Feds OK money for 'Lexus lanes' on Interstate 95

[DemocratSinceBirth]

FORT LAUDERDALE - Drivers will soon be able to buy their way out of traffic jams on a 21-mile stretch of Interstate 95 between Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

The Florida Department of Transportation announced Tuesday it received a $62.9 million grant from the federal government to convert I-95's carpool lanes to toll lanes from Broward Boulevard to Interstate 395 in Miami.

South Florida was one of nine urban areas shortlisted by the U.S. Department of Transportation in June among 27 originally competing for $1 billion in federal dollars aimed at helping cities reduce congestion.



http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-814roadmoney,0,5105404.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout

[bluerum]

1. Hey feds - how about helping out people who are losing their home due to

predatory lending practices that were FEDERALLY APPROVED!

Rotten bastards.
:grr: :mad: :grr:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. About Twenty Years Ago I Drove That Highway In A Driving Rain...

I had to go seventy to keep up with the traffic...

That's my only memory of it...

[ellenfl]

5. nah, they're too busy bailing out the lenders. eom

[aquart]

3. Feel free to spill tacks on the toll lanes.

How dare those bastards.

[Raine]

4. Silly me

I thought that our taxes paid for roads and that they belonged to everyone. :eyes:

[dysfunctional press]

7. not all roads.

diferent roads are financed in different ways. here in northern illinois, there are a lot of toll-road highways, because the downstaters didn't want to pay to build roads for chicagoans to use(even though chicago is THE economic engine of the state).

[TomInTib]

6. I have long thought this was a good idea.

And I don't care what anyone here says.

Creating a toll lane on a public highway makes perfect sense to me.

You can still carpool, it's just going to cost you a little.

Something's gotta give.

[dysfunctional press]

8. it is a good idea.

nt

[daninthemoon]

9. So, just use as much gas as you can afford? Anywhere I drive

in this country, it amazes me that most of the cars only contain the driver. I'm guilty of this myself most often, but carpool lanes are a perfectly reasonable incentive. What does charging a toll accomplish?

[TomInTib]

14. First thing, I do not drive more than 1/4 mile.

I will sometimes drive down the hill to the grocery store but anything farther than that, I just don't bother.

I believe toll charges could go into the General Road Fund (repairs, etc.).

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. In Central Florida They Have Something Called The Green Belt

It's a subtle "Lexus" Lane... There are tolls but it's much less crowded and much more faster...

[KharmaTrain]

11. I Agree With You

There virtually no Interstate in any metropolitan area that doesn't turn into a portable parking lot fro 6-9am and again in the afternoon. Most of these cars have one occupant (even in HOV states) and one can't even calculate how much gas is wasted in those long jams and just the fact people are still would rather drive their cars than look at alternative forms of transportation.

If someone feels they NEED to drive let them pay for it. Our roads are crumbling...thanks to boooshie's tax cuts...and if someone wants to hog up the highway, they should pay for it.

[ThomWV]

12. So they built a road with my tax money and I'm not allowed to drive on it?

[bluerum]

13. Well,,,, not unless you pay more money. Some would call this extortion.

The rich call it privilege.