Let's raise the toll on a road that hardly anybody uses anyway. That's a good idea.

[Bruce_Daddy]

It was a good idea in theory. We’ll:

• Build a road that bypasses all of Greenville for people traveling between Atlanta and Columbia.
• We’ll borrow money from private investors so we won’t have to increase taxes.
• In a few years, the road will be paid for, the investors will be rich and Joe Traveller will have a shorter/quicker route between Atlanta and Columbia.

What could go wrong? Lots:

-Good ol’ boy politics. The highway was planned to ran much further south and west and more of a straight line. When the people that owned land in the ‘triangle’ learned how much money landowners in the path of the highway were getting, they called in all the favors to get it moved. “Hell Martha, we can get thousands and thousands if that new fangled road goes through the old cow pasture! Call [person in charge] right quick!” Somehow, they lobbied and won and got the thing moved.

Take a good look at that. (The connector is the highway with the funny symbols) Does that look faster to you? It’s not a trick question.

Here’s the good part. A local news channel took 2 cars and 2 helicopters and raced them the first week it was open to see how much faster the Connector was. The car that took the Connector lost by a minute.

The new “fast way” was slower. And it cost $1.50. One way.

This was about 3 years ago. Is Bruce_Daddy holding a grudge about a stupid toll road after 3 years? No. I actually don’t mind it. If I’m heading west, sometimes I’ll hunt through the change drawer, grab 6 quarters and take it. I mean it’s a nice quiet ride through the country, not many cars and I like to see how fast I can drive through the toll booth and still get the quarters in the basket.

The problem is these dumbfucks just started doing the math and realized they aren’t going to get their money back. Not in 20 years, not in 50 years, never. So they’re going to raise the toll. Yes, I know the article says they’re thinking about it, never mind that, they are. And yes, $0.50 isn’t going to break the bank, it’s just the principle of the thing. I think they skipped their economics classes in school but I’m pretty sure that raising the rate is going to drive more people, like myself, to take the quick and free way. At 8 quarters a pop, the change jar is going to get empty pretty quick.

If you’re too lazy to read the article, here are some good quotes:

The $1.50 toll that passenger cars pay to drive the 16-mile Southern Connector is likely to go up next year, as traffic revenues continue to fall short of projections by roughly two-thirds.

@dumbass

“It appears that the same problem we’ve been staring at for the last year is still here … the traffic revenue is not there, and it appears to be leveling off,” said John Macko, a New York investor who has been vocally concerned about his Connector bonds.

“Somebody on the board of the Connector 2000 Association should be addressing what do we do in the next few years.”

Way to wait until after the fact to start worrying about it.

The state, which already owns the road, will control it in case of a default or the bonds are paid off, whichever comes first, according to the bond agreement.

Hmm. Sounds like Daddy might be taxed for a toll road nobody uses after all.

Average daily transactions were more than 14,400 in June, or 56 percent short of the 32,781 originally projected for this year.

Nice.

Future toll rates for all vehicles, he said, are still under review.

So the short of it is, I’m gonna get stuck paying for a road I didn’t get to vote about. When the loan defaults, it’ll fall in my lap. W. T. F.

[Zsofia]

Er… why would you go through Greenville to go from Atlanta to Columbia? That’s stupid. I-20 is a straight shot. Maybe there’s things you’d want to pass Greenville by to get to (I dunno, Tennessee? I rarely go upstate.) but Atlanta dosen’t really seem like one of 'em. You could go that way, but why?

[qcomdrj]

It was to make Upstate 85 to Columbia go faster. Clemson, Anderson, Etc. Doesn’t help any though. And if you’re going to TN, you end up on either Hwy 25 to 26 going towards NC, or Hwy 27 out of Seneca/Walhalla towards Highlands. And yes, it is retarded. But Greenville does have the plans for that nice new park your taxes are paying for, that is if they haven’t already started building it.

[whiterabbit]

I was thinking the same thing, Zsophia – I used to live in Augusta, right smack between Atlanta and Columbia. I-20 is boring as all hell, but it’s a straight shot between them.

[Bruce_Daddy]

What qcomdrj said. When I say Columbia or Atlanta, I’m think of folks in that direction. So yeah, the Southern Collector :snort: is mainly for people going between (Clemson, Anderson, Easley, the west side) and (Clinton, Laurens, Simpsonville).

@whiterabbit

I-20 is boring as all hell

That’s the understatement of the year.

[whiterabbit]

I see. It looks like this road was one of the stupidest roads ever, from what I can tell. Do they have a toll tag (what they’re called here) for locals? I have to drive over a toll bridge to get into New Orleans proper and if you have a tag it’s 40 cents as opposed to a dollar per trip. Maybe they might attract a few locals with lower tolls instead of attracting none at all with higher ones?

I’ll be very happy if I never have to see that stretch if I-20 again, though. yawn

[Zsofia]

I know I must sound like a city snob, but honestly, the people going from Easley to Simpsonville can pay for their own damned road. My tax dollars indeed, as if there weren’t plenty of places those dollars needed to go.

And I-20 is certainly awfully boring, but those people who say it is have evidently not driven I-16 from Macon to Savannah. At least there’s some gas stations on I-20. Good lord, talk about a place God forgot about.

[Jaade]

@Zsofia

I know I must sound like a city snob, but honestly, the people going from Easley to Simpsonville can pay for their own damned road. My tax dollars indeed, as if there weren’t plenty of places those dollars needed to go.

And I-20 is certainly awfully boring, but those people who say it is have evidently not driven I-16 from Macon to Savannah. At least there’s some gas stations on I-20. Good lord, talk about a place God forgot about.

I was wondering when someone was going to bring up I-16. That is a god-awful stretch of highway if there ever was one! I used to live in Statesboro when I went to GSU, and my hometown was an hour south of Savannah, so I took that road home all the time. I thought I would die of boredom.

Another time I went from Atlanta to my hometown, taking 75 down to 16 and then to 95. I got gas in Atlanta, but didn’t want to stop in Macon at 10PM at night. I somehow missed the exit that I knew had gas (close to Statesboro) and ended up all the way into Savannah :eek: before I found one. I was coaxing my little truck the last 15 miles (it seemed like 100). Please, please…I know you are low on gas, we are almost to Savannah…please please keep going.

~grins~ Sorry to hijack your thread Bruce Daddy!

[Reeder]

Boring?

Try I-10 through Louisiana.

[The_Vorlon]

Bruce Daddy, your missing the point.

Why are you feeding this pig your hard earned quarters?

Give them what they deserve.

Two dollar bills.

Dolar coins, preferably Susan B. Anthony’s

Fifty cent pieces.

ANYTHING to screw up their cash draws.

You might not be able to do anything to the goat felchers running the road, but think of it as you are helping karma along…

[MsRobyn]

@Reeder

Boring?

Try I-10 through Louisiana.

Shit, that’s a fucking scenic route.

Try I-20 through West Texas.

Robin

[Jaade]

@Reeder

Boring?

Try I-10 through Louisiana.

Surely you jest…

Have you been on I-10 from Pensacola to Tallahassee, or from Tallahassee to J’ville? You can get from Houston to NO in 6 hours, going through four cities. I-10 is bumpy through LA to be sure, but it’s not as boring as 1-16 or the other parts of I-10. I haven’t been on I-20, so I must bow to MsRobyn’s judgement on that score.

[asterion]

@MsRobyn

Shit, that’s a fucking scenic route.

Try I-20 through West Texas.

Robin

How about I-40 through the panhandle?

[Mama_Tiger]

We call the stretch of I-20 between Augusta and Atlanta the Kudzu Tunnel. It’s just bored through the kudzu without so much as a 5 degree bend for miles at a stretch. About halfway, you cross over a lake, so for about 30 seconds you get scenery. Otherwise, it’s just kuzdu and more kudzu.

At least I-20 through West Texas has some distant scenery. I haven’t been on I-16, but I’ll trust those who say it’s worse.

But all that notwithstanding, Greenville isn’t on the way from anywhere to anywhere, that I’m aware of. The idea that it would want or need a toll road is even more ludicrous. Highway planners are morons everywhere!

[qcomdrj]

*Originally posted by Mama Tiger *
But all that notwithstanding, Greenville isn’t on the way from anywhere to anywhere, that I’m aware of. The idea that it would want or need a toll road is even more ludicrous. Highway planners are morons everywhere!

Hey now. G’Vegas is a nice place to visit from Clemson. It also happens to be sort of on the way from Asheville to Charleston. Wait. Carry on.

[Bruce_Daddy]

@qcomdrj

Hey now. G’Vegas is a nice place to visit from Clemson. It also happens to be sort of on the way from Asheville to Charleston. Wait. Carry on.

Hello? How else are you going to get from Blue Ridge to Moonville?