The Trump Infrastructure Plan -- Toll Road Nation

[mamooth]

Elaine Chow, Transportation Secretary
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So, basically, we allow foreign inv—uh, we allow different kinds of money, private sector money to come into the United States—I’m not saying foreign—to come and fund, let’s say a bridge or a road or it can be any kind of infrastructure.
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Of course, the Chinese aren't going to build roads for us for free. They'll want to be paid back. Sean Hannity makes it clear how that works.

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If I'm hearing it properly, what you're saying is, for example, if a company were to rebuild a road, they might get their investment back by having a toll on that road
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Ah well. The mostly-free interstate system was nice while it lasted.

Trump-fans, I take it you're thrilled with the idea of every road being a toll road?

 

[yiostheoy]

Gotta pay for it somehow.

This is an East Coast thing.

West Coast highways are usually free -- that's where the word "freeway" comes from -- versus "tollway".

 

[Moonglow]

And no turn arounds...

 

[mamooth]

Liberals are the ones more used to toll roads, while conservatives tend to think it's their god-given right to drive for free anywhere and anytime.

Now the conservatives have a problem They despise toll roads, but Trump says toll roads are the way to go. What will they do?

Here in Indiana, Pence's predecessor sold off rights to the Indiana Turnpike to a foreign firm.

The Indiana Toll Road and the Dark Side of Privately Financed Highways

Didn't turn out so well. Traffic was projected to rise 22% in 7 years. They raised tolls, and traffic fell 11%. They went bankrupt. Managers still made out like bandits, while shareholders had to eat it.

 

[boedicca]

Sounds good to me. I have relatives in the midwest and have driven on toll roads quite a few times.

MUCH BETTER MAINTAINED than the pothole bumper to bumper nightmare road diet crap we endure in CA.

 

[kiwiman127]

This is the price the American people have to pay for incompetent government, specifically Congress. In recent decades, it's been like pulling teeth to get Congress to act on just keeping up our infrastructure.
Now, after all the resistance, our infrastructure is crumbling, It's fallen behind the boom of automobile/truck traffic and population growth. Our roads aren't safe. The poor condition of our roads has added a growth in automobile repair.
Congress and specifically those who fought the investment in America as described by the Constitution by taking care of our infrastructure, failed America. They also flunked their Constitutional obligation.
GENERAL WELFARE CLAUSE. Article I, section 8 of the U. S. Constitution grants Congress the power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common defense and general Welfare of the United States."
What is general welfare?
According to the legal dictionary; "The concern of the government for the health, peace, morality, and safety of its citizens." *
The infrastructure falls under safety. And health is another issue our Congress has failed us, the evidence is the outrageous cost of healthcare, compared to the rest of the world.
The bottom-lin, Congress has failed the Constitution and the citizens of the USA.

* General Welfare