BCT Editorial – 1/5/05

This page was last updated on January 5, 2005.

Missing the point; Editorial; Beaver County Times; January 5, 2005.

Taking a lead from its title, the editorial itself misses the point.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Toll Route 60 continues to disappoint.

“The Associated Press reports the road, which was predicted to carry more than 50,000 vehicles a day, has a current traffic level of 21,600 daily. That’s below the estimate of its first year of usage.”

[RWC] I could be wrong, but I believe the source for the AP report was a two-part series in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

“But it isn’t just in terms of traffic that the road, which filled in the missing 16.5 miles of Route 60 when it opened in 1992, has been a disappointment. The road hasn’t been the attraction for business and industry that its supporters hoped it would be.”

[RWC] Note that the editorial doesn’t indicate whether or the Times supported Toll Route 60 before it was built.

“A major reason for the lack of growth can’t be attributed to the road, though. A lack of water and sewerage in the largely rural areas of northern Beaver County and southern Lawrence County through which it runs has been a huge drawback. Only now is this problem starting to be addressed.”

[RWC] Let me get this straight. This editorial chronicles how “build it and they will come” doesn’t work and yet it advocates more of the same, this time involving water and sewerage infrastructure. Do the authors read what they write?

“Still, to the critics, Toll Route 60 stands as a white elephant.

“But that misses the point. As tough a time as our region has in attracting new growth, it would be that much harder if not for a completed Beaver Valley Expressway linking Interstate 80 with Pittsburgh International Airport and Pittsburgh.”

[RWC] Why? Is I-79 broken? I-79 more directly links I-80 – and I-70 – with Pittsburgh and PIT.

Don’t get me wrong; I think Toll Route 60 [James E. Ross (D) Highway] is nice though I tend not to use it. When I go east on I-80, I go up I-79 to avoid the toll. When I go west, I take PA-51 into Ohio (OH-14) and then go up OH-7 to the Ohio Turnpike, again avoiding the Route 60 toll.

The problem is we need to focus on needs, not wants. The more we spend on projects that don’t pan out, the less we have to maintain our existing infrastructure. Because roads like Toll Route 60 and the Amos K. Hutchinson (D) Bypass near Greensburg don’t pull their weight, funds must be pulled from needed projects – like maintenance – to fund the debt incurred to build these roads. I suspect it’s no coincidence both roads are named for Democrat state legislators. Anyone want to place a bet that if Toll Route 60 had met its expectations the editorial would refer to it as the James E. Ross Highway?

“Nor is the toll road the only disappointment from the early 1990s. Look at the midfield terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport, which opened at about the same time as Toll Route 60.

“Even before the decline and fall of US Airways, the airport had failed to be the economic engine that many of its supporters thought it would be.”

[RWC] How many times does it take to learn the lesson that command economies don’t work? The same is true for the David Lawrence Convention Center, Heinz Field, PNC Park, Lord & Taylor, Lazarus, and on and on. Let’s not forget the concept of a command economy is what made communist countries economic failures.

“And like Toll Route 60, the terminal now has critics who claim it, too, was overbuilt and that our region could have and should have settled for less.

“This is not to absolve those who have failed to exploit the advantages that the toll road and the airport represent. Clearly, their ‘build it and they will come’ has not worked.”

[RWC] There’s no need to “to absolve those who have failed to exploit the advantages that the toll road and the airport [allegedly] represent.” Those who would exploit these resources are in the private sector. Clearly, in the eyes of the marketplace, these resources don’t overcome other challenges presented by the region. Proponents of command economics always require just one more “investment” to make their dream come true. At the same time, they bury their heads in the sand when it comes to so-called business taxes, an anti-business labor environment, and lawsuit abuse.

“In the end, though, it boils down to this: Is our region better off because of Toll Route 60? The answer is obvious: Yes.”

[RWC] You’ll note the editorial offers no proof of this assessment. You’ll also note the editorial never mentioned how much Toll Route 60 cost us taxpayers. Its total cost was $255 million, nearly $16 million/mile.

Let’s see. Toll Route 60 cost $255 million, can’t support itself, sucks funds from needed projects, and carries less than half its projected traffic. Can someone explain how that translates into our region being better off because of Toll Route 60? I don’t know about you, but I consider investments that don’t pan out to be failures.

“Having answered that, let’s stop looking backward and finger-pointing, something that we do with all too much relish around here, and start looking forward and cooperating, something we need to do much more of.”

[RWC] Heavens no we don’t want to look backward. After all, we may remember that today’s proposals are more of the same failed policies of the past.

Above I mentioned the editorial didn’t indicate the Times position on Toll Route 60 before it was built. Given the Times penchant for finger pointing, I can only assume the editorial’s last sentence means the Times did support Toll Route 60.