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.
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.