Turnpikes

I look back at my recently concluded trip to interior Karnataka with some fondness. The roads were brilliant, by and large, the hotels were good and the scenery that Karnataka throws up never ceases to amaze and enthrall! The sight all the way to the western ghats was spectacular and the heat, humidity and heaviness in the air was unbelievable.

Well the only sore point, if there was one, were the tolled roads which we met often. While we paid up with some rancor, it is to be admitted that the roads were brilliantly maintained. My wife incessantly grumbled that this was just another practice that we had borrowed from the Americans.

That is not entirely true.Toll roads have existed for at least the last 2,700 years, as tolls had to be paid by travelers using the Susa–Babylon highway under the regime of Ashurbanipal, who reigned in the 7th century BC. The Greek historian Aristotle refers to tolls in Arabia and other parts of Asia. 

India too had tolled roads.Before the 4th century BC , Chanakya in his Arthashastra notes the use of tolls on roads that were well laid and maintained. Roads in Rome were said to have been maintained by soldiers during peace time and were definitely tolled. From the middle of the 17th century on wards, many new toll roads were created in various parts of Britain through acts of Parliament. They were run by trusts, the tolls supposedly being put towards the cost of maintenance. Early toll gates were modeled on the old turnpike barriers and so the roads became known as turnpike roads, later shortened to just turnpikes.

Closer home at Bengaluru, a large four-fold increase in toll rate along airport road triggered tension and extreme chaos at the toll plaza near Devanahalli ( Kempegowda International Airport ) a couple of days ago. Caught unawares, taxi-drivers from the airport refused to move their vehicles as toll collection began at midnight resulting in frayed tempers and a massive traffic pileup and ensued in a lathi charge by the police, scattering protesters but adding to their angst. The common consensus is that if the toll to the airport rises, so be it, as cab drivers pass the toll fee on to the passenger who generally pays up without complaint. Another issue is that a commuter has no choice, as a non tolled road to the airport does not exist and the increase in toll rates has been steep.

Well, as India grows and people expect and get better facilities and comfort, they would also get to realize that there are no free lunches along the way.