For Whom the Toll Bells

Beaches, sun, Muscle Beach, movie stars, Lakers and freeways. Guess the city! Not too tough, but with that last category beginning to bite the dust in this deficit-impaired state, the stereotypical toll-unencumbered open highway – the freeway – is not always free anymore. Los Angelenos have chortled at San Franciscans and their bridge tolls like Texas who boast “things are jes’ bigger here.” A few sun-soaked migrants from east coast – tolls everywhere all the time (the land of EZ-pass) – have long reveled in what is the normal expected: LA roads are free! Now, deficit induced congestion tolls are rolling into some of the most heavily trafficked freeways during peak travel periods as part of a new Federal experiment on LA Interstates. Hated it!

The tolls are over relatively short stretches of highway on some of the most-traveled freeways… all leading to the dreaded downtown amalgamation we call the cloverleaf. “Life in the fast lane through the heart of Los Angeles [just got a bit more] expensive. Carpool lanes on 25 miles of Interstate 10 and state Highway 110 are being converted to toll lanes. Solo drivers can use the lane; depending on traffic, it will cost between 25 cents and $1.40 per mile. Carpools will still be allowed for free, but during peak hours, it will take three people instead of two to qualify as a carpool.” SCPR.org. Seems outrageous, but there she is… in bumper-to-bumper land.

“At precisely 10 p.m. [on November 10^th], motorists faced a toll of up to $15.40 for the privilege of driving an 11-mile stretch of express lanes [on the I-110] between Gardena and downtown Los Angeles… [A] another 14-mile stretch on Interstate 10 to open toll lanes next year. It is a one-year pilot program, financed by the federal government.” New York Times, November 16^th. OK, they’re express lanes, and adjacent Orange County (which Angelenos have long used as the butt of their jokes) has had such elite access lanes with pricey tolls since 1995. Get over it, LA, they seem to be jeering. But hey, freeways are deeply embedded in LA’s psyche… seeming to be a fundamental right – not a privilege – that should be just below First Amendment free speech in the minds of many locals. 

Sure we have mass transit – sort of – and a nascent subway line, occasional dedicated busways and surface commuter rail transport, but for anyone who has actually spent serious time in Los Angeles, not that many people actually live near a relevant mass-transit terminal and the run-of-the-mill bus system redefines snail’s-pace during rush hour… the city is just too spread out for too many commuters to access mass transit easily.

“‘We Angelenos are the last of the Mohicans on this issue,’ The San Gabriel Valley Tribune wrote in an editorial. ‘Our neighbors in Orange and Riverside Counties have long had the ‘choice’ of paying for free-flowing freeway access. And the East Coast and Chicago grew up on toll roads… To us, it’s still passing strange… And we’ll likely rebel against the very idea of paying to drive on public highways.’ … The tolls are the latest manifestation of a campaign by Los Angeles officials to challenge the primacy of the automobile to deal with congestion that has long been a threat to the city’s vitality. Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa has advocated a sharp expansion of the region’s subway system and encouraged bicycle use.” NY Times.

Some have pragmatically accepted this evil-blowing wind: Richard Galvaz, who lives in El Monte, said the toll was a fair price to escape what can be a 45-minute drive. ‘It’s worth it if you’re in a hurry to get home,’ he said. ‘You got to pay the price. If not, get stuck in traffic. If you can’t afford it, take the bus.’” NY Times. This pilot program is expected to generate an extra $20 million a year – not much by big city standards – which will be used to build-out the areas bus system.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I actually remember a couple of years in Los Angeles when I actually walked to work… oh well!