Reader comments
Peak-travel driving fee may ease congestion

20 or 30 cents a mile to maintain a highway - is that 20 cents a week, a day, an hour? That seems an extremely low figure. Ok, I pay 2 or 3 cents a mile but that mile might be travelled by 20,000 people in an hour during rush hour, each one "paying" 2 or 3 cents for that mile. If I take the bus, I'm not beating the road - what then?

If we "downsize" our cars from those gas guzzlers aren't we beating the roads less with a 3,000 pound car or 500 pound motorcycle than with a 5,000 pound SUV?

Since when does an educational institution raise tuition for a new building? It seems at the U they get $50 million from Sorenson and build a new building. If tuition is too high, admissions might decrease - it seems more like market driven pricing - to an extent.

I just don't think this article seems terribly accurate. I'm not sure it makes sense.

Perhaps it's not the article but the people giving the facts but there seems to be alot of room for argument with many of these statements.

People are on the road during congested times because for the most part they are traveling to and from work. For bureaucrats and legislators to be giddy over getting more and more of our money is insane. We need smart people in government who can make do with less as we do in our private lives. Twisting the screws down on citizens isn't good government.

"If a college needs a new building, the needed revenue is determined and tuition is raised accordingly"

Rep. Krusee is very wrong here, and makes is other ideas suspect. Colleges go to wealthy alumni for naming rights then go elsewhere for the rest of the funding. Tuition has little to do with capital projects. If the University of Utah did things as Krusee suggests it would be a 3 building campus today.

Another thing, if economics is your only tool then every problem is a tax revenue. Why does the tax benefit of this program go to the entity responsible for the problem?

To really work commuters should be given tax credits to take public transportation, not taxed to fill out Stephanson and Krusee's paycheck.

Was this article about congestion or revenue? Wouldn't it be wiser for legislation that encouraged and cooperated with businesses to stagger start and end times for the workday to relieve congestion?
Why is charging more and more the rule of thumb for our state politicians?
How about better planning? How many times have we seen a road project completed to just see it ripped up a few months later to install pipes? How about synergy of projects? Why not complete similar projects on the same road with the same equipment with the same manpower with similar requirements at the same time? Doesn't that save money?
SO MANY QUESTIONS!

Is anyone surprised that Howard Stephenson would want to place an additional tax on people who have no choice but to drive to during peak rush hours to get to work? Of course it wouldn' be logical to offer an incentive to businesses to stagger starting times gto help ease the congestion. Of course not, that would prevent the great advocate for "Utah Taxpayers" Senator Stephenson from sneaking in another tax on the everyday folks. Ironically, Senator Stephenson is also one of the critics of Governor Huntsman's four day work week. By reducing congestion with the four day work week, the Governor is depriving Senator Stephenson from his opportunity to have to tax people to solve the congestion problem. Stop with the games Senator. This is nothing more than a "creative" way to tax people.

Did I read this right? I think that we are now going to charge people for using the HOV lane? This is designed to cut down on congestion. I don't think that we're on the right track. Why don't we put a toll on the motorists who drive alone. That way we could encourage them to carpool. If the state is only talking about those who pay for a pass to use the HOV lane, I think that this is a way for the rich to get special treatment. I can't affort to pay for the HOV pass, I guess I'm just stuck. Maybe I should talk to a coworker and we could carpool?

We can't win. We downsize our vehicles to save gas, or take public transportation to lessen traffic on the roads and then we're penalized for this. Also, the very idea of putting a computer chip in our vehicles to track our usage is sounding very much like Big Brother watching our every move. What next, computer chips in our bodies to track our breathing habits?