Great Blog Post from Lumberton: No Tolls!

A blogger from Robeson County, the southernmost of the eight that I-95 traverses, has laid out his case for keeping I-95 toll free. Barney Bornn blogs at "The Incompleat Curmudgeon," and he's got it right:

I’m not aware of any studies on the economic impact of the I-95 project, but a few things seem clear. People and shippers will do what they can to avoid the tolls, and in North Carolina route 301 is parallel to I-95 for much of its length. Elsewhere, there are local roads that can expect increased traffic, heavier vehicles, and increased maintenance costs. Neither 301 nor the local roads are designed for the kind of traffic they are likely to get. High volume traffic mixed with shoppers, pedestrians, and kids on bicycles would mean more accidents: adding a toll in money to I-95 would add a toll in blood to other roads.

Barney also hits the target with his conclusion:

I’ve sent messages like this one to officials at the Federal, State, County, and City levels. If you’re a resident of North Carolina I’d appreciate your writing your elected officials. We can defeat this plan!

We sure can.