Posted on 10/06/2008 9:10:47 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
State transportation officials are poised to issue billions of dollars in debt to help speed road construction, a move that will keep Dallas-area projects on schedule for now but will do little to shore up the state's long-term road-funding crisis.
The Texas Department of Transportation will likely begin issuing $1.5 billion in bonds within 60 days, pending the recovery of the nation's upended credit markets, and is taking steps to borrow another $6.4 billion over the next few years.
Historic turmoil in the credit markets is already costing the department hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra interest payments each week on some of its smaller loans, and any efforts to borrow much more will be complicated – and likely delayed – if the markets do not improve.
Credit worries aside, the decision to borrow billions enables TxDOT to end months of hand-wringing over whether it will have the money to complete projects local officials throughout Texas have been depending on. Late last year, the agency announced it was going broke and would have to delay some of those projects.
The new borrowing will allow the state to keep projects on schedule. But the big debt will do nothing to reduce the state's long-term shortage of road funds and could make paying for future projects more difficult as interest costs grow.
"Borrowing money does have the benefit of building projects faster," said Michael Morris, North Central Texas Council of Governments' transportation director. "Borrowing money does nothing for building more projects [in the long term]. Some people will be confused that building projects faster solves the problem, but it doesn't address the total funding need."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
“pending the recovery of the nation’s upended credit markets, and is taking steps to borrow another $6.4 billion over the next few years.”
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
We *did* have an $8 billion surplus in Texas.... some hurricane came in a few weeks ago and ate all of it. :(
Bankrupted by the NAFTA Superhighway...isnt that super...
And my 13-yo just solved a 2000 year old unsolvable math problem, the quadrature of the loon.
So, two things - I will get back to you in a year or so, once I decide if his proof works.
Second, didn’t the mice finally figure out 42, right before the vorgons destroyed the earth?
Don’t forget your towel!
North Texas Toll Authority came out the other day saying that they were going ahead with the Fort Worth Southwest Pkwy Toll Road over the completion of 161 to I20. That left everybody scratching their heads since extending 161 from I30 - I20 is badly needed and would bring a lot more money in. 360 needs to be upgraded 30 years ago and TxDOT is not going to touch that until 161 is completed. The Southwest Pkwy benefits the smaller Johnson county towns like Cleburne at having a quicker access to Fort Worth. I think that project could wait a few decades. Upgrading the highways/toll road between Tarrant and Dallas counties have to take precedent.
... Wow, that made no sense. What part of “we end up paying for recovery out of tax dollars, so much for our surplus that we could have used for road construction” didn’t you get?
IIRC, the SWPkway has been in the works for something like 20 years now, hasn’t it? And they just *now* got final approval and eminent domain clearance? And IIRC, 360’s been held up by lawsuits.
Sorry. I got what you said, I jumped all over the place. Occupational hazard.
Sounds like the credit crisis gobbled up their 161 plans for the time being...
What kind of lawsuits are holding up 360? The usual envirowhacko lawsuits, or eminent domain problems?
I think both, actually. More the eminent domain issues, especially with the GM Arlington plant and the surrounding businesses (which is where the bottleneck is for 360).
“I think both, actually. More the eminent domain issues, especially with the GM Arlington plant and the surrounding businesses (which is where the bottleneck is for 360).”
Yes the whole railroad/Division/Abrams issue at 360 is the primary bottleneck. That and the highway change over at I30. I think the railroad is balking at ponying money up for a new bridge or object to the new reworking. I would GM could handle the lose of parking. Especially now since the plant has been tuned down in production, so there should be less workers.
“Sounds like the credit crisis gobbled up their 161 plans for the time being...”
It put them in an either or situation and for some reason they are going with the, yet to be started SWPkwy project. I would rather complete the badly needed 161 which will pay for itself. I think NTTA is turning to TxDOT to play short term financier, since they can’t float short term bonds on the market anymore.
“And they just *now* got final approval and eminent domain clearance?”
I think part of the hold up, in the past couple of years, was people in Northern Dallas(Plano) objecting the use of tolls by NTTA to pay for road construction in Fort Worth. The SWPkwy project is just stinking. It will take a lot longer to pay back and I think everybody feels it is just not as important as other projects. Right is the time to prioritize what needs to be completed.
I gotta disagree on the time saved. Doing 67->35 from Cleburne adds more than 20 minutes to an already slow drive. It’s faster to run 174 north through Burleson and then on to 35... but even that is slow and painful.
I have to drive down there to a client site at least once or twice a month.
Also, there’s a BUNCH of new construction (house farms) going up down there. It’s the new Frisco/Allen, except there’s industry down there too. Perhaps it’s not such a waste in terms of a justification.
They’re already fixing 121 north of 635, and they have plenty of room to fix the stretch from 635 to the airport.
360, though... 360 is just awful, but it’s the result of people stonewalling.
BTTT
Second, didn’t the mice finally figure out 42, right before the vorgons destroyed the earth?
It was a planet sized supercomputer. It took so long to answer the question that the builders forgot what they asked, and had to build a second planet sized computer to figure what the original question was.
Douglas Adams- Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
You put a turnequet around his NECK, herr doktor?
Last numbers I saw showed that the Southwest parkway would never break even — it would always have to be subsidized by Collin and Dallas county drivers.
Its construction is purely a political decision, not a business or need based one. (At least one can figure out who is going to benefit financally from the politically driven Trinity tollway)
The “Canyon” nickname dates from when 75 was only two lanes - it was actually deeper then and you could see how the name fit. The Woodall Rogers segment got the name after they fixed 75. It’s easy to see why it’s called that, though. I agree there are a number of exits there, particularly on the Eastbound side, that need to be fixed. The first one after getting on it from 35 is notoriously bad.
I’m guessing you don’t live on the Dallas side of the metroplex. Come rush hour, 35E from south of Downtown all the way out to Texas Stadium is a parking lot, both ways, and the local exits do not help as heavy truck traffic needs to use them (that’s a light to heavy industrial area). Running a bypass highway to get around that three-hours-twice-daily mess is an excellent idea. While I’m not happy about where they want to put the thing, the right of way has some large advantages - no eminent domain issues and few are likely to sue over wildlife or other idiotic reasons.
30 south of downtown is less of an issue than you might think - it actually moves fairly well during rush hour. I didn’t see the point of extending WR to it on the east side. On the west, yes, there was a point as the exiting/transition there is awful.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.