Arizona Moves Closer To Toll Roads

From: The Trucker

Arizona lawmakers sent Gov. Jan Brewer a bill that ensures money for toll roads is collected. Arizona does not have toll roads, but it may in the future as some state lawmakers have suggested.

Three years ago, lawmakers approved a bill authorizing public-private partnerships to help build state infrastructure. Toll roads are one of the possible projects. This marks a move be Arizona that duplicates plans by other states with privatized revenue collection through highway tolls and other fees that increase costs of trucking goods to consumers.

The Arizona Republic reports no one caught the fact the bill lacked a way to ensure tolls were collected. The bill included a provision that would have allowed refunds of tolls, particularly for truckers.

The new legislation removes the refund provision and outlines a three-strikes process for collecting money from people who might ignore payment requests.

Lobbyists for the state transportation department say investors would balk at pouring millions or billions into roads if there was no way to ensure the money was collected.