Jericho is Planning Toll Booths
by correspondent Bernie Paquette of the Jericho News Tablet
April 1, 2025
Jericho has come up with an innovative approach for speed control and to recoup costs for road maintenance.
“Road maintenance is a large part of the town’s budget”, a town representative declared. “With more and more thoroughfare traffic, passers through need to contribute to the upkeep.”
The town planning and road departments and a volunteer group interested in speeding countermeasures met monthly over the winter to discuss ideas.
One plan is complete, with installation expected by mid-spring.
Phase one includes installing permanent pneumatic road tubes to collect traffic data, including vehicle counts, speeds, and vehicle classification/identification.
Phase two will install toll booths on each end of Skunk Hollow Road and Browns Trace.
The gate at the tool booths will remain open to traffic traveling within the speed limit as measured by the road tubes further up the road. Any car that goes over the road tube faster than the speed limit will activate a signal to close the gate when that car approaches the toll booth.
Tolls will be assessed based on how much over the speed limit that car was going.
*Passers through = Folks from other towns.
April 1 Local News brought to you by
Bernie
Who reminds us all to
Laugh, Dream, Try, and Do Good.
Editor’s note: This story, quite appropriately, was written entirely, and just in time for April Fool’s Day.
Arpril Fools YOU GOT ME! Imagine police or fire or rescue and the maybe not so comedy or errors during emergencies!!? Add a story about "Three Blind Bikes" hitting the Toll Gates and The thousands of Toll Gates that wouldn't survive 10 minutes to have to be constantly replaced!? Taking down a Toll Gate in the wee hours if a technical glitch!? Welcome to circa East Berlin! (Germany, not VT!)
ReplyDeleteWell done Bernie! Can I still laugh after having a Stroke!!?? Lol ! Robert D
May they should change the speed limit because the town thinks all roads should be posted at 25 mph no other town around here is like that. Let’s get with the times
ReplyDeleteGood one! And really not a bad idea ;)
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea!
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding? Is this a joke? This is a bad idea and people are going to violate it constantly. Is the following line - 'passers through need to contribute to the upkeep'(from the front porch forum) - implying that because we use the road more than we have in the past we need to contribute even more than we currently do with taxes? That's an unbelievable statement and is totally false. We pay enough taxes. If it's not enough you need to increase taxes directly or by bringing on more Sheriff's to monitor drivers on the stated roads. What's to stop a person from passing at the speed limit through the toll booth and once past increase their speed to 45 for example until they get to the other end of Browns Trace where they slow down through the booth. What if I enter Browns Trace using Packard, speed down past the school and turn off on Lee River or Barber Farm. The booth, if they work???, is addressing the highway maintenance issue incorrectly. It won't reduce traffic flow which you say is what is causing maintenance issues. You're just trying to collect additional money (taxes) from already overtaxed residences to maintain the roads.
ReplyDeleteIn what world do you live in
ReplyDelete