GIBBONS Op-Ed: TO TOLL OR NOT

I am unable to attend the Electronic Tolling public hearing in Norwalk as I have a previous commitment in Greenwich but I want my comments put in the record on the issue of tolls.
I support the use of electronic tolls in Connecticut, albeit with many caveats and a major change in Federal transportation policy.  Connecticut is the only state on the east coast from Maine to Florida that does not have some sort of interstate toll system. Tolls are designed to be a user fee.  I believe it is a mistake on Connecticut’s part to allow vehicles to travel through Connecticut from everyplace south to every state north and not pay for the use of our highways.

First the caveats:  our system must be the latest version of EZPass so vehicles can travel through a toll at a moderate speed.  Drivers not equipped with EZPass would have a photograph taken of their license plate and sent a bill. 

Toll monies collected must be deposited into the state’s Transportation Fund to improve our highways, not into the General Fund.

There must be regulations implemented to stop and fine drivers of vehicles (especially trucks) that exit highways before the toll and drive on local streets to avoid payment.   Additional regulations must be in place to turn off the toll system if the traffic backs up on the highway and causes danger to oncoming vehicles.  This closing down of the tolls occurs on I-84 at Sturbridge, Massachusetts on high occupancy (vacation) weekends and vehicles pass through without paying a toll.

Tolls should not be sited only at Connecticut’s borders.  Traffic studies would determine the feasibility of optimum placement for these tolls given traffic flow.

There must be a change in Federal policy in order for new tolls to be cost effective.  Currently, because our state does not have tolls on its interstate highways, we receive a “reward” in Federal transportation dollars in the amount of  $200 million dollars  which could be lost if  Connecticut were to reinstate its tolls.  Clearly any potential statewide tolling policy would need federal approval before it is implemented or the debate for tolls is a non-starter.  This policy change could happen, specially if tolls were found to be revenue positive.  Given the huge budget deficits looming in both Washington and Hartford, administrators are looking at every possible income source.

Forgetting the revenue stream, a key argument for tolls is their use as a means for congestion pricing.  If tolls could average out highway traffic from peak demand periods to lesser traveled hours, they could be a major factor in traffic mitigation on our roadways, something no other transportation policy has yet achieved.
 
The time has come for the DOT and our legislators to explore the reinstatement of tolls on Connecticut’s highways.

This opinion piece was printed in the Greenwich Time on May 13th.