Tolls on I-4 in Orlando to be pricey
Note the 'you can eat cake' elitist attitude of highway officials -- if you can't afford to pay for the pricey toll lanes, you can just stay sitting in congestion. The plan is to jack-up the price if the speed in the toll lanes drops 'too low.' It's called congestion pricing. What a scam!
Tolls along Interstate 4 to be pricey
By Mike Synan
July 10, 2013, Update July 17, 2013
Fox News, Orlando
Myfoxorlando.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -
When the construction of four new toll lanes along the center of Interstate 4 is complete, the Florida Department of Transportation says the variable tolls could be substantially more than what drivers are used to paying for other toll roads.
FDOT Project Manager Loreen Bobo says there will be five toll booths on the lanes that will run from State Road 434 in Longwood to Kirkman Road near the attractions.
"On a Sunday morning when there isn't as much traffic on I-4, there's probably not as many people that need to use the tolls, the managed lanes, the toll rate is going to be very low."
That rate is proposed at 50 cents for each of the five booths. The plan calls for the entire 21-mile stretch of road though to cost $13 when there are traffic jams. Bobo says it will be FDOT's job to make sure people paying get to actually escape the jams for a higher price.
"We're trying to manage the speed of those lanes, and that speed is 50 miles an hour. So if too many vehicles are getting into those lanes, and the speed is dropping because there are too many people are in those lanes, we are going to raise the toll rate to discourage more people for getting in."
The price of the road may be more than what people are used to, but FDOT Secretary Ananth Prasad says there is no need to fret over price. If you don't like the cost, don't use the road.
"You don't have to pay a nickel. You don't have to pay a penny to go from Lake Mary to Kirkman. You can take the existing I-4, the new I-4. At the end of the day it's about choices."
The hope is traffic will be lighter in the free lanes as well once people start using the toll lanes. With the funding mechanism now approved by Metroplan, the FDOT hopes to start construction in early 2015, and finish within 5 years. State revenue projects show they hope to collect more than $3.3 billion in tolls between 2020 and 2054.