TU: Expect toll roads to be fact of life on the First Coast

[Patricia M. McBride]

OUTRAGEOUS TOTALLY!

 

Some argue the gas tax no longer generates enough revenue.

Posted: August 22, 2011 - 12:00am | Updated: August 22, 2011 - 9:33am

By Larry Hannan jacksonville.com Copyright 2011 The Florida Times-Union. All rights reserved. This m...

August 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Expect toll roads to be fact of life on the First Coast

The world has changed a lot since 1988.

Most people didn't know the Internet existed, pastel clothes were hip and toll roads were common in Jacksonville. Duval County voters decided to get rid of the tolls in a March 1988 election that also saw George Bush and Michael Dukakis win the Republican and Democratic primaries in Florida.

More than a generation later pastel clothes and Dukakis remain relics of the past, but toll roads are coming back.

Last week Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll and officials with the Florida Department of Transportation announced the state was moving forward with a plan to put tolls on ..., from Interstate 10 to Blanding Boulevard, probably 15 cents a mile.

Tolls would begin in 2016 when the $291 million project concludes.

The return of tolls has frustrated many who thought the half-cent sales tax approved by voters to replace the toll revenue meant the tolls were never coming back. But state officials say they had two choices: Toll the road or don't build it.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-08-22/story/expect-toll-roa...