Tolls: $23.25 - How NC Can be a Toll Road Roll Model
Friday, August 22nd, 2008On a recent trip to New York City, my flight back was canceled and my wife and I decided to drive back, with our 2-year old son. Our other option was to wait 2-days until they could fly us back to RDU - No thanks Jet Blue! (That’s a whole different story).
So it seems inevitable that the State of North Carolina is going with toll roads: http://www.ncturnpike.org/ hopefully we can do it the right way. I’ll offer my 2-cents after we explore the tolls I found along Interstate-95,yep, good ‘ol I-95.
Here is the toll break-down that we had to pay as we left JFK to get back to NC:
- Verrazano Narrows Bridge: $10.00
- New Jersey Turnpike: $4.25
- Delaware Memorial Bridge: $3.00
- Delaware Turnpike: $4.00
- Ft. McHenry Tunnel (Baltimore): $2.00
Welcome to Delaware, where we rape all motorists of $7 to use the Interstate. I’m cool with paying a toll for the bridge, those things are expensive to build. Friends have always joked with me that the $3 for the Delaware Memorial Bridge is a tax to leave NJ. Maybe their right? But $4 to use the Interstate, you’re joking right? Don’t overcharge me to use the Interstate because your DOT wanted to flex their budget with a slick road. $4 to go through one of the smallest states in the union, unbelievable. Check this out: “The Delaware Turnpike is by far the most expensive toll road in the United States going by the cost per mile average. Effective October 1, 2007, the toll became $4.00 each direction; 35.7 cents per mile.” (pending citation) Wow, some folks don’t even get to expense that much per mile for gas for their business!
So here’s where I think NC is doing it right. By law, you can’t toll an existing road paid for by public funding (source). Hence the reason why the I-540 extension in Wake County will not be marked as Interstate 540, but NC-540. This is a good thing, as travelers looking at a map will have the right expectation. Unlike Delaware whom decided to build their turnpike on the I-95 corridor. This, in my opinion, is falsely labeling an interstate highway. “The 6 miles of I-95 between between the seamlessly-connecting north end of the Harbor Tunnel Thruway (today’s I-895) and MD-43, was originally built as a toll-free Interstate highway.” (source) That’s how they get you! Used to be free, re-direct toll-free road to longer route.
I was surprised that the NJ Turnpike only cost us just $4.25. I was reading some information about the history of the toll road and the toll rates. Apparently, they offer non-peak rates which I found totally interesting. This is something that technology lends us. NC could leverage & implement something like this if they install the right kind of toll-tracking systems.
Food for thought. I’m trying to understand the purpose of a toll road and if there is ever a chance that a toll would be removed from a road once it’s paid for. The best thing I can come up with is no. The reason most toll roads are constructed (my own opinion) is that the DOT can not afford to build and maintain a particular project with their current project(s) and budget constraints. Because motorist seemingly “demand” more highways and roads this adds pressure to get the roads build. A toll road seems like a good option because it’s a pay per use tax, the motorists that choose that route will pay for the road.
Here’s an idea NC Turnpike Authority: Give me a toll meter. Show me how much it costs to build the road, how much it costs you to operate it annually, and how much you collect in taxes, I mean tolls. In the business world, we use something called ROI (Return on Investment). How long / how much is it going to take our organization to invest in something before we realize a return on it. If I were to ever use a toll road in NC, give me the thermometer like they use in telethons, you know, the one that shows the financial goals they want to achieve. Show everyone the progress (tolls collected) and how those fee’s are paying for the costs and maintenance of the toll road. Be transparent.
Can North Carolina be a leader & roll model in toll-road building where we construct toll roads, get them paid for with usage, then transition the maintenance to NCDOT? Time will tell. But I think our State can achieve this. Transitioning toll road back to the public domain should be a goal of the NC Turnpike Authority if it isn’t already. I honestly find it hard to believe that toll roads in the North East don’t already pay for themselves time and time again. With the volume of traffic they have and the amount they charge, do they ever break even? I’d really be interested in seeing those numbers and I am currently researching the Triangle Expressway Final Report on Comprehensive Traffic and Revenue Study [2137 KB - PDF] to understand more. Visit http://www.ncturnpike.org/library/ for more public documents.
