A recently released study indicates traffic congestion has cost Baton Rouge drivers an extra $1,030 annually. The Louisiana Good Roads and Transportation Association says that the Texas Transportation Institute’s Urban Mobility Report shows Louisiana needs to look at alternative means of paying for road construction other than the tax of 20 cents per gallon tax currently used. “Unless our political leaders address this funding issue, drivers will have to continue paying the congestion tax,” says Ken Perret, president of the transportation association. The association wants the state to look at alternative sources, such as indexing the gas tax to the price of fuel, or making the tax a percentage of how much gas costs, instead of a flat charge. Perret says the added costs that drivers pay because of the fuel they burn while stuck in traffic is more than 10 times what the average motorist pays in annual gas taxes. “Good roads cost money; poor roads cost more,” he says.
Today’s poll question: Should the state revamp the gasoline tax system?
