I understand that people bitterly oppose tolling roads. I really do. I was discussing congestion pricing the other day with one of my co-workers. I told her that if I were dictator, the first thing I'd do is congestion price I-35. She told me the first thing she'd do is have my wife put arsenic in my drink. Since she is an intelligent, well-educated attorney who lives in the 'burbs -- and would benefit from congestion pricing as much as anyone -- I have little hope that it will ever be politically palatable.
But we ought to be able to do something with the lumbering tractor-trailers that clog our roads daily. An 18-wheeler takes up about three times as much space as a passenger car. It stops and accelerates much more slowly than a passenger car. These big trucks cause a disproportionate amount of congestion.
Relieving congestion, of course, was the main reason TxDOT built SH 130 to the east of town. It hopes that through trucks, in particular, will choose SH 130 to avoid I-35's congestion.
But we apparently are determined to keep them driving through the middle of town. Ben Wear notes the big trucks will have to pay more than $25 in tolls to bypass Austin completely. And since the SH 130 route is about 15 miles longer than the route straight through town, they will have to pay an extra $12 or so for diesel on top of that. We thus intend to charge big trucks about $37 for the privilege of not contributing to gridlock on I-35.
How is this a good deal for truck drivers? Let's suppose they can save 20 minutes by using SH 130 rather than I-35. That's the best case, I'm sure -- I imagine they'll usually save less time than that, or none at all. But let's just suppose. By charging drivers $35+ per trip, we're assuming they value their time at more than $105/hour. Not bloody likely.
Incentives matter. We are incentivizing trucks to avoid our spanking new bypass. It's as if we want them to continue clogging I-35. Brilliant.
