Posted on 10/06/2009 4:39:58 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Texas Department of Transportation is pulling the last plug on the Trans-Texas Corridor, Gov. Rick Perry's embattled plan to build a toll-road network across the state.
The agency said earlier this year it was scaling down the project and dropping the name "Trans-Texas Corridor." Now, transportation officials say it's fully dead. Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of the decision in a report posted online Tuesday.
The news comes a day after Perry's Republican primary opponent, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, secured the coveted endorsement of the powerful Texas Farm Bureau — a vocal opponent of the corridor and a group that has been at odds with Perry over eminent domain and private property rights. Farmers and ranchers did not like the corridor plan because of the private land it threatened to take.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
From your lips to God's ears. But tonite the radio said KBH is leading Perry in the polls. Didn't give numbers. She has all the elite behind her. If people think Perry's faults are bad, just wait for Ma Bailout.
When the campaign heats up, RP will hammer KBH with her record, while letting the voters know that TX is one of the most prosperous states in America. I do not believe Texans will elect KBH over RP when it comes down to pushing the button. You are right, she has the elites all sown up, but they don’t elect the Gov.
You sound like you would fit better in DU than FR.
We need to be very careful...
Senator Corona has been very public about his desiring to reasurrect this abomination in 2011...
I’m ust amazed it took so long for the legislative branch and the governor to take a hint from about 95% of Texans about this issue...
Things like this are never kaput because the advocates NEVER give up.
Frankly, I don't remember who I voted for last time (Kinky, maybe?) -- but it definitely was not for Perry; nor will it be next time around.
“KBH will NEVER win an election against RP. Take it to the bank...”
KBH may not win, but if she wasn’t running the TTC would still be here, and Perry would be coasting to re-election due to lack of any credible challengers.
Say what you want (RINO, and the rest), but KBH may have been the only person in the state (other than Perry) with the power to KILL IT.
The TTC is dead. Long live I-69!
I-69 was to be the Interstate portion of the TTC. It was also the only part that made sense and has any purpose outside of Texas. Now that the TTC is gone, the I-69 project can get moving.
Be careful when it comes to allowing tolls.
Two weeks ago, I was in NY for my niece’s Bat Mitzvah... I stayed with my step-mother up in Yonkers, and my sister and her family live in NJ, just outside of Hoboken. In order to get there, we have to go over two bridges: The Henry Hudson and the GW bridge (or take a tunnel). Because she has one of those electronic “passes” we just had to slow down for the tolls, so I had no idea how expensive it was...
Because she uses that electronic gadget, and usually goes out there during “off-peak” times, the round trip cost to visit her daughter is... you won’t believe this... $12 in tolls! That’s right! $3 each way for the HH bridge, as well as a $6 toll into NY from NJ!
Mark
And you sound like you’d fit better on nambla.org.
I don’t care if you disagree with me, but you’d better do so on the basis of ideas. If you don’t have an argument, don’t post to me. Otherwise I’ll have to humiliate you again.
Do a Google seach for “Interurban railway”.
It is a sign you are LOSING your argument when you sink this low.
YOU were the one who started with the personal attacks, buddy. All I did was reply in kind.
Now hit the Abuse Button again like the pee-pee baby that you are.
You can move to dead-broke California, where Arnold will build a bullet train with the money he steals from constitutionally required state projects.
It won’t be fun, everyone will have to ride it because the highways will collapse once and for all after he thieves the money out of the road budget.
You’ll be crammed elbow to elbow with the smelly masses, and the train will have to stop every 5 feet to drop the commuters off at their stops.
Your phony “free trading” philosophy created this deplorable state of affairs. I know you’re enjoying the misery it has caused.
You have plainly stated: You are opposed to people freely living where they choose. You are for taxing people for living where they choose at a higher rate. You are for treating one group of people differently than another (suburbanites) because you just don't like them. And-you make base personal attacks when losing or unable to justify your points. Yes, sir you are not a conservative.
Most (but not all) of the toll roads in Texas were funded by the sale of bonds that are secured by future toll collections. Unless the state is willing to pay off the bonds, no politician is going to get rid of them.
The most recent toll roads in the D/FW area have, or are being built years (or even decades) earlier than they would have been built if we had to wait for TXDoT to dribble out the money.
And the best part is that the fees are being paid by the people that use them. Since electronic toll collection is now the standard method, it's no different than any other highway.
You already pay gas taxes for highway upkeep. Tell your leaders that’s what you want the money spent on, rather than mass transit rabbit holes.
Where I live, mass transit is funded by a addition to the sales tax. I'm not happy with it, but it's not the gas tax. However, I do wish they would quit adding HOV lanes that are usually empty except during the peak of rush hour. Ban trucks from the left lanes, but don't close them off to automobiles.
Or at least read this posting from the moderator: "Don't post to me".
Thanks for the ping!
Toll roads are nothing more or less than one more way to tax you. Actually floating bonds was brilliant. They got the money up front and now have you over the barrel to pay them off. No offense but you are exhibiting the precise mindset they were hoping you would.
The good people of your state pay out lots of Money in gas taxes. They shouldn’t have to pay off bonds too through tolls.
Now while you won’t be stopped to pay tolls, it really is different. You’re paying another fee on top of the gas taxes you already pay.
I think you’re being jobbed. Those tolls will never end. I’ll bet they’re still charging tolls on the turnpike from OKC to the Missouri line. They were charging those 45 years ago.
California has never been a big toll road state. Now they’re getting ready to put them on all our freeways. You can’t go anywhere without them here. This will cost everyone who works $100s of dollars per year.
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