Mike
Well-Known Member
Well, according to this article anyway..........
Trucking officials correctly warn that detouring rigs onto secondary roads "will have unintended negative consequences, such as increased congestion, wear and tear on highways and accidents."
Add to that a further decrease in toll revenue that the turnpike can ill afford. Trucks provide 55 percent of toll revenues and make up 20 percent of all turnpike traffic. It was a reduction in passenger and truck traffic that prompted the move to hike tolls on the 241-mile roadway. Truckers need to consider too that riding secondary roads will slow them up somewhat, and truckers are always pressed for time in traveling their routes. The turnpike is the best, and fastest, path across Ohio for the big rigs.
Turnpike commissioners plan to vote on toll increases in March and put them in place by the end of the year.
Truckers now receive a 15 percent monthly discount once they spend $1,000 on tolls. The program, offered since 1997, would be eliminated under E-ZPass, truckers complain. Drivers of passenger vehicles and motorcycles who use E-ZPass will not pay more until 2012, as an incentive to use the system. Truckers of big rigs will also receive E-ZPass incentives, but operators say they will still lose money.
Given the pinched economy, it's understandable that truckers are reluctant to pay higher tolls. But Ohio taxpayers, especially in our area, are equally reluctant to see a flood of transport trucks chewing up local secondary roads and breathing down motorists' bumpers.
Full Story
Trucking officials correctly warn that detouring rigs onto secondary roads "will have unintended negative consequences, such as increased congestion, wear and tear on highways and accidents."
Add to that a further decrease in toll revenue that the turnpike can ill afford. Trucks provide 55 percent of toll revenues and make up 20 percent of all turnpike traffic. It was a reduction in passenger and truck traffic that prompted the move to hike tolls on the 241-mile roadway. Truckers need to consider too that riding secondary roads will slow them up somewhat, and truckers are always pressed for time in traveling their routes. The turnpike is the best, and fastest, path across Ohio for the big rigs.
Turnpike commissioners plan to vote on toll increases in March and put them in place by the end of the year.
Truckers now receive a 15 percent monthly discount once they spend $1,000 on tolls. The program, offered since 1997, would be eliminated under E-ZPass, truckers complain. Drivers of passenger vehicles and motorcycles who use E-ZPass will not pay more until 2012, as an incentive to use the system. Truckers of big rigs will also receive E-ZPass incentives, but operators say they will still lose money.
Given the pinched economy, it's understandable that truckers are reluctant to pay higher tolls. But Ohio taxpayers, especially in our area, are equally reluctant to see a flood of transport trucks chewing up local secondary roads and breathing down motorists' bumpers.
Full Story