Real Cynic No More:
Oh, like the new SH 130 roadway project in the Austin area that's months ahead of schedule and millions of dollars under budget?
The opponents have brain dead arguments against the toll road plan. The "Big Dig" in Massachussetts went over budget precisely because it is funded by federal tax dollars and the contractors had no incentives to keep costs low. The TTC is ultimately funded by tolls people pay to use the facilities. As the owners and builders of the improvements built in the state owned corridors, both Cintra and Zachary have tremendous incentives to keep costs down and build the corridors quickly in order to start getting their money back.
Toll roads are a conservative method of financing roads. Tolls are users fees for using roads. The exise tax on motor fuels was supposed to be a type of user fee, but politicians divert those funds according to the seniority of the politicians in Washington not according to how much each state paid into the highway fund. The system the DemocRATS wanted set up would have been even worse. They wanted to build the Interestate Highway System out of general revenues as a way of redistributing income. As far as I am concerned the federal excise tax on motor fuels should be abolished or it should never be increased letting inflation erode the real value that tax. There is no way to reform budget allocations short of taking the money away from Washington politicians. I am even more against funding roads out of the income tax.
The toll roads I am familiar with in Houston were all built much faster and under budget compared with state and federally funded highway projects of similar capacity. TxDOT has been upgrading I-35 between San Antonio and Hillsboro for over 15 years and they're nowhere near finished rebuilding that highway from 2 lanes to 3 lanes. By the time they're finished with that upgrade in maybe a decade, it will be obsolete. In fact it would have been obsolete if it had been completed in 1990.
And as I said, I'm fine with toll roads. AS LONG AS ALL THE OTHER CRAP I AM CURRENTLY PAYING THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO FUND THESE SAME ROADS GOES AWAY.
No sign of that happening any time soon. Ergo, they are double and triple dipping us.
What I don't like is that Perry is proceeding even though we voted it down in San Antonio. Strayhorn isn't lying when she says 'land grab.' There are people along I-35 who don't want to part with their property.
Perry's statements in this campaign don't ring true to me.
We visited Houston and it's tough to have enough quarters. And rather expensive to navigate the city, especially when the tolls aren't always the same. I can't speak about Austin, but then we don't really like each other, these two cities.
This project is not meant to increase the mobility of Texans. It is part of the Nafta Super Highway to transport Chinese junk from Mexican ports to Kansas City where it will then be inspected by Mexican "Customs" Agents and then distributed throughout the country.
Just another step in the direction of the so-called North American Union. This will be an open sewer of illegal immigration and all sorts of smuggling. Our Soveriegnty is being eroded in front of our eyes while the Sheeple's attention is rivited on Proffesional Football and other Circuses.