Blago to cause toll road congestion

If his proposal for speed cameras wasn't enough, blago comes up with
another way to steal from the people of IL by making some of the lanes
of I-294 only for the politically approved and those willing to pay.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2567.asp

as an aside, It will be interesting when the whole nation gets a dose of
c(r)ook county rule come jan. unless the winds shift to favor mcinsane.

On 2008-10-16 10:30:38 -0500, Brent P
> said:

>
> If his proposal for speed cameras wasn't enough, blago comes up with
> another way to steal from the people of IL by making some of the lanes
> of I-294 only for the politically approved and those willing to pay.
> http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2567.asp
>
> as an aside, It will be interesting when the whole nation gets a dose of
> c(r)ook county rule come jan. unless the winds shift to favor mcinsane.

I could never understand how they can take a lane from a public highway
paid for by our taxes and create these ****ing HOV lanes - what
bull****. The weasels are running the world. Workers of the world unit!

Brent P > wrote in news:m8-
:

>
> If his proposal for speed cameras wasn't enough, blago comes up with
> another way to steal from the people of IL by making some of the lanes
> of I-294 only for the politically approved and those willing to pay.
>
> http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2567.asp
>
> as an aside, It will be interesting when the whole nation gets a dose of
> c(r)ook county rule come jan. unless the winds shift to favor mcinsane.

The tollway will be finishing up the last of their "adding lanes to reduce
congestion" projects in the coming year, so they'll need to start over
again to add yet another lane relieve the congestion caused by the new
"green" lanes.

On 2008-10-16, Eric > wrote:
> Brent P > wrote in news:m8-
> :
>
>>
>> If his proposal for speed cameras wasn't enough, blago comes up with
>> another way to steal from the people of IL by making some of the lanes
>> of I-294 only for the politically approved and those willing to pay.
>>
>> http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2567.asp
>>
>> as an aside, It will be interesting when the whole nation gets a dose of
>> c(r)ook county rule come jan. unless the winds shift to favor mcinsane.
>
> The tollway will be finishing up the last of their "adding lanes to reduce
> congestion" projects in the coming year, so they'll need to start over
> again to add yet another lane relieve the congestion caused by the new
> "green" lanes.

It's just going to cause a big mess all around. More years of
construction which has been never ending since before blago got in
office plus what will likely be congestion all around. The reserved
lanes will get jammed up by a couple of idiots driving side by side
slowly and those of us in the lower class will be jams from straight up
regular congestion caused by the usual driving idiotcy.

given poor american lane discipline the advantage of having more lanes
is making it take a few more vehicles side by side to jam it up. This is
about 100% in peak times, but in off peak times it can make a
difference. With the road split, it becomes easier for these ducklings
to block up the road.

If I had a nickel for everytime two side-by-side idiots blocked the
I90/94 reversibles......

Brent P > wrote in
:

> On 2008-10-16, Eric > wrote:
>> Brent P > wrote in news:m8-
>> :
>>
>>>
>>> If his proposal for speed cameras wasn't enough, blago comes up with
>>> another way to steal from the people of IL by making some of the
>>> lanes of I-294 only for the politically approved and those willing
>>> to pay.
>>>
>>> http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2567.asp
>>>
>>> as an aside, It will be interesting when the whole nation gets a
>>> dose of c(r)ook county rule come jan. unless the winds shift to
>>> favor mcinsane.
>>
>> The tollway will be finishing up the last of their "adding lanes to
>> reduce congestion" projects in the coming year, so they'll need to
>> start over again to add yet another lane relieve the congestion
>> caused by the new "green" lanes.
>
> It's just going to cause a big mess all around. More years of
> construction which has been never ending since before blago got in
> office plus what will likely be congestion all around. The reserved
> lanes will get jammed up by a couple of idiots driving side by side
> slowly and those of us in the lower class will be jams from straight
> up regular congestion caused by the usual driving idiotcy.
>
> given poor american lane discipline the advantage of having more lanes
> is making it take a few more vehicles side by side to jam it up. This
> is about 100% in peak times, but in off peak times it can make a
> difference. With the road split, it becomes easier for these ducklings
> to block up the road.
>
> If I had a nickel for everytime two side-by-side idiots blocked the
> I90/94 reversibles......

Kind of like the "express" lanes in the construction zones on the
tollway. It's a 50/50 bet on which route is faster, as I often get stuck
in a line of cars following 1 driver that takes the work zone speed
limits seriously while the "local" lane traffic zooms by at 70. If I take
the local lane, I get stuck in a traffic jam while the express lane zooms
by at 70.

> http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2567.asp

> By taking over lanes currently dedicated to general purpose traffic, the plan guarantees that cars not paying the extra toll will experience increased congestion. On the Tri-State Tollway, for example, the plan would reduce capacity for the regular toll lanes by twenty-five percent. This, Illinois officials argue, would provide an incentive to drivers to either pay the special fees or purchase the favored vehicles needed to avoid the new congestion.

What about the incentive to stop driving and use mass-transit instead?
LLBs already reduce the road capacity similarly, and the result is
obvious when stuck in the traffic jams that have only the LLBs blocking
the roadway. There must be an incentive to stop individuals from using
vehicles that seat four or more passengers from using such vehicles to
drive only themselves every day.

> "I am proud to announce that we will be constructing Green Lanes on the Illinois Tollway," Blagojevich said in a statement. "Not only will these Green Lanes and new interchanges help commuters, but will also pay real dividends to Illinois' communities and businesses through massive new business development."

If the roadway is at overcapacity, revenue-collection that is not
funding mass-transit will not improve traffic conditions, and I am not
sure how new business will be developed as a result of this
revenue-collection.

> The infrastructure required to administer the complex program and designate existing lanes as "Green Lanes" will cost an estimated $400 million on a 41-mile stretch of Interstate 294. To help defray the expenses, the governor's plan also calls for a sixty-percent toll hike on commercial vehicles used by businesses throughout the state.

They're trying to tax the business that actually have a need to move
heavy loads? How about spending that money on improving mass-transit
instead?

> Blagojevich also promised to use state police and high-tech automated cameras to enforce the new lane restrictions, generating additional revenue.

How much revenue are they making to pay for more cops to actually fight
crime instead of playing revenue-collectors?

I also wonder how drivers in these pay-lanes are supposed to exit the
roadway. If you are in the innermost lane, you'd better be passing
somebody. Anybody trying to swerve across three lanes of traffic after
leaving its pay-lane will not be accommodated by me. The innermost lane
is a passing lane, and I will use it as a passing lane only. I also
expect that drivers in the innermost lane will be going faster than the
traffic in the other lanes, and I expect slower traffic in the passing
lane to yield.

This lane discipline is something that does improve traffic conditions,
by removing the obstructions caused by slower drivers blocking passing
traffic and thereby causing braking waves and congestion. When the
roadway is at overcapacity, traffic speeds must increase or traffic
density must decrease. The better fix is to get people out of their
single-occupancy cars that they are using for daily and slowpoke
commuting, and free-up the roadways for people who cannot be satisfied
by mass-transit options.

In chi.general Brent P > wrote:

>If his proposal for speed cameras wasn't enough, blago comes up with
>another way to steal from the people of IL by making some of the lanes
>of I-294 only for the politically approved and those willing to pay.

>http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2567.asp

>as an aside, It will be interesting when the whole nation gets a dose of
>c(r)ook county rule come jan. unless the winds shift to favor mcinsane.

Yea I saw this one and thought... hmmm there aren't enough lanes as it
is and now we want a special lane for Barb...

--
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On 2008-10-16, Alexander Rogge > wrote:
>> http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2567.asp
>
>> By taking over lanes currently dedicated to general purpose traffic, the plan guarantees that cars not paying the extra toll will experience increased congestion. On the Tri-State Tollway, for example, the plan would reduce capacity for the regular toll lanes by twenty-five percent. This, Illinois officials argue, would provide an incentive to drivers to either pay the special fees or purchase the favored vehicles needed to avoid the new congestion.

> What about the incentive to stop driving and use mass-transit instead?

There is no transit that parallels I294. Well, any that one can
reasonably take as alternative anyway.

> LLBs already reduce the road capacity similarly, and the result is
> obvious when stuck in the traffic jams that have only the LLBs blocking
> the roadway. There must be an incentive to stop individuals from using
> vehicles that seat four or more passengers from using such vehicles to
> drive only themselves every day.

Build a transit system that is actually something people *WANT* to use
instead of being forced to use it?

>> "I am proud to announce that we will be constructing Green Lanes on the Illinois Tollway," Blagojevich said in a statement. "Not only will these Green Lanes and new interchanges help commuters, but will also pay real dividends to Illinois' communities and businesses through massive new business development."

> If the roadway is at overcapacity, revenue-collection that is not
> funding mass-transit will not improve traffic conditions, and I am not
> sure how new business will be developed as a result of this
> revenue-collection.

It won't.

>> The infrastructure required to administer the complex program and designate existing lanes as "Green Lanes" will cost an estimated $400 million on a 41-mile stretch of Interstate 294. To help defray the expenses, the governor's plan also calls for a sixty-percent toll hike on commercial vehicles used by businesses throughout the state.

> They're trying to tax the business that actually have a need to move
> heavy loads? How about spending that money on improving mass-transit
> instead?

It's already been spent on other pet projects.

>> Blagojevich also promised to use state police and high-tech automated cameras to enforce the new lane restrictions, generating additional revenue.

> How much revenue are they making to pay for more cops to actually fight
> crime instead of playing revenue-collectors?

Fight crime? LOL. that's funny.

> I also wonder how drivers in these pay-lanes are supposed to exit the
> roadway. If you are in the innermost lane, you'd better be passing
> somebody. Anybody trying to swerve across three lanes of traffic after
> leaving its pay-lane will not be accommodated by me. The innermost lane
> is a passing lane, and I will use it as a passing lane only. I also
> expect that drivers in the innermost lane will be going faster than the
> traffic in the other lanes, and I expect slower traffic in the passing
> lane to yield.

That is safety issue and none of their concern.
>
> This lane discipline is something that does improve traffic conditions,
> by removing the obstructions caused by slower drivers blocking passing
> traffic and thereby causing braking waves and congestion. When the
> roadway is at overcapacity, traffic speeds must increase or traffic
> density must decrease. The better fix is to get people out of their
> single-occupancy cars that they are using for daily and slowpoke
> commuting, and free-up the roadways for people who cannot be satisfied
> by mass-transit options.

Building of useful mass-transit doesn't seem to be on the radar. If such
a thing were actually proposed, NIMBYs and the 'why there not heres'
will kill it.

On 2008-10-16, Eric > wrote:

> Kind of like the "express" lanes in the construction zones on the
> tollway. It's a 50/50 bet on which route is faster, as I often get stuck
> in a line of cars following 1 driver that takes the work zone speed
> limits seriously while the "local" lane traffic zooms by at 70. If I take
> the local lane, I get stuck in a traffic jam while the express lane zooms
> by at 70.

Exactly.

In article >,
Alexander Rogge > wrote:

> > http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2567.asp
>
> > By taking over lanes currently dedicated to general purpose traffic, the
> > plan guarantees that cars not paying the extra toll will experience
> > increased congestion. On the Tri-State Tollway, for example, the plan would
> > reduce capacity for the regular toll lanes by twenty-five percent. This,
> > Illinois officials argue, would provide an incentive to drivers to either
> > pay the special fees or purchase the favored vehicles needed to avoid the
> > new congestion.
>
> What about the incentive to stop driving and use mass-transit instead?

Of all of the interstate routes around the Greater Chicago Metroplex
regional area, the tristate is the one with the greatest amount of
outlander traffic, trips which originate and end outside of illinois,
folks (and trucks) just passing by chicago enroute to some other state,
largely as a consequence of the enormous chokepoints created by the
great lakes, and Lake Chicago in particular.

For local origin/end trips, there is simply _zero_ public transit what
so ever to cover the needed patterns.

Putting these lanes in the Tri-State seems deliberately chosen so as to
maximize the harvest of out-of-state suckers. Hopefully, the law of
unintended consequences will cause the 90/94 thru chicago proper to come
to a permanent screeching halt as people shunt closer in to avoid the
tolls.

Honestly, Tristate traffic seems to be _relatively_ stable compared to
other routes.

If blaggo wants to make a difference, the clear choice for this scheme
would be I-88 (formerly Illinois 5, now the Ronald Reagan Expressway),
the main east-west route between chicago and a lotta suburbs. '88 at
least has the benefit of actually having commuter train lines running in
the same direction, sited both to the north and south of it.

Besides Al Capone and his neighbors, i'm still wondering who voted for
this pandering blow dried clown.

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