Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Tolls

So Your City Is Adding HOT Lanes. Will They Work for Transit?

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 7, 2014 | 2 Comments

High-occupancy vehicle lanes can help incentivize carpooling (and let solo drivers sit in punishing congestion). But too often, transportation agencies spend millions of dollars to widen the road to make carpool lanes, instead of simply designating existing lanes. To recoup some of the expense, the agencies also let drivers pay to use the new “high-occupancy/toll […]

Georgia Removes Tolls, Invites 11,000 More Drivers to Clog GA 400 Each Day

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 29, 2013 | 44 Comments

Why raise desperately needed transportation funds for a broke region when you could let people drive for free? In Georgia, the state has made up its mind: The DOT will pay $4.5 million to tear down tolls on GA 400 — and forfeit the $21 million a year the tolls brought in. It costs just […]

TIFIA-Backed, Privately-Operated Texas Toll Road Flirts With Default

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 23, 2013 | 8 Comments

It’s been nothing but headaches for Texas State Highway 130. The road — or rather, SH 130 Concession Company LLC, which operates the road — got a credit downgrade to junk bond status in April, and now it’s been deemed even junkier with another downgrade from Moody’s last week. Traffic projections for the road failed […]

Moody’s Warns of Rising Debt Load for Toll Roads

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 20, 2013 | No Comments

Despite increased toll rates, toll roads saw their debt per roadway mile increase by a third last year, from $14.3 million in fiscal 2011 to $18.9 million in 2012. The average toll per transaction rose from $1.82 to $1.96 over the course of the last year. Moody’s warned in a press release last week that […]

Credit Rating Agencies Uneasy About Toll Roads as Americans Drive Less

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 5, 2013 | 18 Comments

Toll roads aren’t the cash cows they used to be. The assumption that the roads will “pay for themselves” is no longer a reliable one, and credit rating agencies are taking notice. In Orange County, California, traffic on the San Joaquín Hills toll road is half what was projected. A recent toll road extension outside […]

What Do Anti-Density NIMBYs and Road-Wideners Have in Common?

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 19, 2012 | 18 Comments

Matt Yglesias made an excellent point about NIMBYs over at Slate yesterday. Writing about opposition to multifamily residential construction in the tony neighborhood near Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, Yglesias wondered how much value residents really place on keeping the area a “single-family residential community.” Just because there’s value in something doesn’t mean people are willing to […]

Show More Stories