$9 billion highway project would widen 3 major Maryland roadways with toll lanes, Hogan says
Source: Baltimore Sun
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday proposed a $9 billion plan to add express toll lanes to the routes of three of Maryland’s most congested highways — the Interstate 495 Capital Beltway, the I-270 spur connecting Frederick to D.C., and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway between the two cities.
“This problem has been marring the quality of life of Maryland citizens for decades,” Hogan said at a news conference. “Today, we are finally going to do something about it.”
The highway expansions would add two express toll lanes each way to roughly 100 miles of roadways in Maryland’s densely populated central region. Existing lanes on each road would remain free to drivers.
The massive undertaking involves persuading the federal government to give the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, now controlled by the National Park Service, to the Maryland Transportation Authority.
Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-hogan-projects-20170921-story.html
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is a puke, and this proposal involves transferring public assets into private hands. More selling off of the commons. More toll roads.
And, creating a two-tiered freeway system which penalizes Americans who can't afford to pay the tolls.
When are Americans going to wake up to the fact that they are being robbed? Never, apparently.
Least of all of giving privateers a concession to collect said tolls ("we can't make a profit unless we keep raising the tolls - honest!"
.
Public roads are a vital necessity to any modern society, and as such should be maintained through our taxes and other public revenues.
Last edited Fri Sep 22, 2017, 05:25 PM - Edit history (2)
infesting the White House to plot out how to carve up the public assets. Plus, they want to get their tax cuts first. The selling off of the public commons is coming next.
This country is just what Jimmy Carter recently said it was: an oligarchy. The peasantry is expected to just sit back while the feudal lords divvy up the spoils once they got their tool dump installed. It's a corporate coup. Wouldn't have been possible but for all of the dumbass, faux-loving idiots who don't understand what is going on.
Oh, and this is classic rent-seeking--imposing a surcharge on every possible activity, with said surcharge going into the pockets of the wealthy. The populace doesn't benefit--in fact, usually suffers--but the overlords just want to extract all the $$$ possible from us and harvest from every conceivable source. Hence, more and more once-undisputed public assets are targeted to go into private hands.
This country badly needs a revolution. The next FDR is forthcoming, we can only hope, before we descend into abject servitude. But, the sociopathic kochs have an answer for that, too: a constitutional convention, wherein they can enshrine fealty to corporate interests.
