You have GOT to be kidding me...
 

O.

M.

F.

G.


We are SOOOO getting 0wn3d here... when will it stop???? Someone please make it stop...

I like the gas tax got snuck in there too... slick.
[url]http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/07/26/BAGL07T0TR1.DTL[/url]

[quote]Those of you just getting used to those new $3 bridge tolls, hang onto your hats -- another toll increase could be just around the corner.

Expected cost overruns from construction of the Bay Bridge's new eastern span and other bridge retrofit projects have left the state Department of Transportation hundreds of millions short. One agency source predicted the figure could be in the $2 billion range.

"You didn't hear it from me . . . but the political reality is the Bay Area is going to have to raise tolls to pay for it,'' said one Bay Area transportation expert following Caltrans' troubles. "I don't know how else they can do it.''

"It's a big mess,'' concedes Jeremiah Hallisey, a member of the state Transportation Commission, which oversees Caltrans and has asked for a full financial accounting of the bridge work.

Hallisey said the commission is still awaiting a briefing from Caltrans, but he's already saying a toll hike may be among the few available alternatives.

[color=RED][i]"That's a possibility,'' Hallisey said. Just as quickly, however, he said a gas tax hike for the nine Bay Area counties was also a possibility.[/i] [/color]

Randell Iwasaki, who just stepped up in the last week as interim director of Caltrans, said his staff was scrambling to get a handle on the unfinished work and declined to put a cost estimate on it.

"The minute we find out where we stand,'' he said, "if we have to, we will go to the Legislature. We are going to do whatever it takes to do the work.''

In any event, time is running short for a solution. Friday is the deadline for Caltrans either to either accept or reject the lone bid submitted for the new Bay Bridge eastern section's soaring single-tower suspension span.

That bid, you may recall, came in at either $1.8 billion or $1.4 billion -- the cheaper price depending on whether the contractor can secure a waiver to use foreign steel.

In either case, however, the bid is at least double the $740 million that Caltrans has left in its construction kitty to pay for the job.

Deadline or no, uncertainty over how to pay for the added costs prompted Caltrans on Friday to send the contractor a letter requesting a 60-day extension on the decision.

"So we got ourself some time to finish the numbers crunching,'' Iwasaki said.

But even with a delay, no one is betting that the cost will go down.

"Not with the building boom in China buying up every bit of available steel,'' said state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland.

And the Bay Bridge isn't Caltrans' only problem. The agency is also facing hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns to complete retrofitting work on the Benicia and Richmond-San Rafael bridges. The $5.1 billion that the state Legislature authorized for retrofitting the state's seven toll bridges ran out a while back.

So now it's back to Sacramento and legislators preoccupied with the budget battle. It will be up to them to come up with a new funding package before the current session ends in late August if they want to keep the Bay Bridge and other projects on track without further costly delays.

But with money in short supply, and Northern and Southern California interests in competition, few besides Perata hold out hope that anyone outside the Bay Area will end up paying for the Bay Bridge overruns.

"Los Angeles is not going to pay for it,'' says our transportation expert. "The political realities are that the Bay Area is going to have to raise tolls to pay for it.'' [/quote]
edited for color.

Ha..this does not surprise me. It is bound to happen.. Just look at Golden Gate Bridge.. The toll is what? $5!!!

Oh, the bridge tolls in NYC is even more ridiculous.

I'm so glad I don't have to drive to SSF everyday for work anymore.

-Soren

i hate my commute to san francisco. sike! i live there haha no bridges for me.

Nothing is certain cept' death and taxes - stuff like this ain't gonna just end one day. Well, Socal and Norcal gas prices are pretty much the same, so I guess we'd be going back to the good ol' days

Does anyone know which are the nine "bay area counties"?

As a Santa Cruzer, am I gonna have to pay gas tax for those bridge repairs?

Just Curious,
M

I am still paying $2 for bridge toll accross the benicia bridge until oct/04....gotta love fastrak :p

I don't understand why you San Franciscans get so pissed about this...

You drive to and from San Francisco on a multi-million dollar structure and expect it to pay for itself on maintenance etc?

Not to mention, CalTrans has realized that S.F. is a growing city and is taking the proper measures to expand on new projects to make the flow of traffic smoother.

If it's not a larger toll on the existing bridges to pay for the costs then you'd be complaining about another implemented cost of another sort.

Can someone educate me if the new project is just and if the toll is justified by the project(s)?

actually the S.F. population has been going down a lot in the past couple years.

the project on the bay bridge is to i believe add more lanes and further seismic retrofiting. i use the bay bridge about once every two weeks for work and the current size of the bridge is not a problem at all. i think caltrans just wanted to spend some money to justify it's budget. what a crock, another gas tax as if paying the highest gas prices in the nation wasn't enough. a bridge toll hike seems like the best option if they need the money, but the best option in the beginning was to never spend money they NEVER HAD! but that's government.

I think they should raise the prices a lot more, then maybe it'l reduce traffic, make ppl carpool, or actually make them realize how expensive **** like that is. If I bike to work, why should I pay for your bridge so you can commute to work? And roads should be maintained based on usage, so I think all the money for that should be from gas, raise the gas tax till it pays for roads, then all the ppl with SUVs, and who drive a ton are paying for the roads. That being said, I love driving, and can barely afford gas, but come on, get realistic

The new span of the Bay Bridge will not include any additional lanes. The whole reason behind the new span is that the old span wasn't earthquake safe as we saw in the last big earthquake here in '89. It would suck to have another bridge toll hike, but if the money's not there, then what the hell are they supposed to do?

-Brian

[QUOTE=kravdra]I think they should raise the prices a lot more, then maybe it'l reduce traffic, make ppl carpool, or actually make them realize how expensive **** like that is. If I bike to work, why should I pay for your bridge so you can commute to work? And roads should be maintained based on usage, so I think all the money for that should be from gas, raise the gas tax till it pays for roads, then all the ppl with SUVs, and who drive a ton are paying for the roads. That being said, I love driving, and can barely afford gas, but come on, get realistic[/QUOTE]

word,
that and someone should get the SUV's to quite ducking the truck tax.

At least it's not like the "one $5 toll booth every half-mile on the highway" system like in Maryland, Virginia, and elsewhere on the East Coast. Those toll roads are REAL be0tch! :p

i agree. those toll roads in the east truly suck. we have it good here.

[QUOTE=BluBuru]Does anyone know which are the nine "bay area counties"?

As a Santa Cruzer, am I gonna have to pay gas tax for those bridge repairs?

Just Curious,
M[/QUOTE]
Here ya go... doesn't look like you'll have to worry! ;)

[img]http://www.abag.ca.gov/images/counties.jpg[/img]