The Rising Costs of Toll Roads

No matter what you call it a toll is a tax. I recently took a trip from Ohio to Baltimore MD. Then to Philadelphia then over to Atlantic City, NJ before returning back to Ohio. This should have been an easy gravy run, but it just seemed like all I did was toss money out the window.

I had at least 12 tolls to pay, starting with the Ohio turnpike at $2.25, and this is by far the cheapest toll of the trip. Next heading into Pennsylvania I had to pay $12 for the first section of the Pennsylvania turnpike. Then continuing on the Pennsylvania turnpike from the West Gate to Breezewood PA I had to pay $19.25, and after getting to Maryland I was fine until I got to Baltimore when I had to pay $8 to go through the Fort McHenry tunnel. After delivering the first part of a load I heading north out of Baltimore and had a pay $20 for the Maryland JFK Memorial Highway. Then a very short stretch of the Delaware Turnpike cost me another $9.00, heading up into Philadelphia to deliver the next part of my load. After finishing in Philly I headed to Atlantic City. The first trip across the Atlantic City Expressway costs $7.50, then after delivering the last part of load I had to go back across the Atlantic City Expressway for another dollar $7.50 before getting back to and across the Walt Whitman Bridge for $22.50 (by the way, it cost me nothing to cross the Walt Whitman Bridge INTO New Jersey) Finally back on the Pennsylvania turnpike the first portion of the toll road cost me $17.25 then another $24 for the second portion of the PA Turnpike taking me all way back to Ohio where I had to pay a final $2.25.

Total tolls for my trip $151.50. If my load would have been heavier, then these tolls could have been much higher, as the maximum toll in PA across the turnpike for a Class 8 truck is $161 (one way).

Tolls have been around for, well almost forever, and they show no signs of ever going away. Truckers and other highway users will continue to pay the highway user fees that are levied on them for using these routes as well as any other one.

You have to beware, as there are many new toll roads coming to America in the near future. It used to be that in order for a state to impose tolls on a highway it has to be a new construction. Well, not so anymore. Pennsylvania, is proposing converting the 311 mile stretch of I-80 into a toll road. Georgia is proposing toll lanes on some of its highways. I-81 through Virginia has long been rumored to be eventually converted to some form of tolling.

The U.S. Department of Transport ion has named South Carolina the first stat to receive federal authority to toll an interstate under a new program, the Interstate System Construction Toll Pilot Program, one of six tolling programs for interstates authorized in 2005.

Interstate 73 hasn't been built yet, but could be a toll road that runs across South Carolina from Myrtle Beach to the North Carolina border. Ultimately, the interstate could run through five states ending in Michigan..

We probably wouldn't need many of these tolls, if ALL the money collect from fuel and use taxes STAYED in the highway fund and didn't get diverted to other projects. A big part of the problem is that many of the fuel tax dollars that are collected never make it to the part of the trust fund that actually pays for highways and bridges.

Back in the 1980's and 1990's the government started using highway money for things other than highways. So now America's highway fund spends money on everything from magnetic levitation trains to recreational trails.