Posted on 05/02/2005 4:28:41 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
With the nation's freeways clogged past the bursting point, and government funds barely able to maintain what exists, the need for a new transportation solution is increasingly dire. Better planning & usable transit are part of the equation but for the car-driving majority the increasingly likely solution is privatised toll roads.
Before cringing at the thought of shelling out even more of your hard earned cash for commuting, ponder a few of the benefits:
1) It's a free market solution - you don't pay if you don't want to, and no taxes are needed - putting the cost of the roadway (and by extension, externalities like pollution) more squarely on the wallets of those who use the roads.
2) Sophisticated toll technology can charge higher prices when the road is crowded, and less when there are few people out - encouraging people to spread out their driving across the day, resulting in more efficient use.
3) It can be used as a way to encourage car pooling when the government lets carpoolers avoid the toll. From the NY Times:
The tolls have also succeeded in doing what no amount of cajoling and public service announcements could do: get people to car-pool. The 91 now has the highest occupancy per vehicle of any major road in California, state officials said.
The two projects to watch are happening on the DC beltway and the Chicago Skyway. In the latter case, the city of Chicago scored $1.8 Billion in badly needed cash to turn over near-total control of the notoriously rickety skyway to the Spanish firm Cintra.
Finally, the colossal Trans-Texas-Corridor will, for better or worse, take the cake as the ultimate public/private transportation route. Notably, the project's scope (the thing is going to be 1/4 mile wide) is so over the top, it's raised protests from all ends of the political spectrum, from conservative ranchers who want to keep their rural way of life at peace, to environmentalists. But that's another story.
elected officials were boasting on klbj this morning that public hostility to tolls is lessening.
i wonder where they got this information?
"1) It's a free market solution - you don't pay if you don't want to, and no taxes are needed - putting the cost of the roadway (and by extension, externalities like pollution) more squarely on the wallets of those who use the roads."
So you're telling me that the "owners" of the toll road are going to pay state, county and local taxes on the land that they consume? Are they going to pay taxes on the revenue they generate? Are they going to pay fair market value for properties they eat up?
In all probability the answer is NO to each of those questions.
I am pretty sure all the new interstate construction approved by Congress last week were toll roads. All with FastPass technology.
that internet site is pro tolls.
increasing gasoline taxes would obtain cheaper, new freeways.
why give cintra, a foreign company, lucrative profits at our expense?
The State Wants a Toll Tag on Every Vehicle (05.02.05)
Representative Larry Phillips, Vice-Chair of the House Transportation Committee, has filed HB-2893 a bill that if passed will require every motor vehicle in Texas to be equipped with an electronic toll tag. If Phillips gets what he wants your inspection sticker will contain an electronic device called a transponder. This is the same radio signal device called a toll tag. It will contain detailed identification and information about your car that can be tied to your registration and title information. It will also be used to charge tolls for all present and future toll roads and other toll facilities statewide.
This technology will allow any motor vehicle in Texas to be remotely identified and tracked without the driver's knowledge. In fact, that is exactly what this bill is intended to do. The state (or even worse a private contractor for the state) will electronically monitor vehicles on the highway and check them against a insurance database. Registered owners of vehicles that do not appear in the insurance database will be sent a bill for $250.00.
Anywhere a nearby radio signal can be beamed at your vehicle it can be identified.
There is no question that this is just the tip of the iceberg if we start down the path of establishing a Big Brother system administered by fee and fine mercenaries.
Instantly freeways, highways, roads, and special lanes can become tolled. The code word for this program is "Managed Lanes." There is an agenda here. There is big money in tolls and private enforcement programs. There are giant opportunities for abuse and attacks on civil liberties.
Today it will monitor your insurance. What will it monitor tomorrow?
Remember Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson's quote? On October 11, 2004 he said, "in your lifetime most existing roads will have tolls." He said existing roads, not just new roads, or special toll roads. Yes, the future is taxing through tolls.
Now we know how they will collect the tolls from all of us!
EXCERPT FROM HB-2893
Sec. 601.507. SPECIAL INSPECTION CERTIFICATES.
(a) Commencing not later than January 1, 2006, the department shall issue or contract for the issuance of special inspection certificates to be affixed to motor vehicles that are inspected and found to be in proper and safe condition under Chapter 548.
(b) An inspection certificate under this section must contain a tamper-resistant transponder, and at a minimum, be capable of storing:
(1) the transponder's unique identification number; and
(2) the make, model, and vehicle identification number of the vehicle to which the certificate is affixed.
(c) In addition, the transponder must be compatible with:
(1) the automated vehicle registration and certificate of title system established by the Texas Department of Transportation; and
(2) interoperability standards established by the Texas Department of Transportation and other entities for use of the system of toll roads and toll facilities in this state.
You can read the entire bill online at
http://www.house.state.tx.us/bills/welcome.php
============
CorridorWatch.org
The solution angle here seems to really mean, create a set of the roads we really need and keep the public employees unions from doing what they do best, do very little and charge a lot for it on an ever increasing scale.
FINAL RALLY COUNTDOWN (05.02.05)
Tommorow is the day. It's RALLY TIME in Austin.
Get ready to wear yellow and be seen on the Capitol.
Please arrive early enough to meet in Front of the Capitol on the South Lawn at 10am.
EASY PARKING
If you are driving to Austin we suggest that you use the Capitol Visitor Parking Garage located one block east of the Capitol grounds. The entrance is on 12th Street between Trinity Street and San Jacinto. Parking for three hours is only $1.50; all-day is $6.00.
WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING . . .
It has been reported that at last Tuesday's Transportation Committee meeting (Apr 26), Chairman Krusee acknowledged that the committee members are getting hundreds of email and phone calls about HB-3363, but that "no member of the committee had requested a hearing."
It has also been reported that Jason Nelson, a spokesman for Krusee, says the transportation Committee does not plan to consider HB-3363. Nelson said Coleman has been the only representative to ask the Transportation Committee to take up the bill.
SO WHAT TO DO . . .
Visit your Representative's office tomorrow after the Rally and ask them to support HB3363 and contact members of the Transporation Commission to request a hearing. If you cannot attend the Rally, call your Representative tomorrow.
MEET CorridorWatch.org FOUNDERS DAVID AND LINDA STALL
CorridorWatch.org founders David and Linda Stall will be at the Rally supporting the efforts of the Citizens Against the Trans-Texas Corridor. They will be calling on the Legislature to adopt the provisions of HB-3363, HB-1273 and other bills that would limit the abuses created by HB-3588 (2003). They would love to meet as many CorridorWatch.org members in person as possible.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR HB-3363 AND OPPOSITION TO THE TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR WEAR YELLOW AND JOIN YOUR FELLOW TEXANS AT THE CAPITOL 10AM TUESDAY MAY 3RD.
"The State Wants a Toll Tag on Every Vehicle (05.02.05)"
I hate to say it, but the Republicans are in the process of opening up a huge new area of taxation (i.e., tolls) here in Texas.
To be honest, if it came down to it, I'd rather have an income tax than have the state tracking and tolling me every time I left my driveway. But to other Republicans, I guess, "it's the free market at work".
Yep.
I'm in favor of more toll roads. That's the only guaranteed way to avoid the ever-increasing traffic jams throughout the US. I don't mind paying a few dollars in order to avoid the mind-bending traffic jams. At least toll roads keep the "rabble" off the road!
County resolution opposes Trans Texas Corridor
by MIKE PECK
Managing Editor
Milam County commissioners don't think much of Governor Rick Perry's proposed TransTexas Corridor.
Commissioners this week adopted a resolution opposing the transportation corridor or TTC-35 that would stretch from the Texas Oklahoma border, north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area through Central Texas to the Texas-Mexico border.
The massive project proposes construction of separate lanes for passenger vehicles and tractor-trailer rigs, freight rail service and high-speed commuter rail.
The proposed tollway and rail system would be financed, built and maintained by a firm from Spain for a period of 50 years - after which the transportation corridor would revert back to state ownership and operation.
"Normally, I won't oppose something unless I have a better idea," said Commissioner Dale Jaecks. "But, after looking at this plan, I oppose it, and I don't have a better idea."
In its resolution to court refers to the TransTexas Corridor as "the governor's vision" of interstate transportation corridors.
The resolution says in part, that the corridor would have a "negative impact" on the local economy while creating "polutioin and trash."
Commissioners, in the resolution also point out that the placement of concentrated resource conveyances in the corridor will, "better enable terrorists to attack these resources and disable them, especially in remote areas," and claims that the technology used in the corridor is "outmoded technology."
"We strongly believe that other sources of transportatioin and technology should be considered and existing rights-of-way can be used," commissioners said in the resolution.
Commissioners also cited the projectd $184 billion cost of the project as prohibitive.
Further, commissioners say that they do not understand the necessity of such an "immense project that would so negatively impact the most precious resource in the state."
Commissioners resolved to go on record in opposition to building the TransTexas corridor.
"At least toll roads keep the "rabble" off the road!"
I appreciate the honesty from this toll road supporter. I always figured that there was an element of the rich trying to stamp down the poor and middle class - now I have some confirmation.
County resolution opposes Trans Texas Corridor (05/01/2005)
There we go! :-)
i don't understand where all of the activists for low income people are.
or, the middle class who will pay for these roads doing business or commuting to work.
toll roads will cost more than gasoline taxed roads.
Area residents to protest Trans-Texas Corridor plan
April 30, 2005
BARRY HALVORSON
Victoria Advocate
LA GRANGE - Busloads of people from Fayette and Wharton counties plan to join other Texans in protesting the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor transportation plan during a public rally on the Capitol South Lawn in Austin on Tuesday.
"I haven't come across anyone in Wharton County who isn't opposed to the corridor," said Cedric Popp of El Campo, who expects to fill a 55-seat bus for the rally. "If you study it, it is horrible, devastating and very un-American. It not only destroys our property rights and communities but will also result in our tax dollars going to build roads we'll then have to pay to use."
The rally is scheduled to start forming at 10 a.m. at the capitol with a press conference for speakers starting at 11 a.m. Rally organizer Heidi Ullrich of Ledbetter said that state auditor Carol Keaton Strayhorn has confirmed she will be among the speakers.
Ullrich said other legislators who plan to attend are state Sen. Ken Armbrister and state Reps. Robbie Cook, Glenn Hegar and Geanie Morrison, although all are not scheduled as speakers.
Fayette and Wharton counties are among 20 in the state where commissioners courts have passed resolutions opposing the corridors.
As proposed by the Texas Department of Transportation, the proposed corridors could incorporate a combination of passenger and commercial vehicle highways, railroad lines and utility easements that would include electric, oil, gas and water transmission lines. Also included are allowances for the creation of toll roads and highways in the state.
Among the leaders of the Fayette County group will be Ullrich, who got involved after attending a Texas Department of Transportation public hearing on the corridor in Giddings on March 9.
"Several people from Fayette County attended the meeting in Giddings," she said. "It was not the type of meeting we expected and we couldn't get any answers to our questions. In some cases, we didn't get a chance to ask questions. We decided we needed to do something very visible and when no one else spoke up I said I would do it."
The group that formed in Fayette County in support of Ullrich's efforts has named itself Citizens Against Trans-Texas Corridor and has been working in conjunction with Corridorwatch.org, a Web site dedicated to "challenging the wisdom of the Trans-Texas Corridor."
One of the main points that Ullrich plans on having emphasized during the rally is House Bill 3363, which would place a two-year moratorium on the development of the corridor and appoint a 15-person select committee to do a comprehensive study of the corridor and toll roads.
"Right now it is buried in committee," Ullrich said. "And we have fears that it will stay that way until the end of the legislative session before being voted on. Gov. Rick Perry has already indicated he would veto the legislation but we're afraid that the Legislature will wait so long that by the time it reaches the governor's desk he won't even have to act on it before the session ends so there won't even be a chance to override a veto."
Ullrich said Giddings area residents have filled two buses with people planning to attend the rally with a third coming from the La Grange area.
At a meeting Thursday night, the group sold 47 bus seats in the first 10 minutes, she said. "And we've got a number of other people who plan on taking their own cars. We had 77 people at the meeting and all plan to go."
Ullrich said that additional groups from other Fayette County communities, including Flatonia, have also contacted her about attending. She is also coordinating with people in Lee and Wharton counties.
Popp of El Campo admitted being less concerned with TTC-35, which would parallel Interstate 35, and more concerned with the impact it would have on U.S. Highway 59 and the proposed Interstate 69, which could become toll-road TTC-69 as part of the corridor planning. That possibility has led to not only the Wharton County Commissioners Court but also the El Campo City Development Corp. and El Campo Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture to pass similar resolutions.
To show unity, Ullrich is asking those attending the rally to wear yellow. She said the color is significant in that for traffic signals, the color yellow represents caution. Popp said he would wear the designated color although many of the Wharton contingent felt a different color would be more appropriate.
"They want to wear red," he said. "That color means stop, and that's what we want to happen to corridor planning."
For those from Wharton County wishing to caravan to the rally, Popp said the bus would be boarding people starting at 7 a.m. and would be leaving El Campo at 7:30 a.m. He said people interested in riding the bus can contact the El Campo Chamber office at 979-543-2713 or the Farmers Co-op at 979-543-6284. To make reservations or get information from Popp, call 979-543-9521.
In La Grange, those interested in being part of rally caravan can contact Ullrich at 512-585-3110 or Arnold Rohmberg at 979-968-9416.
For more information on the rally, go to www.corridorwatch.org
Barry Halvorson is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-798-3888 or hvilladv@vicad.com.
i agree with you.
but why doesn't the public pick up with this?
it's going to cost consumers and business bundles of money more for tolls.
Star-Telegram
Excellent choices.
We're talking about the Texas Transportation Commission's naming of Kenneth Barr of Fort Worth and Glen Whitley of Hurst to the state Trans-Texas Corridor Advisory Committee.
These guys can hit the ground running, thanks to extensive exposure to transportation issues.
Barr, a businessman and former Fort Worth mayor, is an ex-chairman of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority board and former member of the Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments. He also took a leading role in transportation issues with the National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Whitley, a Tarrant County commissioner, is a former chairman of the Regional Transportation Council and has been extensively involved in discussions about developing a strong regional transportation system that would include more commuter rail lines.
Both Barr and Whitley have the ability to take a thoughtful and comprehensive look at the pros and cons of constructing the corridor -- an extensive network of huge toll roads that could include separate segments for passenger vehicles, freight trucks, freight rail, high-speed passenger rail and transmission of water, oil, natural gas, electricity and telecommunications.
Initially, the Texas Transportation Commission inexplicably blundered by failing to name to the corridor advisory committee anyone from Tarrant County, one of the state's most populous, fastest-growing and heavily traveled counties -- as well as one of the counties that could be most dramatically affected, positively or negatively, by the corridor.
But the commission has atoned for its sin by making the stellar selections of Barr and Whitley.
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