AUSTIN - The movement to halt the privatizing of Texas toll roads gained even more momentum Thursday when the state Senate unanimously passed a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts.
But the Senate, much like the House last week, exempted most of North Texas' most prominent toll projects from the ban.
Amendments adopted today would spare State Highway 121 in Collin and Denton counties from the moratorium, as well as State Highway 161 south of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Loop 9 in southern Dallas County.
The bill had already exempted the planned Trinity Parkway and tolled-lane projects including the LBJ Freeway and two others in Tarrant County.
North Texas lawmakers once again argued that their traffic-choked region cannot afford any delay in relieving congestion.
Transportation bill curbs agency's powers (Dallas Morning News - Excerpt)
AUSTIN – A far-reaching transportation bill unveiled in a Senate hearing Wednesday would tighten private toll-road contracts and give regional authorities more say over projects in their back yard.
The comprehensive bill – the product of weeks of negotiations among lawmakers and state transportation officials – would curb the powers of the Texas Department of Transportation, which has come under fire for the way it has been awarding toll contracts to private companies.
The bill's "purpose is to reform the excesses of prior legislation and to fine-tune the various tools available to us in the years ahead," said Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, the bill's author and chair of the Senate transportation committee.
The bill also calls for a two-year moratorium on private tollways, with several North Texas exemptions. The committee unanimously passed a separate moratorium bill Wednesday that already had received House approval.
But perhaps the most attention-grabbing provision in Mr. Carona's bill would allow the Transportation Department to transfer road-developing powers to the state's 24 metropolitan planning organizations – regional bodies that set priorities for road projects in their region.
State transportation commissioners told lawmakers they would welcome delegating more power to local authorities if it speeds up road projects in a fast-growing state that is running tens of billions of dollars behind with its transportation funding needs.
"The state faces challenges that central government is not prepared to move fast enough to solve," said Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission.
Critics have accused the Transportation Department of using bully tactics in its pursuit of private toll-road projects, particularly the Trans-Texas Corridor and State Highway 121 in Denton and Collin counties.
Tollway bill will affect nation, pair says (Dallas Morning News - Excerpt)
The debate at the state Capitol over whether to privatize Texas toll roads will reverberate nationally for years to come, a pair of private toll-road critics told Dallas County commissioners Tuesday.
"Texas is really a major battleground for a new technique of financing public infrastructure," said economist Pat Choate, Ross Perot's vice presidential running mate on the 1996 Reform Party ticket.
Last week, state House members handily approved a bill that would halt controversial private toll-road contracts for two years, although North Texas would be spared from the ban. That bill is scheduled for a Senate committee hearing today.
Dr. Choate and Corridor Watch.org founder David Stall said state legislators are wise to reconsider the state's 50-year deals with private companies to build toll projects such as the Trans-Texas Corridor and State Highway 121 in Collin and Denton counties.
"We're locking into a long-term agreement where we can't possibly anticipate all the ramifications," Mr. Stall said.
Dr. Choate and Mr. Stall were received warmly by Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who invited them to Tuesday's meeting. But other commissioners said the presentation broke little new ground.
Commissioner John Wiley Price told the two men they were "preaching to the choir" and stressed that state transportation policy is largely controlled by the Legislature and the governor.
"I can appreciate all this, but at the end of the day, you're telling us stories that probably this choir already knows," Mr. Price said.
Mr. Mayfield said North Texas should not be exempted from a two-year moratorium on private toll roads because the state-chartered North Texas Tollway Authority can ably handle the region's needs.
The tollway authority said last week that it intends to submit a late bid for Highway 121 and also hopes to land contracts for five more future road projects.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
Somebody needs to make the road to the Bush ranch in Crawford a private toll road, with exemptions for actual residents. Keep the hippies out of the ditches.
Bend over RICK, this ones for you. Also you might want to rethink your portfolio.
I think that the one good, no, one great thing about this is that now the odds of the contracts being closely examined are very, very good.
That will protect the taxpayers much, much better than before.
I didn’t see this article yesterday. Good news!!!!
ping