Bush administration endorses toll roads
Other groups seek limits, cite environmental, safety concerns

Also on this page: Pollution-heavy Mexican trucks OKd in U.S. Business wants big federal highway bill. Sprawl makes us fat, study shows.

July 13-- The Bush Administration thinks it's a good idea to use toll roads to pay for new and existing transportation projects, but major transportation groups disagree.

Locally, tolls are being pushed by some state legislators and special interest groups as a way to pay for reconstructing existing freeways.

“The administration supports the Senate provision giving states broad flexibility to implement variable pricing on the Interstate Highway System in order to manage congestion or improve air quality,” Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta bureaucratically wrote in a recent letter.

The American Trucking Associations, the American Highway Users Alliance, and a large number of business groups however, oppose language in the Senate bill that would allow tolls on existing highways.

"If tolls are used for highway financing, they should be used for construction of new lanes and use of the lanes should be voluntary," as the House of Representatives has proposed, the ATA said in a briefing document.

The Highway Users were among the more than 40 business and transportation industry groups that signed a letter opposing creation of tolls on existing freeways. Other organizations signing the letter included AAA, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Farm Bureau, and numerous state groups, including the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association.

Most of the arguments against tolls on existing highways would apply to tolls on new capacity as well.

Drivers wanting to avoid tolls will take alternate routes on local roads, according to toll opponents.

"There are environmental concerns due to greater fuel consumption and increases in congestion in urbanized areas," the ATA said. "The quality of life of those people who live along routes parallel to the toll roads will be degraded."

"Throughout the country, significant investments have been made in roadside businesses such as truck stops, hotels and motels, markets, restaurants and gas stations, and many others," the group letter said. "Tolls, and the traffic diversion that comes with them, will negatively impact the ability of these companies to financially survive."

The ATA said toll authorities "have a history of irresponsible rate-setting and spending practices."

The commission in charge of Philadelphia area toll bridges, the ATA said, "has wasted more than $400 million on stadiums, museums, etc. and recently raised toll rates because of a $15 million shortfall."

In addition, truck drivers will merely buy technology that allows them to avoid tolls. "In fact, manufacturers of available on-board routing technology market this capability," ATA said.

Pollution-heavy Mexican trucks get green light from Supreme Court

June 13 -- The U.S. Supreme Court said last week that

The court rejected requests for a study of the trucks' impact on air pollution.

"The bottom line is that a lot of places that already have bad air are going to experience even dirtier air if these trucks are allowed in," said Stephen Mills, director of Sierra Club's International Program.

The impact on Wisconsin could be significant. About 309 million tons of imported Mexican goods were trucked into the state in 2002, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics State Transportation Profile.

"The Court's decision will increase deadly particulate pollution and smog by allowing tens of thousands of dirty diesel trucks from Mexico to travel into communities in the U.S. already plagued by poor air quality," said Gail Ruderman Feuer, a Natural Resources Defense Council lawyer who was involved in the case.

The North American Free Trade Agreement requires that participating countries allow trucks across their borders. Mexican freight trucks are older and not subject to the Clean Air Act and other U.S. clean air laws, and will emit more dangerous particulate matter and nitrogen oxides than U.S. trucks.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council:

• At least 30,000 Mexican diesel trucks could enter the U.S. starting this summer, including many older, pre-1994 trucks that are the worst polluters.
• A study shows that by the year 2010 trucks from Mexico will emit twice as much particulate matter and nitrogen oxides as U.S. trucks. Fine particulate matter is considered to be the largest environmental public health problem in the U.S. today and nitrogen oxides help form ozone, which can aggravate asthma and emphysema.
• There is no system in place to inspect the emissions of trucks coming over the border from Mexico.
• For many model years, including trucks currently for sale, U.S. emissions standards are dramatically more stringent than those governing the sale of trucks in Mexico.

Sprawl makes people fat, study shows

June 6 -- Every additional 30 minutes a person spends in a car translates into a 3 percent greater chance of being obese, according to a new study.

The study by the Georgia Institute of Technology also shows that people who live in neighborhoods with a mix of shops and businesses within easy walking distance are 7 percent less likely to be obese, lowering their relative risk of obesity by 35 percent.

"The kind of neighborhood where a person lives clearly has an effect on their health," said Lawrence D. Frank, an associate professor of community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia, who led the study.

The findings have national implications because the neighborhoods studied are representative of those across the country, Frank told the Washington Post.

"These findings are clearly the strongest evidence to date that there's a link between the built environment and obesity," Frank said.