Comments on: Building Highways the Hard Way http://www.bold-words.com/building-highways-the-hard-way/ Exploring how bold words can give life to bold ideas. Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:13:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: ObiJohn http://www.bold-words.com/building-highways-the-hard-way/comment-page-1/#comment-555 ObiJohn Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:13:17 +0000 http://bold-words.com/?p=387#comment-555 Most damage to our roadways is done by large trucks. One loaded 18-wheeler going down the freeway adds as much wear as several hundred cars... because the truck will flex the road where a car won't. The next time you're on an asphalt-surfaced freeway, look at the ruts that trucks have literally pressed into the pavement. How about we restrict trucks to the rightmost lanes on freeways, and that will cut repaving costs in half.<br><br>Another source of damage is studded tires. If I were King I'd put a huge tax on every studded tire, to help pay for the damage they cause... and I'd restrict their usage to only those months where snow could reasonably be expected. Here in WA state, people drive on studded tires for 6 months... ridiculous! <br><br>And finally, how about putting a very minimal mileage tax on all cars, say a half-cent per mile? That would work out to about $60 for 12k miles... enough to cover the wear caused by a year's driving from the average car driver. Most damage to our roadways is done by large trucks. One loaded 18-wheeler going down the freeway adds as much wear as several hundred cars… because the truck will flex the road where a car won't. The next time you're on an asphalt-surfaced freeway, look at the ruts that trucks have literally pressed into the pavement. How about we restrict trucks to the rightmost lanes on freeways, and that will cut repaving costs in half.

Another source of damage is studded tires. If I were King I'd put a huge tax on every studded tire, to help pay for the damage they cause… and I'd restrict their usage to only those months where snow could reasonably be expected. Here in WA state, people drive on studded tires for 6 months… ridiculous!

And finally, how about putting a very minimal mileage tax on all cars, say a half-cent per mile? That would work out to about $60 for 12k miles… enough to cover the wear caused by a year's driving from the average car driver.

]]> By: Shannon Ehlers http://www.bold-words.com/building-highways-the-hard-way/comment-page-1/#comment-478 Shannon Ehlers Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:31:59 +0000 http://bold-words.com/?p=387#comment-478 First off, great post - you've produced yet another excellent "smack in the head", as Hildy puts it. By the way, I think hunters and fishermen have done more for the wildlife conservation movement through their own efforts privately than any government organization has done through the use of their licensing fees and other assorted taxes. Second, I love your idea of usage fees - or, maybe 'love' is too strong a word. I think it is the best idea I've heard (I don't really love any tax, to speak of). In my state (Iowa) we have a very rural part of the state (western) and an increasingly urban part of the state (central to eastern). Guess where most of our road use tax (a.k.a. gas tax) goes? If you said central and eastern Iowa, you win the gold star. For those of us western Iowa folk who never venture to our state's capital or to any points east of there, that is a ridiculous tax and an outright insult to people who live in the most rural parts of the state. To give my favorite hideous local example of this discriminatory tax, we have numerous bridges on state highways here in the western part of the state with signs stating that the bridge is only safe for one truck at a time. Last time I visited central Iowa, I didn't see a single bridge that couldn't support two semi trucks at once, and in addition I saw numerous freeway improvement projects around our capital city. I'm sure this is not unique to Iowa - that it is probably played out time and time again in places all over our great country. Your idea for compartmentalizing road use tax is, so far, the most logical thinking I've heard on the subject. I would add a regional aspect to the divisions, also, to better account for costs of things like regional interstate highways (beltways & freeways) around and through cities. First off, great post – you’ve produced yet another excellent “smack in the head”, as Hildy puts it. By the way, I think hunters and fishermen have done more for the wildlife conservation movement through their own efforts privately than any government organization has done through the use of their licensing fees and other assorted taxes.

Second, I love your idea of usage fees – or, maybe ‘love’ is too strong a word. I think it is the best idea I’ve heard (I don’t really love any tax, to speak of).

In my state (Iowa) we have a very rural part of the state (western) and an increasingly urban part of the state (central to eastern). Guess where most of our road use tax (a.k.a. gas tax) goes? If you said central and eastern Iowa, you win the gold star. For those of us western Iowa folk who never venture to our state’s capital or to any points east of there, that is a ridiculous tax and an outright insult to people who live in the most rural parts of the state.

To give my favorite hideous local example of this discriminatory tax, we have numerous bridges on state highways here in the western part of the state with signs stating that the bridge is only safe for one truck at a time. Last time I visited central Iowa, I didn’t see a single bridge that couldn’t support two semi trucks at once, and in addition I saw numerous freeway improvement projects around our capital city.

I’m sure this is not unique to Iowa – that it is probably played out time and time again in places all over our great country. Your idea for compartmentalizing road use tax is, so far, the most logical thinking I’ve heard on the subject. I would add a regional aspect to the divisions, also, to better account for costs of things like regional interstate highways (beltways & freeways) around and through cities.

]]> By: Britt http://www.bold-words.com/building-highways-the-hard-way/comment-page-/#comment-477 Britt Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:09:50 +0000 http://bold-words.com/?p=387#comment-477 @Hildy: Sadly, I believe we'll never run out of examples of entities encouraging certain behavior then scratching their heads over the fallout, despite the best of intentions. We seem disinclined to examine the consequences, both good and bad, of promoting specific actions. I've been following the the guys behind <a href="http://nudges.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">Nudge</a>, Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein. I'm hopeful that more people will pay attention to their work and how little things can make big differences in creating change or promoting behavior. It seems like we get caught up with the idea that action has to be big or dramatic to affect behavior. We've been quick to adopt roads for picking up trash. Maybe it's time we adopted roads for upkeep and maintenance. @Hildy: Sadly, I believe we’ll never run out of examples of entities encouraging certain behavior then scratching their heads over the fallout, despite the best of intentions. We seem disinclined to examine the consequences, both good and bad, of promoting specific actions. I’ve been following the the guys behind Nudge, Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein. I’m hopeful that more people will pay attention to their work and how little things can make big differences in creating change or promoting behavior. It seems like we get caught up with the idea that action has to be big or dramatic to affect behavior. We’ve been quick to adopt roads for picking up trash. Maybe it’s time we adopted roads for upkeep and maintenance.

]]> By: Hildy Gottlieb http://www.bold-words.com/building-highways-the-hard-way/comment-page-1/#comment-476 Hildy Gottlieb Sat, 03 Jan 2009 03:48:31 +0000 http://bold-words.com/?p=387#comment-476 Thank you so much for this great smack in the head observation! Oh, the triumph of means (money) over ends (what we really want to accomplish - i.e. strong infrastructure, etc.)! About a year ago, I found a similar smack-in-the-head and wrote about it in a post I called "I Only Hurt You Because I Love You." The head-smack for me was reading that wildlife agencies were lamenting the shrinking ranks of hunters, as the decrease was causing a decrease in revenues for conservation. Yes, unless more people killed those animals, the government couldn't afford to work at keeping them alive! http://is.gd/esrH Thanks for giving me something else to shake my head over this weekend! Hildy Thank you so much for this great smack in the head observation! Oh, the triumph of means (money) over ends (what we really want to accomplish – i.e. strong infrastructure, etc.)!

About a year ago, I found a similar smack-in-the-head and wrote about it in a post I called “I Only Hurt You Because I Love You.” The head-smack for me was reading that wildlife agencies were lamenting the shrinking ranks of hunters, as the decrease was causing a decrease in revenues for conservation. Yes, unless more people killed those animals, the government couldn’t afford to work at keeping them alive! http://is.gd/esrH

Thanks for giving me something else to shake my head over this weekend!
Hildy

]]>