Posted on 10/10/2017 8:10:17 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
No city in America runs on anything resembling a free-market model. But Texas' major cities are probably the closest thing, with vast improvements to their economies and living standards to show for it. Their looser land-use laws mean that housing supply grows quickly, stabilizing prices. Their lighter tax and regulatory structure helps businesses locate there and grow. Andshenanigans from the governor's office notwithstandingtheir openness to immigrants means they have cheap and robust labor forces.
But one market-oriented aspect little discussed is Texas' approach to transportation. The state has 25 toll roads, more than any other state. They are particularly common in Houston and Dallas, with notable examples including the Sam Houston Tollway in Houston and the LBJ Express in Dallas. Although toll prices vary depending on time and demand, many roads are traversed for under $1.
Texas' toll roads began as public entities, but in 2003, amid shortfalls in transportation funding, a state law was passed allowing new and existing ones to enter public-private partnerships. This brought several advantages, said Bob Poole, director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation. The private sectorwhich encompasses contractors and investors, often from overseasbrought in floods of capital and innovation, creating a much more self-sustaining system.
In a typical scenario today, said Poole, the upfront expenditures that go into building a private toll road are between 15-20% government-funded (with the revenue coming from state and federal gas taxes, which are technically a user fee anyway). This is opposed to most major roads, which saddle taxpayers with the full construction costs.
From there, ongoing road maintenance is covered by the actual road users. Poole says that oftentimes, deals are structured so that the excess revenue goes back into government coffers, or at very least, to pay off construction debts. This was confirmed by a state DOT estimate which found that eliminating tolls would cost Texas $40 billion in revenue.
But what the government is not forced to do for Texas' public-private toll roads is assume much of the risk. If a road failssuch as one stretch did along a rural portion between San Antonio and Austinit is shuttered, and the costs eaten by the private investors. Contrast this with most other major U.S. roadways, which don't have this level of user-fee-based accountability. Instead, they are funded--without question and in perpetuity--by gas tax revenue (and increasingly, general fund revenue). Without any market correction process, such roads don't endure the same scrutiny about whether they are even justified. Money for them just keeps rolling in, footed by taxpayers.
Another thing Texas' toll roads have accomplished is greater mobility. The Dallas and Houston metros, in particular, have been the nations two fastest-growing metros by net population since 2010. But their congestion levels are not as bad as similar-size metros, according to traffic studies by Inrix and TomTom. This is because they've expanded highway capacity to accommodate population growth, acknowledging that the laws of supply and demand apply to roads like with anything else. Perhaps more crucially, though, theyve priced the use of these roads, to avoid a tragedy of the commons. And it has worked at creating many excellent, self-funded roads: as I can attest from having lived last summer in Houston, Dallas and Austin, toll roads proliferate throughout each metro, are free-flowing, and charge users electronically, so that they're not having to stop and pay at booths.
The most congested portions of Texas' cities, meanwhile, are the major roads that follow the generic socialized model, rather than this private one. For example, the stretch of I-35 going through central Austin is notoriously congested; this is because, as a federal interstate, it cannot by law have its existing lanes converted into toll lanes.
Yet despite the clear advantage in quality, efficiency and cost to the public, Texas' private toll roads have grown increasingly shunned. In a poll by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, toll roads scored as the least popular way to solve Texas' traffic issues. And the internet proliferates with bad press about Texas' toll roads, with much of it surfacing from local papers and blogs.
Scott Beyer owns a media company called The Market Urbanism Report, and is traveling the U.S. to write a book on reviving cities. His Twitter handle is @sbcrosscountry.
The SCOTUS ruled abortion on demand was a right.
Sorry, that (courts have ruled) argument only goes so far with me.
You have a right to own a gun. Is it absolute? No.
You have to abide by rules to purchase and own one. If you don’t act in accordance with the law, or exhibit questionable actions in public, your right to own one can be taken away.
Essentially, that’s what happens with your license, your ability to drive.
You have a right to obtain one (a license), complying with laws.
You have a right to drive, travel, meet with others in the circumference of an area you can travel in a given time period.
It is not reasoned to deny someone without cause, and limit their ability to meet or associate with others to a much much smaller area.
So I have to hold firm to my claim that driving is a right.
I also make the case that you cannot deny a group the right to drive based on sex, race, or reasoned affiliation. This is undeniably true.
If a state picks you personally out of the blue and says, “You cannot drive from this day forward”, without cause, you could take them to court and win.
It would be an infringement of your reasoned rights.
I’m not focusing this on you. I know a lot of folks share your take on this.
I’m not sure how those cases were approached, but as far as normal travel and association, I believe it’s a right.
If someone got in trouble and tried to claim their ability to drive should not be infringed, I could rule against them.
If it’s a case where someone was denied without cause, I don’t think a state would prevail.
Believe me, I’ve been very reserved in name calling on this thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3593649/posts?page=82#82
You mean like you lying to me on this thread?
Conservatives should love tolls.
Yes, that was one of your more flagrant ones.
Tolls are a use tax. People paying for what they consume versus paying for what other’s use is a tenant of conservatism. If you believe you’re forced to drive on a toll road, and that you don’t make that choice of your own free will, I just don’t have anything else I can help you with.
So kind of you to try to “help” me.
Being double taxed, is not a Conservative goal, no matter how long you spit and sputter over it.
Telling the Conservative who doesn’t want to be double taxed, he can choose to drive on a secondary road is not a Conservative’s argument.
Please go “help” someone else.
How can you shutter a highway? I mean, once it is built you can’t unbuild it? Am I mistaken?
“I pay about $3k in tolls a year here in Dallas, but generally like keeping the rift-raft off “
That doesn’t sound conservative to me. It sounds elitist. Believe it or not, $3k is a lot of money for some families and fixed income seniors. The taxes that they already pay are supposed to go for items like roads, bridges and police and military protection. I’d rather cut out some of the other goodies that our tax $ are being funneled into and provide the basics with the tax money as was the original intent. If you want to keep paying your $3K and driving “rift-raft” free, fine with me. Just don’t call it being conservative.
They didn’t actually shutter the road. The toll road company, SH-130 Concessions, filed for bankruptcy, and emerged from it in July under new ownership. Cintra and Zachry Construction owned it before the backruptcy. Louis Berger, the U.S. govnerment and a number of other debtors now effectively own the company. The road is still open, and the company is making about $60 million dollars in repairs to the road.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/11/law_talk_who_says_driving_is_a.html
There is a right to travel, operating a motor vehicle has been ruled over and over to be a privilege.
That yacht thing was a hoot. It really hurt the industry for a while there.
Thanks for the nice response.
A year off. The first segment of the Dallas North Tollway opened in June, 1968.
You are wandering off topic, but whatever.
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