The Katy Freeway

[DJ_Critterus]

Originally Posted by mrvette

OK, IF the OP pix is NOT of a Houston freeway......Where IS it?????

Apparently, it might could possibly almost be in China.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...k/70445327007/

[Steve_R]

Originally Posted by mrvette

OK, IF the OP pix is NOT of a Houston freeway......Where IS it?????

Originally Posted by Steve_R

Not surprisingly China.

.

[Mick]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

Also, FL Turnpike was built as toll road in 1960s, with the promise the tolls would be no more once the road was paid in full.
Well, 60 years later every inch of the road requires a toll,,, someone lied!!

The Garden State Parkway was built with the same promise, once the bonds were paid in full, the tollbooths would be bulldozed. The bond was approved by voters in 1952, and the last piece of the highway (connecting it to the NY Thruway) was completed in 1957. I don't know the term on those loans (seems to be a well-kept secret on the internet), but since we are out to 65+ years, I have the feeling we got hoodwinked on that one.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

Grew up with a dood in the hood, he got into road work and repairs out of hight school, learned it and then went on his own.

Did well, as wife was classified minority, she was on biz docs, so they could get gov contracts even if bids were 15% higher.

After many years he decided that roadwork was lucrative, BUT he was paying a fortune on each job for the barricades.
So, he starting making them for himself, thus avoiding the rental on his jobs.
Then he decided to go full bore, he stopped roadwork and did 100% barricade manufacturing.
He did well, as never rented them, but got a few good supply contracts that paid him much more than roadword AND with a lot less stress.

I know a guy who did the road cones and plastic barrels and other barricades. He sold out to Acme and retired in his 40’s.
I understand that he lived a little bit too large and went broke. Then he started an insulation company and he sold that a few years ago to a big firm for millions. Hopefully he is wiser this time around.

[Onebadcad]

Originally Posted by LATB

I know a guy who did the road cones and plastic barrels and other barricades. He sold out to Acme and retired in his 40’s.
I understand that he lived a little bit too large and went broke. Then he started an insulation company and he sold that a few years ago to a big firm for millions. Hopefully he is wiser this time around.

I think my guy got divorced in his 50s, and had to downgrade all things, BUT I believe he still had enough not to go back to work.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Mick

The Garden State Parkway was built with the same promise, once the bonds were paid in full, the tollbooths would be bulldozed. The bond was approved by voters in 1952, and the last piece of the highway (connecting it to the NY Thruway) was completed in 1957. I don't know the term on those loans (seems to be a well-kept secret on the internet), but since we are out to 65+ years, I have the feeling we got hoodwinked on that one.

Same with the NYS Thruway. Was promised as a 30 year bond. On year 29 the Legislature voted to keep the tolls, virtually no debate. Then they raised fees on Upstate sections to pay for more ferrys in NYC. One more reason why I left that shithole and never looked back.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

HOV lanes and Express Toll Lanes on roads are a ****ING SCAM.
Our dollars built the roads, we should have access TO ALL LANES without payment.

I-95, easily the most travelled road in the tri-county, well over 300K in both broward and miami-dade, has two express lanes which require payment, and increases in cost based on traffic density.
This is BS, worse than BS, as in some sections there are 5 total lanes, with 2 of the 5 being express pay lanes.

Also, FL Turnpike was built as toll road in 1960s, with the promise the tolls would be no more once the road was paid in full.
Well, 60 years later every inch of the road requires a toll,,, someone lied!!

Now that I'm mostly retired and nicely banked, I gladly pay the toll for the White People's Lanes on I77 to Charlotte. It's signed 5 mph faster and mostly empty, so I cruise past the plebes hogging the passing lane in the "free" way.

[Anjdog2003]

Originally Posted by DDSLT5

So where is the road in question that is pictured above? Inquiring minds want to know!

Billings Montana

[Onebadcad]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

Now that I'm mostly retired and nicely banked, I gladly pay the toll for the White People's Lanes on I77 to Charlotte. It's signed 5 mph faster and mostly empty, so I cruise past the plebes hogging the passing lane in the "free" way.

I gotta admit, I jump in the express toll lanes sometimes on both I-95 and I-595, as the price paid save you vs. gas burnt while sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic for 30+ minutes.

It goes against my cheap bastard tenets, but there is some traffic down here that is brutal, no way could I ever be a commuter.

Besides, a really smart dood told me the express lanes have no speed limits

[DJ_Critterus]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

Besides, a really smart dood told me the express lanes have no speed limits

It's all fun and games until FHP learns they are gold mines for extra "revenue."

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

Besides, a really smart dood told me the express lanes have no speed limits

They have cameras that read your license plates. Good thing they don't have time stamps on the photos.

[Onebadcad]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

They have cameras that read your license plates. Good thing they don't have time stamps on the photos.

I think, not 100% certain as could not confirm on interwebby, that in FL speeding cameras are only allowed in school zones.

Then again, I drive so fast that a cop could not catch me, and that is only my crusing speed.

[DJ_Critterus]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

I think, not 100% certain as could not confirm on interwebby, that in FL speeding cameras are only allowed in school zones.

Then again, I drive so fast that a cop could not catch me, and that is only my crusing speed.

Now that I think about it Chas, Biden, nor any other Pedo has probably been caught speeding in a school zone....

[Bill]

Originally Posted by DJ_Critterus

It's all fun and games until FHP learns they are gold mines for extra "revenue."

Those guys were all over when I toured Southern Florida....there were so many on 95 I thought maybe they were on the lookout for an escaped prisoner or something. Turns out they were all just running speed traps.

There were even cops on Alligator Alley.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

I think, not 100% certain as could not confirm on interwebby, that in FL speeding cameras are only allowed in school zones.

Then again, I drive so fast that a cop could not catch me, and that is only my crusing speed.

^ Florida man.

[Kevin68]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

HOV lanes and Express Toll Lanes on roads are a ****ING SCAM.
Our dollars built the roads, we should have access TO ALL LANES without payment.

I-95, easily the most travelled road in the tri-county, well over 300K in both broward and miami-dade, has two express lanes which require payment, and increases in cost based on traffic density.
This is BS, worse than BS, as in some sections there are 5 total lanes, with 2 of the 5 being express pay lanes.

Also, FL Turnpike was built as toll road in 1960s, with the promise the tolls would be no more once the road was paid in full.
Well, 60 years later every inch of the road requires a toll,,, someone lied!!

Would you be OK if they refunded your road tax dollars and make all roads toll roads? A more direct user fee than the gas tax which isn't the sole source of road funding.

Do you think a private road companies can build roads more efficiently than government road builders? Who has the greater incentive to maintain and optimally design the road, gov't (who has a captive source of income) or a private company (who must satisfy paying customers)?

The feel of immediate cost would reduce traffic. The feel of immediate revenue would incentivize more road building.

Sometimes I value my time at a higher rate than the toll and other times I don't. I appreciate being able to make that choice.

[DJ_Critterus]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

Those guys were all over when I toured Southern Florida....there were so many on 95 I thought maybe they were on the lookout for an escaped prisoner or something. Turns out they were all just running speed traps.

There were even cops on Alligator Alley.

You should have seen it before the state shut down the crooked cops on US-301 in Stark and Lawtey

1mph over and they would nail you, but there were no warnings about reduced speed ahead. There were only speed limit signs you really couldn't notice and the limit got lower and lower really fast. The state ousted those PDs and had the county sheriff take over.

[Onebadcad]

Originally Posted by Kevin68

Would you be OK if they refunded your road tax dollars and make all roads toll roads? A more direct user fee than the gas tax which isn't the sole source of road funding.

Do you think a private road companies can build roads more efficiently than government road builders? Who has the greater incentive to maintain and optimally design the road, gov't (who has a captive source of income) or a private company (who must satisfy paying customers)?

The feel of immediate cost would reduce traffic. The feel of immediate revenue would incentivize more road building.

Sometimes I value my time at a higher rate than the toll and other times I don't. I appreciate being able to make that choice.

NOPE
I have yet to see gov efficient in anything:SSA, Medicare/aid, USPS, Amtrak, DOD spending, etc...
If gov were more efficient our gas tax dollars would be more than sufficient.

[vettemed]

Originally Posted by DJ_Critterus

You should have seen it before the state shut down the crooked cops on US-301 in Stark and Lawtey

1mph over and they would nail you, but there were no warnings about reduced speed ahead. There were only speed limit signs you really couldn't notice and the limit got lower and lower really fast. The state ousted those PDs and had the county sheriff take over.

Starke wasn't really bad, it was Lawtey and Waldo. There was one cop in a red impala in Waldo that was especially aggressive. I was happy when he disappeared from 301.

[Onebadcad]

Hacienda Village, easily the greatest speed trap in American History
Its demise was the imminent domain for the I-595 construction

https://fortlauderdalemagazine.com/t...boys-hacienda/

The Good Ol’ Boys’ Hacienda
April 27, 2022John Dolen

Red Crise’s Hacienda Village sounds like something out of a Hiaasen novel. It wasn’t.
Slow Down. Pull Over. You’re in Hacienda Village. A deliciously fitting headline told the story for the tens of thousands who missed the obscure speed signs and got ticketed in the town’s five-mile chunk of State Road 84.

The hamlet, once consisting of just 14 mobile homes, an orange grove and three junkyards, had no need of taxing its 133 residents. The 18 police officers – yes, that’s 18 – made sure of that.

One reporter noted that a Texas town had promised to reduce its number of monthly tickets from 1,000. “Hell, in Hacienda Village,” the account went, “on a cranky day, they’d issue that many before lunch.”

All credit for this goes to Mayor Sherman “Red” Crise – and he never minded taking that credit. Nor did he mind taking charge: He also appointed himself police chief, fire chief and judge magistrate. The heavyset man with thinning red hair explained his philosophy: “If you’re a redheaded man, you’re either a sissy or a son of a bitch. I’m not a sissy.”

Red could be spotted roaming city streets in his red 1968 Cadillac Eldorado, which he used as a police car.

Tickets were such an industry, the village even had a night court to process citations. (Try doing any business with Fort Lauderdale City Hall after 5 p.m. today.)

During Crise’s reign, the town grew from one-and-a-half to five square miles through a series of annexations right up to State Road 7.

Most prominent of the town’s businesses – aside from ticketing – was a large building painted in gaudy polka-dot patterns. Called the Hacienda Inn, it featured country bands and was open until 4 a.m. The hours were no problem for Red – he was owner and proprietor. The village also featured the El Toro Pub, a dive bar frequented by the Outlaws, a notorious motorcycle gang.

Not just anyone can pull something like this off, and indeed Crise had a backstory in New Jersey. He was not only a championship boat racer, but also a World War II pilot and founder of a small airline. When that business tanked, he took 460 engines out of planes and attached them to so-called “midget cars.” Thus was born midget car racing.

Crise and his fellow investors weren’t sure what they had until the first promotional night at their Pennsylvania track.

“As far as you could see, here are the headlights coming into Hershey,’’ Crise told the Sun-Sentinel in 1990. “Lines so far outside you couldn’t get a seat.’’

Crise and his wife Evelyn moved here in the late 1950s. They also had a home in New Jersey and a 65-foot vessel docked in Fort Lauderdale. Crise ran for mayor in 1964 and won. His first job was to break up the drunken fistfights that broke out at village council meetings.

Soon after, the Hacienda Village speed-trap notoriety got in gear. Amazingly, the town’s shenanigans went on for two decades, right up to 1984 when the legislature, I-595 construction and the mayor’s own pique finally brought the village down. The ball got rolling when one legislator was ticketed in a trap. State Sen. Tom McPherson tried to unincorporate the city, attaching it to Fort Lauderdale. He called it a “cancer in the center of Broward County.” Crise told the Sun-Sentinel he’d wager McPherson $100,000 that Hacienda Village would survive the senator’s efforts.

The paper reported that, indeed, Crise outtalked McPherson before the Broward delegation in 1983.

“I ripped that man up the wall and down the wall,” Crise boasted.

But the fight continued the following year, now with two state senators, a state representative and the city of Fort Lauderdale against him. Not to mention a section of I-595 that swallowed up valuable acreage, annexing half of the trailer park and much of the business property. Crise personally lost two-thirds of his six-acre estate.

But it was the mayor himself who pulled the plug. The fact was, he couldn’t stand his likely successor, the town council president eager to supplant him. The village’s council meetings had now returned to raucous shouting matches, with lots of rancor focused on the domineering mayor.

“I got tired of it one day and called up my friend Rosenbaum in Davie,” he told a reporter years later. That was Davie town administrator Irv Rosenbaum, who set the annexation in motion in Tallahassee.

Hacienda Village was disincorporated in 1984. And with most of the traffic rerouted to I-595 and Davie police in charge, yet another colorful Broward chapter came to an end.