On summer weekends, Route 3 can be a forest of delays, as Boston-area families head down to Cape Cod for the weekend. A group of private investors has a solution that’s both intriguing and ultimately problematic: They’ll build a special toll lane from Braintree to Norwell and collect all the receipts.
The unsolicited proposal has spurred state transportation officials to think more deeply about how government and private companies might team up on road construction and maintenance. Such creativity is needed at a time when public resources are scarce. But the creation of so-called “Lexus lanes’’ — where people can opt out of traffic congestion for a fee — raises the uncomfortable specter of a two-tiered transportation system: Quick service for those who are able to pay for it, while everyone else endures lengthy back-ups.
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..and the inequality gap grows larger and larger. We're literally speeding down the highway towards Plutcoracy.
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Don't do this. it's a bad idea. The only people who will be able to afford the lane are politicians and others paying with our tax dollars.
The folks proposing this are clever. They look around, and what do they see? Folks deep in debt, lousy incomes, poor future financial prospects. Yet, they don't hesistate to get high end cable service, or fancy phone and data plans. The highway developers have to get themselves some of that. It won't just be Lexus owners cruising this lane, but folks with very poor money sense.
My ten year old Lexus and I both think this is a disgraceful idea! Transportation policy developed by lawyers?? I'm surprised the Globe doesn't think its a great idea. After all, today's paper lauds the education ideas of Venture Capitalists.
What a novel idea...private enterprise, private investors taking the lead on our infrastructure needs and development. Manageablesuperintendence, less corruptibility. Would have been great 20 years ago...ya know, that 20 Billion dollar bridge and tunnel built by thieves and thugs for 22 Billion dollars...that Kills people.
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It is difficult to take this editorial seriously when it incorrectly identifies the starting location of the proposed lane as Brockton, rather than Braintree!
Perhaps the Lexus Car Corporation should pay for this and allow their cars to travel it free of charge. Think of all the publicity they'd get from the helicopter traffic reports with the mention of their Lexus Lane name. Let's go a step further with this idea now and imagine that perhaps Mercedes, BMW orCadillac might wish to extend this lane as well and if enough luxury car companies got behind it they could run this for more than nine miles - say maybe all the way to the Cape Cod Canal. :-)
Betsy426, my words exactly!
Rich people live in nicer houses and eat in better restaurants. Let's put a stop to that! Make everyone live in a state-owned apartment and eat in the same cafeteria. Oh, wait, Lenin and Stalin tried that approach.
People choose to commute long distances for a variety of reasons. Being able to afford a bigger place with more land is one of them. It does not however, mean you are "rich". Nor does it guarantee happiness or satisfaction. Anyone who commutes is a worker drone. Rich people don't commute on Route 3.
It's the lane drop from three lanes to two at Exit 15 that causes the southbound backup on Route 3 and the Lexus Lane proposal would only make it worse since now you'd have four lanes dropping to two.
There is a way to solve all this. Get a job and then find a place to live. In that order. The shorter your commute, the higher your chances of having decent lifestyle.