Toll road concerns

The Cameron Herald ^ | March 23, 2006 | Margaret Green

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Dear Milam County Citizens,

Do you recall a few months ago reading an article in which State Representative, Mike Krusee, Chairman of the House Transportation Committee (and according to the Star Telegram, one of six Texas representatives issued a subpoena investigating accusations of illegal fundraising), made statements telling Milam county not to worry because the Trans Texas Corridor was not going to run through Milam County? I read it in a local newspaper, and I wondered at the time how he knew this when the proposed route had not been decided on or approved by Washington yet.

But, have you heard that Milam may just have a brand new toll road of its own, anyway? Suddenly all these gas taxes we are paying seem to be disappearing. They are no longer enough to fund roads for Texas, so we must still pay gas taxes, but pay tolls, too.

And please ask yourself, even if we are assured that this one is only for transportation, unlike the TTC which will allow ancillary enterprises for profit within its route, how long before some new bill out of Austin suddenly allows for extra eminent domain seizure for more property for necessary additions along the roadway?

And think about the Dubai Port Deal, which thankfully seems to have fallen through. The Trans Texas Corridor (perhaps connecting to the Milam toll road at some point in the future) would be like one long port running from a foreign border all the way through our state, built, operated and controlled by a foreign company. Do we know who all their stockholders might be, or what controls would be used to prevent terrorists and/or their supplies and equipment from easily entering into and crossing our whole state?

Please, citizens, start hollering like the national crowd did. It got results swiftly, and so can we! Let's demand a safe Texas, for Texans, by demanding our elected representatives be honest and vote their constituents wishes, not their own political agendas.

Margaret Green

Buckholts

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Trans-Texas Corridor PING!

[Racehorse]

I despise toll roads.

More than that, I despise the Texas politicians who make them possible.

Makes me want to . . .

[Hermann the Cherusker]

I despise toll roads.

Do you expect your Fairy Godmother to wave her magic wand and make new roads suddenly appear that need no future maintenance and that never cost a cent to build?

Why shouldn't road users pay for the roads they wish to use, and those who don't want to use them and pay tolls can find other modes of getting around?

Do you have a god-given right for your travel habits to be paid for by the rest of us?

[randog]

Do you expect your Fairy Godmother to wave her magic wand and make new roads suddenly appear that need no future maintenance and that never cost a cent to build?

Wow, you got all that out of "I despise toll roads"?

[hedgetrimmer]

Why shouldn't road users pay for the roads they wish to use

How do you get your food, clothing and life necessities? Do they just drop out of heaven for you?

Do you have a god-given right for your travel habits to be paid for by the rest of us?

Someone should ask you that question if ever, God forbid, you need to go to a hospital in an ambulance.

[Racehorse]

Okay.  I've got a few minutes to waste.  I'll play.

Do you expect your Fairy Godmother to wave her magic wand and make new roads suddenly appear that need no future maintenance and that never cost a cent to build?

No.  I don't have a Fairy Godmother.  However, I may well have just met the Grinch.

I expect the public roads to be constructed and maintained by the taxes I and my fellow Texans pay.  I expect public roads to be . . . public.

If that means higher taxes, so be it.

Why shouldn't road users pay for the roads they wish to use, and those who don't want to use them and pay tolls can find other modes of getting around?

Not a matter of should or shouldn't.  You want toll roads?  Good for you.  I hope there are more of me than of you.

Do you have a god-given right for your travel habits to be paid for by the rest of us?

Where does God enter into it?

I have the same right as any other citizen to press the people elected to office to do what I want them to do.  Only wish I had more pressure to bring to bear.  If that's a God-given right, good for my side.

[Carry_Okie]

How long before governments use eminent domain to subsidize private roads?

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[Fudd]

I expect the public roads to be constructed and maintained by the taxes I and my fellow Texans pay.

Well, you've got a problem there. There are legions of bureaucrats who expect their pensions and health care to be paid for by the taxes you and your fellow Texans pay. There are millions of families who expect who expect their childrens' education to be paid for by the taxes you and your fellow Texans pay. There are many illegal aliens undocumented workers who expect who expect free medical care, paid for by the taxes you and your fellow Texans pay. And there are seniors on Medicare, prisoners, regulatory agencies, unions, and God knows what else that expects their projects will be supported for by the taxes you and your fellow Texans pay.

Toll roads let them have their fun.

[wolfcreek]

We pay hefty gas taxes here in Texas and We expect that money to be used wisely. Some of our politician, if they could have their way, would like to toll existing roadways that taxpayers have already funded. That crap might play in the Northeast but, it's not going to here!

[wolfcreek]

Please add me to your ping list! Thanks,wolfcreek

[Racehorse]

Well, you've got a problem there.

Well, what was your first clue?  :-)

Your catalog of aptly described demands on the taxes I and my fellow Texans pay kinda bloats up the thread.

All I want is for this new lust for toll roads to blow up and blow away.

[Dead Corpse]

I'd love toll roads. But not on top of the vehicle inspection tax, registration fees, gas taxes, EPA fees, ect...

Double taxation is bad. What we have is FAR worse.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Hermann the Cherusker]

The gas tax is mostly created by driving on local roads (75% of car-miles are on the 99% of non-limited access roads, but 95%+ of the gas tax is spent on the 1% of the network which is limited access) which are supported by property taxes, but is used to subsidize those who insist on commuting long distances by highway and those who take driving vacations on freeways. Furthermore, in the northeast and midwest, much of the mileage of interstates is tolled from its pre-interstate inception, so the gas taxes they generate go to subsidize other roads mostly in other states, since gas taxes may not be spent by toll authorities.

Lastly, with increasing fuel economy, gas tax receipts are going down relative to road useage, while the need for maintenance, police, and new roads continues to climb. Its not as though once a road is built it never has any costs ever again. First of all you must pay the finance charges on the bonds floated to pay the construction. Then you must pay maintenance, policing, snow and ice removal, accident clean-up, etc. Those things aren't free. Something has to give.

You are a freeloader advocating highway socialism.

Why not pay your own way?

[Racehorse]

You are a freeloader advocating highway socialism.

Why not pay your own way?

Doesn't that just make you want to jump the fence, I mean, right now, and squat down on his side, press your back up against a good scratching post, and just watch the socialists zoom by as they commute through America and take them dreamy creamy freeway vacations?

Zoom . . . zoom  . . . zoom.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Here's your political progenitor:

"People were encouraged to entertain an idle dream: the cities will be part of the country; I shall live 30 miles from my office in one direction, under a pine tree; my secretary will live 30 miles away from it too, in the other direction, under another pine tree. We shall both have our own car. We shall use up tires, wear out road surfaces and gears, consume oil and gasoline. All of which will necessitate a great deal of work ... enough for all." (Le Corbusier, La Ville Radiuese [The Radiant City], 1930)

Le Corbusier was a French socialist modernist architect and planner, trying very hard to create the socialist New Man by his utopian work.

[Racehorse]

My political progenitor, with respect to highway access, is a bit more recent.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs H.R. 8127, the 1954 Highway Legislation.
The White House May 6, 1954.
( Eisenhower  Archives )

This Republican socialist President saw the need for a national highway system as far back as 1919 when he participated in the first transcontinental military convoy from Washington D.C. to San Francisco.  The trip took 62 days.

Franklin Roosevelt thought about getting it started in the 30s, but couldn't quite get over the federalism hurdle.  Eisenhower got the right folks to see the light and the feds (with our tax dollars) covered 90 percent of the cost.

Unless they're developed privately with private funds, toll roads are an abomination, even when, as in the case in Kansas, the roads are absolutely first rate. 

Since we're schooling each other, here's returning the favor.  Sorry it does not cover the last 15 years or so, but I think you'll understand the point.  Or, maybe you won't.

The earliest roads in Texas may have developed from Indian trails or the marked trails of early Spanish explorers, but the first known roads developed as the result of the necessity for travel from Mexico to San Antonio, Goliad, and the East Texas missions. The Old San Antonio Roadqv is perhaps the oldest known highway. Another early highway was the La Bahía Road,qv and in East Texas Trammel's Traceqv was a frequently traveled route. The Republic of Texasqv government approved a Central National Roadqv that aided entry for many immigrants, though it never played the international role that planners originally envisioned. Early Texas law called for the establishment of first-class roads between county seats. These roads were forty-foot-wide cleared paths. Stumps less than eight inches in diameter were cut off at the ground, and larger stumps were rounded off so that wagon wheels could more easily roll over them. Second-class roads were thirty feet wide, and third-class roads were twenty-two feet wide. In 1883 the state government adopted a constitutional amendment that provided for a fifteen-cent county road tax for every dollar valuation. At that time the county commissioners' courtqv had the power to choose routes and construct roads. Citizens could petition for a new road or for improvements to an existing one, after which the court appointed a jury of view to decide on the matter. In nineteenth-century Texas and even into the early twentieth century, water lanes were also important to road development, since they allowed landowners access to the nearest body of water. Work on roads was conducted at the county level. The county commissioners appointed overseers to supervise workers, who were often landowners on the route under construction. Landowners could pay substitutes. Generally, all able-bodied men aged eighteen to forty-five were required to volunteer several days a year for roadwork.

Roads were often named according to their termini-Blanco-San Antonio Road, for instance. Early roads often were mere rocky trails or mud streams. Courses were longer and less efficient as they went around hills, large trees, and boulders. The early roads zigzagged, had right-angle turns, and held water. At the beginning of the twentieth century very few roads in the United States had any kind of hard surface. Probably the most dramatic change in attitude toward highway development in the nation and in Texas occurred with the use of the automobile, which forced drivers to recognize the need for road improvements. In 1903 citizens formed "good roads" associations in Texas in order to promote better roads. The groups organized events like auto tours and set aside special days to do volunteer roadwork. As early as 1903 there were calls to establish a bureau of highways in Texas, but no action was taken at that time. In 1916, however, the Federal Aid Road Act provided for the establishment of state highway departments. That year-the first year of registration-Texas had 194,720 autos registered. The State Highway Department, now known as the Texas Department of Transportation,qv was established in 1917 by act of the Thirty-fifth Legislature and was originally charged with the primary responsibility of granting financial aid to counties for highway construction and maintenance. In 1921 the Federal Aid Road Act was amended to offer matching federal funds to supplement state money for road building, and Texas counties applied for their share. In 1923 the state imposed a gasoline tax of one cent per gallon, three-fourths of which went to the state highway fund. The Texas Highway Department assumed responsibility for maintaining state highways in 1924, but not until the next year did the department have clear-cut authority for constructing the state highway system.

During the late 1920s the legislature adopted the pay-as-you-go or debt-free concept advocated by Representative Leonard Tillotson of Sealy. The department devised the first statewide marking system in the 1920s, and in 1929 it placed state and federal route signs including mileages and directions on designated highways in Texas . That same year Texas had 18,728 miles of main highways, 9,271 miles of which was hard-surfaced. The period of the 1930s was marked by the Great Depressionqv and the efforts of the department to provide employment through road construction. Planning and constructing a highway involved four principal objectives: safety, convenience, comfort, and aesthetics. Road crews endeavored to shorten routes, smooth dangerous curves and deep culverts, provide adequate drainage, clear weeds and shrubbery to eliminate blind spots, and plant trees, flowers, and shrubbery to help prevent erosion of the road shoulders and beautify the landscape. Greater highway development led to increased mobility and an emerging tourismqv industry. In preparation for tourists traveling the state for the Texas Centennialqv the highway department instituted the Office of Landscape Architect in 1933. The purpose of this office was to incorporate both aesthetics and safety into landscaping. The department appointed Mrs. Frank W. Sorrell to lead a Texas citizens' highway-beautification organization to encourage local groups to seek and promote highway improvement in their areas. The department also planned the building of roadside parks. Because of low funds, local groups were encouraged to help by donating time, labor, and supplies. The National Youth Administrationqv provided some federal assistance by constructing roadside parks. Women's groups played a pivotal role in promoting the parks and also lobbied for the restriction of billboard advertising and livestock grazing along highways. In 1936 there were 1,525,579 registered vehicles in Texas, and the state highway system comprised more than 21,000 miles of roads. As the department was emerging from the depression, World War IIqv necessitated a curtailment of road construction because of the scarcity of labor and material.

The most dramatic years in the history of highway development in Texas came after the war. The greatest changes in this period included the development of the farm-to-market and interstate highway systems. As early as 1945 the highway commission authorized the construction of 7,500 miles of rural roads to be financed on a fifty-fifty basis with federal and state funds. The first contracts for construction were let in January 1946 in Randall County. Once the program got started, it became popular, and the demand for rural paved roads grew. The law that really got Texas farmers "out of the mud" was the Colson-Briscoe Act of 1949, which appropriated $15 million a year to the highway department from the Omnibus Tax Clearance Fund to be used in the construction of local roads that did not have sufficient traffic volume to pay for their construction and maintenance. In 1962 the legislature increased the appropriation so that not less than $23 million a year would be available for the construction of new farm roads. In the same year the commission increased the size of the farm-road system from 35,000 to 50,000 miles. By March 31, 1989, the Texas FM system included 41,755 miles of pavement and was the most extensive network of secondary roads in the world. The interstate highway system began in 1956, when Congress established the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, which was to consist of 41,000 miles linking nearly every major population center in the nation. The system was later expanded to 42,000 miles. The law established a trust fund under which the federal government would pay 90 percent and the states 10 percent of the cost of the system. The states were to pay for the construction and be reimbursed by the federal government. As of March 31, 1989, Texas had completed 3,234 miles of interstate highways, and its share of the system was nearly completed. All routes of the network have been constructed as controlled-access arteries with no stop signs or stop lights and no grade crossings. In some densely populated metropolitan areas the department has also developed high-occupancy vehicle lanes to aid in the flow of traffic. The Texas portion of the interstate system is longer than any other state's.

Private contracting has been an important factor in highway construction in Texas. Texas highways are designed by the department, but the actual construction is performed by private contractors who offer competitive bids. In 1988 some 500 prequalified contractors were bidding on highway-construction contracts in Texas. An additional 500 contractors qualified to do specialty work such as making signs, lights, and signals, offered bids on contracts. As of mid-1989, the department had 901 contracts totaling $3,674,777,952 under way, with 59.55 percent of the construction completed. Generally the Texas Department of Transportation has been able to build and maintain highways more cheaply than the national average. In addition to the farm-to-market and interstate highway, in 1990 Texas also had approximately 12,500 miles of U.S. highways and 14,500 miles of state highways. The entire Texas highway system comprised more than 72,000 miles of highways. Additionally, about 30,000 bridges spanned Texas highways.

Texas highways are financed by revenue from a state gasoline tax, vehicle registration fees, and federal assistance. In 1946 Texas voters approved a good-roads constitutional amendment that provides a guaranteed income for state highways by prohibiting the diversion of receipts from gasoline taxes and vehicle registration to non-highway purposes. The amendment reserved a quarter of the revenues for the Available School Fundqv and set the remainder aside permanently for state highways. In 1988 voters approved another amendment to ensure that federal funds reimbursing the state for highway work also are dedicated to highway purposes.

Texas Highway Development

 

[Racehorse]

Make that the first motorized transcontinental military convoy, just to keep close to accurate. Eisenhower and troops had a devil of a time making it across.