Both sides of the argument on toll roads have been presented in recent days, so I’d like to present my point of view from an infrequent traveller’s perspective.
Some years ago, following a shortcut drive through the U.S. to Toronto, I commented to someone on the remarkable condition of the Interstate Highway System. The comment elicited a response of “Americans know how to build roads.”
I’d now like to challenge that remark by stating that Canadian engineers and road builders, when the economic conditions are in order, are the equal of any anywhere.
For the past several years, my wife and I have vacationed in Florida and have driven the U.S. Interstate system, and nowhere — not even in the southern states beyond the frost line — have we driven a highway equal in condition to the Cobequid Pass.
Some come very close – I95 from Houlton to Bangor, Me. and south of the Florida state line – but the heavy traffic does not treat the southern highways well.
It took us several alternate routes to find a comfortable drive across Pennsylvania, only to find short stretches of good road interspersed with bone-jarring, torn-up and potholed sections on every trip. No one route was a comfortable ride throughout the state. I95 in South Carolina was absolutely abysmal almost from state line to state line.
The fact that tolls are used to maintain as well as pay for the initial cost of the Cobequid Pass means that, despite traffic, frost and snowplow damage, the highway can be well maintained. This is a lesson that needs to be heeded in future road construction and management in this province. I understand that it’s unpopular, a financial burden for local businesses and a source of frustration for those who use the highways in a daily commute. However, if the income is properly managed and returned to the maintenance of roads (the way gasoline taxes are supposed to be) — tolls work.
Bill Sampson, Dartmouth
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