RFK Jr. Says Toll Roads Bad Economic Choice

[RFKJrNews]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke out against the proposed toll road project in Orange County, California last week.

The toll road would slice through the middle of San Onofre State Beach park, and has provoked strong opposition from activists, surfers and State Parks. Toll road builiders say they will mitigate any environmental damage.”Those parks generate billions of dollars every year,” Kennedy said. “There are 80 million visitors to California parks (each year), $6 billion in returns for merchants, businesses and the state of California. This is one of the most visited parks in the state. To convert it to pavement is a crime.”

Kennedy was skeptical of the toll road builders’ contention that Foothill South would ease traffic problems, and said Orange County should look for other solutions.”There are lots of ways to solve traffic problems,” he said. “We need to start being imaginative, not just the same formula again and again — destroying life in California.”


Read the full story here:
http://rfkin2008.wordpress.com/2007/07/27/kennedy-says-toll-roads-are-a-bad-economic-choice/


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[OlderButWiser]

1. He's unhappy

because it's a road, not just because it's a toll road, right?

[Horse with no Name]

2. I don't like toll roads either

My taxes are supposed to pay for my roads, and I feel like I am being double-dipped when they charge me to drive on roads I have already paid for.

[Selatius]

3. You are, especially if the toll road was once a publicly owned road

When you privatize something that's already been built, you're subsidizing the corporation's construction costs whether you want to or not. It's corporate welfare.

[Selatius]

4. California should really invest in street buses and street trolleys if possible

If all you do is simply build more roads, then what happens is people fill up the new road with more cars, and you're back to square one again.

[NewJeffCT]

5. Toll roads add to traffic & pollution, no?

the traffic tie-ups at toll booths cause cars to slow down & speed up all the time, and when they're busy, they cause a lot of stop & go traffic.

[RFKJrNews]

6. Toll Roads are Corporate Welfare

Down here in Texas where I live, our Republican governor Rick Perry spearheaded the most unpopular toll road project in the state's history, a multi-billion dollar boondoggle which continues to face strong opposition from the people.

And this from the "If It Weren't So Sad, It Would Be Funny" department:

After the first new roads finally opened earlier this year, the number of traffic accidents on the highway actually spiked *upwards* due to drivers scrambling to take that LAST FREE EXIT so they wouldn't have to pay a 50 cent toll just to use an already existing exit ramp that they used to be able to use for free!

So you see the lengths we will go to just to AVOID these damn things. Most of the toll roads go unused by the locals, the booths sit there empty, they are not producing sufficient revenue to justify their expense, and the state was actually GIVING AWAY toll passes just to get folks to use these nice, new, shiny, *empty* roads.

And still, the governor (G.W. Bush's protege', not surprisingly)insists on building more. He and his corporate cronies haven't filled their coffers enough, I guess. So our fight down here ain't over yet!