If the state had enough gas tax funding to pay for all of its transportation needs, there would be no need for toll roads. However, this is not the case. There are no free roads. In many cases, tolls are the most cost-effective way to directly link user fees to specific roads. When you travel a toll road, bridge or tunnel, your tolls support the construction, repair and maintenance, and improvement of that particular system.
Toll roads are self-supporting, freeing highway tax money for other needed road projects.
In most cases, including Florida s Turnpike, if a road was not created as a toll road, it would not have been built due to a lack of available funding. Back to top 2. All revenue bonds sold prior to 1989, including the bonds borrowed to build the original Turnpike, have been paid. In an effort to alleviate intrastate traffic problems, the 1990 Florida Legislature passed legislation enacting the Commission s plan, and directed Florida s Turnpike to begin the implementation and funding of an ambitious expansion program. By the year 2001, the Florida Department of Transportation, using toll revenue and Florida s Turnpike bonding capability, will have added more than 100 miles of new roads to Florida s Intrastate Highway System.