In a way, I'm happy that my current Cruise Card transponder sticker will still be good on the GA 400 tollway, but nonetheless, I'm still disappointed that SRTA and GDOT shafted us by extending the GA 400 toll for another 10 years.
Even though my Cruise Card will allow me to use the new I-85 Express (HOT) Lanes, I still do not like the idea that I would have to pay a toll (a variable toll according to congestion levels) for using a lane that our tax dollars already paid for.
To get folks to buy Peach Passes and use the new HOT lanes, SRTA had produced this YouTube video...
While the video was nicely done, it nonetheless fails to convince me to use this lane. Frankly, I think the idea of this so-called "Lexus Lane" is one of the most ludicrous things that SRTA and GDOT ever decided to implement. If it had been a brand new lane to be paid for with the toll revenue it would generate, I wouldn't have quite as much heartburn over it.
The only thing I like (and I use the word "like" loosely) is that I do have a choice not to use this lane. That's all fine and dandy, but hard-working everyday Georgians who depend on I-85 to commute to and from their jobs should not have fork over any more of their hard-earned money to pay for a "privliege" of using any lane as a solo driver or driver with fewer that 2 passengers. Gas prices are already eating us alive as it is without the government further "nickel-and-diming" us for using a lane that OUR tax dollars already paid for. Lord have mercy on the working man (with apologies to Travis Tritt).
On a happier note, Mary and I had a nice relaxing time last weekend at her folks' summer place near Summerville, Georgia, and I got a chance to take some roadgeek (and non-roadgeek) pictures around Downtown Summerville. Please visit the GRG Facebook page to see them.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please come back often.
Copyright 2007. Steve Williams. All rights reserved.
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