Posted on 11/10/2016 9:11:39 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
If recent votes are any indication, Texans don’t like toll roads, but they do like Donald Trump. At some point, maybe soon, they’re going to have to make a choice between the two.
President-elect Trump in late October laid out some of his plans should he win the White House, among them the American Energy & Infrastructure Act, which he plans to pass in his first 100 days. In his action plan that includes abolishing the Affordable Care Act and restraining immigration, Trump said the infrastructure plan “leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives.”
Over a decade, Trump pinned the investment potential at $1 trillion. Private equity investor Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro, an economist at University of California Irvine, developed the plan as senior advisers to the Trump campaign.
And on Wednesday, Trump's team selected Shirley Ybarra, a former Virginia secretary of transportation, to lead the president-elect's transportation transition team. Ybarra is credited with developing public-private partnerships in Virginia, which have been held up as a national model by supporters. She worked in federal transportation capacities during the Reagan Administration.
In the assessment by Ross and Navarro, they argue regulatory delays keep needed highway and bridge projects from happening, but it’s not the only hurdle.
“The second reason why America faces a huge infrastructure gap is a lack of adequate and innovative financing options,” the duo wrote. “Here, we note that those projects with strong and clearly defined cash flows are readily financeable in the capital markets.”
Further, Ross and Navarro point to a “private-sector solution” that the country can leverage.
(Excerpt) Read more at houstonchronicle.com ...
All of a sudden, price is real important.
I noticed that.
I also notice there was no talk of this prior to the election.
Where was the media on this?
Sounds like a private sector plan, but toll roads are another forum of taxation. That’s all we need.
Pretty soon you’ll have to spend thousands just to drive coast to coast. We pay for the damned higways through our gas tax dollars, they misdirect it, and then charge us again.
F that noise.
Those dollars are needed for politicians to buy votes and love with, in order to keep their asses parked in soft executive chairs behind big desks, earning above-market salaries for doing nothing except screwing things up.
Please tell me that this is just speculation on the part of the Chronicle.
THERE’S SO MUCH TO CUT!!!!!!!!!
200 BILLION IN IRS FRAUD ALONE.
ANOTHER 200 BILLION IN MEDICARE FRAUD!!
SLICE WELFARE. SLICE SNAP!!
And if we can’t build a great military with 600 billion a year, something’s wrong.
No tolls!!!!
My bridge already costs 16 dollars!!! Well, a lot less because I live on staten island.
I agree. Slashing the EPA, Department of Education, and DoE would save some cash.
Hey, what’s up bro? :)
Yeah there’s at LEAST a half trillion of waste in this beast of a budget!!
You forgot the 150 billion Obama sent to Iran to build nukes to destroy our cities.
Sixteen bucks for a bridge toll? Per day? Dayum.
Soon, we could literally have privately financed Trump Trains running around.
PING!
Which bridge? Goethals or Verrazano?
Privately financed Trump Trains in Texas.
Digging out the old Trans-Texas Corridor PING list for this one.
That was Obama’s idea of investing in urban renewal.
The trouble with big ticket infrastructure projects is that they are not as labor intensive as you might assume. What we need is a lot of manufacturing jobs. But to be competitive in the world market, costs must be reduced by the use of robotics and higher productivity. However infrastructure jobs and their results are highly visible so, politically, completed projects done early and under budget will convince many that progress is being made.
eliminate the federal gas tax and privatize the interstates
it’s called free market capitalism and it works
Verrazano!!! Goethals is 13.
And they’re going up!!!!
That’s why they wouldn’t let us secede.
They need hard working Italian and Irish money to pay for lazy obama son money in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
One councilwoman from the bronx said there should NEVER be an intra borough toll. Then someone told her about the Verrazano and she said that’s different. witch.
“Sixteen bucks for a bridge toll? Per day? Dayum.”
Well, here in California’s SF Bay Area the bridge tolls start at $5.00 (the Bay Bridge is more at commute time) for two axles, every additional axle is $5.00 and they way they do the math when you have three axles ( i.e. a trailer) that’s $15.00. So an 18 wheeler is $25.00. Oh and I almost forgot, they are putting in toll lanes on our “freeways” that are priced according to the time of day. Soon, to go from Walnut Creek to San Jose will most likely cost you $20 or more if you use the “diamond lane.”
So yes, Dayum!
“The trouble with big ticket infrastructure projects is that they are not as labor intensive as you might assume. What we need is a lot of manufacturing jobs.”
Infrastructure should not be a “jobs program.” Jobs for infrastructure are not what you would call permanent. Infrastructure construction should be separate from the project to rebuild our economy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.