The top stories on CBS4.com
Nov 18, 2009 1:22 pm US/Eastern
Where Do Your Turnpike Tolls Go? A Surprising Find
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Florida's Turnpike, deemed "The Less Stress Way," undoubtedly gets commuters from point A to point B faster than any other highway in South Florida. Drivers who travel the Turnpike however have to pay a premium for this luxury in the form of tolls. So where does your toll money go after it's handed off to the employee in the booth or electronically subtracted from your Sunpass account? The answer might surprise you.
Florida's original Turnpike opened in 1957 and started out as a 110-mile highway that stretched from the Golden Glades Interchange in Miami all the way to Fort Pierce. Today, Florida's Turnpike system consists of 460 miles of roads statewide.
Tolls were initially implemented on the Turnpike to pay back the revenue bonds that were borrowed for construction. Once the bonds were paid off, officials considered eliminating the tolling. It did not happen. When the original bonds were nearly paid off in 1988, officials from the Florida Transportation Commission decided to continue the tolls and to help finance future statewide transportation projects.
With the bulk of the toll money for the entire turnpike collected in South Florida, that means your toll dollars are funding Turnpike and toll road projects all over the state.
There is a funding equity formula in place, based on toll revenue collected, that is supposed to ensure that South Florida (Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties) receives its fair share of funding. This "fair share" however, is not enough to cover simple perks that you'll find on some of South Florida's free highways. Traffic cameras for instance.
Hundreds of traffic cameras positioned across South Florida can readily be accessed by the public online for SR-826, I-95, I-75, SR-836, and U.S.1. The cameras give drivers a snapshot look at how traffic is flowing in various stages of each highway.
On the Turnpike, however, its a different story. While cameras have been placed on poles almost every mile, the public only has access to 30 in total in South Florida including six along the Homestead Extension. Compare this to the 'free to driver' SR-826 where the public has access to 30 cameras along the 24.7 mile stretch.
Click Here to see the traffic cameras throughout South Florida.
Turnpike officials say the number of cameras they will make available to the public will greatly increase over the next two to three months. They hope in two years time that most, if not all, of the 560 cameras placed along the Turnpike and associated toll roads will be accessible online.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Haiti Miracle: Man Found 4 Weeks Later
Click to enlarge
Broward Housing Values Take A Beating In '09 50 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments