While ‘conservatives’ are suppose to love toll roads (Note: I don’t define myself as one, never have, never will), in North Carolina’s case, they’re merely a symptom of the state’s core transportation dysfunction. Which would be that the state doesn’t rationally prioritize its road needs — North Carolina prefers brain-dead formulas to using money where it will do the most good — combined with a tendency to regard roads as pork.
Which brings us to today’s news item the Garden Parkway aka the Gaston East-West Connector is being held up by a lack of money. Good. This is nothing more than a very expensive — $1.2 billion for the first phase — built-it-and-hope-they come bit of economic development wishful thinking slice of pork for a county that isn’t growing. That this road is very closely associated with a very powerful state senator is not a coincidence.
The state has far better uses for its scarce road dollars than the Garden Parkway. And I say scarce because though a portion would be a toll road, the tolls are inadequate to cover the Garden Parkway’s costs. In fact, they won’t even come close.
And let’s take it a step further, this project is a big reason for why toll roads even exist in North Carolina — as a means to build sooner rather than much, much, much, later an extremely pricey built-it-and-hope-they come scheme. So tolls as enabling inefficiency. Only in North Carolina.
