[emersonbiggins]

Quote from angry commuter via the CBS link:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')It's not fair for people like me who have to commute, and we don't have any choice but take the freeways," says Just. "We shouldn't have to be taxed."

[SILENTTODD]

Thanks to everyone who participated up to now. I did pick up a few things, like I need to check out in depth more how the Romans built their roads. Seems I may have been underestimating them.

While I’ve never been abroad to other than Mexico (which surprisingly has some better stretches of highway then you think ), and parts of Canada, which I thought was just like the U.S, I know what respondents mean by the differing quality of roads even in the United States. And I agree with Loki about the quality of roads in Mississippi, having lived there for a year, years ago (I can’t believe it’s improved very much since then!).

And please forgive my typos, outright misspellings, and omission of connective words. I need to edit all my future postings on Word before submitting!

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SILENTTODD', 'I') need to check out in depth more how the Romans built their roads.

[Lore]

I believe you'll find that the road systems will fall apart rather rapidly without general maintenance. Have you ever noticed a closed off exit ramp from a highway, within six months plant vegetation and surface fractures soon make it almost unusable. Also, you only need to have a part of the road unusable to stop its use. Here in the South, whole sections of roads get closed off for many months due to rock and mudslides, some of them along major highways.

Recently, 45 states are looking into adding Toll Roads to their systems, as federal funding will be going upside down to help maintain the roads by 2009.

[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', ' ')Recently, 45 states are looking into adding Toll Roads to their systems, as federal funding will be going upside down to help maintain the roads by 2009.

[NeoPeasant]

[quote="Leanan"]This is a major trend in highways these days: privatization. Let a private company take over or build a highway, and charge people to use it.
quote]

With what we know is coming, would you want your retirement fund to consist of private toll road company stock? How long do you think toll roads will attract the necessary toll revenue when everyone is forced on to the bus? Toll roads and bridges have a long history of economic failure.

[retiredguy]

The impact of high oil prices is being felt around here. It has been determined that it will cost $780 billion over the ten years just to maintain the state's existing roads. With the state already deep in debt and taxpayers howling about property taxes, from where is this revenue going to come? My bet is that it is going to come from cuts to social programs and school aid.

Also, in my county, they've begun to chip-seal the roads rather than resurface them. The cost of asphalt is battering local road budgets.

When discussing the difference between Roman roads and modern ones, remember than the Romans didn't have to be concerned with multi-ton vehicles moving at 70+ mph. Modern roads require a level of engineering and maintenance many levels above the needs that faced the Romans.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', ' ')Recently, 45 states are looking into adding Toll Roads to their systems, as federal funding will be going upside down to help maintain the roads by 2009.

[Leanan]

DaimlerChrysler sales drop by over a third

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]But the Mercedes division rose by four percent.

[perdition79]

Asphalt roads are too valuable to be left intact when oil runs out. We'll boil the roads and use the sludge.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('perdition79', 'A')sphalt roads are too valuable to be left intact when oil runs out. We'll boil the roads and use the sludge.

[marko]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateralus', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'I') don't think the U.S. highway system will survive the peak.

European and Canadian roads will probably last longer. They are built to last, because they are more willing to spend money on roads there. They are also more willing to put up with inconvenience to get the job done right.

[perdition79]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('perdition79', 'A')sphalt roads are too valuable to be left intact when oil runs out. We'll boil the roads and use the sludge.

[dub_scratch]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('perdition79', 'A')sphalt roads are too valuable to be left intact when oil runs out. We'll boil the roads and use the sludge.

[perdition79]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dub_scratch', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('perdition79', 'A')sphalt roads are too valuable to be left intact when oil runs out. We'll boil the roads and use the sludge.

[emersonbiggins]

And, so, the great Interstate II project begins...

Plans for 210-mile loop around Dallas/Fort Worth approved by North Central Texas Council of Governments.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')ommission favors loop around D-FWBy Gordon Dickson
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
AUSTIN - A proposed toll road that would encircle Dallas-Fort Worth has a new nickname: the Doughnut.

Texas Transportation Commission members passed out Krispy Kreme doughnuts Thursday to symbolize their support for the outer loop, which would be built in segments from 2011 to 2030 as part of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

They also celebrated the commission's approval Thursday of a new road-building partnership among Metroplex cities and counties, the North Texas Tollway Authority and the state. The partnership would also work with any companies wishing to build private toll roads in the area.

"We are committed to the Doughnut," commission Chairman Ric Williamson declared, raising a pastry to about 30 visiting North Texans.

Dozens of boxes of doughnuts were brought into the meeting and passed to speakers and the audience. They were courtesy of Gov. Rick Perry, Williamson said.

Perry came out in support of the Metroplex's outer loop plan earlier this month. Several people referred to its doughnut shape, and the nickname stuck like wet sugar.

Metroplex leaders asked that Trans-Texas be built close to Metroplex roads, rather than going east of Dallas and bypassing the metro area.

Part of the loop would fit snugly around Tarrant County, following Johnson County's Farm Road 917 to the south and the Parker County line to the west.

The federal environmental review on the proposed route is expected to be completed in the next few years.

North Texas' support for Trans-Texas stood out during 54 hearings statewide this summer. Most of the nearly 3,000 Texans who spoke or submitted comments about the project were against it.

Planning for the 210-mile loop must start now, said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. "We think this right of way must be acquired as soon as possible," Morris said, adding that the longer the wait, the more expensive and developed the land will be.... [edited from FW Star-Telegram article]

[pedalling_faster]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('grabby', 'W')HEN THEY BURN THE LAST OF THE OIL, THESE WILL MAKE GREAT TENNIS COURTS.

[Denny]

I like how the nickname "the doughnut" fits this venture in rearview mirror thinking . What a perfect symbol of our "lumpenleisure" times, as Kunstler would call it.

Homer Simpson is happily leaving Springfield to become a Texan.

Dohhhhhnut!

[Kez]

Good grief you guys are so negative! This idea is fantastic. It will be wonderful for transportation, never need maintainence, and be on time and under budget. Just look at how well the Big Dig up in Boston turned out. A true masterpiece of government efficiency and planning!




/sarcasm OFF

[evilgenius]

I think that it is a shame that instead of creating an electrically powered high-speed rail link between Americas cities we are going to try this instead. It will soon be too late to economically establish such linkages. We could have had the system as a legacy of pre-PO. I guess we will have to be content with virtual images of each other because travel will be unheard of.