Stolen Lanes

A Toll is a TAX!

Taxes are used to support government operations, the tolls collected on Georgia roadways are supporting government agencies and operations. Demand your tax credit! For those who say they can afford it so they don't mind consider this.... You are already paying the majority of the tax burden, why are you not furious that you are now paying more????? Is it because you are being told you have the "privilege" of driving in the lane. It's not a privilege, it's another TAX and you got suckered into it. Return your peach pass and demand a refund.

Here we go again!

Gov. Deal has agreed to look at GDOT and SRTA proposals for more toll (TAX) lanes, reopening the discussions along 75/575 in Cobb county. What a pompous move! To believe that the only way to improve traffic in Georgia is through tolls (taxes) is thoughtless and demonstrative of Government gone wrong. While remaining non-partisan I support Georgia Senator Curt Thompsons proposal for a 3 year moratorium on Toll lane. This will fail because Sen. Thompson is of the minority party, I will not support another candidate that is in favor of toll projects and the corruption they bring. This means Gov. Deal will NOT have my vote next time around.

A challenge for the State - Governor Deal, This is for YOU

 

I have been reading lately that Lt. Governor Cagle, along with GRTA, are making recommendations to change the HOT lanes to reversible toll lanes and to begin tolling Ronald Reagan Pkwy to build a better connection to the 85 toll lanes.  This means Lt. Gov. Cagle wants to abolish the current el cheapo system and spend a few hundred million dollars to build reversible lanes, and another few hundred million on bridge improvements to eliminate the center supports on the bridges that would cross the reversible lanes.  Then we would place a TAX (toll) on the citizens of Grayson and Snellville to use the RR Pkwy.  The problem is not that the RR Pkwy is ineffective but that the connection between I-85 and RR Pkwy is broken.  Why not improve that area and leave the tolls out of the mix.  I guess revenue in the state is way down, but I digress.   Here we now have SRTA, GRTA and GDOT all working on road projects with what seems to be no communication between the three, and we are footing the bill.   So here is my challenge....

Suspend the tolls along I-85 for 60 days open all lanes for all commuters regardless of vehicle occupancy or type and see what happens.  My belief is that if you add the 6th lane back to traffic you will increase traffic flow by 15-18% and decrease congestion by the same margins.  This would be an easy method for comparing current restrictive tolling systems to non-restrictive lanes and we would immediately see whether or not the toll lanes as well as the restrictive HOV HOT lanes are needed.  There would be minimal costs to the State in that the only money spent would be advertising the change and the loss of toll revenues for 60 days.  After 60 days the state can either tell me to shut up or can admit the error and save millions or billions on toll projects that could be used for local road repairs.  If you act now the State could prove the need for T-Splost by proving me wrong, if you wait and hope that the citizens of Georgia will shut up and pay because they are used to it, I would strongly suggest that you abandon the T-splost idea as well as the idea of a second term as Governor.  Your administration is making you look foolish and incompetent on Transportation issues; it’s time for you to listen to those who voted for you based on your promises.

I almost forgot....

In my conversation last night with Gerald Ross, Chief Engineer for GDOT he stated that the T-splost would make a miniscule difference to his budget.  Then why do we need to have it?  I would suggest that if the State wants to pass a T-Splost they should agree to include in the T-Splost bill a phrase eliminating all tolls in the state of Georgia for the entire time that a T-splost tax is being collected. 

DOT pulls plug on $1 billion I-75/I-575 project

 From the AJC article today...

Last month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that traffic predictions showed the project was expected to make commutes slightly worse for some drivers, and would not provide major congestion relief for most in the main lanes.

DOT responded that the goal of the project was not to ease traffic for all drivers, but to provide an option for all drivers in times of need. Should they choose the toll lane, a state study showed, their commutes would be more than twice as fast.

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My take on this is that GDOT has acknowledged that the changes would make matters worse in the general purpose lanes, as well as the goal of the lane was not to ease traffic for ALL drivers but those willing to pay in times of need.  The next step should be that the persons in Henry and Clayton county fight for the same respect.  While the lane system is different the problem there is that there are not enough lanes to support the traffic.  In the area where the congestion is there are only 3 general purpose lanes.  Instead of adding 2 reversable toll lanes the area could be more effectively served by adding 4 lanes (two in each direction) all the way through the proposed area.  This would effect a less expensive plan and add the ability for 60% more cars to travel in the area with little delay and down time for construction.  This could also be left as 5 full general purpose lanes with the 2 innermost lanes being  the travel lanes for long haul trucks.  This would leave the 3 outside lanes for local drivers who are on and off the roadway in the 20 mile stretch, without out having to fight the big trucks headed to or from Florida. 

This also opens up the arguement that if the lanes in I75/575 were going to be congested there is no reason that they could not see that the same problems ALREADY exist along I-85 in Gwinnett.  It is a great day to be inthe fight against the toll lanes, be sure to send thanks to Ariel hart, Chris Haley, Victor Ramikisson, Brian Gist, Renee Starzyk, and so many others that have been fighting all along.  Without their efforts to spread the word we would not have garnered the attention from those who voted against the current project.  

10 Things I learned tonight

I attended the HOT lane (I-75 Express lane) meeting in Henry county tonight, I spoke with a reporter from channel 5 and I noticed that when I was done Gerald Ross the Chief Engineer for GDOT was waiting.  We started in a general discussion about why I am opposed to the toll roads in general and his first defense was that they were not there to discuss the I-85 area.  Our conversation became expressive at one time and he tried to walk away, I extended a handshake and offered to start again and we talked for about 45 minutes.  Here is my 10 list of things I learned (as educated by Gerald). 

10.  The HOV lanes on I-20 & I-75 are changing to HOV-3 lanes. asked when he only said he wasn't sure.

9.  The meeting was a great success.  GDOT is not interested in Town halls anymore because at the one in Gwinnett when 12 (yes he said tweleve and I challenged him but he stuck to 12) people walked out and the news reported that half the people in attendance walked out.  Since the news misreported the story and only showed the angry people they were not doing town halls anymore, but are now doing open showings and walking people through the exhibit one on one.  (by the way the people of Henry County really love this idea, he stated).

7.  I am an A-type personality.  He was frustrated with my questions and started to justify reasons as to why I did not like the lanes.

6.  The complainers in Gwinnett are A-type personalities.  His response to my question as to why the I-85 lanes had a 4% approval rating.  He stated that only the A-types complain and those who are satisfied with the lanes are not the type to speak up.

5.  I am a Government Conspiracy believer type.  again, he was frustrated with my questions and started to justify reasons as to why I did not like the lanes.  I explained that I was not that type and he simply nodded and shrugged (body language indicated he was sceptical).

4.  The reason for the need of the new express lane on I-75 is that the road is UNRELIABLE.  The lanes are not congested, but they are the 2nd most unreliable lanes in the U.S. Since traffic can flow at 70mph one day and slow the next there is a need for change (no accounting for the idea that you are traveling west toward the sunset).

3.  He goes where he is told to go.  I asked if he would be willing to do another Town Hall meeting to help Gwinnett understand the processes in the works to fix the current problems.  (I guess he goes where the Governor tells him to).

2.  I am uneducated on the system.  When I asked too many questions and countered them with Mis-statements.  Once I asked about why we were paying for lanes that we already paid for and explained that his budget comes from taxes collected, he said that the lanes were not already paid for and if they were then he would not need improvement revenues.

1.  I should just "don't use the lane, stay in traffic and stay close minded".  Right before he tried to walk away for the first time, he made this remark and I wrote it down and told him I was going to quote him on it.  He later asked me not to use it stating that he was frustrated with me when he said it.

 I enjoyed our talk an dexplained that the Henry County lanes were a different beast, but I was still going to fight it all the way.  At 7:00 when the meeting was to end he had to leave so we shook hands and parted.  Henry andClayton counties... BUYER BEWARE.

I'm back

Simply put, I finished classes that I scheduled months ago. I have not forgotten the fight. To Governor Deal, SRTA & GDOT.... I'm back, and you are in for a rough 2012.

Petition signatures for Christmas

First, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and everyone is healthy and safe.  That said, I am on vacation for the next 10 days and will be taking some classes that I have always wanted to take.  These classes are 8.5 hours each day for all 10 days and I will have to drive to Rome each day from Lawrenceville (100 miles).  While I wont be online as much those days I will be posting when possible. 

I would like for each of you to go online and sign the petition at stopthehotlane.com, then have your friends, family and co-workers sign as well.  While on the site you can also donate to our fund for the trip to Washington DC to petition the FWHA and DOT to grant Georgia relief from the HOT lane agreement.  We will be taking the trim in January, and would love to have as many persons ride along as are interested.  If we have enough participants we may charter a Bus or two (or more).  Anyone interested?

Reason Foundation study faults

    Many articles are posted online by the Reason Foundation and founder Robert Poole, and I am certain that in their minds they have a valid arguement.  Afterall, our entire political make up is based on differing party beliefs and interpretations of the US Constitution.   Here are a few of the statements in an article by Robert Poole and Kenneth Orski of the reason Foundation, titled HOT lanes: A better way to attack urban highway congestion.

The HOT lane concept accomplishes several objectives,

Relieving political pressure to convert HOV lanes to General use. - Diverting some solo drivers from adjacent general-purpose lanes and reducing congestion in those lanes. - Generating revenue for highway and mass-transit improvments. - Giving motorists the option of traveling on less congested lanes if they are willing to pay for the priviledge.   

So the basic idea is to stop the public complaints to political leaders about wasted HOV lanes, to give solo drivers the ability to use HOV (HOT) lanes, generate revenue (SRTA claims the lane is revenue neutral), and to turn a blind eye to those who are willing to pay an extortion fee for the priviledge to ride as a solo driver in the HOV (HOT) lane.

I encourage you to read the article, it is eye-opening.

Official Poll: I-85 HOT Lanes "most hated concept"

A poll by InsiderAdvantage and WSB-TV has confirmed what metro Atlanta commuters have known for nearly two months now: the implementation of the I-85 HOT lane project has been a complete failure.

InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery told WSB reporter Lori Geary:

"It's a total disaster. Without doubt one of the biggest blunders in the history of Georgia politics since I've been covering it." 

Only 4% of those polled thought the project was effective, and 45% thought that the project had actually made traffic worse.

You can read WSB's full report here.