Posted on 11/30/2005 8:27:51 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WESLACO, Texas - With federal funding for the I-69 superhighway from the Texas-Mexico border to Canada dead for now, Texas and other states are looking for another route to fund the corridor, a state transportation official said Tuesday.
Mario Jorge of the Texas Department of Transportation sought to allay the concerns of the Rio Grande Valley Mobility Task Force, a group of elected officials and business leaders who lobby for funding for the highway - raised when Texas Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton said recently that "I-69 is dead in the state of Texas. The road fairy has been shot."
"Yeah, we do not have the federal dollars to build the 69 corridor in its entirety," Jorge said. "From the Texas standpoint, we're proceeding as we have been."
Jorge said that Gov. Rick Perry's 2002 proposal for a 4,000-mile network of tollroads whose $175 billion price tag would be covered by private money was one alternative. Other states along the 1,600-mile route would have to find funding for their portions as well.
Some have protested the idea of the trans-Texas corridor, fearing farmers and ranchers along the route would be forced to sell their land.
Deep South Texas leaders say it is shameful a region with more than a million people and a burgeoning post-NAFTA economy does not have nearby access to an interstate freeway. They have been incensed since Houghton's comment, made at a luncheon on Nov. 8, alerted them that the funding had dried up.
"The project is not dead and it should not be because it's important to the border," state Rep. Juan Escobar, D-Kingsville, said Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at dfw.com ...
From Texas Agriculture
TFB Resolutions Committee completes work
"While remaining steadfast in its opposition to the Trans Texas Corridor, one resolution called for reforms that address landowner access to, and compensation for, property divided by the corridor. Another notable proposal said that all existing toll-free roads in Texas should remain toll free.
"State eminent domain legislation was passed by the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Rick Perry in September. A TFB resolution goes a step farther, calling for a state constitutional amendment to make it permanent."
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
$5,000 toll booth on the Tex/Mex border with no off ramps until you get to Canada should do it.
I love Texan politicians.
We can use it to fund the Great Wall of Texas, and throw in a minefied as a bonus.
Perry has probably killed his chances for re-election because of his support for this abomination.
Dallas North Tollway has been looting drivers for decades and the pols just can't seem to give up these "freebies" to fund their pet projects.
Yup, the only way to get toll roads built is to kill the free roads. Texas can expect that their economic growth will stagnate, as free roads become clogged, and toll roads dampen travel and thus economic activity.
Just like in France.
BTTT
DING! We have a winner!
"I-69"?
I could see college co-eds across the nation wearing this on a tight T-shirt.
Sorry, mind in gutter!
Easy, sell I-69 T-shirts and roadsigns...
LOL. Great minds think alike.
So you are demanding that the Feds pay 80% of the cost of building I-69? Because that is the funding that he talks about when he says "The road fairy(80-90% fed funding) has been shot."
The hottest area of Dallas for growth has been far North Dallas and Frisco, served by only one freeway-style road, the North Dallas TOLLWAY. So your theory of toll roads reducing economic activity is false. In fact it is quite the opposite, because the toll funding allows the roads to be built years or even decades before they could have been built using traditional gov't financing.
If the Dallas North Tollway receipts hadn't been used to fund other Dallas area toll projects, either the George Bush Turnpike would not have been built, or taxes would have had to be raised to pay for it. Which would you prefer?
I'm demanding that the people who drive on the highways of texas pay for them in the normal way, taxes.
The only real funding difference between a toll road and a "freeway" is the method of collecting the money. And collecting the money at the highway has proven detrimental to an economy.
Looking at a Dallas map, it doesn't look like there's been any roadway growth since I lived there 20+ years ago. I know when I flew over my old hood north of Plano a few years ago that there had been no noticeable housing growth, undoubtedly due to the fact that Dallas hasn't built many major roads in years, and they were jammed back then. It doesn't look like the North Dallas Tollroad is any longer than it was back then either.
Contrast that with Phoenix, where I lived in the late 70's, and then had almost no freeways. Not even I10 was completed through the city. Since then they've added vastly to their freeway system, particularly in the last few years, and growth has been outstanding. There are NO tollroads, and we don't want any.
Contrast that with Oklahoma City, that added toll roads in the hottest growing side of town. Yes, it's still growing up there, but not necessarily around the toll road, which doesn't carry much traffic. There's more traffic on the free service roads than the toll road. On the other hand, a two lane road in the 70's from Edmond to OKC is now a 6 and in some places, 8 lane freeway, and is crammed with traffic, unlike the toll road. THAT's where the growth is centered, around the free roads.
If Texas wants to take a page from France and lace itself with toll roads, fine. That will be the end of economic growth in that state, just like France. Granted, France has other problems, but it's wonderful toll roads have not helped it grow.
The Dallas area has only doubled in size by adding 3 million people in the last 20 years, with the largest percentage of growth to the north.
Maybe when you look you fail to see.
The George Bush Turnpike takes its own tolls. I don't think Dallas has any problem getting loans to fund new highways until they can take tolls to pay it off.
Let's do a little research and see where all those tolls go. I'll have to bet they don't all get used on roads. Besides....they take road fees out of each and every auto registration we pay for.
They were built by the same agency, the North Texas Tollway Authority. Tolls from the NDT helped pay for construction of the GWB, and tolls from both will help pay for all the extensions to each and probably the toll road to be built southwest from downtown Ft. Worth. Once the 121 mainlane construction is finally approved for tollroad construction, they'll fund that, too. I'm not certain that 100% of the NTTA receipts are reinvested in roads, but am willing to bet that that is the case. As for the state gas tax, IIRC 30% is diverted to education, with the rest going for road projects. However that now barely covers the maintenance costs, because while project costs rise with inflation, the gas tax stays a constant amount, and the percentage of road construction costs paid for by federal dollars has decreased.
Here's their website:
http://www.ntta.org/pub/servlet/pubfrontpage
I'm not affiliated with them, but did look into toll roads a few years ago when I was adamently against toll roads(hated the Pennsy and Jersey turnpikes.) Now that I've read up and seen the math, I'm all for most of them, it is the only way to speed up road construction without raising taxes. The state can only issue so many bonds, but they can issue more if there is future toll income to pledge. And if a private company builds and finances them, then they(and their investors) take on the risk.
I looked at Dallas, and they've averaged around 30% growth in the last 3 decades.
Then I looked at Phoenix, and they've averaged around 45% growth in the last 3 decades.
Dallas has tollways. Phoenix doesn't.
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