Caterwauling

An article in the WaPo talks about a potential toll road system running alongside major interstates, like the Capital Beltway, as a way of alleviating traffic and raising revenue to build/repair our heavily traveled roads.

Meaning, two-hour commutes to go 10 miles? A thing of the past, if you’re willing to pay the price for your free time. And the older I get, the more I realize I can’t put a price on my free time — if my time ain’t generating revenue, then it should be spent parked on the couch or, at the very least, in front of the Mac, surfing porn sites reading blogs writing books.

From the article:

“But these dream scenarios come with a cost: a toll as high as a dollar a mile in heavily traveled areas during peak times. A 56-mile commute between the Fredericksburg area and Washington could cost as much as $30 if a driver chose the traffic-free route, according to one analysis.”

Considering that I cover slightly more miles in a day, um, yikes! Not to say that I’d take the lane every day, nor do I really drive during peak rush hours, but these new lanes aren’t exactly fo’ the po’. Thirty bucks? I’d better be speeding to a really hot date, for that kind of cashish!

I wonder, though, will there be toll booths like on the Pennsylvania Turnpike? Or will it be like the Dulles Toll Road, where you’re expected to hurl a quarter into a net like you’re at a bad carnival game on the boardwalk? Or can you exceed 80 mph and the automated toll booth doesn’t even register that you’ve dashed through it and therefore you don’t have to pay?

I mean, it’s hard to toss $30 at someone or some kind of receptacle. I’d be holding up traffic, clinging to the cash and sobbing hot, furious tears as I thought of a skirt at Old Navy that it could be buying instead. But then I’d rationalize that, by staying in the regular, pothole-infested Beltway lanes (with the squiggly lane lines, which my preoccupied ass always manages to follow. *sigh*), I’d miss that Old Navy sale by three hours, during which time someone might be taking home MY skirt.

Ah, the things I think about while I’m in the car. 😉

Anyway, I guess my flakes get frosted when I read comments that lawmakers cannot come up with another way to find the funding to fix the existing roads. You know, it’s so expensive to live here anyway that they can’t ream us for more taxes. But I can’t seem to figure out where the money’s going that we DO pour into Uncle Sam’s sieve of a wallet. (No, I’m not going to say Iraq. I’m only going to THINK it.)

In any event, apparently Virginia’s quite the hotspot, as Bennifer may be moving to Old Dominion. The hope seems to be that Bennifer will become Benator — as in, a Democratic Senator Ben.

You know what? That idea’s crazy enough to make me want to stay, what with a possible $30-a-day commute and all. Seriously, could he really do any worse than what we’ve already got?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2005 at 12:56 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.