Toll study raises questions about safety of alternate routes

Cybergal · Jan 17, 2008

Toll study raises questions about safety of alternate routes
1/16/08

Increasing tolls and privatization of public roads will lead to more traffic and dangerous conditions on alternate routes, the authors of an academic study stated in a report released Tuesday, Jan. 15.
The study strengthens the position of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association against the U.S. Department of Transportation's move in recent years to promote tolling and public-private partnerships.
Study authors Peter Swan of the University of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, PA, and Michael Belzer of Wayne State University in Detroit used traffic data and toll information from the Ohio Turnpike to illustrate that excessive tolling forces truckers and motorists onto alternative routes.

"Operationally, existing two-lane roads could be overburdened, making maintenance more expensive and adding to local congestion," Swan and Belzer stated in the report titled "Empirical Evidence of Toll Road Traffic Diversion and Implications for Highway Infrastructure Privatization."
"Additionally, non-interstate roads are inherently more dangerous than interstate roads, so diversions from interstate roads would likely result in greater property damage and greater loss of life," according to the report.
OOIDA leaders say that the report is timely and that it will strengthen the Association's position against excessive tolling and the leasing of highways to private investors.
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IceDogg · Oct 18, 2009

P.A.M. Transport has me running US20 and 224 on 95% of the loads that would normally have me use the Ohio Turnpike, unless the load is in a big hurry to be delivered on time. It's a pain in the ###, but I don't blame them, especially when the tolls were effected by the weight of the truck, not so much by the number of axles. Now that Ohio has EZ Pass, I wonder how different the toll amounts are now that they go by number of axles and not weight?

bdmose · Oct 18, 2009

I love the OH turnpike, its nice saving your showers for when you really need them

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