Alabama governor, transportation secretary promote toll roads

GOV. BOB RILEY

The Associated Press

1/25/2008

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Gov. Bob Riley has joined Transportation Secretary Mary Peters in promoting toll roads as the answer to highway congestion in America.

At a news conference Friday in Montgomery, both said toll roads can be built faster than publicly funded roads.

Riley said Alabama officials are studying the use of toll roads for several routes. They include a route connecting Dothan with Interstate 10 in the Florida Panhandle, an outer loop around Montgomery, a Huntsville bypass, and the addition of elevated lanes to U.S. 280 where it connects to Interstate 459 in Birmingham.

Peters' visit came one week after she dissented from a federal transportation commission study that called for higher gas taxes to address America's transportation problems.