In 1822, our federal highway system consisted of a single gravel road between Cumberland, Md., and the Ohio River. When that “highway” was found to be in “a ruinous state,” Congress proposed levying tolls to pay for the repairs. President James Monroe vetoed the bill.

Today, our federal interstate system is one of the finest in the world. Although some states, such as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, have built toll roads on their own since 1822, and others like Maine and New Hampshire have removed portions of the interstate system from federal funding in order to levy tolls, the federal government has kept its roads toll free for almost two centuries. Now, in the early years of the 21st century, this may be about to change.

Noting that many of our nation’s highways and bridges are indeed in a ruinous state, Transportation Committee Chairperson Don Young put forth HR 3550, which would have spent $375 billion over six years on new construction and repairs. The Bush administration, taking a position against raising any federal taxes to pay for new roads and highway improvements (including the fuel tax), countered by proposing $256 billion and threatening to veto any bill that would allocate more.

Congress, seeking a means to close the $119 billion gap, reverted to the idea of tolls. After much haggling, the House and Senate remain in disagreement.

The Senate currently favors allowing tollbooths on all interstates and paying for new construction and the maintenance of current roadways with toll revenue. On the other hand, the House of Representatives, succumbing to the argument that collecting tolls on roads already paid for with tax dollars amounts to double taxation, wants to limit tolls to new construction and remove those tolls once the lanes are paid for.

This disagreement has stalled the transportation reauthorization bill. Currently, House and Senate conferees are attempting to work out their differences. Whatever form the bill is in when it emerges, it seems certain that new tolling provisions will be included. In fact, many states and private contractors are already preparing for a feast of anticipated toll revenues.

For example, the Southern California Association of Governments has a proposal for a $16.5 billion, 142-mile truck way that would feature toll lanes for trucks only. According to the Sacramento Bee, truck tolls would be from 38 cents a mile to 80 cents per mile. The toll road would consist of four lanes, two going in each direction and extend from the Los Angeles port of San Pedro east to Barstow along existing “freeway” routes.

The Austin Business Journal reports that the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority and the Texas Department of Transportation submitted a proposal on April 12 to build more than $2.2 billion worth of toll roads in central Texas.

In Virginia, the House of Delegates passed legislation that would enable the state to toll all vehicles using Interstate 81. Current state law permits tolling of trucks only. Without such legislation, the state cannot consider the proposal to widen most of the interstate to six lanes under a public-private partnership law. The $7 billion financing plan relies on tolls collected from all vehicles using the Virginia portion of the interstate. A competing $13 billion proposal would widen the interstate to eight lanes, separate car and truck traffic, and impose tolls on trucks only. Such action by Virginia’s legislature relies on future approval from the federal government, which has final say regarding tolls on federally funded highways.

According to The Trucker, a plan contained in a Reason Foundation report would improve road safety by separating cars and tractor-trailers while also reducing shipping costs by enabling the use of higher-capacity Longer Combination Vehicles (LCVs) on truck-only toll lanes. Trucks would run in lanes separated from other vehicles by concrete jersey barriers. Candidates for truck-only toll lanes include: I-90 between the Cleveland area and the New York state line; I-80 from Chicago west through Iowa, making a connection between the major logistical hub in Chicago, and the western Great Plains and Rocky Mountain areas; I-15 in California to link the major intermodal logistics center in Barstow to the existing LCV operations in Nevada, the High Plains and the Rocky Mountains; and I-75 from Toledo to Detroit.

The trucking industry is being baited with the promise of higher capacity LCVs. How big will those LCVs have to be to offset the additional costs? One begins to wonder where it will end. Will driving the kids to school, making a trip to the market or simply leaving your driveway soon involve paying tolls?

Tolls or taxes, taxes or tolls? Is there a difference? In the end we all pay. However, placing tolls on existing, general-purpose freeways amounts to charging all of us rent on roadways that we already have paid for and that we continue to support through the payment of fuel taxes, registration fees and other highway use taxes. If an additional tax by any other name (user fee, tolls, etc.) smells as bad, placing tolls on all our interstate highways smells worse than two-week-dead roadkill.

Guy Bourrie has been hauling on the highways for 20 years. He lives in Washington, Maine, and can be reached at redhaven@pivot.net.