Jan 6, 2009 11:18 pm US/Eastern
Md. Proposes Toll Hikes, Focus On Truck Traffic
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
If you have an E-ZPass, you could soon face new fees and some drivers are facing higher tolls.
Dennis Edwards explains the possible new fees.
The goal is to help make up for lost revenue badly needed for road repair, maintenance and expansion.
New E-ZPass users and contract truck operators driving vehicles with three axles or more could face 33-80% higher tolls.
"We're already paying highway use tax. We're paying fuel taxes per mile, so we're already paying to fix the roads already, so it's like we're getting hit three times," said Robert Johnson, a Baltimore trucker.
Maryland is losing road maintenance money because people are driving less. From July through November, gasoline tax revenue dropped by about six percent, a loss of $7.6 million. It couldn't come at a worse time.
The average automobile driver won't notice much of a difference because tolls won't be going up but almost all other related costs will.
There are more than 531,000 active E-ZPass accounts in Maryland, with 842,000 transponders on dashboards and windows. The MdTA wants to charge $21 to cover the cost of each new transponder and $1.50 monthly fee among others that would raise $60 million.
Robert Johnson says it's getting harder and harder to do that in a tough economy. Additional fees and tolls, he says, will simply force more truckers to put it in park.
"We end up goin' back to business or being bankrupt," he said.
A final vote on these charges is set for Jan. 29. The public has until Jan. 27 to say yes, no or do something different.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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