Monday, December 15, 2008

Abolish Cash Tolls and Remove Toll Booths?

While not specifically about any of our local toll roads, Loudoun County Traffic found this post on Toll Road News interesting.

According to the article, U.S. secretary of transportation Mary Peters called for the toll industry association IBTTA to work for the elimination of all toll booths in the U.S. by 2014. The last ones "should be sent to the Smithsonian (Museum)," she said. Peters extolled the advances which have been made in electronic tolling and open road toll collection, and argued for universal all-electronic toll (AET) collection and traffic management with variable pricing.

According to Toll Road News, Peters remarked, "I would like to issue a challenge to the toll road operators here today. You hold the key to speeding the transition to open-road tolling, the key to attracting more investment, and the key to unlocking gridlock through dynamic pricing. Open-road tolling equipment can be installed quickly and easily, and I am asking you to commit to making tollbooths obsolete in the United States of America by the time the next surface transportation authorization expires. Let’s send these relics the way of the horse-and-buggy."

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