Growing up, I never understood the reasons for tolls. Now I still question the amount the tolls charge for especially in certain places the number of tolls there are. Its like I am paying almost 2 dollars every 5 minutes in certain places. I do understand the purpose for the tolls and how most of that money is used to build and or repair the roads, so it is safer to use.

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages of having tolls. The disadvantage of them is quite obvious, well you would not have to pay any money to use the roads if there were no tolls. On the other hand, the advantages that come with tolls is that the money is used to make the roads easier and safer to travel on. Which brings us to environmental aspects on tolls versus no tolls. Toll roads are taken care of and repaired when needed so it would be the obvious choice in taking a toll road over a free road when ever there is an environment factor effecting traveling.

Another way for paying for highways instead of fuel taxes and tolls can be what Oregon is currently working on, a pay-by-the-mile charging system. "Oregonians pay a fuel tax to fund road preservation and improvement projects. But cars and trucks are using less gas or run on electricity, shrinking funds for our roads and bridges. With the OReGO pay-per-mile system, Oregonians pay for the miles they drive instead of gallons consumed." This way of paying for highways is the future due the increase of electric cars. Since electric cars do not pay fuel taxes, this will help raise funds from everyone using the highway including electric cars as they keep getting more popular.

Word Count: 291

References:

Road user fee task force. Oregon Department of Transportation : Road User Fee Task Force : Programs : State of Oregon. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.oregon.gov/odot/programs/pages/road-user-fee-task-force.aspx

How does paying for toll make you you feel? do you agree with the above text?