THE MORNING RANT: The Toll Road Rebellion Scores a Major Victory in Alabama

New York Governor Hochul has just backed away from a punitive hike in tolls that would have to be paid to drive into Manhattan. The $15 toll was going to save the climate, of course, and coincidentally raise revenue for the state government. Non-affluent, non-Manhattanites were extremely angry and Hochul could feel the heat. She backed away from the increased tolls out of political fear of a growing populist backlash.

Meanwhile, down south, if you’ve ever driven to the Alabama beaches, there’s a good chance you’ve paid a toll at the Foley Beach Express Bridge as you left the mainland and entered Orange Beach. You will not have to pay that toll again. Something remarkable just happened – the state of Alabama has purchased the bridge from the private company that owned the bridge, and all toll collections have been terminated. The highway is free and open now.

This anti-toll road backlash exemplifies a type of populist conservatism that is alien to both parties.

Regarding private toll roads, such as the one in Alabama, the old Republican establishment’s “small government” mantra found fulfillment in the outsourcing and privatization of services that government should actually provide. Corporatist Republicans would rather a private company collect tolls than have the government provide un-tolled highway freedom to its citizens.

“No more toll: For first time in decades, Alabama to remove a bridge toll” [AL.com – 5/22/2024]

For the first time in 51 years, a toll will be removed from an Alabama road or bridge after Gov. Kay Ivey and a group of South Alabama officials gathered Wednesday to officially sign the paperwork transferring the Foley Beach Express Bridge to state ownership.

The state purchased the bridge from the Baldwin County Bridge Company (BCBC) for approximately $60 million, ending a nearly quarter century private ownership of the structure that included tolling.

Please don’t think that my preference for state ownership of roads over a private company makes me a fan of high-taxes and big government. I most certainly am not. But with this action, the state of Alabama is relieving the citizenry of a de facto tax that was being steered to a government-favored private entity which had no competition. There is nothing “free enterprise” about the state awarding a multi-decade contract to a company that gains monopoly control of an essential utility.

Despite the anarchistic dreams of some libertarians, a tax-free municipal government is not possible. We pay our taxes, which should be kept low, and then there are certain expectations from us on how the tax money is spent. While we do not want our taxes being used to provide pensions for 48-year-old municipal retirees, we have every reason to expect our taxes to provide certain infrastructure and services, including roads, bridges, and policing, among other functions. Responsible conservatism can be opposed to wasteful transfer payments while still supporting taxpayer-funded roads and policing.

The typical American driver detests toll roads much like they detested the 55-mph speed limit. The repeal of the reviled 55-mph speed limit was perhaps the most celebrated change that came of the Republicans’ Gingrich-era capture of the House of Representatives. The elimination of a hated toll by Gov. Ivey has a similar emotional impact on normal Americans.

Matt Ericksen, the Southwest region engineer for the Alabama Department of Transportation, said that the bridge company has a few weeks to remove its equipment before the state begins demolition work on June 16.

The demolition of that toll booth will be as beautiful a sight as seeing 55-mph signs give way to 70-mph signs back in the 1990s.

Contrary to real-world Americans, the Democrat and Republican establishment both love toll roads in their own ways. Democrats love state-owned toll roads, which serve as a source of tax revenue and create make-work jobs for toll collectors and toll agency administrators. Establishment Republicans love privatized toll roads because a corporation rather than the government is collecting the tolls. The fact that the corporation has no competition over its 50-year lease does not seem to matter.

If a new highway is built, and it is tolled until the construction bonds are paid for, that would even be acceptable to many toll-haters. But tolling in perpetuity is rightfully seen as a fleecing of drivers in perpetuity.

Above all else, the open road represents freedom to so many Americans. Impediments to driving freedom are despised, be they speed-traps, the banning of gasoline-powered cars, or toll booths.

Bravo to Governor Ivey for grasping the populist conservatism that detests toll roads, and for making the Alabama beaches a toll-free destination.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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