Toll Would Work

I wholeheartedly support the idea of a toll road in San Diego County (“San Diego Toll Road Plan Among 4 OKd by State,” Sept. 15).

As usual, opposition comes mainly from the politicians, who stand to lose votes from not being able to “give” their constituents another “free”way.

They claim that motorists, given a choice between paying to use a toll road or traveling “free” on surface streets, would choose to clog up the surface streets. They are wrong in this assumption, as free-market economics continues to prove (i.e., the Coronado Bridge versus the Silver Strand route to North Island).

I would much rather pay the toll than lose valuable time and gasoline stuck in slow traffic. Surely my time, as well as that of other motorists, is worth more than a couple of bucks for a toll.

They are also concerned about the $2,800 fee that new homebuyers have paid for roads. What they seem to forget is that the fee (actually a tax), was mandated by government for building roads in that area.

Toll roads can and do work when left to the free market and private industry to administer. The record of government-run roadways (higher taxes, poorer conditions) speaks for itself.

JOEL DENIS

La Mesa