As many of you know, I have traveled a lot. Some would argue “way too much”. But it’s not always by air. In fact, I’ve traveled all over the country many times (I enjoy road trippin’), and this summer included Maine (with a trailer on the outbound) 2 trips to Missouri for the lake, a few runs to southern Colorado, and a few to Northern Colorado. For purposes of this conversation, where am I going with this? Simple: Colorado Highways… well, they (mostly) suck.
Now, let’s look at other states, like, say, Kansas. The second you drive under the overpass at Kanorado on I-70 and cross that border into Kansas, the roads magically become awesome! I’ve driven that route probably 30+ times over the years. Kansas does a good job. They even mow regularly. Guess what: The climate in eastern Colorado and western Kansas is pretty much identical. So that excuse: DOA.
Why stop there? My wife and I also drove to Maine (she did it twice – I was only once) this summer. Most of that was toll roads – I’ll get back to that shortly. But driving across NY from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts – outstanding interstate. They even have really nice state entry monuments (don’t get me started on the 40’s-era Ranger Rick brown “Colorful Colorado” signs). I’d argue they have a tough climate as well, to rival Colorado.
But let’s also look way down south at Florida at the turnpike from Miami (Homestead) to almost Ocala. Gorgeous road.
What do these states all have in common? Reasonable tolls that bolster a transportation department and provide darn nice highways. Go for it – drive Colorado’s interstates from border to border. Tell me they’re awesome. Let me help out: They’re not, by any stretch of comparison.
So, what’s the plan I would propose? Simple: A strategy I’ll coin as “Decrease/Increase”. Decrease our ridiculous toll rates, and Increase the number of cars and trucks paying into them. We have all these extra toll and HOV lanes. Great. Do they ever look backed up? Nope. Because the toll rates are one thing: Stupidly high. Go to south metro and drive the gorgeous new 8-laned C-470. 4 – yes FOUR – of those lanes are variable toll. And they’re 99.9% empty. Nice planning. Nice total waste of resources.
Here’s some numbers to look at – that I have personally experienced. The most expensive tolls you can have are plate tolls – where you get a bill in the mail. Let’s look at those:
NY Thruway, Pennsylvania to NYC. Lots of plazas along the way. 495 miles. $24.83. ~$0.05/mi
Florida turnpike, Miami to Ocala termination, lots of plazas along the way. 265 miles. $22.59 ~$0.085/mi
Kansas turnpike, just the Topeka to west KC leg, 2 plazas in that stretch, and only 34 miles long. $3.50 ~$0.10/mi
Colorado E-470, Parker Road to Broomfield Interlocken termination, zero plazas, 52 miles. $23.65! ~$0.45/mi !!!!
Don’t even get me started on the variable toll lanes that fluctuate by time of day long I-25 and I-70. Shoot me now. “Gee, let’s drive between 104th and US36 on I-25 instead of sending little Timmy to college”.
BUT … what if those tolls were decreased to a far, far lower level, and applied to all those that use the road overall? How badly would someone object to paying $0.75 (with a toll sticker) to drive from I-70 west, past Morrison, to I-25 (say, Park Meadows Mall)? That’s 25 miles. That’s also $0.03/mi. If you ever see that backup each day on the non-toll lanes and realize the fuel they all burn at a speed of 5 mph for 30 minutes instead of 60 mph for 5 min, the toll is actually cheaper! Especially with our current domestic policy that has destroyed gas prices for the near future…
And now also imagine if CDOT has revenue from all cars and trucks, and not just from 0.5% of them. Maybe we could have nice roadways, too?
Simple theory: Use the road, pay a little (emphasis on “little”). CDOT has improved revenues. Maybe now a thoughtful master transportation plan can really be formed and executed within our lifetimes.
