Reaction rolls in on traffic

The chief of the federal highway system recently took the time to write, saying I was too quick in a recent column to dismiss the Bush administration’s idea of using tolls to build new roads instead of gas taxes.

“The Your Wheels column unfortunately dismisses tolling as part of the solution to highway congestion,” said Mary E. Peters, Federal Highway administrator. “Toll roads are, in fact, already proving valuable in Southern California.”

Peters went on to cite the experience on the 91 Freeway, which has a tollway that does not require drivers to stop and pay, but rather bills them electronically.

She said that I have supported the “fallacy that fiscally irresponsible surface transportation legislation, financed through higher taxes at the pump, would be a cure-all for urban traffic problems.”

The “fiscally irresponsible” legislation that Peters is referring to involves proposals backed both by Republicans and Democrats in Congress that would have indexed the federal gasoline tax to inflation. As it is, that tax has remained fixed for 11 years, and the intervening inflation has resulted in a big tax reduction. The road construction you could buy in 1994 for $1 million would cost $1.29 million this year, or a 29% increase, based on the consumer price index.

After an 18-month impasse, the House passed a highway bill last month that provides for $284 billion, which is all the money the gas tax will raise over the next six years. It’s a 48% increase over the last six years, but it is based on an expected 48% increase in road usage, as well. That’s not progress. It’s more congestion.

So, you get what you pay for, and what Americans are paying for are crummy roads without adequate capacity. Why should we be surprised that congestion is growing?

Of course, Peters is perfectly correct that toll roads are one way that states and regions can build more roads without higher taxes. Tolls and taxes are similar, though I prefer a tax to a toll. Of all the taxes we pay, perhaps none is more fair than the one that charges the person who benefits most from the resulting government spending. A toll road also fairly charges users, though there are some wrinkles.

Toll roads reduce congestion, not only by increasing road capacity but by reducing demand. If we want to do that, then why not slap tolls on every congested interstate, with electronic meters? To me, that seems like bad capitalism. Roads are public goods and efficient open transportation has served our economy well for 100 years.

Another issue involves cargo traffic, which has to move through a lot of jurisdictions, particularly all the materials that start at the Port of Los Angeles and make their way to the East Coast, where Peters lives. What happens when lousy roads somewhere in the middle start to create bottlenecks and the locals don’t want to build toll roads?

Why should Southern Californians get stuck with toll roads while another state gets the benefit of free roads? Isn’t our economy already more efficient and don’t we already send more tax dollars to Washington than we get back in federal spending?

But, hey, Peters is not the only reader who disagrees with me. One reader from Texas said my argument for more roads is part of a left-wing California agenda. “After all, there are 49 other states, many of which have huge expanses of wide-open space, to which your ‘victims’ can move and escape the drudgery of Southern California commuting,” wrote Jim Bramlett.

Politics can get so confusing. I remember when environmentalists hated road-building and Republicans were the party of big road projects. That was the Eisenhower era, though. Now, we have conservatives and environmentalists hating new roads together. What a difference five decades makes.

A lot of people of all political stripes don’t like what they see. “Sir, I very much enjoyed your story on highway funding, as I’ve been convinced for some time now that we are not making the improvements necessary to keep up with the growth in traffic,” wrote Mark Hall of Winston Salem, N.C. “That’s clear not only here in North Carolina but was really, really obvious in my old home of Washington, D.C.”

Lewis Neumark of Tarzana would reduce congestion by rationing driving rights. “I have developed an equitable plan that will reduce the number of vehicles on our streets by at least 40%. Once implemented, motorists will weigh the many advantages of rationing the right to drive.”

Thank you, Lewis. You may next drive your car in May.

Getting back to Peters, the experience of toll road construction in California is clearly mixed. She cites the toll road built on the 91 as an example of progress, but that project ran into some serious trouble and by any measure it has not solved the 91’s congestion problem.

Toll roads may be part of the answer to our needs for better highways, but another part of the problem is the recognition that we cannot spend less money per driver every year and expect any kind of improvement. Toll roads are going to be just as expensive as tax-financed roads.

Ralph Vartabedian can be reached at ralph.vartabedian@

latimes.com.