The announcement last week that the Gwinnett Commission would suggest that a toll be used to finance the rest of the Sugarloaf Parkway loop took many by surprise. It shows that this body is willing to investigate new aspects of road building, including the possible use of tolls to pay for the connection between Interstate 85 and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard near Sugar Hill.
We’re proud of the Commission for this suggestion. This is, indeed, providing the type of leadership we hope to get when we elect people to office.
Ask anyone who travels by automobile in the Northeast, and they know of toll roads. The web site, Financial Nerd, has listed the tolls on the Washington, D.C., to New York City route.
All said, it cost an automobile $38.55 in tolls driving the Washington-New York route. But the cost is only $23.55 on the way south.
Toll roads have generally not been used much in Georgia. The first toll I remember was for the Torras Causeway from Brunswick to St. Simons Island. The cost was 25 cents going east. That toll was finally lifted when all those quarters paid for that roadway.
There was a toll at one time to cross over the Intracoastal Waterway to get over Jekyll Island. That, too, has been “lifted.” However, now the Jekyll Island Authority charges you $6 for a one day parking pass; $28 for a seven day pass; and $45 for an annual parking decal, to get onto the state-owned island.
Charges are being used on Express Lanes on I-85 and I-75, but that is not a toll, since all motorists are not required to use the lanes.
What is really needed is a true Outer Perimeter connecting I-85 near Buford to I-75 near Cartersville.
What we would hope would happen is that Forsyth, Cherokee and Bartow County should recognize the benefits that such a road would provide, and join with Gwinnett in making the entire stretch of road from I-85 to I-75 near Cartersville a four-lane toll road. Heavy traffic on this road would help it to be paid off quickly. It would be a feather in the four local governments’ cap, and solve a problem that the state refuses to solve. In addition, it would essentially cost these governments nothing, since users would pay for the road.
Attaway, Gwinnett government, for stimulating thinking on this problem.
Elliott Brack, publisher, GeorgiaClipsGwinnettForum. Contact him at elliott@brack.net.