Bad for Taxpayers


New toll roads in rural Florida are a poor use of our tax dollars.

The Roads to Ruin toll road project was a multi-billion dollar taxpayer boondoggle when it passed the Florida Legislature in 2019, and still is. Florida is infamous for toll road boondoggles going back decades. For example, Garcon Point Bridge in the panhandle (aka “Bo’s Bridge” named after the Speaker of the Florida House who pushed it through) was approved by the state legislature in the 90’s with similar promises as provided by M-CORES proponents.

The bridge turned out to be a monumental fiscal debacle and perpetual drain on tax dollars. Forced to increase tolls to $5 each way because of low use, the bridge is avoided by motorists due to its poorly planned location and record high tolls.

We need funds to pay for health care, education, common sense infrastructure, water quality projects, hurricane shelters, and more. It’s time to abandon the budget-busting toll roads plan that local governments and communities oppose and the professional planners at 1000 Friends of Florida have rightly called “indefensible.”