Senate defies White House on highway funding (+nix helmet law, tolls)

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate defied the White House on Wednesday by voting to add more than $11 billion to long-delayed highway and transit funding legislation.

Nearly three dozen Republicans joined with Democrats to lift the budget ceiling that held transportation spending to $284 billion, which was proposed by the Bush administration and included in the version approved by the House of Representatives in March.
...
The Senate also defeated an amendment that would have restored a law, repealed 10 years ago, that would require motorcycle riders nationwide to wear helmets. Preliminary highway death figures for 2004 showed a 7.3 percent increase in motorcycle fatalities to 3,927.

The Senate has also approved an amendment to ban states from tolling motorists on existing interstate highways, repealing a provision from the last highway bill that has never been tried in any state.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=8462032&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

[Skip Intro]

1. Damn, are they actually going to throw a few crumbs to the people?

"tolling motorists on existing interstate highways" - ?

talk about highway robbery

[benburch]

2. How does that effect the Illinois Tollway System?

All of our toll roads here are part of the Interstate Highway System...

[Rose Siding]

3. Maybe it means no new tolls on existing non-toll hwys

but I'm guessing.

[benburch]

4. I'm sort-of hoping they mis-worded it...

And that the Tollway will have to stop charging.

[ovidsen]

5. No chance

The legislation prohibits states from imposing tolls on interstates that have been free since they opened, but does not affect interstates that have been tollroads since they were built.

By the way, where in heavens name did Illinois come up with the names for its toll roads?? Tri-State, East-West, Northwest, North-South... you gotta admit, those names are laaaaaame..... :silly:

[benburch]

6. Blame the Illinois Toll Highway Authority...

Which seems to not be controlled by the state government in any meaningful way whatsoever.