It's always the same problem. People want the benefits but don't want to pay for them. They live in a dream world where they want to live off someone's generosity. Obviously, we all, in one way or another benefit from good roads that get us where we want to go and get things we want to us one way or another. So we all need to contribute our fair share toward road building and road maintenance that we all benefit from, one way or another. Although you may not use a certain road presently, circumstances change and you will always want a good road that is in decent shape whenever you need to use it. Gas tax is a fair tax based on how much you drive your vehicles. If you don't drive your vehicles much, you don't pay much gas tax. The more you use the roads, the more you'll pay. Then you will pay at the stores because everything in the stores comes by some sort of vehicle and shipping expense is part of the cost of the merchandise. The vehicles bringing the merchandise pay gas tax.
The government loves to get us fighting one another. Soak the rich!!!

this notion that unless you physically drive on a particular road, you don't derive a benefit is wrong.

Infrastructure quality is a benefit to everyone, whether they even drive or not, never mind where they drive.

Traffic backups cause air quality to suffer, wastes natural resources, adds cost to delivered goods, prevents timely access by emergency vehicles and adds generally to the expense of commerce and business.

The benefit is universal and the expense needs to be shared by everyone.

(Much like education and health care, but that is another post.)

While I can appreaciate Ed's point of view, I also have to take issue with the fact that he has come to the conclusion that more taxation must take place. Paring down the budget to rid it of nice to haves, bloated social spending and stopping the stealing from the transportation trust would go a long way for starters. After that, then talk to me about needing MORE money in any way, shape or form. Interesting that billions of dollars in cuts to the state budget were in reality a non issue since most of that money was on a wish list. However, as usual, the rice bowls came into play and no one wanted to give in. Enough.

The tunnels and bridges cost what they cost, hiding the cost in more-or-less invisible gas and general taxes does not reduce those costs, it only keeps people less aware of them and forces you to pay for the infrastructure whether you use it or not.

Todays's editorial and the recent articles cited provide support for my long-held belief that the entire region will benefit from easing congestion - NOT just the folks that use the tunnels. When you're sitting in a seven mile westbound backup, it doesn't matter if you're going to Bay Ave or Jefferson Ave - you're stuck. But toll supporters believe only the Jefferson Ave driver should pay for relief.

Tolls benefit many at the expense of a targeted group, and are not the answer.

Ed, I applaud your suggestion that folks actually pay more attention to the taxes they pay. Tolls will cost a LOT more than the pro-development & business lobby claim they do. But I don't support raising gas taxes. Our problem isn't that the state or local governments do not collect enough taxes, tols, and fees. The problem is a gross failure to prioritize and to end government spending on non-required, non-essential "nice-to-have" projects and on vote-buying social give-away programs. Ed, the Federal & state gas taxes are redistributed and spent on all kinds of things, bike paths, walking trails, low capacity light rail. Tolls are paid by those that use the facility. That is fair. The entire notion that transportation is somehow outside of the General Fund is a false construct. Transportation needs to be included in the overall budgeting/prioritization process. For some unexplained reason the General Assemply can rob the TTF and take hundreds of millions of gas tax dollars from the TTF & dump them into the General Fund, but the General Fund cannot be used for critical road/tunnel improvement? Why?