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Follow TURFIncoming House members ask Abbott's Commission to declare end date on SH 288 tolls
Chairman J. Bruce Bugg, Jr.
Texas Department of Transportation
125 East 11TH Street
Austin, Texas 78701-2483
August 20, 2024
Commissioner Bugg:
As Republican nominees for the Texas House, we are extremely concerned by the action the Texas Transportation Commission took recently to spend over $1.7 billion ($1,700,000,000) of public money to seize control of a toll road (State Highway 288) with absolutely no commitment to end the tolls.
The Republican Party of Texas’s 2024 Platform states, “We call on the Texas Legislature to abolish existing toll roads.”
We recognize that in many instances the state cannot abolish existing toll roads without the use of public money, but your decision to do so without a clear commitment to end the tolls is the worst of all worlds for taxpayers and amounts to nothing less than double taxation.
TxDOT pushes ahead with buyout of SH 288 private toll road
TxDOT pushes forward on buyback of SH 288
Action would reduce average daily toll rates by 50%
Aug. 23, 2024
AUSTIN - To provide Texans with toll relief and more free lanes on which to drive, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is preparing to terminate the SH 288 Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA).
This action will place the SH 288 managed lanes in Harris County under full state control allowing future toll rates to be significantly less than what is allowed under the current agreement and enabling TxDOT to move ahead with adding more free lanes along SH 288.
“Building roads, reducing tolls, and saving taxpayer money are top priorities,” said Governor Greg Abbott. “All three are achieved with the Texas Department of Transportation terminating the SH 288 Comprehensive Development Agreement. It will allow the State of Texas to receive over $2 billion in added valuation. TxDOT will use the added value to slash future toll charges and to build free lanes on that segment of State Highway 288. I thank TxDOT for making it easier and cheaper for Texans to travel that route.”
DOUBLE TAX: TxDOT buyout of private toll road draws ire
TxDOT Toll Road $1.7 Billion Purchase Plan Draws More Complaints from Elected Officials, Candidates
Officials and candidates see the move as a form of double taxation.
- Aug 22, 2024
- l The Texan
A Texas state senator, a House member, and several House candidates have joined in expressing concerns about the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) decision to purchase the Highway 288 toll road in Harris County for $1.7 billion and continue charging tolls for its users.
Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) raised questions about the decision and how much it will ultimately cost taxpayers.
“How much will this cost taxpayers to pay for this existing highway, given that TXDOT plans to issue bonds at today’s rates to pay itself back for the purchase of the road?” Cain inquired in his letter posted on X.
Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) also sent a letter to Chairman Bruce Bugg of TxDOT expressing his concerns about the plan to continue charging tolls on Highway 288 even after purchasing it with taxpayer dollars.
“This is a form of double taxation and is antithetical to Texas’ tax-friendly reputation,” Middleton stated in his letter.
Are taxpayers getting DOUBLE TAXED? SH 288 toll road must have tolls come down
TxDOT to Purchase Houston Toll Road, Questions Remain About Total Cost
The agreement with BlueRidge to operate Highway 288 will end in October.
Last week, the Texas Transportation Commission voted to approve the purchase of toll road Highway 288 in Harris County for $1.7 billion.
The toll road was constructed by BlueRidge Transportation Group and extends about 10 miles from Blodgett Street in Harris County southward, ending approximately at the county line between Harris and Brazoria Counties. According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), “The highway serves as an important thoroughfare into Houston and the primary express artery to the world’s largest medical complex, the Texas Medical Center.”
The original comprehensive development agreement gave TxDOT the right to terminate the agreement “if the department determines in its discretion that a termination is in the department’s best interest.”
TxDOT spokesperson Adam Hammons told The Texan this purchase is not part of a larger strategy to buy toll roads in the state, but is a one-time opportunity based on this specific concession agreement.
TxDOT notified BlueRidge of the termination, effective October 8, 2024.
Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) posted a letter to X with questions for TxDOT that he believes are important to understand about the buyout of Highway 288.
“How much will this cost taxpayers to pay for this existing highway, given that TXDOT plans to issue bonds at today’s rates to pay itself back for the purchase of the road?” Cain inquired.
TxDOT buys back SH 288 from foreign toll operators
TxDOT ends agreement with private company overseeing Highway 288 toll lanes
ABC13 HoustonMarch 30, 2024
The Texas Department of Transportation is moving forward with a plan to end its agreement with the private company that oversees the toll lanes on Highway 288. So what does that mean for you?
The question is: When the state takes over the tollway, could you get a better deal or wind up paying even more?
TxDOT says it's too early to say. That's not necessarily the answer drivers want to hear while this is getting sorted out.
"[The drive is about] $17, $18 one way," Darren Dixon, the owner of a BBQ restaurant right next to Highway 288, said.
Dixon drives the toll road daily.
"I do it every day, back and forth," he said.
For Dixon and other drivers, a toll decrease would sure be welcome.
"It's the most expensive toll road in the area," Shelly Nixon, another driver, said. "It's so expensive. Surely they can make money and save us money at the same time."
Deadly toll road: When private companies take over our public infrastructure, everyone loses
Link to article here.
Illustrations by Julius Maxim
The Death Toll: An Expensive Tollway’s High Cost in Human Lives
State Highway 288 was built by a private equity firm, letting TxDOT abdicate its responsibility to both drivers and construction workers.
Texas Observer
December 11, 2023
The sun was sinking toward the horizon when brothers Alejandro and Juan Simental drove their pickup less than 10 minutes from a Motel 6 to their job site: a pricey new toll road they were helping to build alongside busy State Highway 288. A week before, they had left their home in Arlington to work in the flat southern edge of Houston’s suburbs, the bustling intersection of State Highway 288 (SH 288) and Beltway 8. That’s where their employer, Choctaw Erectors, a steel construction company, was subcontracted to help build the Texas Department of Transportation’s latest privately operated tollway.
They shared their no-frills motel room with a coworker, sleeping only a few hours just to get up and work again. Their shifts were punishing—nine to 12 hours, often overnight, seven days a week. But that evening, as the Houston sky gradually dimmed to a streetlight-stained dark gray, Alejandro, Juan, and five others on their crew established a rhythm. Alternating thumps and whirrs sounded as they laid and bolted corrugated metal decking, piece by piece, onto the tollway’s four bridge girders, 85 feet above the ground.
As the sun began to rise on June 21, 2019, Alejandro, 21, who stood around 5 feet 3 inches tall and was stocky like his brother, was working on a section of the bridge just a few feet away from Juan. There were about 15 minutes left in their shift when Juan reached the end of the first girder. Realizing that the 6-foot double safety lanyard he wore, which was tied to a safety line, did not allow him to reach the second girder more than 7 feet away, Juan briefly unhooked the lanyard from his safety harness and walked across the steel decking.
Foreman Jorge Carlos was the only one to hear the scream as Juan tripped and fell 85 feet, head first. Seconds later, realizing his brother had fallen, Alejandro let the metal sheet he was holding drop from his hands and clatter to the ground. He rushed to an elevated boom lift that lowered him to his brother’s side.
Blood was already soaking into the soil. To the west of Juan’s feet lay his white hard hat and his right brown slip-on boot. His black plastic headlamp was still glowing. Co-workers gave Juan CPR. Police arrived in four minutes, the medic nine minutes later. That was too late. At 4:58 a.m., just two minutes before their shift was to end, Juan was pronounced dead. He was 22.
DFW board defies Abbott's 'No toll' pledge to lobby for privately-operated toll roads
It's no surprise that the federally-funded North Texas Regional Transportation Council will once again lobby for more toll roads, specifically public private partnerships that cost drivers' a premium in peak hours, but it's particularly offensive given the economic downturn and what are likely permanent changes to traffic patterns now that millions of Texans have shown they can work from home and stay productive. Toll road debt is more risky than ever as the toll industry asked congress for a $9.2 billion bailout earlier this year due to coronavirus lockdowns. Who knows what the future of road tax revenues will look like post-COVID.
Regional Planning Council Prioritizes High-Speed Rail and Toll Lanes as Part of Legislative Agenda
As the 87th legislative session commences in January, local officials plan to advocate for increased funding for transportation projects including high-speed rail and the ability to utilize toll roads and managed lanes.
By Kim Roberts
The Texan
November 13, 2020
As the 87th Texas Legislative Session approaches its commencement in January, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) Regional Transportation Council (RTC) has approved its legislative program.
The council plans to promote and support legislation in four primary areas: (1) funding transportation and transit projects, (2) expanding transportation options in mega-metropolitan regions, (3) pursuing innovation, technology, and safety, and (4) improving air quality.
The legislative priorities of the RTC will be transmitted to the members of the legislature.
Legislature fails to deliver for toll-weary drivers
Lawmakers leave without giving drivers toll tax relief
By Terri HallMay 28, 2019
Sometimes a win isn’t gauged by what you pass, but by what you stopped. The results of the 86th legislative session are definitely the later. In short, the taxpayers got very little as far as toll tax relief. With 28 different toll systems and 55 toll projects in place today, without passing toll cessation Texas drivers will never see an end to paying toll taxes nor an end to toll agencies expanding their existing systems out further and further — forever. However, the grassroots opposition to five bad toll road bills that would have handed Texas’ public highways to private, foreign entities in 50-year sweetheart deals along with other giveaways to private toll companies, managed to kill all of them -- the worst being HB 1951 by Matt Krause, a member of the Freedom Caucus.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) alone (not to mention the other 12 local toll agencies across the state) has put more than two million Texas drivers into collections for unpaid tolls. Just TxDOT has imposed over $1 billion in fines and fees in addition to the actual tolls owed. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (Austin area) testified before the Senate Transportation Committee last August that of the $100 million its collected in tolls, $85 million was fines and fees. Toll fines and fees are out of control and making Texas drivers virtually an unlimited ATM machine to feed relentless unelected toll bureaucracies — in short, tolling has become a license to steal.
GOUGING: Cintra soaks commuters, charges $3/mile to drive privatized toll lanes on North Tarrant Express
On this Texas toll road, drivers want to know why they’re paying $15 for just 5 miles
Why some Fort Worth toll roads are charging up to $15
By Gordon Dickson
April 23, 2019
Ft. Worth Star Telegram
Some North Texas drivers say they're alarmed that tolls on some of the Dallas-Fort Worth region's TEXPress lanes are skyrocketing to as much as $15, up from just $1 during less heavily-traveled periods.
Susan Forbes could hardly believe her eyes when she saw the price posted on the electronic sign, which pointed the way to an entrance for the TEXPress toll lanes on Texas 183 in Bedford.
She was about to enter a toll road that would charge her $15 for a distance of less than six miles.
FAKE toll road reform bill peddled by lobbyists guts true reform
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’?
Well, despite its name and its Texas Freedom Caucus author, HB 1951 is a special interest bill written by lobbyists for the benefit of their clients in the Big Road Lobby. The true grassroots-supported legislation for taxpayer-friendly reforms are SB 374 (Hall) / HB 436 (Shaheen) — genuine toll cessation and SB 382 (Hall) — toll collection reform.
A Bill Analysis: Why HB 1951 is a Special Interest FAKE Toll Road Reform Bill
Article I -
HB 1951 authorizes Comprehensive Development Agreements (the term used in Texas statute for public private partnership toll roads) and design-build contracts for projects over $1 billion (which is most projects in our urban areas). This is a non-starter for taxpayers. Why? Public Private Partnerships (or P3s) hand our public highways over to private, foreign corporations in 50 year monopolies with guaranteed profits, taxpayer bailouts, and the ability to charge punitively high tolls (like LBJ in DFW that can top $24/day in peak hours). See this policy brief with details and examples of why P3s are corporate welfare and anti-taxpayer. Both the Texas Democratic and Republican Party platforms have planks opposing privatized toll roads.
The End of the Road - unmasking the SH 130 bankruptcy and financial web
The End of the Road
The state had great plans for the southern leg of Texas 130. An 85-mile-an-hour speed limit, no direct, up-front cost to state taxpayers, millions of dollars in toll revenue for the state. What happened?
By Katherine Blunt
San Antonio Express-news
September 16, 2016
When the Texas Department of Transportation signed a deal for the first public-private toll road in the state, it touted the partnership as a win for everybody: The San Antonio-Austin area would get a new section of highway at no upfront cost to Texas taxpayers, private developers would run the operation and profit over time, and the state would own the road and earn millions of dollars in toll revenue.
The deal allowed Cintra, a Spanish infrastructure developer, and San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corp. to build, operate and maintain the 41-mile southern section of Texas 130 for 50 years as part of a lease agreement with TxDOT. Slicing through farmland between Seguin and Mustang Ridge, south of Austin, the road would become known for its 85-mph speed limit — the highest in the country.
“Over the 50 years, we would receive, it’s estimated, a substantial amount of revenues,” former TxDOT tolling official Phil Russell told the Texas Transportation Commission before it approved the deal in 2006. “It would be worth $245 million (in toll revenue) and a long-term funding source for operation and maintenance.”
Less than a decade later, Cintra and Zachry plan to walk away from the project and hand their bankrupt joint venture, SH 130 Concession Co., to its lenders. The company owes federal taxpayers more than a half-billion dollars and is engaged in a years-long dispute with TxDOT about maintenance and construction problems on the sparsely traveled road. And so far, it has paid the state only about $3 million in toll revenue.
Link to read the full expose' here.
Trump plan to lift ban on tolling existing interstates draws scorn
Trump plan to lift ban on tolling existing interstates met with stiff opposition
By Terri Hall
February 13, 2018
Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research
The lowly taxpayer just can’t seem to cut a break. Weeks after the euphoria of passing the largest tax cut in a generation, President Donald Trump released his infrastructure proposal pushing toll roads and public private partnerships (P3s), which spells disaster for those middle class workers’ pocketbooks. The most contentious proposal being lifting the ban on tolling existing interstates.
Former U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) was instrumental in protecting taxpayers from double taxation by defending the ban on tolling existing interstates during her tenure, even imposing a special provision to protect Texas. Now Trump wants to provide states “flexibility to toll existing interstates.” This means the lanes you drive today toll-free could now have tolls slapped on them simply to generate revenue for big government as a new tax in the hands of unelected toll agencies or to line the pockets of private toll operators — completely out of reach of the voters.
Tolls hit $44 one way in D.C., how long before we see same in Texas?
Out of control: Commuters clobbered with $44 one way in tolls
By Terri Hall
December 22, 2017
Tolls hit $44 one way to go 10 miles on Interstate 66 in Virginia. Rub your eyes and read that again. Tolls have become the new ‘drug’ of choice for politicians and bureaucrats. It’s become a legalized form of highway robbery. While elected officials try to navigate the mess they’ve made by unleashing unelected transportation bureaucrats with the unfettered power to enter into secret contracts with foreign corporations behind closed doors and giving them carte blanche access to commuters wallets with virtually no limit, it’s no wonder toll rates have reached unsustainable levels in a few short years after state lawmakers embarked on the grand toll experiment.
With little checks and balances, commuters are now locked into congestion misery or face financial hardship the likes of which have never been seen in America simply to get to work. For many, working will no longer pay the cost of getting there. It’s not just I-66, but also interstates 95, 395, and 495. Express toll lanes, often referred to as ‘managed’ lanes, are the new normal in many metropolitan areas, especially in states that jumped on board early due to the influence of Bob Poole and the Reason Foundation — like Florida, Texas, and Virginia.
Should voters promote pro-toll Burkett to senator?
By Terri Hall
November 9, 2017
With Cindy Burkett throwing her hat in the ring in an attempt to unseat grassroots conservative stalwart Senator Bob Hall, the voters of Texas Senate District 2 need to know about her record. Burkett was quick to support selling off Interstate 635 E to the highest bidder using a controversial toll contract known in Texas as a comprehensive development agreement (or CDA) that gives control of our public roads to private toll companies.
Interstate 635 toll lanes from I-35E to the Dallas North Tollway are already operated by Spain-based Cintra. Commuters in the Metroplex face paying upwards of $24/day in tolls to this foreign corporation just to get to work, and no elected official has any control over how high those toll rates can go. Burkett wants that tax burden to extend to commuters in her own district from US 75 to I-30.
GONE: Trump yanks P3s and private toll roads from plan
Trump pulls the plug on private toll roads, centerpiece of infrastructure plan
By Terri Hall
Setpember 30, 2017
It’s big news for taxpayers, but for the special interests who have been pushing public private partnerships (P3s) and toll roads as the way to fund $1 trillion in upgrades to America’s infrastructure not so much. This week, President Donald Trump officially pulled the plug on P3s as the centerpiece to his infrastructure plan.
The president said simply, “They don’t work.”
Trump mentioned it in a meeting with members of the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday as the president met with lawmakers to discuss tax reform. Citing the failure of the Interstate-69 P3 contract done under Vice President Mike Pence when he was governor of Indiana, the state recently had to sever the contract, take over the project, and issue its own debt to get it finished.
Texans angered over SH 130 bankruptcy deal that wipes out money owed to taxpayers
By Terri Hall
July 8, 2017
The defunct SH 130 tollway just emerged from bankruptcy court and the news isn’t good for taxpayers. In 2007, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) entered into a Comprehensive Development Agreement, or public private partnership, with SH 130 Concession Company, a subsidiary of Spain-based Cintra and Zachry Toll Road 56, which had ownership dispersed among Australian and many other foreign entities. The 41-mile southern stretch of SH 130 opened in November 2012, designed to be a bypass around congested downtown Austin. But the traffic never materialized and the private concession company sought bankruptcy protection in March 2016. According to the terms that emerged from bankruptcy court, all of the private entity’s $1.4 billion debt was wiped away, leaving federal taxpayers left holding the bag for the $430 million federally-backed Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan given to the private entities.
Texas taxpayers feel betrayed. Former Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson swore under oath before the Senate Transportation Committee on March 1, 2007, that if the private entities went bankrupt, the Texas taxpayers would get the road back free and clear of any debt. Free and clear means no debt obligations, and therefore no need to continue to charge tolls for usage. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, new owners were brought in, Strategic Value Partners, $260 million in new debt was issued, and the new private company will continue to charge tolls until the contract is up in 2062 — for a road that now owes virtually no debt compared to its original $1.4 billion.
Killing the private toll road bill made national news!
Watch the Bloomberg story on it here.
HB 2861 Record Vote
Those who voted to hand 19 TX roads to private, foreign toll operators are:
Yeas 51 — Allen; Alonzo; Alvarado; Are´valo; Blanco; Burkett; Button; Coleman; Collier; Cortez; Elkins; Farrar; Flynn; Geren; Giddings; Gooden; Guerra; Gutierrez; Hernandez; Howard; Huberty; Israel; Johnson, E.; King, K.; King, P.; Koop; Longoria; Lucio; Martinez; Moody; Morrison; Murphy; Neave; Oliveira; Ortega; Perez; Phillips; Raymond; Rodriguez, E.; Rodriguez, J.; Rose; Sheffield; Shine; Smithee; Thompson, E.; Thompson, S.; Turner; Uresti; Villalba; Walle; Workman. 
Taxpayer champions who voted against are:
Nays 82 — Anderson, C.; Anderson, R.; Bailes; Bell; Biedermann; Bohac; Bonnen, D.; Bonnen, G.; Burns; Burrows; Cain; Canales; Capriglione; Clardy; Cosper; Craddick; Cyrier; Dale; Darby; Dean; Deshotel; Dukes; Dutton; Faircloth; Fallon; Frank; Frullo; Goldman; Gonzales; Gonza´lez; Hefner; Herrero; Holland; Hunter; Isaac; Kacal; Keough; King, T.; Klick; Krause; Lambert; Landgraf; Lang; Larson; Laubenberg; Leach; Lozano; Metcalf; Meyer; Miller; Mun˜oz; Murr; Neva´rez; Oliverson; Parker; Paul; Phelan; Pickett; Price; Raney; Reynolds; Rinaldi; Roberts; Romero; Schaefer; Schofield; Schubert; Shaheen; Simmons; Springer; Stephenson; Stickland; Stucky; Swanson; Thierry; Tinderholt; VanDeaver; White; Wilson; Wray; Zedler; Zerwas.
Absent, Excused — Anchia; Paddie; Wu.
Absent, Excused, Committee Meeting — Ashby; Davis, S.; Davis, Y.; Sanford.
Absent Unexcused — Bernal; Cook; Gervin-Hawkins; Guillen; Hinojosa; Johnson, J.; Kuempel; Minjarez; Vo.
Source: House Journal Recorded Vote
See press release: VICTORY: Grassroots KILL private toll bill, secure Abbott's vision for toll-free future
Trump floats gas tax hike after tolls get cold shoulder
Trump floats gas tax increase after cold reception to privatized toll roads
By Terri Hall
May 5, 2017
It’s tough being a change-agent. Newly minted President Donald Trump came into office with high hopes of a major infrastructure overhaul. With the nation’s crumbling bridges, pothole stricken roads, and millions of commuters choking in urban congestion, Trump had a big plan to harness the private sector through public private partnerships (P3s) to address congestion by adding toll lanes. The problem is those privatized toll lanes grant private, usually foreign, entities monopolies over vital public highways where the companies are given the exclusive right to extract the highest possible tolls for 50-99 years.
With the pushback to P3s coming fast and furious from working class families to truckers, Trump has begun to change his tack. After meeting with members of the trucking industry this week, Trump has floated the idea of a federal gas tax increase to raise the revenue necessary for the big infrastructure fix. Truckers prefer a gas tax increase to tolls.
Here’s the back story. The National Highway Trust Fund, which is funded with a federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for over a decade while the gas tax has remained unchanged since 1993. Inflation has diminished its buying power over the last 24 years, and members of congress have been reluctant to raise it. Under President George W. Bush, many Republicans pushed road privatization and implementing toll ‘managed’ lanes as the means to finance road projects as perpetual road funding shortfalls plagued the highway system.
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