Potentially big changes are coming to ODOT’s funding model in the next few years. There are holes that the state can’t patch.
Potentially big changes are coming to ODOT’s funding model in the next few years. There are holes that the state can’t patch.
The problem with tolls on specific highway sections, like the proposed one on 205 that got axed, is that they are both A. a regressive tax against the poor, precluding them from using that road for anything, and B. Likely to induce a lot of knock-on effects on traffic flow because people are generally cheap and will try to use surface streets to avoid tolls. Especially in an area that hasn’t previously used tolling at all, so there isn’t user precedent for accepting tolls.
Even with those concerns, I still like tolls
A. Driving a car has externalities that are currently not priced in the gas tax / registration fees. This means that having toll free roads are also regressive in that they are forcing people who do not drive (often due to poverty) to subsidize those who do drive. It makes sense to make the drivers pay for more of the harm they cause others, and tolls are a simple way of doing this. They are also can help discourage driving since paying every time you drive in a certain area is probably more noticable than paying once a year when you register your car.
B. This is a real issue in 205 where there is another bridge right next to it. Maybe in this case, you can add a toll to both bridges. But generally, the urban growth boundaries in Oregon make it easy to find places to find put toll booths where there is no way to drive around it.