I’m back from Florida, and the most prominent feature of the Florida landscape is not the sun and the water; it’s the toll roads. I drove around the Tampa area and off to the Weeki Wachee Springs Mermaid Show, and it seemed like I was stopping every 10 minutes to give someone a dollar. I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the idea that Gov. Daniels has relegated I-80/90 to toll road status pretty much in perpetuity, but I sincerely hope toll roads don’t start popping up like mushrooms as they seem to have done in Florida.
The mermaid show, on the other hand, is pretty cool. It’s been going on for 60 years. They have women in mermaid costumes swimming around while a narrator tells the story of The Little Mermaid. The women don’t come up for air; rather there are air hoses underwater that they breathe from every so often. Great road-side attraction stuff; though my boy tells me the witch was scary.
The toll from Miami to Orlando is about $18 for 250 miles,possibly more now, so Indiana could really rake in the money if the toll would be increased to a similar rate. The Indiana tollroad must be about 200 miles.At least you don’t have to constantly stop and pay as in other parts of Florida,including Tampa and Orlando..just one bill at the end. At least, the high cost of gas now mitigates the shock of the high tollway fees.
As a Florida native, I grew up traveling on these roads, mainly the Turnpike and the Sawgrass Expressway (in South Florida).
In recent years, the state has issued the “SunPass”, a wireless device that allows you to zip through toll booths without stopping, plus you save something like 20% off the toll. These things are sold all over the state, supermarkets, drugstores, online, etc.
Frankly, as a libertarian, I like the concept of toll roads. The more that expenses are paid by the actual user, the better for me.
In truth, Mitch couldn’t build/convert enough toll roads to suit me.
You have to stop with the Sunpass, just not as long. I tend to think that infrastructure benefits us all, directly or indirectly; so it’s probably not fair for only the direct beneficiaries to foot the entire bill.
Indiana will have something called I-Zoom (although my I-Pass from Illinois will work, too.) It is working on the western edge and should be in place one the whole 160 miles of the Toll Road by May. We’ll still have to stop and turn in the ticket, but at least I’ll no longer have to make sure I have enough cash with me.