A Study Of Legal Issues Of High-speed Roads Toll

High-speed road is one of the inevitable outcomes of economic development. Itis a symbol both of modern transportation advancement and of nationalindustrialization and urbanization. Because of the immense cost of construction andmaintenance and unbalanced national economic development, in some countries, thecost of design, construction, maintenance and management is fully supported by thegovernment but not in others. In those countries where the cost is not completedprovided by the government, there are various means of raising funds. Ways of raisingfunds commonly seen include bank loan, tax collection, bond issuance andfranchising, etc. Therefore, some high-speed roads are used for free but some are not.Currently, only a few of countries all over the world offer high-speed roads free ofcharge and most countries do the opposite. In some countries, citizens can use somehigh-speed roads free of charge but have to pay in some other occasions. In China,high-speed roads are partially economically supported by the government andconstructed through various means of fund raising. At present in China, high-speedroads are all charged (except for Shanghai-Jading High-speed Road, the firsthigh-speed road in China).Different management styles can be seen in various countries and laws andregulations are made to regulate the construction, maintenance, operation andcharging of high-speed roads. Because of the construction at a later stage, backwardmanagement and the in-process execution of relevant laws and regulations, there aresome prevalent and long-existing problems in China: overtime charging, standard-exceeding charging, and so on. These serious problems make a negativeimpact on the legal management of high-speed roads in China, restrict the economicrole played by high-speed roads and leave the drivers heavily burdened. This paper isdedicated to make some theoretical contributions to the improvement of high-speedroads toll in China, regulate the management and ensure the legalization of a morereasonable, fair and impartial charging system. On the basis of a study of issues in therelevant laws and regulations about high-speed roads toll, this paper is to conduct adiscussion along with analysis and summarization. Besides, the paper has borrowedforeign experience on the theoretical basis home and abroad and finally found out theperfect for the problems.