Recently the AAHC has spent the last 10 years behind the scenes fighting to keep all toll roads out of AZ. We ran petition drives in 2014 and again 2016 to put the issue before the voters, but our organization was too small to collect 250,000 signatures to put the initiative on the ballot. We had volunteers set up at car shows all around the State. We did make enough of a problem for ADOT that they have backed off their plans to implement “Fee Based Managed Lanes” for now. Imagine paying 50 cents per mile to use the freeways during rush hour? That is the amount proposed by ADOT back in 2013 at a meeting at the MAG building attended by AAHC Board Members.
Our current Governor, Katie Hobbs, surprised us all and signed SB1340, the “No Toll Roads” Bill into law on May 8th, 2023. Our Board of Directors and especially our Legislative Liaison, Dan Huskisson, met a few times with Senator Juan Mendez who has sponsored the Bill over the past 7 years. It was a struggle but the Bill was finally able to past the Senate Transportation Committee and was finally voted on by the Senate and House.
Thank you Senator Juan Mendez for all your work.
The AAHC has contacted our local news media and our local paper, The Arizona “Repulsive”, but no media outlet has bothered to carry the story.
UPDATE: the No Toll Roads Bill, SB 1340 went into effect on Jan 1 2024. Arizona can NEVER have tolls Roads or “Fee Managed Lanes” unless the Legislature votes to overturns this law. The AAHC will be watching with your support to make sure that NEVER happens.
