Comments on: State’s New Road Plan Involves Fewer Roads

By: vroman

vroman — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 03:58:52 +0000

I find your choice of words in the first sentence amusing and appropriate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Year_Plan_(USSR)

By: David Stokes

David Stokes — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:47:00 +0000

No snark taken. I disagree about the 40/64 project. It accomplished everything it set out to do on time and on budget. As John Candy said to Steve Martin, “That’s a damn rare thing these days.” Widening and expanding the highway was a lower priority than fixing the bridges and improving the ramps. Even just leveling the hills was as important as widening the road. Besides, no agency is ever going to get beyond the Fundamental Law of Highway Congestion, http://www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/IMG/pdf/traffic_seminar3b.pdf, without tolling, which was not an option for this project for a number of reasons.

Your second point is all the more reason why we need to change the Missouri Constitution to allow tolling throughout Missouri. Eventually, I’d like to see just about all highway driving electronically tolled. Property taxes could still primarily pay for local roads.

By: Papillon

Papillon — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:40:55 +0000

Not to be snarky, but what gives you confidence that MoDot is spending the money well? The 40/64 two year shut down was too much hassle for too little upgrade, in my opinion.

Technology exists for electronic tolling with collections being harder than at the pump, admittedly. In 15 years, or less, a significant number of cars will be non-gasoline fueled, so a way to collect for their road usage should be figured out.