Remember Toll Roads?

When you think of toll roads, what do you think of? The 50's, 60's or 70's? Privileged access to express lanes? Coin slots in older cars? Well, what you should be thinking of is paying tolls on many Washington roads—soon. Did you know that the Washington State Transportation Commission has been seriously researching how they can implement tolls as an additional source of revenue, and that some form of tolls is likely to be rolled out soon? It's true. Apparently the ever-increasing gas tax and the still-not-$30 tabs just aren't bringing in enough money. Check out some of the points from the Tolling Study Summary (pdf) ("pricing" is code for tolls):

• Pricing can manage traffic to make the system flow more efficiently and reliably.
• Pricing saves people time, and time is money.
• Pricing generates revenue.

Do you believe that tolls save people time and money? Last Wednesday a public forum on tolls (pdf) was held in Seattle. It will be broadcast this Wednesday, April 19 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on your local TVW affiliate . At this point there might not be much we can do to stop tolls from making a comeback in Washington. Or maybe you think that tolls are long overdue for a return. If we're not informed, there's definitely nothing we can do about tolls, one way or the other.

(Thanks to reader Bill Wright for tipping me off to this important issue.)