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$8 Toll! NFW!

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Trip Reports' started by Piggylane, Jan 6, 2015.

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  1. Piggylane

    Piggylane Well-Known Member

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    My Trip Report

    This is a non-trip report at a non-vegas casino!

    I have the honor to work with the U.S. Army this week at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and when I checked into my hotel a couple hours ago the desk clerk mentioned that the Hollywood Casino was just 15 minutes North.

    After getting rid of the emails that popped up and booking a February trip to Anchorage (mmmmm...reindeer sausages!) I programmed the GPS and headed that way. I soon encountered a sign informing that there was a toll ahead -$8! Yes, the thieves in Maryland want me to pay $8 so I can get to the casino and lose a couple hundred!

    Screw that. I don't like this State and some of their policies (I won't get into Politics) so I don't want to enrich them with anymore than I have to. The last exit before the toll got me headed back to the hotel where I'm writing this. I don't know if you have to pay the same toll going South. I can afford it. It's just the principle here.

    Piggylane 1
    Maryland 0

    Would you have done the same?
     
  2. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    The toll is collected northbound, so think of it being $4.00 each way to cross the bridge.
     
  3. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    While I respect your "principle" and right to turn around... the bridge was most likely built with highway fund dollars via gas tax that all in the area pay. Since all the people who don't use the bridge say, "well screw that, I shouldn't have to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of a bridge I don't use!" The "established" method to make that happen is a toll for those who use the bridge. It ain't cheap to keep bridges well maintained and safe. $8 too much? I dunno, I agree with Hammie, I'm pretty sure the toll is only collected one-way.

    I just find it VERY humorous that so many (you're not alone) on this board will go to GREAT lengths to avoid what I consider to be small amounts of money (resort fee's, being tunneled, minibar water, etc) so they can dump hundreds, sometimes thousands into gambling. However, it is YOUR money, you've earned it and can spend it as you damn well see fit, but Maryland will be OK without your $8... you didn't get to go gambling.
     
  4. thecarve

    thecarve Misanthrope

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    I'm a big fan of toll roads. You use, you pay. Don't want to pay? Don't use. Nothing taken by threat of force.
     
  5. bobby jones

    bobby jones VIP Whale

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    I am a fan of toll roads...in the us. Try going from the west end of Toronto to the east end using the express toll route. $25 from my place to GFs! Each way!

    I can go from buffalo across NY state for less!
     
  6. Piggylane

    Piggylane Well-Known Member

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    Ahh! One trip to Toronto I remember a horrendous traffic jam. Seems that's normal? Anyway - the GPS said take the Toll Road. I figured I would for a couple kilometers. It was quicker! When I got to my exit there wasn't any Toll booth (I thought I would pay cash)! I had no clue! A month later I got a bill from the rental car agency for about $45 for my five minutes on your lovely Toll Road. I Hope Canada enjoyed my money!

    With regards to paying for Toll Roads, that's what the gas tax was supposed to fund originally. Then when bridges and tunnels were recognized as a revenue source all sorts of "Bridge Authorities" were created and bonds were floated for construction and upgrades, which had to be paid off. When the bonds did get paid they continued to collect tolls for maintenance. Well, look at the math. If it was hundreds of millions to build a bridge, is it hundreds of millions to maintain it?

    I stand on principle on many things. I won't go to the movies as I don't support the morons - most actors are truly stupid people - who are in them.

    The $8 is a small protest. My life still complete without having not gone to Hollywood or Horseshoe , which I passed on the way, or Maryland Live, just down from BWI. I'm not that addicted that I have to go every time I'm near one, I just thought I'd check It out, maybe get dinner. It wasn't worth the $8 tax to me.

    We all make our choices and live by the consequences. I'll sleep well tonight!
     
  7. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    I live right off the beltway here in Houston and they keep raising the tolls. I went two years without a toll tag and finally succumbed to the convenience four years ago. I probably spend about $60 a month on tolls here. But the east coast is crazy with tolls. Especially going across the bridges in Philly and the tunnels and bridges into NYC. Glad I don't have to pay those bad boys anymore!
     
  8. Snidely

    Snidely VIP Whale

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    I'd pay the $8 and go have some fun. Life is too short to worry about such trivial things. I don't make entertainment choices based on my perception of the entertainer's intelligence.
     
  9. BlacklabberMike

    BlacklabberMike MIA

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    Piggy, If you were sleeping at home tonight, you'd need your long johns and an extra blanket.... and wed night will be worse.... i may not see my "boys" for a couple days:haha:

    anyway, as a fellow Masshole, I hear you about the tolls... The Pike was supposed to be paid off 40 years ago and we're still paying.....
     
  10. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    Philly bridges are $5 westbound, free to Jersey; in 1970, the toll was $.25 each way. Twenty years ago, I started driving to the NYC area occasionally to make sales calls, about 100 miles each way via PA Turnpike, NJ Turnpike, and NYC Bridges and Tunnels. The round trip tolls went from about $15 to about $45 today. Inflation is certainly a factor but today, much of the toll revenue is diverted by these autonomous agencies to fund projects that are not related to building or maintaining the roads or bridges. Sure, I could take surface roads and turn a 2 hour trip into a 5 hour trip.

    thecarve, I am a fan of toll roads, I just can't stand the bureaucrats who run them and sodomize me with toll increases 3x the rate of inflation. There are already many established funding sources to pay for new roads and maintenance, but those in power don't have the balls to act. The federal gasoline tax has remained constant since 1993 when gas was about $1.15 a gallon.

    Piggy, that $8 toll pays for the JFK Memorial Highway in Maryland, the booth just happens to be at a choke point with only one other bridge on rt. 40 (also $8) across the Chesapeake. If it's any consolation, MD has low booze prices (but taxes it at 9%), so buy a couple of bottles to bring home.

    As for the 407 in Toronto, a good friend has traveled that road several times without getting a bill from the agency.
     
  11. broncofn

    broncofn VIP Whale

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    You are correct
     
  12. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    The native Houstonians tell me that the toll roads here were only supposed to be tolls until the cost of building them was paid off. Well that happened years ago and yet they're still charging and raising them up.

    I don't mind the toll roads to be honest. But I would like the funds to be used for road maintenance and not other stuff.
     
  13. LB9

    LB9 PH Blackjack Degen

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    Every time I go to AC from DC I have to pay it...and the 4 dollar one in Baltimore..and the next 4 dollar one in Delaware..not to mention 3.75 more on the AC expressway. Welcome to the Mid-Atlantic, to get to most any casino in thus area- save for the Baltimore Horseshoe and MD Live!, the tolls are endless. I love paying tolls on roads I already pay taxes for :grrr:
     
  14. LB9

    LB9 PH Blackjack Degen

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    And the toll is collected on the way back as well, however it's 4 dollars on 95 south not 8 like on 95 N
     
  15. lotso-bear

    lotso-bear VIP Whale

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    Ever since I left Jersey, I haven't dealt with as many tolls as I did over there. IIRC, the GW Bridge was $10 round-trip? Not sure if it went up again..
     
  16. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    Yes, now $14 eastbound for cash, in 1995, the toll was $4. Trucks with 5 axles are $95 cash.
     
  17. Jerseyguy

    Jerseyguy MIA

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    They fed us the same line about the Garden State Parkway being toll free after it's paid off. If you want to get really sick, try and find out what % of the toll goes into salarys and what % actually goes to upkeep the road. CT said when the old CT Pike was paid off no tolls They actually kept their word.,
     
  18. guapoxxx

    guapoxxx High-Roller

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    Hi Piggylane,

    I work at Aberdeen Proving Groung (APG) and I commute daily from NJ (Jersey Shore). If you ever return to APG, please let me know and I'll map out a route for you that will keep tolls to a minimum (especially that $8 toll). I hope you enjoyed your time at APG supporting the US Army!

    Thanks,
    Charlie
     
    Annual Golf Trip
  19. geoff

    geoff Low-Roller

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    they only removed the tolls after a massive multi car accident killed 6 people and there was public outrage.
    http://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/20/nyregion/6-die-in-crash-at-toll-station-in-connecticut.html

    we have oppressive 2 stage gas tax (normal and gross receipts), one of the highest in the country, to make up for lack of toll revenue, but it's sounding more and more like they will be bringing them back anyway soon
     
  20. lotso-bear

    lotso-bear VIP Whale

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    Did they even complete the construction that was going on between the Freehold area and Manahawkin? Construction has been going on forever... when did it start again.. like 2006?
     
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