Motorists and the cost of roads ...

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The Conference Board of Canada seeks to dispel the notion that drivers are heavily subsidized by taxpayers.

In Ontario, at least, fuel taxes and other fees cover between 70 and 90 percent of the annual costs of construction, maintenance and patrol roads, according to a report released Thursday by the research group.

And the greater metropolitan area of ​​Toronto and Hamilton, the road users pay in taxes and other costs more it costs to operate the road network, says the Conference Board's report, entitled "The moment of truth: the magnitude of the costs of road infrastructure assumed by motorists. "

The study, thanks to the financial support of the club Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) for the southern and central Ontario, focuses on light vehicles such as cars, minivans, sport utility vehicles trucks.

A scale Ontario, revenues of the road network from fuel taxes, license fees and other sources exceeds $ 7.5 billion per year between 2008 and 2010, last year for which data are available .

These revenues cover between 70 and 90 percent of the annual costs of the road network, according to the method of calculation of infrastructure spending employee.

The revenue collected from motorists in the greater metropolitan area of ​​Toronto and Hamilton during the same period reached almost one billion dollars annually, more than the annual cost of road network in the region.