From StamfordPlus.com
I-95 - last exit before toll?
By Deborah DiSesa Hirsch
Aug 29, 2007 - 4:47:58 PM
My last memory of tolls in Connecticut is of cars exploding into flames, with drivers incinerated inside as an 18-wheeler slams into them, waiting in line to pay. But that’s the image supporters behind new tolls are working hard to suppress. In fact, even the word itself is being squelched. “Please, don’t call it ‘tolls,’” begs the woman who answers the phone at the South Western Regional Planning Association (SWRPA). SWRPA is leading the charge to make drivers pay a price for the privilege of driving on Connecticut’s highways.
“People think tolls actually slow down traffic,” says Jim Cameron, a transit advocate and chairman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, although he’s speaking as a Metro North commuter now. “There are fears of another fiery crash, and there’s a myth that if we reinstate tolls on our highways, we’ll have to repay the federal government billions of dollars—all false.”
“‘Toll’ is a four-letter word,” agrees Woody Bliss, first selectman of Weston and chair of SWRPA’s Metropolitan Planning Organization. (SWRPA, an agency devoted to regional cooperation and coordination on planning and development, is composed of the mayors and first selectmen from Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Norwalk, Stamford, Weston, Westport and Wilton). “But we’re talking pricing relative to value.”
The new phrase is “congestion pricing,” and if you listen to the true believers long enough, you might even think they have a point. Growing congestion in the U.S. poses a substantial threat to the economy and to the quality of life for millions of Americans, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Studies show that congestion in the top 85 urban areas caused 3.7 billion hours of travel delay and 2.3 billions of wasted fuel, for a total of 63 billion. And that was in 2003.
It’s as simple as supply (too little highway) and demand (too many cars). So charge a higher fee for using the highway during rush hour, hopefully pushing most drivers to use the roadway either before or after, or drive them to mass transit, easing the congestion. “We’re trying to shift demand,” says Cameron.
“By now we recognize the classic cliché: we can’t build our way out of this,” says Dr. Floyd Lapp, Ph.D., SWRPA’s executive director. “Add a lane and maybe, maybe you’ll get a little more elbow room, maybe about 1%.”
Setting a price to travel our highways, however, will be naturally selecting. Those who can go to work at more flexible hours will do just that to avoid paying a peak charge. Those who need to go during rush hour will, yes, pay more, but also find the roads more open. Or, at least, that’s the idea.
The way it works is that the average car (OK, we’re not talking Hummers) takes up 200 square feet. “Imagine the size of a parking stall,” says Dr. Lapp. But you have to add 400 to 600 feet to account for the space in front and back of the car.
Now think about the 2,500 cars that occupy each lane (that’s 7,500 for the three lanes of I-95) during a typical rush hour. What if you could reduce that by 10 or 15%? Doesn’t sound like much, but that could be over 1,000 cars a rush hour. “We’d do this by charging more to use the highway say, between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.,” says Dr. Lapp. “That way, some people would go to work before that, or after that, to avoid paying peak fares. We do that now on the trains. The people who have to be at work at those times would pay the peak fare, but there would be fewer cars on the road, so you’d have less congestion.”
But what about those of us who have been driving I-95 for free all these years? “That’s a total misnomer,” says Dr. Lapp. “You’re not driving free. You think you get in the car, turn the key and just go, but that’s not true at all. On gas alone and wear and tear on your car, most people don’t realize the cost of driving. Never mind sitting in traffic. It’s not free.”
According to the Federal Highway Administration, in the 10 most congested areas in the country (and we’re probably in there somewhere), each rush hour traveler “pays” an annual “congestion tax” of between $800 and $1,600 in lost time and fuel.
And what about the most precious commodity of all, the hours it takes from your life? In the years Dr. Lapp commuted from Rockland County to Lower Manhattan, he estimates he spent 24 days per year stuck in traffic. Most commuters spend about eight. “Wouldn’t you do just about anything for a faster ride?”
The proponents of congestion pricing are counting on that. They’re also counting on no more toll booths. “It’s boothless technology,” says Dr. Lapp. Instead, each car will have on its dashboard an electronic device called a “transponder” or tag, which is read by overhead antennas as you drive. No more stop and go. No more gates, like with E-Z Pass. Just pay and go.
We’re in the technology age. We should capitalize on that,” says Dr. Lapp.
The reality is, this can only work where there are other good options – like mass transit, in particular. “People have to have good alternatives if they don’t want to drive,” says Dr. Lapp.
But what if this just drives everyone—or a lot—to local streets? That’s what worries Mayor Dan Malloy of Stamford. “If it puts a lot of traffic on our streets, that would be very negative,” he says. “In the past, tolls have had a disproportionate effect on Stamford because we’re near a border. If it had an equal impact across the state, OK, maybe.”
But he’s willing to hear the whole thing out. “Hey, who isn’t in favor of highway improvements that make travel faster and safer?”
He’s also concerned about where the revenue from the fees would go. Dr. Lapp says that’s easy. “The revenue gathered goes into a mechanism that’s a legally binding agreement that says it’s earmarked for transportation – highways, rail and bus.”
But Norwalk mayor Dick Moccia isn’t so sure. “In the past, the Department of Transportation has been very road-oriented. What revenue comes in could easily go back into improving our roads and what would that do? Bring more cars right back.”
Westport Police Chief Al Fiore isn’t so sure this has all been thought out, especially as it relates to the roads in his town. “All it takes is one accident on 95 now, and our town gets absolutely grid-locked,” he says. “The guy who cuts my lawn isn’t going to be able to come to work when he feels like it. He’s got to go during rush hour. So maybe he’ll take side streets to get here. I’m responsible for the safety of my citizens, and what’s the quality of life if they call me and say, ‘I can’t get out of my driveway’?”
Cameron says there may well be a subsidy, like there is on the rail and buses, for those who need to drive during peak times and can’t really afford it. “There hasn’t been a part of the population that’s cut out because of this,” he says. “Some people might even get to drive free.”
Here’s the real benefit, Cameron says: “Less people in front of you on the highway.” As for towns becoming choked with drivers avoiding the fee, he says, “If I’m so cheap I don’t want to pay $1, I want to put myself in local traffic and be jammed-up, God bless you if that’s attractive.”
“It’s definitely a lifestyle adjustment,” says Dr. Lapp. “The problem is, we’re all accustomed to doing something a certain way. Yes, people will cry. We don’t want to pay in Connecticut. But then you have the ‘T’ word.”
And as for local roads becoming clogged? “Who’s to say we won’t toll those, too?” says Dr. Lapp.
Proponents of electronic tolling point to other densely populated cities around the world where it works. “It’s risky business to cite Singapore and Hong Kong. They’re different cultures. But the pioneers injected fees on the roadways and streets there, and it’s working,” says Dr. Lapp.
For people with privacy concerns—technology that can track you wherever you go—Weston first selectman Bliss laughs. “There’s no privacy anymore. It’s a myth. I could go on the Internet and get your social security number in five minutes.” The system is secure; it works with a cash card in your car.
So where do we go from here? The state legislature is debating whether to do a study on the feasibility of electronic toll collection on Connecticut highways.
In the meantime, drivers will just have to grit their teeth and go. “You’ve got a car? Congratulations,” says SWRPA’s Dr. Lapp. “You want to drive to work? Pay up.”
High gas prices, increaseing insurance cost and now, maybe, possibly, even highway tolls. It’s not easy to be behind the wheel these days.
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