Quote:
Originally Posted by Franco401
Reread my post. I want to reinstate tools on Route 2 in River Glade and in Pokiok, as well as somewhere on the twinned Route 11, not just 7.
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Yes, tolls on TCH 2 are justifiable. You just have to place the toll booths in locations where they do the least harm to local residents. This is just as much for doing the least economic harm to the local area as it is for political expediency.
For example, I would not put a toll booth immediately at the NB/NS border. There is too much back and forth traffic between Amherst and Sackville. It would also stifle northern Nova Scotians from conducting their retail business in Moncton (and there is a lot of that). Moncton is closer than Halifax for people from Amherst/Springhill, and easier to get around.
I think tolls should be collected at a point just west of the TCH2/NB1 interchange at Salisbury. The only traffic on the TCH at that point is long distance traffic to western NB, and especially the ROC. Tolls here would do the least economic harm to NB residents, but would still impact all of the drive through traffic from NS/PEI to the rest of the world.
As for a collection point in western NB, wouldn't a toll booth in Pokiok be a hardship to upper river valley residents? I would wonder that a better collection point might be right at the NB/PQ border. Is there that much local cross border traffic between Edmundston and Quebec? If I'm wrong on this, then my second proposal would be to place the western toll collection point somewhere just to the north of Grand Falls instead. There are lots of local road options here to allow local residents to avoid the toll collection point.
Finally, there should be toll booths on NB95 near the US border and on NB1, also within a couple of kms of the customs station as well. The intent again is to target through traffic while impacting local residents to the minimum possible level.
So there you have it. I would support strategic toll booths and would have no more than four collection points in the province. Through traffic would pay twice on the way through the province, once at Salisbury and then once again either on NB1 or NB95 near the US border, or in northern NB on the way through to PQ. Make the tolls $10 per segment so that through traffic would pay $20 to pass through the province.
I wonder how much money this would generate for the provincial coffers?
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