Posted on 11/12/2006 3:14:29 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
As the controversy escalates regarding the Trans-Texas Corridor, I find alarming an Express-News article dated March 12, 2005. It is titled "State gets in fast lane to new toll road system" and subtitled "Go-ahead given for planning Trans-Texas Corridor segment."
It is the announcement of the signing of the first contract for this project, and it extols the "cutting-edge, bold and forward-looking" aspects of Rick Perry's plan.
Yet today, amid the discussions about farmland, foreign involvement and NAFTA, I hear little about the subject of one small paragraph near the end of this article. The paragraph reads, "Traffic levels on I-35 will help determine toll rates and limits on building competing public roads. A certain amount of congestion is needed to create a market for toll roads."
To ensure profitability, the contract can limit expansion of existing roads and/or the building of new roads well beyond the dimensions of the corridor. This would be most critical for I-35, but could also limit local efforts to improve road infrastructure and development extending for several miles either side of the corridor.
Potentially, this would create a recipe for disaster if too few drivers choose to avoid the tolls and continue to drive existing roads. Nearby municipalities could have their hands tied by this contract.
Also, considering the rising cost of transportation, the influx of and relocation of population, economic growth or downturn and environmental impacts, it is very difficult to predict transportation needs very far into the future.
Yet this contract will allow a private, for-profit venture, comprised in part by a foreign company, control over the road infrastructure for the next 50 years.
The citizens of Texas could, in their efforts to address local and regional transportation issues, be severely limited by a veto power provided by this long-term contract. The effect on Texas and its citizens could be potentially devastating.
As I approach 60, I realize that this control will continue until my 110th birthday. My 20-year-old granddaughter will be 70 years old at that time. It is difficult to understand how our government entities can value the concept of electing public officials for two six-year terms, yet hand over this kind of authority over the citizens of Texas for 50 years.
The legacy passed on by this very unwise decision is undeserved by future generations.
Yours is the winner for hyperventilating whiner today.
Cue the spooky music!
I went ahead and added you to my TTC ping list, by the way.
Trucks will be able to operate more efficiently, because they won't be slowed down going through cities. They'll be able to get more productivity out of their drivers, because they won't be stuck in city traffic, and the speed limit will be 85 mph. Also, the separation of trucks and cars will greatly improve safety. The rail corridors will eliminate the need for thousands of trucks, and will allow railroads to abandon old rights of way with grade leve crossings. I guess if you're a trial lawyer, you won't like it, because it will decrease the number of truck-car and train-car accidents.
That regards intrastate tariffs, not toll roads. If you were charged to use the road to get to Oklahoma, but not otherwise, you might have a relevant point. Roads have to be paid for, and while doing so with gas taxes appeals to some, I find charging for useage more equitable. Many people compelled to pay federal gasoline taxes aren't using those federal roads, whereas anyone who pays a toll on a road is using that road.
As long as you never ever buy anything delivered by truck and you starve, then what you say would be the case. However, the casket they bury you in was delivered by truck. Pay me now or pay me later but you will pay the toll, plus all of the current expense.
Just another name for the same duck.
Just another name for the same duck.
No one is doing that. The LEASE of the road is for 50-years, but can be canceled at any time for any reason by the state, which will always keep ownership and ultimate control. No different than operating leases some cities make with private companies for garbage collection.
Why? The section from San Antonio to the Mexican border will be the last section built, probably after 2025, a decade after the San Antonio-Dallas portion. If this is about smuggling in illegal aliens, why is the Mexican connection last? Do you realize that the road doesn't cross the border, doesn't add a border connection, and doesn't change border procedures one iota? Why would those engaged in illegal activities take a new toll road that has cameras and toll plazas all along the way when they could take any of the numerous already existing roads that don't have cameras?
If you do a little research you will find that the supreme court has already ruled on this, that is why the little line in the last transportation bill said they could be of limited duration and for test purposes, which is bunk.
I guess you haven't driven down I-35 recently. It's jam packed 24/7. It seems that every week theres some rail accident in an urban area. By having multiple rights of way next to each other, it cuts down on impact compared to having lots of separate rights of way. We have a rail infrastucture that was laid out in the nineteenth century for a much less densly populated state. Not very much of it is double tracked. New state of the art rail corridors will greatly improve safety and get trains out of towns and cities.
Toll roads have a history of getting built ahead of schedule and below budget. I haven't seen any government built highways get built that way.
The TTC will be privately funded.
And Cintra will pay the State of Texas billions of dollars just for the right to build it. I've never seen sports team owners do that.
Total nonsense, but it is just one lie after another from the anti-TTC crowd. Of course the tolls will be passed on, but they are a fraction of the product cost. And in reality since every user will be there by choice, the cost of tolls will be offset by productivity savings, else the business would chose to use the slower free route. Time savings can pay off by a truck being able to run more turns, shorter on duty time for drivers reducing labor costs, shorter transit times allowing for later cutoffs and longer sorts that reduce staffing demands at the sort hubs, etc.
Now just what makes you an expert on the transportation industry?? But as you said the cost will be passed on, and passed on and passed on. However the savings will only be in your mind.
I used to work for a railroad, took basic economics in college, and know how to read more than just the kook conspiracy theories of ignorant activists (Corsi, World Nut Daily, Corridor Watch, Cindy Sheehan, "Halliburton is evil" crowd, etc.)
"No one is doing that. The LEASE of the road is for 50-years, but can be canceled at any time for any reason by the state, which will always keep ownership and ultimate control."
Sure they will. Some company is going to invest billions based on the whim of the local government, right.
Yeah. And the toll people hope you don't think about that detail.
Why would ANYONE pay money to drive on a road that's just as good as a free one? Answer: They won't. Which is a guarantee that the state will keep the free roads second rate.
As a born and bred Okie, I love it that Texans appear to be so foolish to build toll roads the way Oklahoma screwed up 60 years ago.
Even better that I live in Arizona now, that has a booming economy and high growth, much of it because we have an awesome free highway system.
Thanks for the ping!
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