Posted on 10/04/2006 10:58:20 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Texas Transportation Commission unrolled Sept. 28 the long-awaited road map for the Trans-Texas Corridor.
Release of the Master Development Plan will result also in public disclosure of the full contract between the state and Cintra-Zachry, a private joint venture between the Spanish firm Cintra and the Texas highway contractor Zachry.
Both Cintra-Zachry and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) appealed a ruling from the Texas Attorney General’s office that the full contract is an open record. A trial was scheduled for Oct. 10 in Travis County district court.
The master plan calls for the prompt building of seven segments of the Trans-Texas Corridor’s parallel route to Interstate 35 (TTC-35), mostly with private funds.
“The plan will help us take advantage of private sector innovation and investment to relieve congestion on I-35,” said Michael Behrens, TxDOT executive director. “It will allow us to develop TTC-35 as it is needed and as private sector funding makes it feasible.”
In coming weeks, expect Gov. Rick Perry’s opponents to pore over the full contract, looking for issues to raise.
“For 16 months Rick Perry has fought to keep Texans in the dark and his contract with a foreign-owned company to build toll roads across Texas a secret,” said Mark Sanders, spokesman for Perry opponent Carole Keeton Strayhorn. “ … Texans have the right to know what their government is doing, but Rick Perry and his highway henchmen are determined to cram toll roads down our throats and were willing to go to court to protect this administration’s special interests.
“As governor, Carole Keeton Strayhorn will blast this $184 billion boondoggle off the bureaucratic books … In a Strayhorn administration, agreements and undertakings of this magnitude will be put to the voters or be approved by the Legislature.”
As this deal is likely to become the subject of significant debate in coming weeks, it’s important to understand what Cintra-Zachry has placed on the table.
Seven near-term roadways were identified costing $7.5 billion, with nearly $2.3 billion paid to the state up front for the right to operate these highways. Five segments of road were identified as near-term roadway facilities that the developer could design, build, finance, operate and maintain:
1. the Dallas Northeast Connector (which would connect Interstate 30 east of Dallas with US-75 near the Oklahoma border).
2. the Dallas Southeast Connector (connecting Interstate 45 south of Dallas with Interstate 30 east of Dallas).
3. a toll road from Hillsboro to Temple.
4. a toll road from Temple to Georgetown.
5. the first half of a Southeast loop around San Antonio that would allow trucks and cars from Laredo to bypass the metropolitan area and head straight to the proposed State Highway 130 (which would go from Seguin to Georgetown).
Concession fees from the first five segments of road could also be used to help build two other proposed near-term toll roads: the second half of the San Antonio loop road and a Northwest connector that would connect Interstate 35 near the Oklahoma border with US 75.
The near term roads could be ready for development within five years and open for traffic within 10 years.
In addition to the roads identified as part of TTC-35, the master plan identifies three other roads as ready for construction: State Highway 130 segments 5 and 6 (Seguin to south of Austin), southern portions of a proposed Loop 9 around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and a freight rail facility from Dallas-Fort Worth to Mexico.
The Trans-Texas Corridor envisions separate lanes for trucks and cars as well as space for utilities and rail. Total right of way is expected to be 1,200 feet wide. The master plan includes detailed revenue projections for all facets of the project, using complicated statistical methods.
The revenue projections assume a toll rate of 12.5 cents per mile for cars and 48 cents per mile for trucks. The study calls these rates consistent with tolls on the state’s existing toll roads in the Dallas and Houston metropolitan areas. (Dallas-to-Waco is approximately 100 miles. A 100-mile journey at 12.5 cents per mile would cost $12.50.) The Texas Department of Transportation has to approve the methodology for determining the tolls.
Much of the controversy surrounding the Trans-Texas Corridor involves use of eminent domain to condemn land. Only the state, not the private contractor, can use eminent domain, and the right-of-way belongs to the state, even though the state sells a private company the right to build and operate a road on that right-of-way.
The exact route of TTC-35 has not yet been determined. What route to use, and whether to build it, are decisions governed by the National Environmental Policy Act.
TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration are jointly conducting environmental studies on the road. Unlike past projects, this one stipulates simultaneous planning and environmental studies.
“What the public is seeing,” continued Behrens, “is an environmental process that runs in tandem with a separate planning process. The private developer assumes a great deal of risk this way, but the ultimate benefit to drivers is that the project is delivered sooner. In the past, environmental studies and detailed planning were performed sequentially, adding years to major projects. I firmly believe that the public knows and appreciates it when we move faster on our projects.”
During the study process, the department held 54 environmental hearings around the state. These, Strayhorn turned into political rallies, where she railed against toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor. Many rural residents also showed up and voiced concerns.
TxDOT emphasizes that corridor development will not put a halt to gas-tax funded work along Interstate 35. The department is currently widening the road to at least three lanes in each direction between San Antonio and Hillsboro. “The state’s commitment to expand IH-35 remains intact,” said Behrens. “Everything that TxDOT is working on now and has scheduled over the next 25 years under the traditional gas-tax financed system will continue as planned.”
The department estimates the segment from Georgetown to Hillsboro will be completed by 2011.
If I recall correctly, a loan from the Federal Government will be used to pay for part of the construction costs. If Cintra-Zachry defaults on this loan, taxpayers from coast to coast will be on the hook for parts of the fully-directional interchanges, bridges, pavement, and so on.
Perhaps, but at least they used a methodology with their calculations that anyone can look up. Your number is made up out of thin air (as are most of the claims on these threads.) Why is it so hard for you and others to simply stick to the facts without resorting to massive exaggerations and falsehoods?
Thanks for the ping
You're welcome.
Yes, another article said up to 30% of construction costs could come from low-interest loans from a fed program specifically set up to encourage toll road construction. The reason Congress set up the fund was to use the LOANS to leverage private investment, which in the end would save the feds tons of taxpayer funds (traditional tax funding had the feds often paying for as much as 80-90% of a roads cost.) 30% of 8 billion is $2.4 billion (max), so that is basically offset by the upfront fee paid of $2.3 billion. And unless there is a default, all of the loan will be paid back, so no net cost to taxpayers. Even with a default the state would still get a road for pennies on the dollar (the investors would be out for most of the construction costs), thus still a savings to taxpayers. I don't know what the provisions are for how much the state would have to pay back the feds on a default, but again even with a default it still is a road constructed at a much lower cost to the feds than with traditional financing. Am not certain on this, but isn't the money for the fed toll road loan program taken from the gas tax receipts sent to the feds? Since Texas is a net donor state (IIRC getting back only about $.90 for every dollar they send to DC in gas tax receipts) utilizing this fed loan is simply a return to the state of more of its gas tax. Again as a loan, that money will be paid back to the feds (and then used as leverage for other projects.) So the only net cost to the taxpayers is if the toll developer defaults, and defaults big, neither of which is likely (since Cintra has a long history of building and operating tollroads around the globe, and default is not the norm for them. That experience and track record is one reason they are bidding on and winning so many contracts.)
Nevermind that allergen levels have been high for a good while now in this half of Texas. Yes, I've been checking it, since my allergies have been bad for awhile now (and I live nowhere near any toll road construction.)
You sound like a Democrat, blaming President Bush, Karl Rove, and Halliburton for everything from gas prices to hurricanes.
"$2.3 billion that can be used on other roads instead of spending taxpayer money."
That amounts to about 3 1/2 months of revenue for TXDOT. They got it cheap.
The more I hear or this the more I am against it.
I oppose it as it is another tax on movement of goods and people in a state that is huge.
I also think we will end up with a boondoggle that has to be funded by additional taxes.
$12.50 per 100 mile stretch. Plus gas. Plus car ins./car payments.
It may be cheaper to fly.
If the calculations are anything like sports stadium and "underground railway museum" projects, the $500 billion you pulled out of your hat is likely to be the real cost. These big projects are always lowballed then "hidden costs",inflation,labor troubles, and a whole litany of BS is used to justify throwing good money after bad.
80 MPH is the proposed speed for the TTC.... not sure under what laws, etc.
It may be cheaper to fly.
One has to wonder if the planners have taken the speed limit issue seriously. The philosophy of "if you build it they will come" does not apply to rural toll roads, the Indian Nation Turnpike in eastern Oklahoma being strong evidence of how rural toll roads will fail without a sufficient number of customers.
Do you actually think that the environmental permitting process in the US/Texas is inadequate? You don't know diddly squat.
fail without a sufficient number of customers
What nonsense scapegoating. Do you also get sinus infections every time a home is built, a hospital, a grocery store, a pharmacy? When the farmer tills his fields or lets one lay fallow? It takes time for the grasses to take hold, but the wind blows almost all the time.
So are you saying toll road dirt is different, or are you demanding that all growth and farming stop near you, lest you get another sinus infection? Perhaps consulting a doctor might be a wiser course of action for you?
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