Drivers of California have paid for the roads.  Government by using its power to tax, is causing toll roads and HOV lanes all over the State.  Though we all pay for the roads, only the rich can afford the tolls and those who buy EV’s and are willing to drive with others, get to use a special lane on the freeway.  This is discrimination.  It is racist.

Now for $35 per week, the rich can get to work quickly and with less traffic, when the Hwy 37 toll road is opened.  The poor and middle class suffer, though paying for the roads they are not allowed to use.

That is how Moscow and Sacramento work—power to the rich.  Any wonder the Bay Area, filled with toll roads and bridges that make you pay to get to the other side, is quickly depopulating—only the rich can afford to live and work in the Peoples Paradise.

Highway 37 toll proposal approved

SUSAN WOOD, THE NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/17/23   https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/news/north-bays-highway-37-toll-proposal-approved/

The California Transportation Commission approved the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s request to apply a toll on State Route 37.

The unanimous vote, made during Wednesday’s meeting, does not specify the toll amount.

The approval came with two amendments: that the Transportation Commission is required to consider toll discounts based on regional, rather than federal income levels.

The second amendment requires the commission to update its guidelines for toll hearings.

Still to be determined, the $7 toll as it stands now, is the rate for crossing the San Francisco Bay Area bridges. That rate is due to go up to $8 by the year 2025, according to MTC spokesman John Goodwin.

Also to be hashed out among transportation authorities is whether the toll will be applied in both directions. For example, if the Highway 37 toll price rises to $8, drivers might pay $4 each way. Details are pending.

Prone to heavy traffic congestion and flooding, Highway 37 is scheduled to receive short- and long-term improvements whose costs will be passed along to motorists.

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A $7 toll for commuters who drive the critical 10-mile stretch between Mare Island and Sears Point might not go down well, but officials contend it’s necessary to add a lane to relieve congestion and for long-range plans to elevate the highway.

The tolls are seen as a matching incentive to attract state and federal funds.

“Overall, the project would be a benefit for those working or living in Marin and Sonoma. Two lanes in each direction rather than the single lane section would reduce travel time and allow transit options from Solano County to Marin,” Transportation Authority of Marin Executive Director Anne Richman has said.

State and regional transportation officials are proposing the toll to help offset a $430 million price tag on the road widening of the road that overall runs 21 miles between Marin and Solano counties from U.S. Highway 101 to Interstate 80.

The road widening is expected to start in 2025 and finish two years later.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission secured more than $80 million for the initial added lane. It will use the toll to pay back the $100 million raised from selling bonds to help with funding.

That leaves $250 million remaining to improve the highway that carries more than 35,000 vehicles a day. Over half of Highway 37 users are from Solano County and 25% are from the City of Vallejo, and the corridor is the only major alternate evacuation route from the North Bay to the San Rafael/Richmond Bridge.

The project to raise Highway 37 because of flooding caused by torrential rains and tidal surges will cost approximately $6 billion and take 10 to 20 years to complete, according to transportation officials.

The highway was originally designed as a toll road when it was built nearly 100 years ago.