Michigan Votes Forum

No toll roads in Michigan.  Interchange tolls consume real estate and implementation will reduce highway access, both not good for the public.  Interchange tolls themselves require maintenance, staff to operate, and the added revenue stream requires accounting staff and processes.  All these new activities have costs and do nothing for the public.  If electronic reading and billing is applied, then we have "Big Brother" knowing where we are more of the time, which is not good for a free people. 

Do not privatize the high ways.  When the private firms fall into trouble, we cannot afford to have to deal with them the way the federal government had to deal with the banks and AIG. 

If the problem is having enough revenue to maintain the roads and bridges, raise the gasoline tax.  The processes are already in place; collecting the added revenue will cost no more.  Higher gasoline tax also will provide more incentive to conserve gasoline, which is good for the environment.  If I-94 becomes a toll road, I'm taking the back roads, which will require the use of more gasoline, which is bad for the environment.

It would be much better for our leaders to raise the gasoline tax and admit they are raising taxes, than to sell an asset, let the new owner raise our costs, and then blame the new owner for charging us too much--all so our leaders can say they did not raise taxes.  That is cowardly and not leadership.  Let state leadership protect our state and the interests of its citizens.  Toll roads and privatization of highways does no good to the state of Michigan, its environment, and its citizens.  Such a strategy only benefits our leaders, and that is abusive leadership at its best.

None of the privatized toll roads so far have provided enough money to fully cover the loss of tolls for maintenence over the life of the partnership. Look at the Indiana Toll Road-already maintenence is down, employees have been terminated and tolls raised. And, the state govt already realizes they are going to run out of money on it well before the 75-yr lease is up! Additionally, privatizing and tolling existing roads is essentially a 'taking' from the people of the State: they already paid for those roads! This amounts to double taxation of commercial users who already pay highway taxes in the form of licensing and fuel tax.The 'non-compete' clauses in these leases prevents the state from upgrading adjacent roads in an effort to FORCE use of the toll road, leaving roads in even worse shape! This is simply dumb, short-term thinking and solves no problems . . only puts them off til they can be blamed on a later administration.