Posted on 01/02/2017 8:15:33 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The cost of toll roads, the toll of urban congestion, ride-hailing battles and a high-speed train war garnered plenty of attention in Texas this year. And after the Legislature spent two sessions focusing on highway funding, lawmakers now appear poised to tackle other transportation matters next year. Here's a look at the year's biggest transportation stories and how they may continue to unfold in the coming months:
1. Uber and Lyft roll out of Austin after losing city election
National ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft stopped operating in Austin after voters there rejected an ordinance that would have repealed certain regulations, including the requirement that drivers submit fingerprints for background checks. Several new transportation networking companies entered the Austin market in response.
Uber said in November that it would like to renegotiate regulations with the Austin City Council. Meanwhile, Uber continues operating in Houston, which also requires fingerprint-based background checks. But the issue of ride-hailing regulations appears headed to the Legislature, meaning state lawmakers could do what Austin voters refused to do: override city regulations of the companies.
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2. Houston METRO bucks trends of falling bus ridership after route overhaul
The state’s major transit agencies are eyeing changes to their bus operations after Houston METRO overhauled its local routes and schedules and saw an increase in ridership. Austin’s Capital Metro board is slated to vote on an overhaul plan next year. The Dallas City Council directed Dallas Area Rapid Transit to make a bus overhaul there a priority over a new suburban rail line and installed a transit advocate on the board late this year. San Antonio’s VIA Metropolitan Transit, meanwhile, is studying such an overhaul. None of the ones planned, though, would be rolled out overnight like Houston METRO’s changes were.
3. Disdain for toll roads continued, but that won’t be enough to get rid of them
The operators of a 41-mile, tolled stretch of State Highway 130 filed for bankruptcy after lower-than-expected traffic spurred shortfalls in revenue. And the Texas Department of Transportation calculated that it would cost $36.7 billion to pay off construction debt on the state’s network of toll roads, drawing the ire of state lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings asked that TxDOT complete a comprehensive analysis of what would happen to downtown traffic if the city built the controversial Trinity Parkway toll road. And after Donald Trump won the November presidential election, many Texans feared the real estate mogul's infrastructure spending plan (which still lacks key details) could lead to more toll projects in the Lone Star state.
4. With billions in new funds, TxDOT identifies key urban highway projects
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After Gov. Greg Abbott campaigned on cutting urban congestion, TxDOT this year started directing billions to highway projects in the state’s biggest cities. The Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees the transportation agency, approved $1.3 billion worth of projects in January. That included improvements to Interstate 35 in Austin, I-35E in Dallas, Interstate 820 in Fort Worth, Interstate 69 in Houston and U.S. Highway 281 in San Antonio. Money for the projects is coming from funds that voters agreed to send to TxDOT for highway construction and maintenance in two separate elections approving amendments to the Texas Constitution.
5. Both sides in bullet train fight prepping for pivotal 2017
A private company’s plans to build a bullet train between Dallas and Houston continued drawing ire from rural Texans, who are fiercely opposed to Texas Central being able to use eminent domain to take needed land for the project. Grimes County officials added bureaucratic requirements, though company officials said the new permitting rules wouldn’t dramatically hinder the project. But both supporters and opponents appeared to spend the year gearing up for a bigger showdown: the 2017 legislative session. Opponents have said for months they intend to try to get legislation to Abbott's desk blocking the project next year. And Texas Central in December encouraged Texans to write their legislators in support of the plan.
Read more year-in-review stories here.
Disclosure: Capitol Metro, VIA Metropolitan Transit, Uber, Lyft and Texas Central Partners have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
We recently traveled on I10 in Texas. Texas roads suck! When we got to Virginia, we found out that four screws holding our front TV console had been jarred loose and we were in danger of losing the whole thing. I had to buy a floor jack to raise the unit back in place and elected to use nuts and bolts instead of screws to hold it in place, since we have to go back through Texas to get to Arizona!
Meh.
The problems with Texas roads were created intentionally during the Rick Perry years as he tried to force the stupid Trans Texas Corridor through. They are improving now.
I have driven on Oklahoma roads and New Mexico roads, so Texas roads seem luxurious by comparison.
Texas used to have the best roads in the nation. Not anymore. We avoid the toll road in Austin out of principal. But now days I refuse to set foot in that lib hell hole so it doesn’t matter. At night with the lights on inside the train, you can see the cars are empty. It takes 3 times longer to get to your station in downtown than it does to drive and you still have to walk or get a cab to get to your destination. Ridiculous. I can’t say enough bad about Perry.
Don’t know which is worse, NM or OK roads. In OK, we were driving down a dirt road not far from town when we came over a slight rise only to see that half the road had been washed away. Couldn’t stop so hubby did a Dukes of Hazard. We looked back and there was only one tired track left as more of the road had fallen in.
In NM, there’s a state highway that said partially paved on our map. The map was a few years old so we figured construction had advanced. Wrong. We drove for hours on it and right in the middle, there was maybe half a football field that was paved. The first half was along a cliff and the road was so narrow trees had branches broken from vehicles trying to get through. It was scary when someone came from the other direction. The second half had the cast of Deliverance wandering down the road in overalls and shotguns. Yes, we’re from Texas so are used to rednecks but this was another type creature. At one point, there was a sign that said, “Hole in Bridge” and I started humming Dueling Banjos. Hubby never has forgiven me for that.
It doesn’t help that under Obama the Feds have refused to pay for the repairs the Federal highways needed.
Er, the Federal highways in Texas needed. Plenty of blue states got more than enough funding and then some.
Take I-40 back to AZ. Good luck getting to Flagstaff in one piece.
Have you looked at the weather forecast for the I40 corridor?
It is not the responsibility of the Federal Government to repair the interstate highway system. Once a segment of the highway is completed, it becomes the property of the state. At that point the individual state is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance on the highway. States are free to use Federal transportation bloc grant monies for freeway maintenance if the desire, but it is not a requirement. This is an example of the states not living up to their responsibilities.
When I lived near (and for a while in) Texas, that was not my experience. At that time(ten or so years back) Texas roads were excellent. Does your sample include other than I10?
That is not quite how it works.
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/intmaint.cfm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_Trust_Fund
Since 2009, the Feds have been telling Texas that they should be receiving a certain amount specifically to pay for Interstate maintenance - but the money ends up not getting here through various machinations of the Feds. States that should have been getting much smaller amounts based on lane miles and other metrics have been getting more than Texas. This is why Texas has again been turning to huge toll road projects that replace or rebuild Interstates - because the Feds under Obama have not been paying what they’re supposed to!
As has been reported a number of times in the past, blue states on average pour far more into the federal coffers than they extract. It is the red that lives off the revenue of the blue.
(I am about as small-government as it gets, but I live in a blue state and that dynamic is quite clear and obvious.)
Maintenance is, as noted there, carried out by the state. BUT the Feds are supposed to pay for a large percentage of the *cost* of the maintenance, and they aren’t. See the first link I posted for the Feds’ own admissions of what they’re supposed to be paying and how.
A word of caution: There is an intersection where I-10 and I-20 merge that will be iced over if there's any precipitation in the area. It's built in a pass but the climb is so gradual most drivers don't realize it until it's too late.
Thanks
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