The road not taken.

There I was...heading home on north MOPAC and approaching my normal everyday exit at Scofield with the big sign “Last free exit before pay toll”. But when I got to the off ramp, it was blocked with traffic cones for construction. I and the stream of other drivers that intended to exit were diverted on up the highway to the Loop 1 toll booths. Now, I figured that since there were no signs or other indications that the “Last free exit before pay toll” was blocked off to normal traffic, that we would be able to scoot through the toll booths without paying to the next available exit, which happened to be the one into my neighborhood…

Not!!

There was no open lane, and all of us that were expecting to get off on our normal route home were scrambling to find out what the charge was going to be (Hey, I don’t use the things!) and then find the appropriate change to throw in the basket. I literally had to dig under the seat to come up with the 50 cents required. Again, I don’t use the toll roads, so I didn’t know if they could bill you if I didn’t have the exact amount, or whether they would send out the federal marshals to break my legs and collect the 50 cents, plus a 65,000,000% convenience fee. I just didn’t know! Luckily I found two quarters and threw them in the basket. I felt like I had just been shook down, but I paid them to avoid the consequences…which may have been up to death for all I knew.

So, I forked over my 50 cents to travel 400 yards, but I got away with my life, and I wrote it off as a one-off brush with the local mob.

Then…the same thing happened once more a couple of weeks later. I was able to find the 50 cents a little easier that time, but I thought, “Hey, wait a minute…what really happens if I don’t pay this.” I mean, I hadn’t chosen to use the toll road. I felt I was being forced to pay some Toll God just to get to my home, even though I never intended to be on anyone’s for-pay road, and it didn’t sit well.

Of course I called the toll road authority and asked why I had been extorted, but the Toll God minion just went off about dispute forms, and having to visit their office (lair) and talk to disputed toll resolution specialists (demons) to get my buck back….

And I was weak. I’m not proud of it, but I again decided to blow it off. I should have broken out the samurai sword, alerted the local media, and went down and vanquished the evil Toll God! But I didn’t. Maybe next time.

Anyway, I did start to think about why it was that I hate the monstrosity (toll road) beside my house, and why I avoid all toll roads unless unwittingly forced on to them. Is it really true that toll roads are the best answer to our overcrowded highways in Texas as Governor Rick and his zombies declare? Or, are they not really an answer at all.

I actually found a good synopsis of the reasons for increased toll road construction in Texas and the players involved found here under "Articles on Transportation Privatization" .

Governor Rick, TXDOT, and some in the legislature tout privately funded toll roads as the only quick answer to overcrowded highways because the legislature has refused to raise the 20 cent per gallon gas tax for road construction in Texas since 1991, and construction costs have greatly outpaced the tax revenues.

After a little thought, it is my opinion that they will ultimately cause more grief than relief…at least from what I’ve seen. The new toll roads don’t seem to have diverted any of the existing congestion around Austin. They only seem to have helped enable the urban sprawl out to places like Leander and N.E. Pflugerville. Maybe if the authority had made it cheaper for semis to take the 130 Toll around Austin, it would have at least relieved that traffic off IH 35; but I have travelled 130 with other people and saw no trucks. As a matter of fact, I saw very little traffic at all. I can’t imagine these roads are even remotely paying for themselves, at least not yet.

Even if these roads do become more traveled, the revenue they generate will apparently continue to go to the foreign companies that operate them long after they should be paid for, costing users way more than public funding. The companies apparently get a 50 year lease for up-front payments to the Texas treasury in the billions. But Texas will quickly spend this money on whatever immediate needs it has, and our kids and our grandkids will still be paying profits to foreign companies many decades down the road.

And I believe the euphoria currently felt by the few drivers on the toll roads now will eventually be replaced by sticker shock with the contracted annual toll price increases, and the almost inevitable increases in the gas taxes. The state gas tax can’t stay at 20 cents a gallon forever; and increases probably tied to inflation to pay for new construction will eventually get some real traction in the legislature. Then, all those toll road commuters can pay their ever increasing toll fees, plus higher gas taxes also to get to their bedroom mansion in the x-erbs. God love ‘em.

And thanks to the existing toll roads, we won’t be able to go back and build public free highways on those throughways. The contracts with the operating companies even bar some improvements to parallel competing public roads, and mandate impediments to traffic on competing roads such as reduced speed limits and de–synchronized traffic signals to “encourage” drivers onto the for-pay roads. I don’t know what impact campaign contributions actually have had on the decisions to out-source our highways, but what a money-making gimmick these guys have going on.

Anyway, I guess my gut just tells me that we have sold our souls for the next half century for a short-term fleeting benefit for just a few drivers. And even though early highways in the U.S. started out as private roads, in the early twentieth century lawmakers saw the light and the federal and state governments took over road construction and maintenance for use by all. Roads, like the military and police (and prisons in my book) should never be outsourced by the government. They need to be in the public realm for a host of reasons…accountability being the primary one.

And probably the most disturbing thing about the privately ran toll roads is what actually happens if you don’t pay the toll…valid charge, or not. Even though these are privately funded and ran enterprises, unpaid tolls, which should be a civil matter (just like if you didn’t pay your plumber), may actually get you charged with a misdemeanor criminal charge. A quote from the Austin mobility authority web site: “If the collection agency is unsuccessful in recovering the money that is due, the vehicle owner may be charged with a misdemeanor.”

So, the criminal justice system then becomes a collection/extortion agent for a private enterprise at that point. A foreign private enterprise at that!

...Is this really the road we wanted to go down?