As President Obama continues to build his cabinet, I don’t like what I am hearing from his nominee to the Transportation Department.  In this Wall Street Journal story, they say that he is making the case to give a bigger role to the private sector in rebuilding our roads and bridges.  Here is a quote from the story:

“There’s not going to be enough money,” Mr. LaHood told the Senate Commerce Committee. “I think we do have to think outside the box.”

Now I agree that there is not enough money for all the necessary transportation projects, but how is this thinking outside the box?  Allowing private investors to build, operate and maintain new toll roads and bridges is very dangerous to our economy.

In another story, Mr. LaHood gives his endorsement for more toll roads.  This is such a short sighted strategy to “fix” our long term transportation problems.  State governments are desperate to make up their budget gaps and these large upfront payments look very attractive.  Unfortunately, as time goes, by the private investors enjoy steady returns on their investment from hard working commuters.

Here is one such example where a foreign corporation contributes less than $350 million to a $1.9 billion taxpayer funded project, yet they are set to enjoy 80 years of profit from the tolls.  The private company will build High Occupancy Toll lanes on the Capital Beltway in Northern Virginia.  Once the lanes are completed in 4 years, drivers will be charged $1 a mile during rush hours.  Are you kidding me, who can afford this on a daily basis?

I have written a few other posts on how much I despise tolls.  They are one of the most inefficient ways to fund a road and they greatly contribute to traffic, accidents and additional carbon emissions.  Once erected, they never come down and the prices rise with little or no control from the people who actually use the roads.

Since when is building more tolls and sticking commuters with the bill considered “thinking outside the box”?  The answer can not be to just build additional transportation infrastructure since we continue to always exceed the capacity of our roadways.  Real innovative thinking will produce solutions that cut our consumption and conserve energy.  Don’t you agree?

photo credit: richardmasoner

We are heading toward unbearable gridlock

Traffic gets worse every single day, the time to act is now.  As the population continues to rise, our limited road capacity is incapable of handling the increased volume.  The cost of building new highways is staggering and not possible in many areas.

photo credit: th.omas

This excessive congestion results in delays that cost drivers over $63 billion annually and over 2 billion gallons in wasted fuel.  The biggest cause of this problem is over 85% of America’s daily commuters are single driver private vehicles.

Why do people like cars?  They are more comfortable, faster, convenient, more private and flexible than any other option.  Pay4Rides could continue to provide these benefits while greatly reducing the total volume of vehicles at any one time.

Our traffic volume exceeds our capacity

Congestion is a state of excessive accumulation or overfilling or overcrowding. Traffic congestion occurs when the volume of traffic exceeds the capacity of a roadway.

Census shows 282 million people in the U.S. during the year 2000 with a projected increase to 309 million by 2010 and 335 million by 2020.  This situation will only continue to worsen.

The 2007 Urban Mobility Report compiled by the Texas Transportation Institute estimates that traffic congestion costs Americans over $63 billion a year.  In 2003, the total amount of delay reached 3.7 billion hours, and 2.3 billion gallons of fuel were lost as engines sat idling in traffic.  “The congestion invoice” as it is called by researchers climbs drastically when you factor in current fuel prices.

How long are we going to wait to do something about it?

photo credit: rogerwp

We HATE tolls!

Toll collection is the least efficient and most expensive way to fund a road.  Just think of all the associated costs:

• Toll construction
• Toll collectors salary & benefits
• E-Z Pass systems
• Administration

photo credit: HelveticaFanatic

Toll roads are very inefficient:

• Require vehicles to stop or slow down
• Manual toll collection wastes time and raises vehicle operating costs
• Collection costs can absorb up to third of revenues
• Traffic diversion to “free” roads increases congestion on those roads

Besides the actual cost of the toll, they also greatly contribute to traffic and pollution.  They also increase wear and tear on our cars through the need to brake more often.  Finally, tolls unfairly place the burden of paying for the roads on daily commuters.  Toll increases threaten to make it harder for many lower and middle income earners to afford their daily commute.

If Passenger Energy became successful, a percentage of each transaction could go towards road maintenance and construction and maybe eliminate the need for tolls.

Car & Passenger Vehicle Facts - lots of cars cost lots of money

The average American spends an hour and half in the car every day.  There are 300 million people in the U.S. and over 230 million registered vehicles.

Burning a gallon of gasoline produces 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, which contains 5 pounds of pure carbon.  So an average car that travels just 1,000 miles a month at an above average 25 miles per gallon would burn 40 gallons of gasoline and produce 800 pounds of carbon dioxide.  Just think about those numbers per car per month and multiply by 230 million.

In 2004, U.S. cars and light trucks traveled a combined 2.7 trillion miles. According to AAA, owning and operating a vehicle costs an average of $9,531 each year.  These costs include the type of vehicle, insurance, maintenance, tolls, parking fees and gasoline.

Wouldn’t you like to reduce those costs and drastically cut our emissions?

photo credit: srish