As that USA Today piece mentions, AAA is a big roadblock to toll lanes with its loco position that tolls are a “regressive tax” on motorists. Wha? Even so, mature toll-paying technology makes a powerful argument to folks just looking for a dependable way to work.

Had we stayed in Maryland instead of decamping to Charlotte it would’ve been interesting to see how plans for a much-needed new crossing across the Potomac into Virginia might have played out. Long ago plans were on the books for another crossing that would’ve run from the North Potomac burbs of Maryland to the job-rich Northern Va locus.

Various things — damn hippies — derailed that, but the idea was eventually dusted off in recent years as a “TechWay” linking two high-tech areas in need of a high-tech connection (you can get away with about anything if you put “tech” in it.)

But a NIMBY contingent in Maryland was nuking even polite discussion of that option with flyers claiming truckers hopped up on goof-balls would come free-wheeling down your cul-de-sac if so much as a footer of a new bridge was ever built. That and the state of Maryland was actively hostile to making it easier to get to Dulles Airport in Virginny as Maryland pols wanted to force their citizens to use BWI, pay gate fees there, and generally justify the huge state subsidy. Sad, but true.

Still, one Maryland neighborhood group recognized that if most of the jobs were in NoVa, and you wanted to live in Maryland, you could either find a way to bring the two together or count on a slow collapse of your quality of life if you lived in Maryland, not to mention property values. But for some reason they were not thinking toll road.

I emailed one group member a rough sketch of how a modern toll road would work. I figured you could get away with anywhere from $7 to $10 a day in tolls at rush hour, less at non-rush. Further I supposed that you couldn’t use the road without a electronic toll pass and imagined that you could sell temporary ones at rest stops. Bar codes plus Post-It notes, people.

The sole enforcement provision would be the same as HOV lanes — state troopers and heavy fines for violators, like $200 a pop. Finally, the road would be a passenger-vehicle only parkway without exits except at the end-points.

Pie-in-the-sky yes, but from the reception it got, quite eye-opening, too.