, I'm outraged that toll roads on a freeway paid by taxpayers is even being proposed. It's not my fault that people who work for CALTRANS are overpaid and inefficient. I say lower their pay, force them to be more efficient or terminate them. It's time we started treating government employees like a business.
Submitted by: Michael White
10. In Eshleman's defense, the claim that congestion pricing will increase fuel consumption is philosophically weak, unless Mr. Clary can produce studies (using California samples) that prove this to be true. Widening lanes and making freeway usage easier and more comfortable for taxpayers will actually increase fuel consumption, and harm the enviornment as a result.
Submitted by: Amelia
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