Toll Roads in Orange County
The recent decision to baptize Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle’s (R-Huntington Beach) bill to construct toll roads in Orange county underscores two facts of political life: Politicians ignore common sense through the communicable disease they acquire when elected, namely, arrogance, and, two, they have no common sense when it comes to constructing new schemes.
I am sure that if the issue of toll vs. fuel-tax supported superhighways were fully debated and explained to the public, most Californians would opt for maintaining the system that gave this state the best highways in the nation.
A billion-dollar price tag seems a lot, but not when distributed among 15 million Southern California vehicle owners. At 25 m.p.g. and 20,000 miles per year, 15 million vehicles would raise $1 billion at 5 cents per gallon.
If this scheme works, will traffic jams at the Grapevine toll plaza be far behind?
MIKE PARKHURST
President
Independent Truckers Assn.
Los Angeles
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
