So long, pesky competitive bidding process!

Privatization works when there are competitive forces in the market. When it's a monopolistic ownership situation it sucks. Just look at the cable industry. Unless there exists the option to choose between ACME Roads and Amalgamated Industrial Highways for the trek to work, it's going to mean getting reamed when you drive anywhere.

I'm looking forward to it... shitty roads suck.

I'm not worried. This is probably coming to New York City, all of California, Chicago, and a few other places scattered around where I don't want to go anyway.

Drive up from Chicago into Wisconsin and realize the system there sucks. You ride on the shittiest roads around paying huge tolls and as soon as you reach the Wisconsin border the roads magically smooth out and the toll booths disappear.

I'm looking forward to this too, what can go wrong?

It's not like private companies hell-bent on maximizing yearly profits have ever let us down in public works arenas!

[www.mass.gov]

Hey, Halliburton has to have -something- to do after we're done with Iraq..
(Surprise, look who Gribbin used to work for..)

@graverobber: Zing!

With the road toll plans in the UK, some of the busiest hi-density roads commanding a fee of £2 a mile, one long journey at peak hours may well cost more than the value of my '92 SAAB.... I may just hand my car in at the toll booth...

God damm this is gonna' be awful.

I'll tell you what these MOTHERFUCKERS do when they privatise roads...
In Sydney our state govt sold us out. I'll give two examples

1.THE CROSS CITY TUNNEL- a tunnel that crosses Sydney CDB linking eastern suburbs to the west. The tunnel's private consortium wants to close off some city streets to stop traffic avoiding the tunnel (rat running) therefore funnelling traffic into their overpriced tunnel AND OUR GOVT LET THEM DO IT!

2. THE LANE COVE TUNNEL- Another private consortium builds a tunnel under Lane Cove Road. A very much needed piece of infrastructure. But that's not enough for the greedy little piggys. Our govt let them cut Lane Cove Road from 6 lanes to just 2 (one each way) in order to funnel traffic into their overpriced tunnel.

Whatever your government tells you to in regards to privatisation, DON"T BELIEVE THE CUNTS!

They're only doing it because some rich cunt wants to get richer by syphoning off public infrastructure to where the end user doesn't count, to where only the shareholder's profits matter.

I mean, the roads can't get any worse. I'll pay a quarter to drive on a road that's actually kept up and well-maintained.

Does this mean Califonians can't call it a FREEway anymore????? I can't wait till they force us to PAY to sit in traffic on the 101. L.A. Riot part 3 anyone???

@Unevolved: If it was truly a quarter. It used to cost over $5 each way to use the toll road in Orlando for someone to go to their $8 an hour job at a theme park....do the math and figure out why no one ever used that road

Great news. My tax dollars shouldn't pay for roads I don't use. This way, I only pay if I use them.

@LandofMinos: They're only doing it because some rich cunt wants to get richer by syphoning off public infrastructure to where the end user doesn't count, to where only the shareholder's profits matter.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo... what??? You're one of those paranoid commie hippy pinko commies, arencha?

Privatize EVERYTHING! sell it all! laissez faire, son!

Nothing like having a road your tax dollars paid for be sold to some company that might not even be American; getting no piece whatsoever, and then having to pay for the road again, in the form of exorbitant tolls. Nice.

I'm lukewarm to the idea of toll roads, but I don't think privatization is a good idea. Congestion pricing or conversion to toll roads needs to be done along with increased public transit options.

In LA, where there are 20 different streets you can take that go to the same place as the freeway (and they're all crowded), people would just move from the slow freeways to the slower streets to avoid the toll.

That said I think it's silly to sink money into freeways that just cost more money every year than to building rail systems that generate revenue.

@xenti: then you'd have to pay for EVERY road that you use, yeah?

maybe a device that keeps track of exactly what roads you use - where and when and for how long - and sums up the charges for you in a monthly bill?

additionally, what sidewalks you walk on. (you walk on sidewalks, right?)

@xenti: only pay the fire department if they show up at your door to fight a fire too? your tax dollars shouldn't pay for that service if you're not using it!

you can haggle over the bill when they show up!

"we'll save your cat for an extra $12"
"what? $12? how about $8?"
"too late, cat's dead."

@Unregular: massholes....

@squablow: What, you don't have iPass?

Stupid six flags costs me $3 a trip in tolls.

@Unevolved: I'll pay a quarter to drive on a road that's actually kept up and well-maintained.

That's just it.
They never are!

@Bento: Is that the Beeline Expressway? From Rust, Frinton-On-Sea, England.

@BraappBraapp: um, yes?

Anyone ever done the trip from Quebec City to Montreal using Highway 40? THAT is the most awful road you can ever ride. I never saw anything like it. It's like a strech of land that it's probably just like Berlin after the Commies got onto the Reichstag and they just said like "ok, let's just put some asphalt over here and here and let's call it an highway."

I would gladly welcome pay-tolls on that one!

Now, just to bad I live in Quebec City.

p.s.: sorry for bad english, doin my best.

this is how it works. you get elected president. you move for road privatization. you take a percentage of the toll. what happens next doesnt matter. roads not paved? blah. youre not president anymore. but you still bring in that cash forever. capitalism ftw.

@Unregular: Which bank do you work for?

@BraappBraapp: Bechtel - the private company that used shoddy building materials and retarded engineering practices to defraud the taxpayers of massachusetts on the "big dig" project - is a California-based company.

so... Californianuses? Californiassholes?

@LandofMinos: i was being sarcastic.

@Unregular: Now I'm gonna go and eat some tofu kok with chick pea lentils and write a letter of support to my comrades in the Socialist Alliance. Then I'll go to the Gay Mardi Gras and look for sex. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!!!!!

@Unregular: I gathered that...

@LandofMinos: because of the firemen?

the firemen are socialist? and gay?

@Unregular: yes, socialist gay firemen...
"look sweety, there's a fwire in the Kwemlin"

When I adopt a stretch of highway, I'm going to upgrade it to "wide, luxurious lanes."

We've got the 91 'Fast Pass', 133 and 241 toll roads already. Screw that. I'm not going to pay taxes to build and maintain highways via vehicle registration, income taxes, and fuel taxes only to pay some company $5 for the privilege.

I'm gonna get a 4x4, not register it and not drive on ANY roads! HAR!

So how do i apply for my own road? This sounds pretty sweet. On my private road, you'll pay your toll, then the cars will all have to stage up at the toll booths.

When the light goes green, its all heads up from there.

A private road is called a racetrack. Privatized infrastructure however, is the most retarded plan ever. We need to stop electing profiteering businessmen into the government. They probably don't give a shit since they have chauffeurs and private jets take them everywhere.

@danio3834: I live in CT, where bless the heavens we don't have primitive things like tolls, so when I visit the hinterlands (MA) I do that every time I come to a toll. I go pedal to metal leaving every toll on the MassPike.

For someone that doesn't live in a place with tolls they really do seem primitive every time I come upon them. In no way do they add up for me. Not only do you slow down traffic, but you create a giant traffic hazard.

To add insult to injury, in Sydney we don't have toll booths any more. All cars who use the toll roads have to have an RFID tag attached to the windscreen which sorta helps, you don't have to stop and pay, just drive through a gantry. It doesn't help if your from outa town with no tag.

Toll roads and other public asset sales are just ways for politicians to extract money to lavish on voters without having to raise taxes. In Indiana, Mitch Daniels (former Bush budget chief) sold the Indiana Toll Road for several billion to jump start his road building. Only problem was the locals were told once upon a time that the toll road would be free after the bonds were paid off.

For another "success story", Google "wiki highway 407" to see how Toronto residents gave up a swath of valuable real estate ($100 billion CDN) to allow a set of firms to pay 4.1 billion for a 99 yr lease on the road and the right to raise tolls AT WILL.

When given a choice between prudent financial policies and "free ponies", taxpayers will (sadly) choose free ponies every time time.

Rail systems are actually a terrible investment for the public - they require huge payouts of bonds and tax money to subsidize them, since the fares are never in line with what the rail line actually costs. They really only work in densely populated areas, and never break even, since the sunk costs into the things are simply incredible. Want $5/gallon gasoline taxes? Cause that's what they have in Europe to subsidize rail that still costs an arm and a leg. Out West it's pretty much buses or nothing, and what you don't pay in money to ride them, you pay in time to stop 50 times before you actually get to your destination.

I'd much rather pay tolls then pay higher gasoline taxes. I usually use surface streets anyway, and telecommute as much as possible.

@westfieldind:
Three common lies to watch out for so that you don't end up being a chump:
1] Of course I'll call you tomorrow. You're special to me.
2] No, I promise I won't cum in your mouth.
Really.
3] Toll roads will be free after the bonds are paid off.

They told us that lie over and over here in Florida.
They are going to RAISE tolls, not eliminate them.
Gotta build more roads to nowhere so previously worthless land can be paved and developed.
Why do you think they give $thousands, no millions, to political campaigns, because they want to support honest government?

I'm not against private toll roads or even public toll roads for that matter. I AM against the government buying land and then giving it to some company to build a private road or WORSE giving away a road my gas tax paid for and turning it into a private road. Governor Good-Hair here in Texas has his precious "Trans-texas corridor" Which amounts to the biggest toll-road land-grab in the history of Texas.

What we need is for the DOT to stop pissing away our gasoline taxes and put the money towards its intended purpose...BUILDING and repairing HIGHWAYS. If the only highways I have to drive on are privately owned toll-ways then by god I want my gas fucking tax free.

What makes California so terrible though is that they have passed these laws limiting urban sprawl which has painted them into a corner. They won't let anyone live close to their workplace because we have to have X amount of untouched land, they won't invest in mass transit so everyone drives to work and they can't exapnd the roads to accomodate the traffic. The only roads in Dallas TX and Austin that are awful at rush hour is Interstate 35. I've driven both right at 4:30 and once you got to an exit, you were smooth sailing. Seriously, ONE HIGHWAY in Texas is the only one with a real traffic problem, and Austin is only really bad because there's no real beltway to bypass in-town traffic. Heck, even po-dunk Amarillo Texas has a beltway.

@TRAMS_AM: You should get a diesel 4X4, so you can run it on #2 diesel home heating oil: [www.halfbakery.com]
Road tax obsolescence FTW!!!

Seriously, why should I pay road tax on my fuel if I'm going to drive on a private highway? If all the roads were pay-as-you go, that might be OK, but this is one case in which I think that government bureaucracy is a good idea.

they do this in indiana already with disastrous results. Nothings better are tolls are just more expensive.

@JSmith53:

I'd rather drive an unmaintained dirt road than any toll road I've ever been on.

I intensely dislike turnpike rest stops (few food options, all expensive, like US airports). I dislike the hassle of getting on and/or off.

It's half the hassle of flying, with only 1/10th the speed. If that shit spreads nationwide, I will seriously consider emigrating.

@MrEvil: Speaking of texas highways, there's one thing you folks have that I'd love to see exported...those quick turnarounds at almost every regular highway exit. Those things are awesome.

@MrEvil: Don't forget about Highway 75 in the northern suburbs of Dallas. It becomes a parking lot during rush hour, all because of one idiot from the local TxDOT o