Abbott, state leadership fail to protect drivers from fees increases, more road debt

Link to article here.

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is the leader in building transportation systems in Travis and Williamson counties. Many Central Texans know of the authority’s role in building toll roads — such as 183-A and U.S. 290 East — and issuing toll tags, but are unaware of its functions beyond that. Here are some facts to know:

An independent government agency: The CTRMA was established in 2002, following passage of state law in 2001. It has no taxing authority but does have condemnation power. For fiscal year 2015, the mobility authority’s operating revenue totaled $55,814,033; expenses were $38,135,309. Since its inception, CTRMA’s assets have grown from zero to $1.8 billion. To finance toll road construction, expansion of traffic lanes on existing roads or other projects aimed at improving transportation, the agency raises most of its income — 70 percent — from the private sector by selling investment bonds on the stock market. The debt is repaid primarily through income from tolls. The remaining 30 percent comes from public sources, primarily the Texas Department of Transportation.

Offers free roadside assistance and travel apps: The authority runs the Highway Emergency Response Operator, called HERO, for stranded motorists along U.S. 183 and Interstate 35, which helps keep traffic moving. In 2015, HERO assisted 14,480 stranded motorists, doing things such as removing debris from travel lanes and relocating disabled vehicles to safety to changing tires and delivering water to stranded motorists while they waited for tow trucks.

Metropia is a smartphone app to alleviate traffic congestion by incentivizing users to make trips at off-peak times. The agency also has a ridesharing app, CARMA, which connects drivers with similar commutes.

Pays its executive director more than the Texas Department of Transportation chief earns: The CTRMA governing board approved a 2016 compensation package of $366,112 for agency chief Mike Heiligenstein. That includes a base salary of $274,912, deferred compensation of $45,000, annual life insurance premiums of $3,000 and a monthly car allowance of $850. In all, the agency has 21 employees. The board used a national salary survey by consultant BDO to help determine Heiligenstein’s compensation. Heiligenstein has been with the agency since it began.

By contrast, the executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation earns a salary of $299,812, but receives no additional compensation, according to a department spokesperson. The agency has 11,775 full-time employees.

Responsible for the MoPac Improvement Project: The traffic nightmare will continue through most of this year on North MoPac Boulevard. The project, which adds a toll lane along the inside median on each side of the highway from West Cesar Chavez Street to Parmer Lane, was supposed to be completed last year. Relief starts in June, when a section of the northbound lane is expected to open. All lanes are expected to open in late November. Costs total $200 million for the entire 11-mile project. The project’s express toll lanes, open to all commuters by December, are expected to steer drivers and buses clear of congestion on MoPac’s regular lanes, which will continue as free lanes.

Lawmakers leave without giving drivers toll tax relief

On Tuesday, a commuter posted a photo on Twitter showing the toll road nearly reaching $50!

The amount has hit the wallets hard for solo drivers traveling the nine-mile stretch between Interstate 495 and Route 29 in Rosslyn. Those who carpool are able to use the Express Lanes for free. Single drivers have to pay the toll Monday through Friday from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the eastbound direction, and from 3 to 7 p.m. in the westbound direction.

Link to article here.

Commentary: Mega Transit Agency in Valley Can’t Fix What’s Wrong with Transit Failures

The Texas Legislature needs to ‘Just Say No’ to creating a new Regional Transit Authority.

Frustrated by our lack of progress on limited-government, conservative principles in this session of the Texas Legislature?

When you see which transportation bills are moving over others, it’s hard to fathom how a bill to create a massive new transit bureaucracy that can issue bonds, charge tolls, and do no-bid contracts of all sorts takes precedence over things like reforming a toll collection system that’s financially ruining millions of Texas drivers.

There’s been plenty of bad press surrounding the failure of transit both nationally and in Texas, so the legislature needs to ‘Just Say No’ to creating a new Regional Transit Authority as proposed in House Bill 71 (Martinez) and Senate Bill 1721 (Lucio).

Link to article here.

Gas tax for infrastructure sparks fears of political backlash

Democrats and Republicans are quick to talk up a bipartisan infrastructure deal. Yet neither party wants to take the political risk of paying for it when all options are toxic—including the obvious choice of raising the national gas tax.

Increasing the gas tax is so politically fraught that it hasn’t been touched in 26 years and it didn’t even come up at a meeting at the White House Tuesday between President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss an infrastructure plan.

DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE FAKE TOLL ROAD REFORM BILL - KILL HB 1951

What could be wrong with legislation called the ‘Toll Payer Protection Act’?

A Bill Analysis: Why HB 1951 is a Special Interest FAKE Toll Road Reform Bill

Patrick gives toll opponents a raw deal with new Senate Transportation Committee

Between existing toll roads and a $600 million commitment in a Nov. 6 bond election, Collin County residents are well-invested in their highways.

So invested, in fact, that their top elected official, County Judge Keith Self, says they're tired of paying as they go. 

"We've got the highest concentration of toll roads anywhere in the state," Self said. "We've got people spending a lot of money to get places. We're not trying to get more toll lanes, we're trying to figure out how to build more freeways like everyone else has."In their transportation bond presentations this fall, county leaders showed maps comparing Collin's limited-access highways to those of 1960s Dallas County, when it hit the 900,000-plus population threshold where Collin County sits today.

Dallas in the 1960s had interstates 20, 30 and 35 and Central Expressway as a new north-south freeway, and it was completing the Interstate 635 connector loop. 

By the 1970s, Central had reached most of Collin. But today, some 50 years later, it remains the county's only free limited-access highway. The others — Dallas North Tollway, Bush Turnpike and Sam Rayburn Tollway — are full-on toll roads. And there are no limited-access roadways on the eastern half of the county, which is one of the nation's fastest-growing.

The comparison is not just of Dallas and Collin maps, but of government's shift in philosophy over the decades in its funding of roads and the increasing cost of transportation infrastructure.

"The state transportation budget has gone down from 33 percent of the state budget. It dipped as low as 7 percent," Self said. "That's a statement."

However, as he nears the end of his 12-year run as county judge in January, Self is also critical of the process — saying that Dallas and Tarrant counties get the bulk of the attention, and most available dollars through the Regional Transportation Commission.

The RTC is a metropolitan planning organization, assigned by federal law to allocate federal and state transportation dollars in the 12-county region. Its members are locally elected officials with seats divided according to population. Collin's five seats among 44 doesn't seem much to leaders of a county with a population of 900,000.

"We have to be on the radar," McKinney City Council member Chuck Branch said in criticizing the RTC at a recent work session to discuss U.S. Highway 380. "We don't really have a leg to stand on when it comes to representation."

The RTC operates in conjunction with the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The council of governments' executive board, of which Self is a member, has no authority to override RTC decisions. It answers to the Texas Transportation Commission in Austin.

"We have a regional legislature known as the RTC that has no oversight," Self said. "The process is broken because the metropolitan planning organization carries too much authority. The state has got to claw back."

That's exactly what happened, he said, when the RTC recommended that the LBJ East project be built with new tolled lanes through Lake Highlands, Garland and Mesquite. Through three legislative sessions, then two trips to Austin for Texas Transportation Commission votes, those who didn't want new toll roads pushed back. Today, the approved plan for LBJ East includes no new toll lanes.

Michael Morris, transportation director for the council of governments and staff liaison to the RTC, also cited LBJ East as a recent example of how state oversight worked to hone the process. 

"There is nothing the RTC can do that the Texas Transportation Commission does not endorse," Morris said. On LBJ East, he said, the state commissioners stepped in to underline the sensitivities state leaders are showing regarding tolled roadways.

The process for LBJ East — a $1.8 billion project — was seen as a model for how Texas mega-projects would be funded in the future. And Collin County has freeway needs that are even bigger projects. County leaders are adamant that those projects, including Highway 380 and the Outer Loop, be built as freeways.

"Everybody is short of money," Self said. "Government is, at its base, the allocation of scarce resources."

Morris said he gets the message and, with the help of RTC members including Duncan Webb, Self's colleague on the county commission, says significant dollars are set aside for Collin's next builds.

RTC allocates money based on congestion. Its formula indicates that Collin County accounts for 20 percent of the area's congestion. That translates to $900 million in federal and state dollars set aside in 2016 for the county's future.

"The partnership we have with the state gives us 10 percent additional for right of way and 10 percent for engineering," Morris said. "With the Collin County bond, they're sitting on $1.5 to $2 billion. I personally know of no other place in the nation where there is $2 billion waiting for non-tolled projects than Collin County."

Morris said that once cities reach a consensus on the route for Highway 380, it will be inserted into the Mobility 2045 plan and officially become a regional priority.

"It's unfortunate that 50 years ago, 380 wasn't built as a freeway," he said. "It would have been hard back then for people to have forecast the growth, but the spacing indicates that somewhere right where 380 is today needs to be a freeway facility."

By Ray Leszcynski, Communities | Source article