Transportation Planners to Combat Hatred of Toll Lanes With Fabulous Prizes

By Eric Nicholson Tue., Nov. 18 2014 at 10:15 AM

Flickr user be▲-t

OK, North Texas. Regional transportation planners have heard your shrill, anti-toll battle cry. They know you will not countenance a speculative private toll road that inexplicably runs from Wylie to Greenville. They also know you also hate those new "managed lane" thingies, which essentially charge drivers for using highway space that used to be free. Your concerns have been noted.

That said, have you really thought through the implications of your free-road libertarianism? Even with the $1.7 billion-per-year voters just gave TxDOT, there still isn't enough money to properly maintain existing roads, much less build new ones. There might be more potholes. Your beloved exurbs may become choked with traffic. And without new highways to fuel a further explosion of generic chain restaurants, will North Texas ever again experience the thrill that is a brand-new TGI Fridays? Planners like the North Central Texas Council of Governments' Michael Morris understand that paying tolls suck, but without them how can Texas possibly sustain its -- HEY LOOK AT THESE AMAZING PRIZES!

You, yes you, could soon be eligible for gift cards, discounts at local retailers, even cash (!!!) if you habitually use the soon-to-open toll lanes on Tom Landry Freeway, i.e. the section of Interstate 30 between Dallas and Fort Worth. It's part of a pilot program the NCTCOG and the Texas Transportation Institute are preparing to roll out, according to a survey they're pushing. Here's a screenshot of the survey showing the potential incentives they're offering.

The survey also how much pain drivers are willing to tolerate before they'll cough up money for their trip. Pay $5 to get to Arlington in eight minutes or take a free lane and get there in 13? What about $3.50 and nine minutes versus free and 12? The survey runs through November 30, after which the results will be used to develop a pilot program to test how incentives affect the usage of managed lanes in real life. Because, the NCTCOG seems to be saying, if you are too childish to realize that tolls are good and necessary, you probably also have the childlike capacity to forget your outrage as soon as a shiny thing is dangled in front of your face.

Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.

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Cliffhanger

I don't have a problem with the idea of toll roads per se. It's just they have a tendency to want to stick toll roads where no roads are needed, and raising the tolls on the ones we already have (and need) to pay for the ones we don't.

Tim.Covington

Since the voters have made it abundantly clear that they are unwilling to pay higher taxes to maintain and expand the roads, toll roads are what we get.

WhoisJohnGalt

"have you really thought through the implications of your free-road libertarianism?"

Yes. I love toll roads. I think more roads should be privately built and paid-for - the concept of paying taxes on the hundreds (if not thousands) of miles of roads I never use gets really old.

Catbird

The toll you save could be your own.

JC14

Tolls are what you get when you insist on no new taxes. So put up or shut up.

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

Um, aint no way that Tom Landry Managed lanes are soon to be complete. Unless 2 yrs is soon! Seriously, when do they think they will be open?

kduble

@Tim.Covington True, but managed lanes makes sense in populated urban areas. There can never be enough lanes to move traffic during rush hour peaks, so tolls ration scarcity.

Sotiredofitall topcommenter

@WhoisJohnGalt Me Me Me Me

dingo

@Catbird

Driverless cars have a hard time when driver is dead Lord - Blind WIllie Johnson

kduble

@JC14 What you're saying is true on a grand scale. But in a concentrated urban area, there have never been and never be enough lanes to handle traffic during rush hour peaks. This is why managing congestion by auctioning space on the new lanes makes sense.

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@kduble @Tim.Covington I always used the HOV lane as a toll lane, Id drive it all the time for the the once every other year Id get caught in it, then Id pay my fine (Toll, see how that works). Now they can toll (fine) all users rather than just the ones who got caught occasionally. I mean, it was just a wasted partially used lane, so why not