The Bell Tolls For Thee or The Highway to Hell?

I'm wondering if Peter Lougheed has been reading my blog.

Back in May '07, I made the suggestion on this blog that Highway 63, that deathtrap of a road to Ft. McMurray should be a toll road, as it's mostly used by business anyway.

The provincial and federal government have already set aside millions for the road, but only 16km has been twinned south of Ft. Mac. There's hundreds of clicks to go, so why the delay?

Here is my quick project plan for twinning this road:

1. Take out a big loan to pay for twinning the whole road. Oooh, I know, "debt" is such a bad word in Alberta, but the costs down the road would definitely overrun any interest incurred now.
2. Immediately begin twinning construction with a tight project timeline (say 2 years).
3. Open newly twinned road with a toll booth. I don't know the exact numbers, but let's say $20 each way.
4. Over a period of time, road pays for itself (including debt interest) without any cost to the taxpayer. Maintenance costs (paving, snow removal, emergency response) all paid for by the toll.
   

Is that so hard?

What Alberta owes taxpayers

They predicted $4 billion.

But now it's over $8 billion.

Good estimating there!

Why is it called a surplus though? Why can't we call it "the overtaxed amount"? Sure, you could say, "It's everyone's surplus!". Yeah, but it depends what it's spent on. And I think a lot of you can agree that this is the problem.

The Alberta government is raking in the dough, not just from oil revenues (which went down from the previous year), but from income taxes, gambling, and other sin taxes. This is due to the enormous growth and immigration to "Wild Rose Country".

With more people, there's obviously more of a demand on health and other services.

About one billion bucks of that revenue though is from health care insurance premiums, which is a fancy name for "the tax to remind you that health care is actually not free". But as I've said before, these premiums hit lower-mid income single parents over 25 and families pretty hard, and for folks going back to school or training. Those who can't, get collection agencies after them which then hurts their credit (although no credit was really applied for and issued).

As they did with the seniors, now is the time to get rid of it. What's nutty is that you can't even claim it on your income tax, so you're being taxed on it as well.

Politicians are so out of touch with this because they don't see the monthly bill.

After that "health tax" is gone, then we should look at lowering provincial income taxes even further as well as building more schools and hospitals (which I guess they've started doing).

But Alberta roads aren't looking so good lately. Our infrastructure deficit is massive. The QEII main artery highway is in bad shape, not to mention a lack of a ring road around Calgary and Edmonton's being way behind.

But worst of all is the lack of a good highway to Ft. McMurray, where the revenue generated from fuels these surpluses. How about some payback Ed?

I sure miss those $400 Ralphbucks. Edbucks just doesn't sound right.

Fast Train or the Slow Road?

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach thinks a high-speed train between Edmonton and Calgary is "inevitable". When you consider how well these trains are used in Europe and Japan, it makes sense, but in the U.S. there hasn't really been a demand for such a project, although slower trains are definitely in use.

The idea of a train between Edmonton and Calgary would dramatically change the culture of the province as more people are connected more often. There is a distinct culture difference between the two cities and years ago, a drama professor noted a slight difference in speech accent with Edmonton being more farmer-folksy and Calgary more rancher-American tongue.

But I digress. What bothers me the most though, is the priority of this transportation project being brought forward at a time when the government has been dragging its feet on other ones. Why hasn't construction on the widening of Highway 63 between Edmonton and Ft. McMurray even begun? Everyone knows what a deathtrap it's been with all the large trucks and the exploding population of that town due to a massive increase in oilsands production and projects.

Make it a $5-10 toll road where it branches away from the other roads for all I care. I never drive the thing. In winter time, have dedicated fast-graders to keep it clear. It's mostly businesses that use it, so let them write it off.

For a province that depends so much on the oilsands for revenue, I can't understand for the life of me it doesn't maintain a better infrastructure to support it. And what about regular maintenance on the QEII highway and other secondary highways? Frankly, compared to the highways and roads here in Kansas, for example, Alberta's roads don't match up. Not even close. The Kansas Turnpike which runs from Kansas City to Topeka to Wichita is one smooth, well-maintained highway and when snow falls, it's cleared up right away by truck graders that move along at a pretty good speed.

Then there's roads in the cities. Each time I go back home to Edmonton every month, I take note of how terrible the roads are. They are immensely frustrating on me and my car. The province should dedicate more to helping cities deal with these problems especially because Edmonton property taxpayers are supporting roads which citizens of outlying cities commute through every single day. It's really unfair.

Except for Councilor Mike Nickel, Edmonton City Council, including the Mayor, were too afraid to go into debt by taking out a loan, as Nickel proposed three years ago, to build an interchange on the first intersection from the south corridor, the 23rd Avenue, Gateway Blvd./Calgary Trail intersection. Construction hasn't even begun on the dangerous intersection, which now has the most traffic accident occurances in the city, costing injuries, health care costs, insurance costs, and many other things. Three years later, the cost to build is likely more than if they took out a loan back then to start construction.

With the cities booming in Alberta more than anywhere in the country (and perhaps the continent), the provincial government can talk about a fast train all they want, but like with many things they talk about, actual action on any of their ideas always seems to be on the slow road, and its the citizens and taxpayers who'll continually be forced to travel to a dead end.