Toll Lanes are coming

[02roadking]

Jacksonville will be getting toll lanes for the first time in over a generation in 2016 or 2017. But the new tolls will look nothing like what voters got rid of in 1989.

http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-06-14/story/toll-roads-returning-jacksonville-2017

[thelakelander]

It's just $200 million.  Imagine the stink, fuss and cries of it not being able to pay for itself if we were talking about mass transit.

[Adam W]

It's just $200 million.  Imagine the stink, fuss and cries of it not being able to pay for itself if we were talking about mass transit.

Excellent point!

[If_I_Loved_you]

Jacksonville will be getting toll lanes for the first time in over a generation in 2016 or 2017. But the new tolls will look nothing like what voters got rid of in 1989.

http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-06-14/story/toll-roads-returning-jacksonville-2017

This I can live with before I read the story I thought I was having a Heart attack? Now if these toll roads were going at the base of the Hart, Trout and the Mathews Bridge. Then I would have been ticked off!

[carpnter]

They need to add them in the stretch of highway from Butler to Dames Point, especially from Dames Point to Beach Blvd.  That area has more congestion than the stretch from Butler to 9B.

[Bill Hoff]

Reason #1210 to avoid the suburbs: toll roads. 

[tufsu1]

I was at the meeting today...Larry Hannan jumped the gun a bit.

These roads were already programmed for widening.....but the new FDOT policy is that all new capacity on interstate facilities will be tolled.

Two thoughts:

1. Toll revenues on managed lane projects generally DO NOT pay for construction....only the maintenance and operation

2. FDOT is now studying each of these segments to see if they are candidates for variable pricing (tolls)....what happens if the studies say that toll revenues will be too little?

[tufsu1]

They need to add them in the stretch of highway from Butler to Dames Point, especially from Dames Point to Beach Blvd.  That area has more congestion than the stretch from Butler to 9B.

Butler to 9B is because of the increased traffic caused by building 9B...and as I said above, construction was already programmed.

[ben says]

Luckily I don't think I'll ever run into one! Too far away from the core.

[Doctor_K]

So two lanes (one in each direction) among each of those separate lengths of Beltway will be tolled.

One lane each direction.

This is entirely my uneducated opinion, but I can't see these getting used very much and raising much revenue.  If I'm driving the Beltway, and I've got 4 lanes to choose from, and three are 'free' (I know they're not 'free', but let's not digress), I'm sure as sh*t going to use the ones I don't have to pay (more) for.

I'd think a LOT of people would adopt that same mentality.  Thus, I can't fathom the single toll lanes being used much at all.

Am I way out on this?

[thelakelander]

Perhaps the hope is that traffic on the other lanes will eventually come to a standstill and that you'll pay a toll to avoid the congestion. 

[carpnter]

I drive from Merrill to Phillips every day and I'd probably pay just to not get stuck in traffic.  The less time I have to spend on the road the better. 

[Elwood]

The construction sounds similar to the HOV lanes in the Norfolk VA. metro area in the 1990's. However, they used these to encourage carpooling, and there was no toll.

[Trainman]

For those wishing to pay for the convenience, toll lanes can be rewarding. Monday we were on our way back from North Carolina and got caught in traffic on I-585 outside Atlanta. It seems a semi got tangled up with a couple of cars and the right 2 lanes were blocked. We were in a 5 mile long stop and go back up that added almost 30 minutes to our trip. The left lane was a toll lane (Peach Pass) and those lucky folks were zipping by at 70+. We use our Sun Pass going to central and south Fla and I gotta tell ya it's a nice option for the occasional trip. I especially like zipping by Orlando and avoiding the I-4 parlking lot.

[thelakelander]

LOL, at people thinking managed lanes will turn a profit.  People.....like public schools, libraries, police, fire, mass transit, ROADS DON'T MAKE MONEY!  The reason FDOT is plastering lexus lanes across the state is because they can't afford to build them the way they used too.  By charging a toll for new capital projects, it simply means some of these projects won't be as much as in the red as they would if there were no toll.