Commissioners orders study on tax for every mile you drive

Link to article here.

Should drivers be taxed by the mile?
Highway fund crunch has Texas ordering a study of that question
By PEGGY FIKAC
AUSTIN BUREAU
Houston Chronicle
January 3, 2010

AUSTIN — If you don't like gasoline taxes, here's an alternative: a tax on the number of miles you drive in a year.

The Texas Transportation Commission has directed a fresh study of the idea, and it is not alone. There are pilot projects in other states and nationally to gauge how such a tax would work.

Texas transportation officials say the study is meant to help give lawmakers information on options ahead of their next regular session in 2011, when they confront a funding squeeze that is expected to drain the highway fund of money for new construction contracts by 2012.

“We need to think differently about how we fund transportation,” Texas Transportation Commission Chairwoman Deirdre Delisi said at a Texas Taxpayers and Research Association forum in November.

Delisi said the vehicle-miles-traveled tax idea is controversial, but should be discussed because revenue from the state's main source of transportation funding, the motor fuels tax, is declining. The gasoline tax has not been raised since 1991.

The commission asked the Texas Transportation Institute, which is part of the Texas A&M University System, to take the lead on the study. Commissioner Fred Underwood has emphasized that the commission's goal is to give lawmakers alternatives.

“Let's just make sure that we give them options, not conclusions,” he said.

Texas Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas, has said an increase in the gasoline tax makes sense to him, but that has proven politically difficult so far. A vehicle-miles-traveled tax is “far into the future and way ahead of its time,” he said.

“It's not coming to a gas station near you any time soon, but it also can't be dismissed out of hand,” he said in e-mailed statement. “If study can lead us to better funding mechanisms than we are currently using, and we can address the concerns, then we have an obligation to keep at it.”

Just how a vehicle-miles-traveled tax would be assessed is part of the study. It could be as simple as drivers writing a check when they have their vehicles inspected or could involve in-car technology to more precisely track mileage, perhaps tacking on a charge when drivers fuel up by communicating with the gas pump.

The latter would allow for such things as different charges for rural versus urban driving, and for deductions when people travel out of state, noted Ginger Goodin, the Texas Transportation Institute research engineer leading the study. She said, however, that privacy concerns quickly arise when such technology is discussed.

“I think anywhere this has been discussed, that (privacy) is probably the issue that emerges among the top issues,” she said. “That will have to be addressed.”

The study will vet alternatives with technology experts, representatives of other states' transportation agencies and with the public through focus groups. The work will be forwarded to a yet-to-be named committee of citizens to explore the policy implications.

Toll Authority: Too many toll roads, too fast

Link to article here.

NTTA leaders fear Dallas area's toll road push moving too fast
Monday, December 28, 2009
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News
As the Dallas area rushes forward in pursuit of more toll roads, warnings that it may be doing so at its own peril have been emanating from an unexpected corner: the top leaders of the North Texas Tollway Authority.

Even as the NTTA enters the final weeks of negotiations that all sides expect will conclude by Feb. 28 with a multibillion-dollar deal to build two new giant toll projects in Dallas and Tarrant counties, the agency's two top board members have been warning that the region may be moving too fast on toll roads.

"People are going to realize that every new road in the metroplex is going to be a toll road," NTTA vice chairman Victor Vandergriff said at a recent meeting of the NTTA board.

He was only exaggerating a little.


The Regional Transportation Council approves a 25-year plan for area transportation projects every five years – and the current plan has included a map with precious few free roads. Roads paid for with taxes have emerged as something of a luxury, one that the RTC no longer sees as affordable, given the rising needs and insufficient funds from Austin and Washington.

A new plan is in the works now, and officials say it could shift away from tolls.

But for now, tolls are fast becoming the dominant way local officials hope to move Dallas area residents from one place to another.

The NTTA already manages three major toll roads – the Sam Rayburn Tollway, the Bush Turnpike, and its oldest and still most lucrative, the Dallas North Tollway – and is collecting tolls on the first stages of a fourth, State Highway 161 in Dallas County.

Over the next six weeks or so, NTTA is expected to reach an agreement with the state Department of Transportation to complete Highway 161 and build the Southwest Parkway and Chisholm Trail toll roads in Tarrant County. A major expansion of the Bush Turnpike is under way now, and officials in Dallas continue to hope that NTTA will build the Trinity Parkway near downtown. State officials have said they want to add new tolled lanes to Interstate 35 between Dallas to Denton, as a means to pay for the expansion of that highway.

In addition, two major private toll roads, the region's first, are expected to begin construction during the next 18 months. The Spanish toll road developer Cintra has teamed with other investors to rebuild LBJ Freeway in Dallas and Interstate 820 and State Highway 183 in Tarrant County, and will add what will probably be the costliest toll lanes in Texas on each.

Both toll projects are expected to be completed by 2016 or sooner.

"Even our free roads will soon have a toll component," Vandergriff said.

Both Vandergriff and NTTA chairman Paul Wageman, who has also voiced reservations about the extent of tolling in Dallas, say toll roads are essential as Texas tries to keep traffic moving in the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S.

But they worry that adding too many tolls, too quickly, could erode the one thing that makes them such a valuable tool in the first place: the willingness of drivers to pay their tolls.

"I do have concerns ... that the public will only tolerate a certain amount of tolling," Wageman told reporters at a news briefing in Arlington earlier this month. "We understand that to get the roads built, there is going to be a tolling component [to help pay for them]. But we are concerned because ultimately we must have public receptivity to tolling. We do not want to be in a position where that receptivity goes away, as that ultimately affects the business we are in."

Toll roads remain a daily trade-off for hundreds of thousands of NTTA customers, who pay to save valuable time getting to work or the airport or to a meeting after school.

But will they remain popular, in the face of rising rates and as they spread to every corner of the region?

Vandergriff and Wageman voiced their worries separately this month as negotiations over Southwest Parkway and Highway 161 accelerated and brought into focus the debt required to build those roads, on top of the $7 billion NTTA already owes.

All that debt will be paid for by tolls – and if the tolls don't produce enough revenue to satisfy bondholders, the rates would probably have to jump, just as they did earlier this year when NTTA increased rates by about 23 percent.

But raising rates will only work if enough drivers are willing to pay the higher rates to offset those who abandon the toll roads.

Already, some drivers have begun shunning the turnpikes.

Nathan Maxfield, a 35-year-old Web designer, used the Dallas North Tollway when he lived in Frisco and worked in Addison. But he began cutting back even before he moved to Plano.

In September, he started a Facebook group called People Against the NTTA.

Only about 60 others have joined his group, but Maxfield said frustration with NTTA's rates is a common theme among his friends and colleagues.

"It was just the rising costs, and toll roads were just spreading everywhere you looked," Maxfield said, explaining why he created the group. "It seemed like pretty soon, we wouldn't be able to get anywhere without paying a toll."

A WAY TO SPEAK OUT

The North Central Texas Council of Governments is seeking input on how to shape the region's transportation network over the next 25 years and will literally redraw the map that for the past five years has shown nearly every new road as a toll road.

If the map for the so-called 2035 Plan is to look any different from the 2030 Plan, it will likely require a mix of new taxes, new approaches, and more rail.

Michael Morris, transportation director for the council of governments, just completed a series of public hearings, and written suggestions are encouraged. Send them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Pennsylvania lawmakers stand-up to tolling I-80

Link to article here.


12/22/2009
Pennsylvania: Lawmakers Line Up Against Tolling Interstate Freeway
Bipartisan group of federal and state representatives from Pennsylvania lobby against plan to toll Interstate 80.
The Newspaper.com
12/22/09

Federal and state lawmakers banded together last week in an attempt to block the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) from allowing the state of Pennsylvania to turn Interstate 80 from a freeway into a 311-mile toll road. A delegation of lawmakers met Thursday with FHWA officials urging them to reject the recently refiled application to toll this vital commercial link between New York and Chicago.

"The proposal to toll I-80 must be stopped," US Representative Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Erie) said in a statement. "It will harm businesses and communities in Western Pennsylvania at a time when we should be doing everything in our power to accelerate economic recovery, not stall it. I am pleased to work alongside my colleagues in the House and with local leaders in Pennsylvania to try to put the brakes on this dangerous tolling plan."

Eleven state representatives and two state senators, mostly Republicans, arrived in Washington from Harrisburg to join the lobbying effort. State Representative Scott Hutchison (R-Venango), for example, argued that his area's only economic growth has come from companies that depend on the free commerce brought by I-80.

"If you take that away, we have almost nothing," Hutchison said.

Federal opponents of the plan included senior Democrats like Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-Nanticoke) and newcomers like Congressman Christopher P. Carney (D-Dimock Township).

"I am, and always have been, opposed to tolling on I-80, as it would negatively affect residents throughout Pennsylvania, but especially those in the Northeast," Kanjorski said. "We must invest in projects and policies that will benefit Pennsylvanians, and tolling on I-80 will do just the opposite. Because of my constituents' overwhelming opposition to tolling, today we spoke directly with the Federal Highway Administration and urged them to deny the state's application to place tolls on I-80. I will oppose any effort that so clearly discriminates against Northeastern Pennsylvania, as tolling on I-80 does."

On the Republican side of the aisle, Congressman Glenn GT Thompson (R-Howard) has led the federal efforts to stop Governor Edward G. Rendell (D) from imposing tolls on I-80.

"The economic devastation that could result from the tolling of I-80 has been obvious since it was first proposed," Thompson said. "It was good to have members of the Pennsylvania legislature join us here to meet with the Federal Highway Administration and let them know the strength of the opposition to the Pennsylvania Turnpike's funding scheme."

Toll roads to flood Ft. Worth, with expensive new rates

Toll prices in Tarrant will vary based on traffic conditions

Posted Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009

By GORDON DICKSON

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Toll lanes are coming back to the Fort Worth area after more than a three-decade absence, with a few new and expensive wrinkles.

Tarrant County hasn’t had a toll road, unless you count the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport entrance, since the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike was converted into a freeway (now Interstate 30) in 1977.

But more toll lanes are on the way in the western Metroplex within four years. Examples include the high-occupancy vehicle lanes under construction on I-30 in Arlington, Loop 820 in north Fort Worth, Haltom City and North Richland Hills and Texas 114/121 in Grapevine.

Tolls could go as high as 75 cents per mile when congestion is at its worst. That would be more than five times higher than the average 14.5 cents per mile that motorists currently pay on Dallas-area toll roads. It’s a concept called value pricing, a way to limit traffic on the toll lanes and squeeze more revenue from motorists to pay for roads.

Supporters of value pricing, which also drops the price of tolls when traffic is light, say motorists will have a choice — stay on the crowded main lanes, or pay their way out.

"While there will be dynamic pricing, there will still be the general-purpose lanes, and in most places we’re adding frontage roads," said Amanda Wilson, spokeswoman for the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Where the tolls will be

Several years ago, the Regional Transportation Council set a ceiling of 75 cents per mile on variably priced toll lanes.

The lanes would operate electronically, without toll booths. Users could prepay with a TollTag, a windshield-mounted device that sensors read as a car travels on the road. Or, for cars without a TollTag, a camera system would take a picture of the license plate and mail the registered owner a bill.

Examples of projects:

In Arlington, high-occupancy vehicle lanes on Interstate 30 could be converted to toll-managed lanes by 2011. Toll rates haven’t been set.

In 2004, the Federal Highway Administration selected I-30 as a "value pricing pilot project," which allowed it to get around a federal law banning new tolls on interstates. The transportation council was awarded $472,000 in federal funds to plan and design the lanes from Arlington to Dallas. Single-occupant cars would pay the full toll, while carpoolers, motorcyclists and buses could use the lanes free or at a discount.

The lanes currently end at Baird Farm Road/Legends Way in Arlington but eventually would be extended to Oakland Boulevard in east Fort Worth.

In Northeast Tarrant County, a development team led by Spain-based Cintra plans to rebuild Loop 820 and Airport Freeway beginning next year. The work on the North Tarrant Express project is expected to take four years.

Existing lanes would remain free, but tolls on two managed lanes in each direction would range from $1.20 to $6.50 each way for a 13-mile trip — 9 to 50 cents per mile.

In Grapevine, developer NorthGate Constructors plans to rebuild seven highways collectively known as the DFW Connector — including two managed lanes in each direction on Texas 114/121. Exact rates haven’t been disclosed, but drivers can expect to pay an average of 64 cents for a four-mile trip beginning in 2014, and 96 cents by 2029.

Southwest Parkway

In Fort Worth, the North Texas Tollway Authority is developing Southwest Parkway, a 28-mile toll road from downtown to Cleburne. The first eight miles, from I-30 to Dirks Road, are scheduled to be under construction next year.

Although Southwest Parkway won’t be a variable-price road, it is expected that the toll rate will be 20 cents per mile by 2013, compared with the 16 cents motorists are expected to be charged on Dallas-area tollways. The tollway authority approved toll rates this year that will gradually increase through 2018, with Southwest Parkway always 4 cents higher than the standard rate.

Fort Worth officials agreed several years ago to the higher rate on Southwest Parkway to offset the cost of additional bridge work and landscaping, as well as an expected loss of revenue from keeping the speed limit no higher than 50 mph in central Fort Worth.

Elsewhere

Value-priced toll roads are increasingly being used by metro areas to limit traffic on toll roads and to generate new revenue sources for roads.

In Houston, local officials recently approved new tiers of pricing on the Katy Freeway toll lanes — $1 each way during light traffic, and $2 to $4 during peak periods.

In Southern California, the 91 Express Lanes project has been around since 1995, allowing travelers on the Riverside Freeway to pay their way around traffic — up to $9.90 for a 10-mile trip during the busiest hour of the week, 4 p.m. Thursdays.

The road has become such a part of the L.A. streetscape that gift cards are even sold on the official Web site, www.91expresslanes.com.

Can it be long before cards like that are stocking stuffers in Fort Worth?

Interchange at 281/1604 to cost TWICE as much as it should?

Let's try to compare apples to apples in order to demonstrate how egregious the fiscal malfeasance is here...

The 410/281 interchange that opened not even two years ago, included ALL 8 ramps (northbound and southbound connectors) for $155 million (see article below from June 2008). Now the 281/1604 interchange project being built by the tolling authority, the RMA, (not TxDOT), wants to blow $140 million on just 4 ramps, only the southbound connectors. Considering project bids have been coming in UNDER cost due to the economic downturn and road builders being hungry for work, this betrayal of the RMA's fidiciary duty to the public is that much more irresponsible. Why?

So it can come in later and toll the northbound ramps that will charge motorists nearly 60 cents per vehicle and over a $1.00 per truck for the "privilege" of using a public roadway for which we already pay taxes. The RMA initially promised to build the whole interchange non-toll, but cut the project in half once the feds found out their plans to toll the northbound ramps and insisted it be a part of the new environmental study required for the 281 & 1604 toll roads. If they'd drop the toll roads, the northbound ramps could also be built NOW with existing stimulus money.

But because they just can't stop seeing green from all the money they stand to make from tolling us, they continue to thumb their noses at the thousands of citizens opposed to tolling these freeways (who have fought it at the local, state, and federal level for 5 years now), and proceed to ram it down our throats anyway, abusing taxpayer money to the tune of $84 million (that's the cost of the extra "enhancements" on the project that have NOTHING to do with the interchange, which is designed to blow through the extra money that should be going to build the northbound ramps that have a published cost of $59 million).

Compare cost:

$59 million (published cost for 4 northbound ramps for 281/1604 interchange)

$140 million (published cost for 4 southbound ramps for 281/1604 interchange)

$155 million (actual cost for ALL 8 ramps of 410/281 interchange that opened June of 2008)

What's wrong with this picture?

Padding the cost to taxpayers

The interchange project also closes 3 entrances/exits that exist today and make all traffic exiting or entering 281 to/from the frontage roads have to sit through two traffic lights instead of one.  I wonder if Costco, Walmart, and HEB realize the hassle these "improvements" will create for their customers? It's certainly guaranteed to make access to the neighborhoods affected a nightmare! Then, the plan pads the project with re-surfacing all of 1604 from Bitters to Redland and 281 from Bitters to 1604 (this isn't even needed compared to the poor condition of 281 north of 1604 and could be funded out of maintenance dollars, not the scarce funds for new construction), as well as lighting, sidewalks, and two pedestrian bridges.

They're also adding numerous "auxiliary lanes" (on 1604 westbound from Bitters to Stone Oak and 281 northbound and southbound from Bitters to 1604), which is a way to add capacity without calling it adding capacity in order to get around environmental hurdles. Yet, they claim NO added capacity nor any overpasses can be added to 281 north of 1604 until the new environmental study is completed in 3-5 years. So let me get this straight, the RMA can add two stories (70+ feet high) to the 281/1604 interchange and add lanes to both 1604 west and 281 south of 1604, but it can't build a few overpasses (23 feet high) or add any lanes to 281 north using the same category of environmental review? What hypocrites!

Any thinking person can see the unequal application of the law, and that's why citizens blasted the RMA for its misplaced priorities, flagrant abuse of taxpayer money, and for playing games with people's lives for their own gain.

Net gain or net loss?

While the taxpayers want and deserve this long overdue interchange, the RMA acknowledged Monday night that the ramps would only shave 5 minutes from the current conditions. Compare that to the exponential time savings of overpasses on 281 north, and it's a no-brainer where this money ought to be spent and where the congestion problem really lies.

Web Posted: 01/11/2010
Work on North Side interchange may start soon
By Josh Baugh
Express-News

The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority could begin building a nontolled interchange between U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 on the North Side — relieving gridlock at the city's most congested intersection — by the summer.

But during a meeting Monday to present the project's draft environmental document to the public, the RMA came under fire for everything from plans to install pedestrian bridges and additional lighting to the existence of potholes in a subdivision neighboring the project.

About a dozen residents voiced concerns and opposition to the $140 million project, which would build an interchange connecting northbound U.S. 281 to Loop 1604 in both directions, and east- and westbound 1604 to southbound U.S. 281.

The RMA will include comments from Monday's meeting — and further comments submitted by Jan. 21 — in its environmental document, known as a “categorical exclusion,” which must receive approval from the Federal Highway Administration for the project to proceed.

Toll road opponent Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, said her group doesn't officially oppose the project yet, but it has some concerns over it. Hall said she believes the interchange will stifle access to adjacent neighborhoods and shopping centers and could produce air and noise pollution.

Hall also objects to the RMA's plans to gain environmental clearance through a categorical exclusion — the lowest level of environmental review.

“We hope they're not cutting corners with how they're designing this project,” Hall said, adding that she hopes the RMA will address her group's concerns before the project is built.

Read the rest of the story here.
_______________________________________________________________


U.S. 281/Loop 410 interchange ramps are complete
Express-News
Web Posted: 06/10/2008

One of the most widely ridiculed features of San Antonio's highway network — the lack of an interchange at Loop 410 and U.S. 281 — slipped into history Monday with the opening of the last two ramps.

Crews opened the ramps from both directions of U.S. 281 to eastbound Loop 410 before rush hour, Texas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Anikka Ayala-Rogers said.

“Oh, really?” said Ken Kephart, an automobile diagnostician who uses Loop 410 and U.S. 281 half a dozen times a week to get to jobs. “Well, when I came to San Antonio 25 years ago, I didn't see how they got along without access.”

Work began three years ago on the $155 million interchange, and the first of the eight ramps started opening in June 2007. Bonds squeezed the work from about 10 years to a record 31/2.

Motorists such as Kephart found the shorter schedule hard to believe, especially after upgrading the interchange at Interstate 10 and Loop 410 dragged on for a decade, with the last ramps opening there just seven months ago.

Read the rest of the article here.

Editorial: Perry’s hypocrisy, cronyism with toll roads

Link to article here.

This statement sums up his column and why politicians like Perry, Hutchison (despite her ad that indicates she's against foreign-owned toll roads like the Trans Texas Corridor, her transportation plan states she FOR road privatization), Cornyn, Nichols, and others continue to push the privatization of our public roads:

It’s not about doing the right thing for Texas; it’s about selling out Texans for Wall Street’s fun and profits.

Toll Roads: By the Numbers

Posted Friday, Jan. 08, 2010

Special to the Star-Telegram

"I’m not real fond of raising [gas] taxes when there’s a recession going on." — Texas Governor Rick Perry, quoted at www.rickperry.org

Our governor keeps shifting his excuse for opposing the gasoline taxes that would bring all Texans highways equal to the sharply increased traffic demand. Gov. Perry’s position, quoted above, rings false for several reasons:

1. He was against raising the gasoline tax in the best of financial times. You’ll find out why in a moment.

2. The proposed tax that Perry was rejecting to get our highway construction in gear to accommodate past and future growth was one thin dime per gallon.

3. Of all the things government does with tax dollars that give huge immediate returns to the national or state GDP, infrastructure investment tops a very short list. Some have suggested that every dollar invested in new roads adds $6 to the economy as it is spread around. That’s an overstatement, but easily $1.50 or more returns to the economy for every new highway dollar spent.

4. Highway funds go to hire people to build roads and supply the construction material: Therefore, road construction quickly lessens any recession’s effect.

Step Over a Dime: Expensive PR

Years ago I wrote that, having had the same gasoline tax for nearly 20 years, Texas easily could add a dime to the price of gas and get the roads built that we desperately need. That dime could come close to fully funding new construction to lower the congestion caused by our massive growth. This was the legitimate use for such funds; after all, government is supposed to invest for our economic future.

Looking at Department of Energy data on gasoline use in Texas, over the past decade that dime per gallon could have added close to $12 billion to our highway fund.

Keep in mind that 11 years ago gas was selling for 99 cents, so a dime per gallon would not have been missed. Come to think of it, drivers would have missed that amount even less when gasoline was $4 a gallon. But therein lies the hypocrisy: Elected officials, both state and federal, refused to raise taxes to fund new highways claiming "no new taxes" — but said not a word when speculators took oil from under $12 a barrel in 1999 to $147 in the summer of 2008. A dime for needed highways, very bad; but untold hundreds of billions of dollars for oil speculators is OK?

Nobody likes higher taxes, but that’s because the average person doesn’t perceive any extra benefit from paying more. But public roads benefit everybody — and everyone can identify this smart use of public funds. And now? Allowing private corporations to build toll roads that everybody will have to use is just "new taxes" under a different name.

"Value-Priced" Motoring

When toll operators find their ventures insufficiently profitable they simply raise their tolls — again and again. Doubt that? Just look at the recent toll increases on the NTTA projects over in Dallas and Collin counties.

Maybe it’s time someone explained what it really costs you to drive on a toll road, as opposed to that extra dime a gallon to buy roads for everyone. You need to know this, because apparently Dallas Fort Worth will soon become America’s new Toll Road Capital.

Gordon Dickson published the most recent information on new toll roads in the Star-Telegram on December 27, 2009. His story contained this news: "Tolls could go as high as 75 cents per mile when congestion is at its worst. That could be more than five times higher than the average 14.5 cents per mile that motorists currently pay on Dallas-area toll roads. It’s a concept called 'value pricing.’"

Up to 75 cents a mile, and it’s called value pricing?

That’s as Orwellian as doublespeak like "war is peace" and "freedom is slavery."

Let’s Do the 4th-Grade Math

Building a toll road that you have to use has the exact same effect as paying a higher tax on gasoline to use that highway. Remember, whether the road is free or toll you still pay 38.4 cents in federal and state gasoline taxes; that’s the baseline for this calculation.

We will assume that your vehicle averages 20 miles per gallon: If you drive that vehicle 20 miles on a toll road charging the maximum 75 cents per mile, you pay your 38.4 cents in current taxes plus another $15 in tolls. Therefore tolls and taxes to drive on that road total $15.38 per gallon of gasoline. And to think you were complaining when gas was four bucks.

Even if you use the NTTA system and pay "only" 14.5 cents toll per mile, the net additional cost for each gallon of gas you burn on those toll roads means that you’re out the same as $3.28 per gallon for the luxury of driving on their private highway. And for $3.28 per gallon all you get is one road.

Money Distracts; Big Money Blinds

It’s not just Texas that is refusing to deal with crumbling, outdated or inadequate highway systems and instead turning the task over to private hands. But Texas is abdicating its sovereign duty to protect its citizens from the financial pressures of the highway privateers, not to mention its responsibility to build infrastructure for economic growth.

So how did politicians get the idea that privatizing roads across America was an acceptable future?

Two words: Goldman Sachs.

Yes, large Wall Street investment banks, led by Goldman, started advising states across the nation on how to raise fast money by diverting the most necessary publicly owned assets — roads — into private ownership. You have to admit, it’s brilliant, because it’s a forced and guaranteed market: Americans can’t get out of driving.

As Daniel Schulman and James Ridgeway wrote in their scathing article, "The Highwaymen," in January of 2007, "Many similar deals are now on the horizon, and MIG and Cintra are often part of them. So is Goldman Sachs, the huge Wall Street firm that has played a remarkable role advising states on how to structure privatization deals — even while positioning itself to invest in the toll road market.

"Goldman Sachs’ role has not been lost on skeptics, who accuse the firm of playing both sides of the fence. 'In essence, they’re double-dipping,’ says Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, a truckers’ group that opposes toll road privatization. ’They’re basically in the middle, playing one side against the other, and it’s really, really lucrative.’"

How does "really, really lucrative" for Wall Street translate into "value pricing" for us? It doesn’t. But it’s easy to see how getting 75 cents per mile for permission to drive on a single highway could be an extremely valuable price — for whoever owns that stretch of road.

Oh, and one other thing. These highway privateers can fully deduct the highway’s depreciation for the first 15 years of the lease. So they shelter their income from their highways and then some. That’s one reason why the non-partisan GAO released a study last summer, which concedes that there could be some upside to the concept, also warned that more studies need to be done now on "how best to identify and protect national public interests in future highway public-private partnerships."

When Will This End?

In many states and before it’s over likely in Texas, roads already bought and paid for by taxpayers either have been or will be sold off to the highway privateers. Now that’s the ultimate insult: Citizens bought the road and maintained it, but the fact that so many drivers use them makes it financially attractive for the state to resell them to private concerns for hard cash. (Notice that no one is considering privatizing Texas’ Farm to Market Roads. There’s just not enough traffic for the expense.) Then those buyers recoup their investment by charging everyone new tolls — under contracts that often extend up to 99 years.

Worse, there’s more evidence of how Wall Street’s quiet PR campaign distorted this issue with the public. Just a few years ago Goldman Sachs put $3 billion into an account for investments into infrastructure, including highways. Goldman also gave $10,000 to Hillco Partners, who lobbied for the 2001 Texas ballot measure to allow for privately operated roads. According to public information, between 2002 and 2005 Goldman paid Hillco lobbyist J. McCartt $95,000 to continue this effort of privatizing our highways. And J. McCartt is a former aide to —you guessed it — Texas governor Rick Perry. No wonder Governor Perry refuses to release the minutes of his meetings on the privatization of our highways.

So, have you been sold on the idea that privatizing roads is a necessity, because our state has no money for new roads and, citing its "no new taxes" policy, steadfastly refuses to raise the gasoline tax by even a dime to build them? Think again. We’ve been set up.

The people selling this "innovative" concept are the same people who deregulated our utilities, leaving Texans paying the nation’s highest electricity rates. It’s not about doing the right thing for Texas; it’s about selling out Texans for Wall Street’s fun and profits.

© 2009 Ed Wallace

Ed Wallace has received the Gerald R. Loeb Award for business journalism, given by the Anderson School of Business at UCLA, and is a member of the American Historical Association. He reviews new cars every Friday morning at 7:15 on Fox Four’s Good Day, frequently contributes articles to BusinessWeek Online and hosts the top-rated talk show, Wheels, 8:00 to 1:00 Saturdays on 570 KLIF. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and access all of Ed’s work at his Web site, www.insideautomotive.com.

Peters now hired hand of Zachry, Cornyn calls for toll roads & gas taxes

Link to article here.

No further evidence is needed for former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters' motivation for her statement below. She's lobbying lawmakers to end the moratorium on private toll road contracts (called CDAs or PPPs) that sell our Texas roads to the highest bidder on Wall Street and grant monopolies to private corporations because she's the hired hand of Zachry, a major beneficiary of these contracts!

Then, there are other articles below that report on the comments of other players at the Texas Transportation Forum held in Austin, primarily addressing transportation funding issues. Of course, it was stacked with politicians, like John Cornyn, who echo Peters and want to sell our TX roads to their friends on Wall Street. This is the MOST expensive way to fund roads (coming from so-called fiscal conservatives): it fleeces taxpayers (75 cents PER MILE in toll taxes), grants monopolies, and limits expansion of free roads surrounding toll roads, to name a few. Cornyn also wants to raise the gas tax. So he wants a double whammy...

Bush transportation secretary urges Texas to re-authorize private toll roads

By Michael Lindenbarger
January 7, 2010
Dallas Morning News

Texas lawmakers should reauthorize private toll roads in the Lone Star State when they return to Austin in 2011, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters told Texans Thursday.

With little likelihood that Congress will pass meaningful transportation reform, or find long-term funding solutions, in 2010, Peters said states will do well to send strong messages that they are doing their part to solve their transportation challenges. Toll roads, and the ability to attract private investors to pay for them, are one way many states, including Texas, have used to do just that, she said.

Under Gov. Rick Perry, Texas emerged as the leader among states in pursuing private toll roads but that momentum was halted last year, when the Legislature allowed the legal authority for most private toll roads in Texas to lapse.

"That moratorium on public private partnerships should be removed," she said. "The state of Texas should put that in abeyance. Restoring (private toll roads) here in Texas could show the federal government that you are really serious about tackling your own transportation problems."
Zachry American Infrastructure, in partnership with ACS, was chosen by TxDOT as the Master Developer for Interstate 69 in Texas. Zachry American Infrastructure partnered with Cintra to form SH 130 Concession Company, which is developing SH 130 segments 5 and 6.

Peters is now a paid consultant -- or "senior adviser" -- to Zachry American Infrastructure, a private toll road (and other infrastructure) developer affiliated with Zachry Construction, a Texas construction company founded in 1924. TxDOT tapped the infrasture development firm to provide a master plan for Interstate 69 in Texas, and the company joined with Cintra to develop SH 130 in Austin. (Note: this paragraph was changed to remove an inaccurate reference to Zachry being a Spanish firm. It is headquartered in San Antonio. -ML)

Peters spoke at the annual Texas Transportation Forum, a talk fest sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation involving hundreds of engineers, local officials, financiers and others.

The issue of private toll roads will return when the 2011 session of the Texas Legislature begins. Both candidates for governor -- Perry, the incumbent, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison -- have said they support private toll roads, though Hutchison has said Perry has placed too much emphasis on tolls in general as governor.Congress has been struggling with transportation financing for more than a year, as the 2005 authorization bill formally expired last year. It has been extended by a series of emergency spending measures, but states like Texas have faced uncertainty about whether they can count on the federal government to provide the funding needed for projects currently under construction.

She said rather than bite the bullet and pass the massive reauthorization bill -- one version of which, introduced in the House last year, would cost $500 billion -- Congress will opt instead to pass the Jobs for Main Street bill as a kind of second stimulus, make a few changes to keep the highway trust fund solvent and put off the tougher questions about transportation funding until 2011, she said.

The jobs bill, lampooned by Republicans as "son of stimulus," totals $154 billion, she said.

"I do think the Jobs for Main Street bill will pass this year, in some form, but I think it will be passed at the expense of a long-term reauthorization bill," she said. "I just don't think the political will is there (to pass transportation reauthorization).

If the jobs act does become law -- and it faces opposition in the Senate -- it would mean nearly $40 billion more for American highways, perhaps as soon as later this year. That's almost as much as the states received for roads and bridges in 2009 as part of the first -- (and much larger) stimulus package.

Texas would receive about $2.5 billion, about the same it received in 2009.

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Link to article here.
Cornyn, Pickett to speak this morning; Meanwhile: Is 'transportation crisis' real?
Fri, Jan 08, 2010 | By Michael Lindenberger/Reporter
Dallas Morning News

Probably the most interesting thing that former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said yesterday was that the reason efforts to convince Congress and Texas lawmakers alike to get serious about providing long-term solutions to transportation is that lawmakers, like voters, have not yet accepted as true claims that we are in the midst of a transportation crisis.

Until they do, she said, no serious change -- and that includes no serious discussion of new revenues or taxes -- will take place. And lawmakers won't believe it's a crisis until voters do.

That we're in the midst of a transportation -- and other infrastructure -- crisis is an article of faith among most of the folks at this annual Transportation Forum, as it is for leaders of the Texas Department of Transportation, local officials that lead the Regional Transportation Council in North Texas, and crusading lawmakers like Texas Sen. John Carona.

There is some room for debate about just how bad the crisis is, but the figures that tout our need versus our available funds usually reach in the scores of billions, if not hundreds of billions, over the next 20 years. (The Society of American Civil Engineers says when all our aging infrastructure is taken into account, the bill reaches into the trillions.)

The problem is, most folks get to where they want to go just fine: The roads are more or less smooth, the bridges don't collapse (other than that one in Minneapolis) and the water comes on when you turn on your faucet. Where's the crisis?

Truth is, most people experience the transportation crisis as a commuter irked by traffic jams -- but most of us even get use to those over time, and as long as they are steadily worse, and not suddenly worse, we don't get crazed about it.

Instead, the more immediate "crisis" for most Texas drivers is the one affecting their wallets -- the higher tolls and sometimes higher gas prices.

None of this is to suggest that Carona and the other folks urging real solutions -- and higher taxes -- for transportation are wrong. They've certainly got the big picture down of how a city and state continues to grow and attract business and jobs, and clean its air -- and all of that stuff is going to take money, or it will cost us money down the road if we don't act.

I get that. But Peters, who believes that we do have a crisis, is right to say that the challenge the planners, politicians and engineers face when trying to make change is that so far, most folks simply don't believe them. And even when in their heart of hearts they think something needs to change, they don't trust the system to get it right.

I'll write more this afternoon, after we hear from a series of federal lawmakers -- most of whom we can expect will tell us we're in a crisis. Texas House transportation chairman Joe Pickett will speak -- he's one of the guys pushing for a gas tax increase in 2011 -- and so will Sen. Robert Nichols, who knows his way around transportation, too.

At noon, Sen. John Cornyn speaks and I'm interested to see if he takes on transportation seriously as he prepares for a likely future as the state's senior U.S. Senator. He's not been big on transportation on the past, but it's interesting to see him on the line up with a keynote address.

More on that, and much else, later right here, on the transportation blog.

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Link to article here.

Cornyn: Private tolls should be part of the answer, but only part
Fri, January 8, 2010, By Michael Lindenberger
Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN -- Sen. John Cornyn said today that private toll roads should be part of the solution as government leaders in Texas and in Washington struggle to pay for new roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure.

They just shouldn't be the only solution, he added in a speech the closed a half-week of transportation chit-chat among hundreds gathered for the fifth annual Texas Transportation Forum.

"The first solution many people point to is say, 'We can solve this with more money.' Certainly, money can solve a lot of the problems but it can't solve all of them," Cornyn said.

If government leaders did a better job of explaining the choices Texans face when it comes to paying for roads, they might be more supportive of not just new toll roads but even other expenses, like higher gas tax rates. But for now, he said, government has done too poor a job in discussing those realities -- as evidenced, he said, by the voter pushback that led lawmakers in Austin to end the state's authority to enter into new private toll road deals.

"To quote Milton Friedman, there is no free lunch," he said. Voters know that, but they resent seeing "solutions" pushed on them from above. "I have always believed that leadership entails communication. You can't just call in a room full of smart people and take the best ideas and impose them on people. Not in a democracy."

He stopped short of explicitly calling on Texas lawmakers to restore the authority for private toll roads in 2011, as former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters did on Thursday.

When asked after his speech if he would flatly rule out a higher federal gas tax, he declined to do so. Instead, he said that he'd leave it up to voters to decide what they are willing to support after their leaders have done a better job of explaining the trade offs involved. If drivers felt they could get a quicker ride to work for a reasonable increase in tolls or other fees, they might sign on, he said.

Earlier Friday, Texas House transportation chairman Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, told the same audience that the 2011 session will be extremely tough for any efforts, including his own, to raise taxes or even to shift funds away from other items to spend more on transportation, as Gov. Rick Perry has said is a better approach than raising taxes.

"We're already being told behind the scenes that his is going to be very tough budget session," Pickett said. Add to that, he said, the forced politicization that will come about as a result of redistricting -- and it means 2011 is going to be a very difficult session to reach compromises over transportation funding.

"Politically, this is the time when the zealots in both parties come out and fight for every little bit of ground, and will make people like Sen. Nichols and Rep. Pickett not speak to each other."

In that climate, he said, even something as widely supported in principle as ending the gas tax diversions -- the practice of diverting gas taxes to pay for non-transportation related items --- gets complicated. "The first thing that happens when you say, 'let's end these diversions,' which everyone rushes to say they support, is you go to the budget-writers and say let's find $1.2 billion in general revenue. That's when I go to Sen. Nichols, and ask for help, he tells me 'No, and I hate you.'"

He got a laughs for the I hate you line, but his point is that real compromise across party lines will be tough in 2011. And in a year when budget writers will be worrying about every penny, he said support for ending the diversions will be hard to find.

Tax for every mile you drive?

Just when you think the world has gone mad, it gets even worse!

The idea of taxing motorists for every mile they drive is certainly not new, but it's getting closer to becoming reality with the announcement that the Transportation Commission (appointed by Governor Rick Perry) has commissioned a study of the viability of such a taxing scheme. This "study" will be presented to the lawmakers for its consideration in the 2011 legislative session.

So far, the reaction among the grassroots and talk radio pundits seems to be a unanimous "No way!" No one wants big daddy government taking up residence in their personal vehicle and monitoring every mile they drive, nor does going from paying a tax by the GALLON to paying a tax for every MILE sound like a good deal for the taxpayers. Seems an awful lot like taxing the air we breathe!

Though there are ways to track mileage without satellite tags or black boxes placed in your car, like odometer readings, those methods are rife with problems, like being charged for out of state driving (with "deductions" for out of state driving likely being self-reported/recorded, which is ripe for such abuses, and others, like a motorist modifying his/her odometer reading to pay less tax).


By far, the most affordable and fair way to fund roads is still the gas tax. All the talk says that the gas tax is becoming obsolete due to fuel efficiency, but that's generally hyperbole. In Texas, gas tax revenues have risen steadily for decades; only recently did revenues go flat due to extraordinary economic circumstances when gas prices peaked at $4.00 a gallon in 2008, with a slight dip in driving continuing in the current economic downturn (only natural with high unemployment).

So the reasons for the dip in revenues had little to nothing to do with fuel efficiency and everything to do with the affordability of driving. It's a function of basic economics: as the price goes up, driving goes down. Given the fact tolls are the most expensive way to fund roads, Perry's reliance on toll road proliferation only means we're building a massive network of underutilized roads few can afford to drive. Just look no further than SH 130 in Austin where the toll road was so empty during rush hour that a distressed plane used it for an emergency landing!

Toll roads don't solve congestion for the vast majority of commuters, nor are they particularly good at raising money for government since massive taxpayer subsidies have been the norm for Perry's toll projects. These toll projects are good at greasing the wheels of road contractors and corporations involved in financing the deals by privatizing the profits and socializing the losses.

While inflation is a legitimate concern with the current gas tax (hasn't been raised since 1991), gas tax revenues have continued to rise (well beyond inflation and population) until 2008, in spite of inflation eating into the 20 cent per gallon tax. With 400 toll projects being contemplated and/or implemented around the state, the increase in the cost of transportation (and the public debt to subsidize them, went from zero to $12 billion on Perry's watch) is guaranteed to rise exponentially (compare 1-2 cents per mile now in gas tax, versus 25 cents to 75 cents PER MILE in new toll taxes) unless Perry's toll policies are reversed, and fast.

Senate Transportation Committee Chairman, Senator John Carona, said the gas tax is still a viable source of funding roads for at least the next 20 years. We'd add one caveat to that - not unless the legislature stops raiding the gas tax for things that have nothing to do with transportation. It's real easy to make that dedicated fund disappear when politicians continue to raid it. Politicians lack the spine to address these abuses and fear raising the gas tax is political suicide, but so is levying a tax for every mile we drive, government monitoring of our personal movements, and handing our Texas roads over to foreign corporations in corporate toll road monopolies (which Perry has mandated on his watch).

It's more than invasion of privacy

Let's hope Texans are never "ready" to cede their personal liberty so that government can levy a new tax on every mile we drive (really it's like making every road a toll road). Ultimately, it seems like an excuse to exert more government control over our freedom to travel. Once we open the door, the floodgates could fly open with it. One study by the University of Iowa is already contemplating a way for government to hijack a person's vehicle and keep it from starting if a motorist was behind on paying their road taxes.

One thing's for sure, government doesn't study such an expansive policy shift unless it thinks it will make more money on this new alternative. And does anyone honestly think they'd EVER repeal the gas tax as promised (to make way for this mileage tax)? There's one thing taxpayers have learned by experience: a tax, once levied, never goes away, and if it goes anywhere, it goes up.

Check it out...

Listen in to a radio interview on this topic with Dallas KRLD Newsradio "Beyond the Headlines" anchor, Scott Braddock, and me here.

DFW toll authority cautions too many toll roads

Link to article here.

NTTA leaders fear Dallas area's toll road push moving too fast

11:37 AM CST on Monday, December 28, 2009


By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
As the Dallas area rushes forward in pursuit of more toll roads, warnings that it may be doing so at its own peril have been emanating from an unexpected corner: the top leaders of the North Texas Tollway Authority.

Even as the NTTA enters the final weeks of negotiations that all sides expect will conclude by Feb. 28 with a multibillion-dollar deal to build two new giant toll projects in Dallas and Tarrant counties, the agency's two top board members have been warning that the region may be moving too fast on toll roads.

"People are going to realize that every new road in the metroplex is going to be a toll road," NTTA vice chairman Victor Vandergriff said at a recent meeting of the NTTA board.

He was only exaggerating a little.


The Regional Transportation Council approves a 25-year plan for area transportation projects every five years – and the current plan has included a map with precious few free roads. Roads paid for with taxes have emerged as something of a luxury, one that the RTC no longer sees as affordable, given the rising needs and insufficient funds from Austin and Washington.

A new plan is in the works now, and officials say it could shift away from tolls.

But for now, tolls are fast becoming the dominant way local officials hope to move Dallas area residents from one place to another.

The NTTA already manages three major toll roads – the Sam Rayburn Tollway, the Bush Turnpike, and its oldest and still most lucrative, the Dallas North Tollway – and is collecting tolls on the first stages of a fourth, State Highway 161 in Dallas County.

Over the next six weeks or so, NTTA is expected to reach an agreement with the state Department of Transportation to complete Highway 161 and build the Southwest Parkway and Chisholm Trail toll roads in Tarrant County. A major expansion of the Bush Turnpike is under way now, and officials in Dallas continue to hope that NTTA will build the Trinity Parkway near downtown. State officials have said they want to add new tolled lanes to Interstate 35 between Dallas to Denton, as a means to pay for the expansion of that highway.

In addition, two major private toll roads, the region's first, are expected to begin construction during the next 18 months. The Spanish toll road developer Cintra has teamed with other investors to rebuild LBJ Freeway in Dallas and Interstate 820 and State Highway 183 in Tarrant County, and will add what will probably be the costliest toll lanes in Texas on each.

Both toll projects are expected to be completed by 2016 or sooner.

"Even our free roads will soon have a toll component," Vandergriff said.

Both Vandergriff and NTTA chairman Paul Wageman, who has also voiced reservations about the extent of tolling in Dallas, say toll roads are essential as Texas tries to keep traffic moving in the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S.

But they worry that adding too many tolls, too quickly, could erode the one thing that makes them such a valuable tool in the first place: the willingness of drivers to pay their tolls.

"I do have concerns ... that the public will only tolerate a certain amount of tolling," Wageman told reporters at a news briefing in Arlington earlier this month. "We understand that to get the roads built, there is going to be a tolling component [to help pay for them]. But we are concerned because ultimately we must have public receptivity to tolling. We do not want to be in a position where that receptivity goes away, as that ultimately affects the business we are in."

Toll roads remain a daily trade-off for hundreds of thousands of NTTA customers, who pay to save valuable time getting to work or the airport or to a meeting after school.

But will they remain popular, in the face of rising rates and as they spread to every corner of the region?

Vandergriff and Wageman voiced their worries separately this month as negotiations over Southwest Parkway and Highway 161 accelerated and brought into focus the debt required to build those roads, on top of the $7 billion NTTA already owes.

All that debt will be paid for by tolls – and if the tolls don't produce enough revenue to satisfy bondholders, the rates would probably have to jump, just as they did earlier this year when NTTA increased rates by about 23 percent.

But raising rates will only work if enough drivers are willing to pay the higher rates to offset those who abandon the toll roads.

Already, some drivers have begun shunning the turnpikes.

Nathan Maxfield, a 35-year-old Web designer, used the Dallas North Tollway when he lived in Frisco and worked in Addison. But he began cutting back even before he moved to Plano.

In September, he started a Facebook group called People Against the NTTA.

Only about 60 others have joined his group, but Maxfield said frustration with NTTA's rates is a common theme among his friends and colleagues.

"It was just the rising costs, and toll roads were just spreading everywhere you looked," Maxfield said, explaining why he created the group. "It seemed like pretty soon, we wouldn't be able to get anywhere without paying a toll."

A WAY TO SPEAK OUT

The North Central Texas Council of Governments is seeking input on how to shape the region's transportation network over the next 25 years and will literally redraw the map that for the past five years has shown nearly every new road as a toll road.

If the map for the so-called 2035 Plan is to look any different from the 2030 Plan, it will likely require a mix of new taxes, new approaches, and more rail.

Michael Morris, transportation director for the council of governments, just completed a series of public hearings, and written suggestions are encouraged. Send them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Heaps of taxpayer money prop-up private toll deals

We've all come to realize, it doens't matter what a politician promises to get elected, it never takes long for them to break a promise. Arguably, one of the key reasons Jon Corzine lost the governor's race in New Jersey was his controversial plan to increase tolls on the New Jersey turnpike and his proposal to sell it to his cronies on Wall Street. Scroll down to the section that shows the massive taxpayer subsidies propping-up the North Tarrant Express private toll deal. It's corporate welfare of the worst kind on display in Texas.

N.J. to Borrow $200 Million Amid Incoming Governor’s Opposition
Bloomberg
December 8, 2009
By Michael McDonald and Terrence Dopp

 Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey, the third-most indebted U.S. state, will sell more than $200 million in bonds today to finance voter-approved capital projects a week after Governor- elect Christopher Christie said he opposed borrowing more money.

The state will issue $209.1 million of bonds, including $205 million of tax-exempt securities, the largest such competitively bid offering in the market today, according to Bloomberg data. Christie, a Republican who defeated Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine last month, said he opposed new bond sales after the state last week detailed $2.7 billion in borrowing it plans for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in June.

“General obligation bond sales are only conducted when the various agencies and authorities present the state with a list of projects that need funding,” said Tom Vincz, a spokesman for Treasurer David Rousseau, a Corzine appointee. “That’s how sales are scheduled and that’s the way it’s always been done.”

The state’s bond sale today will finance clean water and open-space preservation projects, according to a preliminary official statement. The state is also planning to sell $1.4 billion of bonds for transportation and $1.1 billion for school construction before June 30, according to a Nov. 30 report.

Christie, 47, a former U.S. attorney, told Bloomberg News last week that New Jersey “can’t have any more debt” and that any projections for borrowing will be “rendered meaningless” when he takes office on Jan. 19. He declined additional comment yesterday through his spokeswoman, Maria Comella.


Tax-Supported Debt

New Jersey has $36.5 billion of gross tax-supported debt, the third highest of the 50 states, according to a report released in July by Moody’s Investors Service. Moody’s rates the state’s bonds Aa3, the fourth highest ranking. California has the most, at $75.2 billion.

New York City is leading the municipal market this week as issuers seek to borrow more than $10 billion, according to Bloomberg data. New York, the largest borrower among U.S. cities, is selling $1.4 billion of taxable and tax-exempt securities, including $616 million of Build America Bonds. By yesterday, the city had taken orders from individual investors for $440 million of the tax-exempt bonds, and for $20 million in Build America Bonds that it expects to finish pricing on Dec. 10, according to Ray Orlando, a spokesman for the city Office of Management and Budget.

Yields on conventional 20-year municipal debt fell to an eight-week low of 4.24 percent, down 1.34 percentage points from a year ago, according to a weekly Bond Buyer index.

“Typically December and January are pretty strong months because of all the reinvestment” from bondholders in the municipal market getting coupon payments and proceeds from maturing securities, said Robert Macintosh, a portfolio manager at Eaton Vance Management in Boston, which oversees $17 billion of municipal bonds. The market “feels firm even with a fair amount of supply,” he said.

Following are descriptions of additional pending sales of municipal bonds and notes; the timing and amounts may change.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, the U.S. capital, plans to sell $646.8 million of revenue bonds secured by income taxes on individuals and businesses. A group of banks led by JPMorgan will underwrite the sale this week, including $600 million of Build America Bonds. The rest are tax-exempt securities. Proceeds will fund improvements to schools, parks, municipal buildings, mass transit and community infrastructure. Washington has sold about $1.1 billion this year of an almost $3 billion authorization of income-tax secured bonds, a new credit intended to get lower interest rates than general obligation debt by dedicating specific revenue for repayment, according to Fitch. They are rated AAA by S&P, AA by Fitch and Aa2 by Moody’s. (Updated Dec. 7)

MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL BUILDING AUTHORITY intends to sell $500 million of Build America Bonds and $100 million of tax- exempt bonds this week through underwriting firms led by Ramirez & Co. and Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch. The proceeds from the bonds, backed by dedicated sales tax revenue, will fund grants to school districts for construction and renovations. Moody’s rates the bonds Aa2. Fitch ranks them AA. (Added Dec. 7)

MARYLAND TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY wants to sell about $550 million of transportation facilities project bonds backed by toll revenue from three bridges, two tunnels and a portion of Interstate 95 between Baltimore and Delaware. Investment banks led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are to underwrite the deal this week. The issue is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA- by S&P and Fitch. Almost $482 million of the securities will be taxable Build America Bonds. The deal will help finance construction of the $2.6 billion Intercounty Connector, a six-lane limited- access toll road linking Interstate 270 and I-95 in the Washington suburbs. (Updated Dec. 7)

ILLINOIS plans to offer almost $530 million of federally tax-exempt bonds to fund capital projects under the state’s Build Illinois program. Underwriters led by Cabrera Capital Markets LLC will negotiate the sale of $375 million of the debt, secured by a first priority pledge of sales tax revenue. Banks will place bids Dec. 10 to underwrite an additional $154.9 million, preliminary bond documents show. (Added Dec. 3)

BROOKLYN ARENA LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORP. intends to issue $500 million of tax-exempt bonds to help finance construction of a new facility in New York City for the New Jersey Nets, which set a National Basketball Association record this month for the worst start to a season. The debt, rated at the lowest investment grades by Moody’s and S&P, will be backed by payments in lieu of property taxes, known as Pilots, derived from arena revenue. Forest City Ratner Cos. is developing the arena, Barclays Center, as part of the Atlantic Yards project in the city’s most populous borough. Underwriters led by Goldman Sachs and Barclays Plc are handling the bond sale. (Added Dec. 4)

PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE COMMISSION, operator of the U.S.’s oldest turnpike, plans to take retail orders on $374 million in fixed-rate bonds today and will take institutional bids Dec. 9. The refunding bonds, backed by a senior lien on revenue from the Pennsylvania Turnpike system, will raise about $50 million to cover the cost of termination payments on interest-rate swaps, according to Nick Grieshaber, chief financial officer. The fixed-rate sale through Morgan Stanley follows last week’s Turnpike Commission sale of $208 million in variable rate bonds. The bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody’s and A+ by Fitch and S&P. (Updated Dec. 8)

NORTH TARRANT EXPRESS MOBILITY PARTNERS plans to sell $400 million of tax-exempt debt this month through the Texas Private Activity Bond Surface Transportation Corp. The borrower is a group led by Madrid-based Grupo Ferrovial SA’s Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA, which Texas awarded the concession to rebuild and operate a highway northeast of Fort Worth. The bonds will be secured by toll revenue from the North Tarrant Expressway, including rebuilt highways Interstate 820 and State 121/183 near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Fitch rated the bonds BBB-, while Moody’s ranked the issue Baa2, one step higher. The $2 billion cost of redeveloping the 13-mile (20.9-kilometer) stretch of highway will be covered by the private-activity bond proceeds, a $650 million federal transportation loan, about $570 million in gasoline tax revenue from the state, and $420 million in equity invested by Cintra and others. (Added Dec. 7)

HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS, which operates about 115 miles of toll roads in and around Houston, plans to raise $350 million by selling a mix of taxable Build America and tax-exempt bonds this week through banks led by Goldman Sachs. Harris, the third-most populous county in the U.S. after Los Angeles and Cook County, Illinois, will offer debt backed by a senior lien on revenue from the toll road system to fund projects. The securities are rated AA- by S&P and Fitch. (Added Dec. 7)

DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS, the second-biggest school district in Colorado by enrollment after Jefferson County Public Schools, this week plans to sell $225 million of Build America Bonds and $24.4 million of tax-exempt bonds. Underwriters led by George K. Baum & Co. will handle the deal. S&P assigned its AA- rating to the general obligation borrowing by Denver City and County School District No. 1, which has about 75,000 students. (Added Dec. 7)

MICHIGAN, whose October unemployment rate of 15.1 percent was the highest among U.S. states, will negotiate the sale of $1.3 billion in tax-exempt general obligation notes due in September 2010 to investors through JPMorgan, preliminary bond documents show. The deal will help the state cover cash expenses until tax revenue arrives in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The notes are rated MIG 1 by Moody’s and SP-1+ by S&P. (Added Dec. 3)

Tone-deaf politicians vote for WHOPPING 57 toll projects!

Despite the overwhelming outcry against toll roads in our community, the San Antonio Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization (or MPO) voted to put 57 toll projects into its long-range plan yesterday. There will be no escaping the reaches of this new tax on driving in Bexar County. Removing controversial private toll contracts that hand our public roads over to private, usually foreign, corporations for a half century from the MPO's plan is a HUGE victory, but seems of little consolation when the Board voted for a plan that will amount to the largest tax increase in the history of Bexar County. Todays' Express-News article makes it appear as though tolls were just kept as an "option," however, the Federal Highway Administration has stated if a project is designated in an MPO plan as tolled, they will only approve what's consistent with the MPO's plan. So non-toll options are NOT on the table for these projects.

Sampling of the toll projects just approved:

-Hwy 90 (from 410 to 211)
- I-10 (from 410 to county line)
- ALL of Loop 1604 (not just the north half)
- 281 (from Loop 1604 to Comal County line)
- I-37 (from 410 S to the Atascosa County line)
- Bandera Rd (from 410 to 1604 still appears despite amendment to remove it)
- interchange at I-10 & 1604
- interchange at 281 & 1604 (northbound ramps)
- interchange at 1604 & 151
- interchange at 1604 & 90
- interchange at 1604 & 1-35
- interchange at I-35 & 410
- Kelly Pkwy/Spur 371 (US 90 to SH 16)
- ALL of I-35 (from Atascosa to Comal County line), and more!


Two elected officials on the board were no shows, Senator Jeff Wentworth and Bexar County Commissioner Chico Rodriguez (Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos attended but left the meeting prior to the vote on the 57 toll projects), so yesterday's decisions were largely made by appointees who don't even answer to the taxpayers, including two votes by TxDOT employees that cast votes for their own projects in a colossal conflict of interest.

TxDOT, despite its total lack of credibility having presided over a $1.1 billion "accounting error," two botched environmental studies for the US 281 toll road, and the abuse of taxpayer money to hire registered lobbyists and implement a PR campaign to lobby for toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor, has convinced most MPO Board members that the sky will fall and all projects marked "toll" will fall out of the plan if they don't continue to do Rick Perry's bidding and designate virtually all new capacity to our roadways for tolling. This same chicanery is being played out in all the urban MPOs.

There are other solutions, like changing the financial assumptions to include the most fiscally conservative way to fund highways, a modest gas tax increase, instead of reliance on tolling, but TxDOT persistently manipulates the numbers to make any gas tax solution appear to fall short of the "need." A study done by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M stated that an 8 cent gas tax increase indexed to inflation would preclude the need for a single toll road in the state of Texas, yet TxDOT sticks to its talking points that it would take $1.00 or more gas tax increase to fix our "unfunded" roads.

What's truly amazing is that anyone would fall for such nonsense coming from an agency that's lost the trust of lawmakers and taxpayers alike. The Sunset Commission issued a scathing review of TxDOT two years ago and it's clear this agency is broken, but how to fix it is what's gnawing at many lawmakers. We say, elect a new governor and fumigate the TxDOT Greer building in Austin for a total house cleaning for starters.



Locals to pick-up the tab for STATE highways

Though there are conflicting reports about when this language showed-up, the MPO just adopted a plan that requires ALL available funds to be "leveraged" and requires the locals to come-up with the cost of maintaining any new capacity to STATE highways. TxDOT District Engineer, Mario Medina, told the MPO Board in no uncertain terms that "if you want to build new roads, you're going to have to find a way to pay for the maintenance of them."

This is yet another unfunded mandate coming from an unelected, out of control state agency in Austin that's making local taxpayers pay for what's the State's job - to build and maintain STATE highways. Last I checked, TxDOT has its own budget for road maintenance and many lawmakers have complained about TxDOT dumping more and more of its money into maintenance and diverting it away from new construction in order to push tolling.

Requiring ALL available funds to be leveraged means an increase in local taxes or tolling. Leveraging also means DEBT, heaps of it. So this means we won't be able to take gas tax money and build an overpass or expand a road, now the local MPO will have to leverage ALL its monies by borrowing against it or matching it with local tax money in order to get access to the money we already pay the state for state roads.

Representative David Leibowitz tried to strip these unfunded mandates from the plan, but the same culprits who voted to keep 281 and 1604 toll roads after 5 1/2 hours of public testimony AGAINST the toll roads on October 26 at Alzafar Shrine, voted to keep these requirements in the MPO plan.

MPO members who voted to increase debt, taxes, and the likelihood of massive tolling:

Commissioner Kevin Wolff
Councilman John Clamp
Councilman Ray Lopez
Selma Councilman Bill Weeper
Two TxDOT votes
Two Via votes
One county employee
Two city employees

The only board members voting for the taxpayers were:

State Representative David Leibowitz
Commissioner Tommy Adkisson
Mayor of Leon Valley Chris Riley
Councilman Reed Williams

The board also unanimously voted to find the money to do an independent study of non-toll options for 281 north (advanced by Com. Kevin Wolff) and the west side of 1604 (from Bandera Rd to Hwy 90, advanced by Rep. David Leibowitz). Leibowitz noted that such a side-by-side comparison of toll versus non-toll proposals should have been studied years ago prior to the board turning these projects into toll roads. Exactly! In fact, for US 281, TxDOT already has a valid non-toll plan that it refuses to acknowledge or sponsor that is less than half the cost to build as the RMA's toll road (one-tenth the cost when you factor in the toll road debt). It's truly an egregious waste of $500,000 of taxpayer money to hire outside consultants to do what our highway department run by Rick Perry refuses to do.

TURF Statement to MPO Board prior to vote

(Edited for clarity) Having 57 toll projects in your long range plan will reap severe economic impacts on this community, impacts that have not been properly studied nor considered before entering into such a plan. A very conservative estimate of the debt required to get these projects off the ground is $20 billion dollars! The level of discretionary income in this community cannot sustain this level of debt much less the level of new taxation required to pay it all back. TxDOT's current two-year budget shows that anticipated toll revenues ($1 billion) do not even cover half the debt service payments ($2.5 billion in payments for just the next two years, we're $12 billion in debt TOTAL) we already require as a state. It's folly to think there will be enough money from the taxpayers to pay all this debt back. In fact, much of our current gas tax is going to cover debt service for toll roads. This is, in part, why the money to fix our roads without tolls is disappearing.

The overwhelming public feedback at the MPO's visioning sessions that began several years ago was not only opposed to tolling, but especially handing our public roads to private, usually foreign, corporations using CDAs. Your draft long range plan even states this in the public involvement section. Given this information, what is the point of federally mandated public involvement if this board submits a plan to the feds that does the exact opposite of what the public feedback asks you to do?

We believe the way this plan was drafted has serious problems.

The RMA revised the project list, including changes in the scope and costs of its projects, and submitted it as late as December 3, just 4 days before scheduled adoption today, December 7. For instance, the RMA lists the cost for the northbound ramps to the 281/1604 interchange as $59 million, yet it's bloated the cost for the southbound ramps to $140 million (we found out during the MPO meeting that $20 million of that is going to the RMA to "manage the project"). We believe the higher cost is to eat-up the stimulus money on fixing anything but 281 north.

Originally the RMA promised to fix 281 north non-toll "if a pot of money dropped out of the sky from somewhere." In came the stimulus money...but documents submitted to a legislative committee showed it submitted the 281 project as a toll road, though it would have been paid for with stimulus money. Then, the RMA dropped 281 altogether and promised to build the WHOLE 281/1604 interchange non-toll with stimulus money, then they cut the project in half and never revised the cost downward. The RMA wants to toll the northbound ramps to connect to a future toll road on 281, so since it's tied to the 281 toll project, the feds told them they couldn't build the northbound ramps until the new environmental study for 281 is complete. So now we're paying for the cost of a WHOLE interchange and only getting half of it simply because the tolling authority, the RMA, wants to toll those northbound ramps!

The latest road project list removes some of the toll language (I believe from the unfunded list), yet the projects are still anticipated for tolling and this smacks of chicanery meant to hide information and deceive the public as to what the MPO is really putting in its plans. In fact, the initial presentation of the MTP draft to this policy board was Sept 28 and the MPO staff completely re-wrote parts of it and distributed a totally different draft just 3 days later at its October 1 Open House, including a totally new set of financial assumptions and the inclusion of CDAs. Again, this wreaks of trying to hide the truth. Also, parts of the draft given to the public on October 1 weren't even filled in and had key financial figures filled in with merely "XXX."

Having the project list and parts of the MTP revised multiple times since the ONE public hearing held October 1 (which was to fulfill the requirement in the MPO bylaws Policy 5 for public involvement to have at least one public hearing for any major updates to the MTP. There's also a requirement that the MPO follow its two-step plan for MTP/TIP updates and allow a 30 day public comment period), there should be a new public hearing held in order to brief the public on the new proposed changes to the MTP (like the project list, number of toll projects, CDAs, and a review of projects costs, etc.) and a subsequent 30 day review for public comment (basically start the 30 day review over again since the MTP draft has changed multiple times without notifying the public and starting the 30 day process over again). Neither the MPO's two-step process nor the public hearing requirements were properly fulfilled in how this plan was put together, especially considering the cost and scope of several projects were changed at the last minute.

We'd like a parliamentary ruling on whether or not it's permissible to take a vote on this plan today.

Stop San Antonio freeways from falling under foreign control


URGENT ACTION NEEDED IN SAN ANTONIO!

Eye-popping 37 toll projects put into local MPO plan; 18 will put TX roads under foreign control!

Vote to adopt it is Monday, December 7.

EMAIL the MPO Board here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Urge them to...
1) REMOVE toll roads and CDAs (contracts that hand our TX roads to foreign toll operators in 50 yr sweetheart deals!) from its plans.
2) Use traditional gas tax funding NOT privatizing and tolling Texas roads as its source of funding for these projects.
3) NOT VOTE for ANY plan with toll projects and CDAs in it.

Sampling of the toll projects on the docket:
-Hwy 90 (from 410 to 211)
- I-10 (from 410 to Kendall County line)
- Loop 1604 (just about the entire loop, not just the north half)
- 281 (from 1604 to Comal County line)
- I-37 (from 410 south to Atascosa County line)
- Bandera Rd (from 410 to 1604 still appears despite amendment to remove it)
- interchange at I-10 & 1604
- interchange at 281 & 1604 (northbound ramps)
- interchange at 1604 & 151
- interchange at 1604 & 90
- interchange at 1604 & 1-35
- interchange at I-35 & 410
- Kelly Pkwy/Spur 371 (US 90 to SH 16)
- ALL of I-35 (from Atascosa to Comal County line)

For more info on these horrific sweetheart deals and runaway taxation at a cost of 75 cents PER MILE, go here.

Perry bought and paid for by special interests


Link to article here. Check out this ad that sums it all up in one snappy visual.

Perry pulling in big bucks from Austin political interests
By Wayne Slater
Dallas Morning News
November 30, 2009
While Rick Perry is bashing rival Kay Bailey Hutchison for palling around with special interests in Washington, he's doing just fine collecting big bucks from special interests back here at home. it'll be a couple of months before Perry and Hutchison file their next campaign reports covering the second half of 2009. But here's a sneak preview, based on some early filings by political action committees that suggest Perry has been replenishing his campaign account with the help of various interests epresenting everything from real estate and toll roads to liquor and horse racing. Most are groups that have business before the state - and some have endorsed the incumbent Perry for reelection.


For example, Perry got $50,000 in September from the Texas Realtors political action committee. He got $35,000 from the state homebuilders PAC and $25,000 from the politically well-connected Hillco lobby shop, whose big giver is Houston homebuilder Bob Perry.

Other big-dollar checks Rick Perry has received since July: $25,000 from the Texas Apartment Association, $10,000 from the nursing home industry, $25,000 from Houston horse and dog racing executive Charles Hurwitz's PAC, $25,000 from the optometrists and $25,000 from the BG Distribution wine and beer wholesalers. Although highway administrators have declared Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor project dead, the governor continues to collect from toll-road interests -- $25,000 from the political action committee for Houston construction executive James Dannenbaum and $22,000 from toll consulting giant HNTB Holdings.

As for Hutchison, only a handful of political action committee contributions since July have shown up so far in filings with the Texas Ethics Commission. They include $50,000 from the AT&T PAC, $20,000 from the state architects committee and $30,000 from Valero Energy.

The candidates will file their full reports in January covering all contributions -- both from individuals and special-interest PACs raised from July through December 31.

_____________________________________________________________

Add to that a healthy dose of further abuse of taxpayer money and campaign money....

Gov. Rick Perry's trip to Vegas includes bachelor party for his son
Thursday, November 26, 2009
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – They say that what happens in Las Vegas stays there, but for Rick Perry, not all of it has.

The governor's Oct. 24 political trip to Las Vegas to meet with Brian Sandoval, a Republican candidate for Nevada governor, included a bachelor party for Perry's son, Griffin, spokesman Mark Miner conceded Thursday.

He initially declined to call it a bachelor's party, saying he would describe it more as a dinner. He confirmed, though, that it was a celebration of Griffin Perry's upcoming nuptials joined by a number of his male friends.

Miner said he didn't know how many people attended the dinner and couldn't provide details about any other festivity, saying he wasn't there.

The governor used a combination of money from his political donors and the Republican Governors Association to pay for his Vegas trip. It's illegal to use campaign funds for personal travel, but Perry has a history of combining business with pleasure trips so that political entities will pick up the tab.

He did it in February 2004 when he and his wife were joined by a handful of campaign supporters and anti-tax advocates on a trip to the Bahamas to discuss public school finance. That summer, he also went on a trade mission to Italy joined by his wife and daughter.

This year, he and his wife went to Israel to talk trade.

Taxpayers do not pay for such travel by the governor or his family, but his security detail is funded by the state. Department of Public Safety officials would not say Wednesday how much that cost.

The Las Vegas meeting with Sandoval might not have been that pressing, as it turned out. The former U.S. district judge and Nevada attorney general came to Austin a little more than three weeks later to attend a Republican Governors Association meeting hosted by Perry.

Perry has been a leader of the RGA, which raises millions of dollars to boost the campaigns of Republican governor candidates.

On the Saturday of the Vegas trip, Perry stayed at the ritzy Palazzo casino and resort where the cheapest rooms go for $239.

He flew to New York the next day to tour Wall Street with Texas business leaders.


_______________________________________________________

Add to that, another hit to taxpayers through extravagant travel. Read more here.

It adds up to a corrupt politician bought and paid for by special interests and motivated by self-interest, which explains his intractable policy of selling off Texas highways to the highest bidder to benefit his Wall Street cronies.

More calls for gas tax increase

Link to article below here.

First, we want an end to gas tax diversions.

Second, we want a full audit and house cleaning at TxDOT (that has engaged in several illegal activities including waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer money as well as being tone-deaf to the citizen opposition to toll roads). We'd ideally like to see elected leadership that's accountable to the PEOPLE to head TxDOT, not the current gubernatorial political appointees.

Third, an end to or severe curbing of all planned toll projects so the taxpayers aren't hit with a DOUBLE WHAMMY paying tolls and higher gas tax. Part of this caveat includes none of the gas tax increase goes to building toll roads or financing debt for toll roads (a massive double tax).

Fourth, get a valid figure for our actual road needs they claim the current gas tax can't cover so if any tax is raised, it's based on verified data not TxDOT's current wish list.

Fifth, nix the sale of Texas roads to foreign entities in public private partnerships (PPPs known as CDAs in Texas) that mean 75 cents PER MILE (not per gallon) in NEW taxes on driving, a non-compete agreements that GUARANTEE congestion on the free lanes, and a host of other sweetheart provisions HORRIBLE for the taxpayers.

Lastly, we're for a statewide gas tax increase (not the "local option" patchwork quilt method) with possibly indexing it to inflation for a set number of years (no more than 5 years) so it has a cap/limit and not built-in, infinite tax increases. The intent of a cap is so that it would either come before the voters for re-authorization of the indexing or by a vote of the Legislature and not allow endless, runaway taxation without valid analysis/data to support the need for it.

When you compare a 10 cent gas tax increase (if your vehicle got 20 MPG and you drove 20,000 miles a year on average, it would cost you $100 more per year) with using just ONE toll road where we're seeing toll rates of 25 cents to $1.50 PER MILE (not per gallon) that would cost on average $2,000-$3,000 a year, it's a no brainer that gas tax is the most fiscally conservative way to fund roads.

Our web site has a link to a study done by Texas A&M that shows a modest increase in gas tax would prevent the need for ANY toll roads in Texas.

Texas may need to increase gasoline taxes
Star-Telegram
Friday, Nov. 27, 2009
The drumbeat for a gasoline tax increase during the 2011 legislative session is hard to hear unless you pay close attention, but it’s slowly building and will be louder in the coming year.

The idea is to push the state motor fuels tax up by 10 cents per gallon. The current level of 20 cents per gallon has not been changed since 1991. Texans also pay 18.4 cents per gallon in federal fuel tax, a rate set in 1993.

There’s also talk of indexing the state tax to inflation, meaning that it would go up each year in tandem with a selected measure of the overall cost of living. State estimates show that inflation has eroded about a third of the buying power of the motor fuels tax over the years, a slide that indexing is aimed to halt.
The current state tax is projected to bring in $6.3 billion during the next two years. Under the Texas Constitution, one-fourth of that is reserved for education.

The Legislature diverts some motor fuels tax revenue and other State Highway Fund revenue (motor lubricants tax, vehicle title and registration fees) to state agencies for purposes other than building, designing or maintaining roads. In the current two-year budget, diversions from the fund amount to almost $1.6 billion.

Dallas-Fort Worth leaders have pushed hard during the past three legislative sessions for more money to be devoted to transportation. The result: abject failure.

There is always opposition in Austin to any kind of tax increase. One of the strongest opponents — notably on the fuel tax — is Gov. Rick Perry. His big issue: People out in West Texas have the roads they need. Why should they pay more to relieve traffic congestion elsewhere?

Perry’s expected opponent in next year’s Republican primary, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, has not offered a transportation plan.

Still, there’s general agreement that traffic congestion in many parts of Texas is bad and getting worse. The chairmen of the Legislature’s key transportation committees, Sen. John Carona of Dallas and Rep. Joe Pickett of El Paso, have said they will hold joint hearings on the issue in Austin next summer.

There’s no use going back to the Legislature in 2011 with the same old approaches. Transportation advocates need more allies, and that means addressing some of the concerns that have blocked previous efforts.

Here are some issues that one group of those opponents, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, wants to see on the table:

End diversions from the Highway Fund. "Put every state gas-tax dollar into road construction and maintenance," says TFR.

Devote money first "to the most congested areas, providing relief that is real, measurable and substantive." Specifically to be excluded, TFR says, are "boondoggles like 'light rail.’ "

Require transparency for all local, regional and state transportation agencies that spend tax dollars. That means posting all revenues and expenditures online for all to see.

Require accountability for those same agencies, allowing state officials to audit their books. Forbid tax expenditures on lobbying.

Those aren’t easy steps. Most of the gas-tax diversions, $1.2 billion, go to support the Department of Public Safety. The need for DPS won’t go away; money for it must come from somewhere.

By 2012, the state Transportation Department is expected to have no money — other than what it can borrow — to build new roads. It will struggle to find enough revenue to maintain existing roads.

Increasing the gasoline tax may be the way to go, but to avoid another failure, advocates must learn from their opponents.

TxDOT can issue no more debt, talk of raising gas tax

In a stunning admission that the borrow and spend policies of Rick Perry have put Texas taxpayers in a deep debt hole, Senate Transportation Committee Chairman John Carona announced TxDOT can issue no more debt. They've maxed out the road building "credit card" so to speak. Perry has caused us to go from ZERO debt for roads to $12 billion in just over 5 years. Even worse, it appears this push for a gas tax increase is driven more by the interest in having more cash to pay down debt service as well as more cash to leverage yet MORE toll road debt.
In TxDOT's latest budget, debt obligations entered into for toll roads far outpace estimated toll revenue. In this economy, it's likely toll revenues aren't meeting projections either. We're in a world of hurt fiscally in Texas, yet the Governor touts Texas' financial "health" as a basis for his re-election. There's a crowded field of gubernatorial candidates that need to aggressively expose this financial house of cards that Rick Pery built for generations of Texans to pay-off to Perry's cronies in the road lobby.

Link to article here.

Texas lawmakers consider higher fuel taxes

Associated Press

Nov. 11, 2009, 11:10AM

EL PASO — Some legislators concerned about how to pay for new highways in Texas suggested looking at increasing the 20 cents a gallon state fuel tax.

Members of the Texas Senate Transportation Committee, who convened in El Paso, said money is lacking to build new roads.

The chairman, Sen. John Carona of Dallas, said Tuesday that Texas is growing but having no money to build more roads and “no more debt that we can issue.”

Carona said the state fuel tax has been the same since 1991.

Texas charges 20 cents for each gallon of gasoline pumped. Motorists also pay about 18 cents a gallon in federal taxes.

Rep. Joe Pickett of El Paso says it's too early to offer precise figures on how much the state fuel tax might need to be raised.

_________________________________________________________

Carona, Pickett to hold joint committee meetings

That's what Joe Pickett, House Transportation Committee chairman, told me this afternoon.

Pickett said that he and Sen. John Carona, who chairs the Senate's transportation panel, have agreed to bring their committees together next year to lay the groundwork for reaching transportation funding solutions in the 2011 legislative session.

The two tentatively agreed to hold the meeting(s) in Austin next summer, he said.

This is a good sign, if progress is to be made. These two weren't exactly buddies during this year's lawmaking session, but it's clear to both that the state is falling father and farther behind in the race to keep up with roadway demands.

Pickett also said that he agrees with the essence of a new proposal that has been taking shape among transportation advocates from major metro areas. It calls for a statewide gas tax PLUS the option for counties to call elections to raise more locally. Local funds could help metro areas build out their rail transit systems.

Carona was probably the Legislature's strongest advocate for local option in this year's session, but as the session began, he abandoned his earlier call for boosting the statewide gas tax -- I believe for strategic reasons. Recently, Carona renewed his call for a statewide gas tax hike in an email to Texas Monthly's Paul Burka.

Perhaps the ultimate cover is coming from Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston, who was quoted this way in a Sept. 17 story in the Houston Chronicle (I can't find a link):

Patrick said he and other state senators who represent sections of Harris County will host a conference of local transportation officials to form a delegation that will push for transportation improvements in the Houston region. A top priority will be the U.S. 290 project.
"Transportation is not a partisan issue," Patrick said. "No one likes sitting in traffic."

One decision facing lawmakers is the need to generate additional revenue for state transportation projects, he said.

One legislative measure Patrick said he supports is a slight increase to the state's gas tax, and then an annual increase of one penny. The local-option tax proposed in the 2009 legislative session is not a good option, he said. That tax would be enacted in specific cities and counties only if voters approved the measure in an election, and proceeds from the additional tax generated through fuel sold in the boundaries of the specified area would go toward funding local transportation projects.

"I do not want to charge people more to buy gas in Harris County than a bordering county," Patrick said. "I don't want the county to pay the penalty. I want the whole state involved in the process."

Patrick said in addition to pushing for new transportation-funding options, the Harris County delegation must send a message to TxDOT that the reconstruction of U.S. 290 must be placed at the top of that state agency's list of priorities. He said Harris County is continually "beaten to the punch by the Dallas delegation because we are not as well-organized."

TxDOT defies legislature and continues push for privatized toll roads

Link to Dallas Morning News article here.

Dallas area may be first to see state's new plan to fund toll roads
Monday, November 23, 2009
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – Lawmakers might have left the Capitol earlier this year without getting much done when it comes to transportation. But they were clear on one point: They wanted the Texas Department of Transportation out of the business of building privately financed toll roads.

The Texas Legislature beat back attempts to extend the authority for so-called comprehensive development agreements – 50-year contracts with private companies that agree to build roads in return for toll revenue – and the department's ability to enter into the contracts expired Aug. 31.

But less than six months later, state highway bosses may have found a loophole. And the Dallas area, already home to more toll roads than anywhere in Texas, probably is the place where they will try it first.

Last week in Austin, Texas Transportation Commission members told staff to submit plans by January for how to fast-track a roughly $4 billion expansion of Interstate 35E between Dallas and Denton. Officials say the project is a prime candidate for a new kind of financing that they concede looks a lot like the private toll deals ruled out by the Legislature.

"We've got to use all of these innovative ways of building highways or we won't be building," said commission member Ted Houghton of El Paso in an interview Friday. "It's a fact of life. If you want us to build roads, then we are going to move forward using these kinds of tools."
The tool in question is called pass-through toll financing, and is different, though not very, from the private toll deals lawmakers have put on ice.

Here's how it works: A private company, usually backed by a group of banks and other investors, agrees to use its own money to build a state road, usually with the help of at least some tax dollars. In return for the new road, Texas promises to make payments to the firm based on the level of traffic it attracts. The more vehicles that "pass through," the bigger the payment the private company will receive.

Officials say such deals involving big toll roads could last 30 years or more. So far, though, pass-through financing has only been a way for Texas to pay for a handful of smaller free roads. The per-vehicle payments simply pay back the investment by the private company, or in some cases a local government, and are not passed on to drivers in the form of tolls.

But that's set to change, as highway officials eye using pass-through financing to deliver big toll projects in North Texas and elsewhere. Doing so will require some changes in the department's rules, but is entirely within the department's authority, said John Barton, assistant executive director of the Department of Transportation.

First up? Most likely the expansion of I-35E into a mixed road with both tolled lanes and free lanes, much like the LBJ Freeway will be once the Spanish firm Cintra rebuilds it over the next five or six years.

Option to delay
The department had planned to rebuild I-35E as a privately financed toll road using a comprehensive development agreement until the Legislature failed to extend the law that made that possible. Now it sees its choices as either delaying the work for a decade or more, or using the pass-through financing to get construction started in as soon as two to three years.

Though the deals are structured differently – in a pass-through deal, private firms take on less risk, and state payments are subject to a cap set by contract – they will come across as very similar to drivers, and to many others who opposed the deals known as comprehensive development agreements, or CDAs.

"These deals look very much like a CDA, and I want to make sure you understand that," executive director Amadeo Saenz of the Transportation Department told a Senate hearing in El Paso this month. "We're getting a lot of push from Denton and Dallas County [to complete more projects there]. I want to be forthright and maybe say, 'Be careful what you are asking for.' If you look at a private pass-through model project, it is very similar to a CDA. You are using a private firm to bring equity to the project."

Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, took that in stride, conceding that the agency had been woefully underfunded by the Legislature in recent years, and had to explore all of its options. But he lashed out at Houghton when he said the department also would be willing to shop a major Tarrant County toll project to private investors, if only the North Texas Tollway Authority first would relinquish its rights to the road.

"The community is not at all excited about you coming in and building toll roads," Carona said. "NTTA builds our toll roads. ... We don't want you running toll operations in North Texas. The Legislature has been very clear."

Houghton said Friday, "That's fine. That's a choice they can make." The trouble, he said, is that NTTA doesn't have the money to build the $1.8 billion toll project, known as the Southwest Parkway/Chisholm Trail project.

NTTA has confirmed it could need $1 billion in tax dollars or other help to keep its promise to build that road.

If that's the case, Houghton said, why not let the state take it on, and see what kind of deal it could strike with a private firm that would compete for the opportunity?

Competition
"Competition does amazing things," Houghton said. "It really causes the people across the table to sharpen their pencils."

Instead, Carona wants TxDOT to guarantee NTTA's loans to help it lower its costs, something the department has already offered to do on another area toll road, State Highway 161.

"I get the impression that you don't want to work with NTTA," Carona told Houghton in El Paso.

Houghton replied that his agency wants NTTA to flourish, but that guaranteeing both loans could cost the state as much as $40 million a year for many years to come.

On Friday, he said the department will not backstop the loans on both projects.

"NTTA has some decisions to make," he said. If it wants the credit enhancement on Southwest Parkway, then it can't have it on State Highway 161, he said. In the end, if NTTA can't afford to do Southwest Parkway, then it should let it go, he said.

Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows of Fort Worth, a powerful advocate for the Southwest Parkway project, said Friday that negotiations over how to structure the credit enhancement have resumed in earnest, and could be headed for a breakthrough.

If the negotiations fall through and NTTA can't build the Southwest Parkway, then TxDOT will consider using pass-through financing to find a private partner who can, but only with NTTA's permission, he said. "We'll have to put every option on the table. This isn't easy. It's a billion-dollar hole they are trying to fill."

No matter what happens with the long-running talks with NTTA, Saenz said his agency is determined to seek new solutions for Interstate 35E. And he is meeting with lawmakers to give advance warning that the department is proceeding with a new way of building privately financed toll roads

"I brought this up in El Paso and said it last month in Fort Worth. I don't want to get beat up on this, but I am getting a lot of pressure ... to move this project forward," Saenz said. "I am a problem solver, and we do have a way to get these projects done."

ROAD FINANCING
Under a comprehensive development agreement:

•A private firm enters into an agreement with the state to use its money, possibly with some public involvement, to build a road.
•In exchange, the firm gains the right to collect tolls on that road for as long as 50 years.

•Deals can involve large upfront payments to the state for the right to collect tolls.

•The company shoulders the risk of profit or loss based on the accuracy of traffic projections, construction-cost estimates and other factors.

Under a pass-through financing deal:

•A private firm enters into an agreement with the state to use its money, possibly with some public involvement, to build a road.
•Deals typically are for shorter periods of time than CDAs – 20 to 30 years as opposed to 50.

•The state agrees to pay the private firm for each vehicle that uses the road, within a maximum and minimum range.

•The state receives toll revenues, which are used to make pass-through payments.

•The state retains most of the risk.

•The deal can be used for free or toll roads.

AT A GLANCE: PRIVATE TOLL ROADS
Some private toll roads in Texas:

LBJ FREEWAY: It's a free road now, but Spanish road firm Cintra will begin rebuilding it as a mix of free lanes and tolled lanes beginning mid-2011 or sooner. The $2.1 billion project will take five years, but once completed, drivers will have a choice: Sit in traffic on the free lanes or pay tolls that could reach $1 a mile to take the tolled lanes.

NORTH TARRANT EXPRESS: Another hybrid project, the state of Texas committed hundreds of millions of dollars toward this $2 billion effort. But the work will be done by a team led by Cintra, which will cover the rest of the costs, and collect tolls for 50 years. Construction begins next year and the highway will open by 2015.

INTERSTATE 35E: Not yet a toll project, but with the Transportation Department strapped, the only way this highway will be widened anytime soon will be if toll lanes are added. State officials say the only way it will be able to afford to build it anytime soon will be to partner with a private firm. Once funding is resolved, construction could begin within two to three years.

STATE HIGHWAY 130: In Austin, Cintra paid $25 million upfront as part of a deal struck in 2007 that gives it the right to build and operate a 40-mile stretch of the highway from Austin to Interstate 10 near San Antonio. The state gets a cut of the tolls and avoids costs estimated at well over $1.5 billion. Construction is under way and the road could open as soon as 2012.

One toll project defeated, but misplaced priorities prevent non-toll fix to most congested roadways


It's a HUGE VICTORY for taxpayers that one Bexar County toll project, Wurzbach Parkway's completion, has been nixed and reverted back to a non-toll project. However, putting Wurzbach Pkwy's completion above the fix to the unbearable congestion nightmare on US 281 and the west and east sides of Loop 1604 is inexplicable. On October 26, the local MPO had the chance to fix the west side of 1604 non-toll using Prop 12 bonds and to revert 281 back to a non-toll project using existing monies. The MPO voted it down 13-5, Councilman Ray Lopez and Commissioner Chico Rodriguez who represent that area of 1604 and Senator Jeff Wentworth and Commissioner Kevin Wolff who represent the 281 corridor were among the board members to vote down the non-toll amendments.

Weeks later, TxDOT and the RMA railroaded the Wurzbach Pkwy project through the Transportation Commission and removed Wurzbach Pkwy from the toll plans without even coming to the MPO for approval and without a word of public testimony asking for it. Contrast that to the 281 and 1604 amendments before the MPO on October 26 that would have made them non-toll projects and reduced the cost using the same arguments TxDOT used to get Wurzbach approved at reduced cost, that the MPO rejected despite more than 500 attendees and FIVE AND HALF HOURS of public testimony demanding the non-toll fix to these roadways. Something is seriously wrong with this picture!

The article below references a letter sent to Chairman Joe Pickett by MPO Chair Commissioner Tommy Adkisson but grossly misrepresents the intent of the letter. Read the letter. for yourself. What continues to fuel inaccurate assessments of all these letters flying around of late is that no one seems to be reading them. Adkisson was objecting to TxDOT's claim that it had come to the MPOs to get an approved list of projects for Prop 12 funding when it had not.

TxDOT acted alone, so did the RMA by removing Wurzbach from its toll plans and passing a resolution to fix it non-toll with Prop 12 bonds. Adkisson was sticking-up for the MPO's proper role in transportation decision-making, and from what I can tell, that's been the reason for most of his letters. So that was the rub, yet the article makes it appear Adkisson was blocking money coming to our region when nothing could be further from the truth. Had TxDOT come to the MPO as they are supposed to do and as they told the legislature and Commission they had, there wouldn't be any question about the MPO's priorities because the board would have adopted an official list.

At the end of the day, it's TxDOT who acted unilaterally to use-up the Prop 12 bonds on everything BUT a non-toll fix to our most congested roadways, 281 and 1604. TxDOT needs unbearable congestion in order to entice people to pay a toll to get out of it.  TxDOT just gave us another lesson in railroading 101.

Web Posted: 11/19/2009 5:02 CST

Wurzbach Parkway funds OK'd

By Josh Baugh - Express-News

The Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday approved about $2 billion in highway projects across the state, including $130 million to complete the final three segments of Wurzbach Parkway on the city's North Side.

Envisioned as a major thoroughfare connecting Interstate 35 to the Medical Center, the parkway has languished for years because of a lack of funding. But the state allocation will allow the Texas Department of Transportation to complete the final 4.8 miles of roadway.

Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff said the area was lucky to receive the money during an era of declining funding for road projects.

“This is a huge, huge win for us,” Wolff said. “It's about time that we finish a project that's 20 years old.”

Statewide, more than 850 projects worth $8.9 billion were submitted, according to a TxDOT press release. The commission approved 74 projects, including six on Interstate 35 in Central Texas worth about $1 billion.

Not everyone agrees with the transportation commission's priorities.

Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, who also is chairman of the local Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the commission's funding allocations were “incomprehensible.”

“I still think U.S. 281 North is easily the No. 1 project in Bexar County that should get our focus,” he said. “But I'm happy to have any money come to Bexar County.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Express-News, Wolff mislead public about non-toll plan for 281

Talk about misleading...the claim that there is no valid non-toll plan for US 281 is flatly UNTRUE. Go here to see the TxDOT documents for a $100 million gas tax funded plan distributed in public hearings in 2001 that were also adopted into the MPO's plans for 5 years before being turned into a $1.3 billion toll road in 2004. The "let" date on this non-toll plan was 2004. How is a 5 year old plan "outdated" by TxDOT's standards? Wurzbach Pkwy, just approved by the Transportation Commission, is a 20 year old plan. The interchange at 1604 & I-10 used a 15 year old plan. Nearly all of TxDOT's planning is long-term, and its plans are meant to meet the needs of future projected traffic forecasts years into the future.

The cost escalation for the fix to 281 going from $100 million to a $1.3 billion toll road has NEVER been justified by TxDOT or the tolling authority (RMA) nor scrutinized by Commissioner Kevin Wolff, the MPO, or any elected officials except Commissioner Tommy Adkisson and Rep. David Leibowitz. Inexplicably, Wolff now advocates unprecedented scrutiny be paid to the far more affordable non-toll option, and he wants more taxpayer money spent on yet another non-toll study.

This unneeded wasteful spending of $200,000-$500,000 of taxpayer money on something TxDOT already has on the books but refuses to sponsor or advance due to its pro-toll agenda is a gross abuse of taxpayers and congestion weary commuters on 281. Fiscal conservatism and responsible government is absent from such "studies"...

Web Posted: 11/19/2009 12:00 CST

Non-toll option needs valid study

Express-News Editorial Board -

Anyone who has to endure traffic in the U.S. 281-Loop 1604 corridor on a regular basis wants the congestion problem solved sooner rather than later. And given the option, they'd prefer that the solution increase mobility with free lanes and interchanges rather than tolled ones.

The problem is that no up-to-date non-tolled option exists. As County Commissioner and Metropolitan Planning Organization Chairman Tommy Adkisson discovered in September, there is no plan or study available that can serve as the basis for non-tolled improvements to U.S. 281.

That didn't stop him from pushing the non-existent non-tolled plan at last month's heated MPO meeting. Fortunately, a majority of MPO board members voted down a proposal that would have put hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal transportation funding at risk and delayed progress on U.S. 281 by years.

Read the rest of the editorial here.

Perry pledging to “raise some dollars for roads

As the Texas Governor's race heats up, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who's challenging Rick Perry, released a telling video today that shows the complete waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars by Perry's highway department. Hutchison makes the argument that why would Texans want to give such a rogue agency MORE of their hard-earned money unless there's accountability with the money we already give them? We say: here, here! Indeed, Perry's push to sell-off Texas public roads to foreign toll operators in 50 year sweetheart deals is the MOST EXPENSIVE way to fund roads.



From Hutchison's press release today:

“When Rick Perry says he’s going ‘to raise some dollars’ for roads, Texans can trust that it’s a commitment he’ll keep to build more toll roads, raise taxes and look at higher gas taxes. Instead of making it more costly for Texas drivers to go to and from work, Rick Perry should end the rampant mismanagement at TxDOT that is wasting billions on everything but roads. As governor, Kay Bailey Hutchison will end the cronyism, reform TxDOT and return to our tradition of free, quality highways and roads.” – Joe Pounder, Texans for Kay Spokesman

Austin, TX – Yesterday, in Dallas, Rick Perry answered a question about transportation priorities by saying we must “come to a stronger realization that we’re going to have to expand our ability to raise some dollars to build roads.” Does that mean more toll roads? Higher taxes? Higher gas taxes? Check out the facts below and our new web video here

Yesterday, In Dallas, Rick Perry Promised “To Expand Our Ability To Raise Some Dollars To Build The Roads”:

Rick Perry: “So Hopefully When We Come Back In 2011, Both The Citizens And Their Elected Officials Will Come To A Stronger Realization That We’re Going To Have To Expand Our Ability To Raise Some Dollars.” PERRY: “One of the problems is that we do not have the dollars that we need to build all the transportation infrastructure needs that we have. So hopefully when we come back in 2011, both the citizens and their elected officials will come to a stronger realization that we’re going to have to expand our ability to raise some dollars to build the roads so that you don’t have the strangulation in places along the 1-35 corridor.” (Rick Perry, Remarks At Conrad High School, Dallas, TX, 11/16/09)

Rick Perry Has Aggressively Championed Toll Roads:

As Governor, Perry Has “Turned Texas Transportation On Its Head, Moving The State From Financing Public Roads Solely With Taxes To A System That Would Be Heavily Dependent On Tolls And Private Road Operators.” “What isn't in dispute is that the Republican governor and his appointees over the past six years have turned Texas transportation on its head, moving the state from financing public roads solely with taxes to a system that would be heavily dependent on tolls and private road operators.” (Ben Wear, “Governor's Vision For Roads Could Take A Toll,” Austin American-Statesman, 8/20/06)



Rick Perry Has Diverted Billions In Critical Transportation Dollars To Fund Other Programs:

In August 2009, Houston Chronicle Reported $1.2 Billion Diverted From Gas Tax-Funded Highway Fund To Pay For Things Other Than Road Building In 2010-2011 Budget. “Apart from the general revenue funds, lawmakers did make headway on reducing diversions from a separate account [in the FY2010-11 budget], the gasoline-tax-fueled highway fund – although $1.2 billion still will be diverted from road building.” (Peggy Fikac, “Dedicated funds diverted to state budget,” Houston Chronicle, 8/2/09)

In 2008-2009 Budget Cycle, Nearly $1.6 Billion In Gas Tax Revenue For TxDOT Was Diverted To Other Sources. “But in the letter last week, the three leaders supported ending or curtailing significantly the use of gas tax money for state needs other than building transportation projects. About $1.6 billion in the current two-year state budget went to such ‘diversions,’ the bulk of it to the Texas Department of Public Safety” (Ben Wear, “TxDOT to borrow against gas tax,” Austin American-Statesman, 8/30/08)

Perry Was “Open To Allowing Indexing” Of The Gas Tax:

In 2007, Perry’s Spokeswoman Said Perry Was Open To Indexing The Gas Tax. “Gov. Rick Perry, a staunch advocate for privatization and tolling, has long opposed proposals to increase the gas tax but would be open to allowing indexing, spokeswoman Allison Castle said.” (Patrick Driscoll, “Senator Urging Funding For Roads,” Houston Chronicle, 10/11/07)

Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Record Of Putting Texas First

As Governor, Hutchison Will Take Action To Improve Our Transportation System, Reorganize TxDOT And Put An End To Cronyism And Mismanagement. HUTCHISON: “As governor, you can trust that I will improve our transportation system. To start, I will reorganize the Texas Department of Transportation. We will end the cronyism and mismanagement. Today, TXDOT is the most arrogant state agency in Texas history and it must be reformed. It’s time we return to our tradition of free, quality highways and roads.” (Kay Bailey Hutchison, Remarks To The Texas Federation Of Republican Women, Galveston, TX, 11/14/09)

· TTC “ROAD TO NOWHERE”: “In January, TxDOT Said It Had Spent $131 Million On Planning And Environmental Work For The Trans-Texas Corridor.” (Ben Wear, “I-35 Toll Twin Officially Dies,” Austin American-Statesman, 10/7/09)

· TXDOT POOR PLANNING: Because Of Their Poor Planning, TxDOT Was Forced To Return $742 Million In Federal Highway Funds. “Faced with deteriorating pavement quality scores and growing congestion, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) was required to return more than $742 million to the federal government Wednesday as part of an $8.708 billion rescission of highway project programming authority.” (TxDOT, “TxDOT To Lose $742 Million In Federal Funding,” Press Release, 10/1/09)

· TXDOT ACCOUNTING ERROR: In February 2008, Department Of Transportation Officials Admitted That TxDOT Had Made $1.1 Billion Accounting Error. (Ben Wear, “State road officials say they erred by $1 billion,” Austin American-Statesman, 2/6/08)

Hutchison Has Increased The Amount Of Transportation Dollars Coming Back To Texas:

Hutchison Has Increased Amount Of Funding Returning To Texas From Highway Trust Fund From 76 Cents Per Dollar In 1993, To 92 Cents Per Dollar Today. “When I came to the Senate in 1993, our state received only 76 cents in transportation funding for every one dollar we paid in gas taxes. But in the years since, I have worked with my colleagues to increase our average annual funding by almost $800 million — or 92 cents on the dollar — making Texas second only to California in federal transportation support.” (Kay Bailey Hutchison, Op-Ed, “Highway Trust Fund cut threatens Texas highways,” San Antonio Express News, 6/25/08)

· As Of 2007, Texas Received 92 Cents Back For Every Dollar Paid In Federal Gas Tax. (Michelle Mittlestadt, “Democrats rip state agency for hiring D.C. lobbyists,” The Houston Chronicle, 2/2/07)

· As Of 1997, Texas Only Received 76 Cents Back For Every Dollar Paid In Federal Gas Tax. (Catalina Camia, “Lawmakers race to pass highway construction bill,” The Dallas Morning News, 3/10/98)

Hutchison Placed A Moratorium On Tolling Existing Federal Highways:

In 2007, Hutchison Passed A Moratorium On Tolling Federal Roads In Texas. “U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the senior Senator from Texas, announced that late Tuesday the Senate passed a one year ban on the tolling of federal highways in Texas.” (Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, “Sen. Hutchison Passes One Year Texas Tolling Moratorium Of Federal Highways,” Press Release, 12/19/07)

Houston to convert paid-for HOV lanes to toll lanes

Link to article here. In such an obvious tax grab, Houstonites can only get access to congestion relief if they have 3 or more people in their cars or if a single occupancy driver PAYS A TOLL for 100% paid for lanes. It's all about big government show-me-the-money revenue-generating schemes.

TransCore has $38.7m construction, $8.46m/yr ops for 5 HOV-HOTs Houston TX
Posted on Thu, 2009-10-22 23:26
Toll Road News

TransCore has announced $81m worth of contracts with Houston METRO for conversion of five HOV corridors to HOT Lanes. Houston Metro board approved the contracts back on March 19 but we missed it. By any standard it's a major toll systems contract, involving 52 toll points and some 47 access/egress points on five highways that involve occupancy verification for HOVs and dynamic pricing for tollpayers.

TransCore won the contracts in competition with Raytheon and ETC.

One contract is for $38.7m to design, provide and install a High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lane system in the middle of five radial freeways in the Houston metro area. The other contract is for five years of operations and maintenance at $8.46m/year for a total of $42.3m.


There's a separate contract for civil construction works for $8.94m with ISI Contracting, making upfront capital costs $48m. 80% of this is coming from federal grants.

The HOT Lanes will be:

- I-45S Gulf Freeway 12 toll points

- US59S Southwest Freeway, 12 toll points

- I-45N, North Freeway, 11 toll points

- US290, Northwest Freeway, 10 toll points

- US59N, Eastex Freeway, 7 toll points

All are single lanes, reversible, closed at night and weekends, designed principally to provide extended peakhours congestion avoidance.see hours of operation table below

Dynamic pricing

US290 already has some toll equipment since its central lanes have been operated as HOT lanes at a flat toll rate of $2/trip since 2000. Toll equipment there will be upgraded. All five corridors will get dynamic pricing and be operated with tolls adjusted to manage traffic density and maintain minimum 50mph (80km/hr) speeds and 1500 veh/hr/lane throughput.

The Houston area already has 2x2 toll lanes on I-10 Katy Freeway to the west of downtown, operated by Harris County Toll Road Authority.

Brandnames

The five Metro HOT Lanes will get readers to read the eGo sticker tags (ISO 18000 6B) deployed under the brandnames EZ Tag and TxTag.

EZ Tag is the transponder issued by HCTRA, while TxTag transponders are issued in Central Texas (Austin area) and northeast Texas (Tyler).

Metro will issue its own transponders, brandname to be determined.

Video tolling will also be supported, vehicles without a transponder or a good transponder account will get their bills in the mail. That will be marketed under the sign "PAY BY MAIL".

see signage nearby

Most of the operations costs contracted for will be the back office including accounts, billing, and customer service including a HOT Lanes webpage and other outreach. Also included is monitoring lane operations by video and other sensors, incident management and opening, closing and  reversing of lanes.

Toll revenues will belong to Metro.

ARGOs

Access points will have a total of 107 gates, 67 of them electrically powered and controllable nearby or remotely at the TranStar traffic management center, or by automatic operation according to a timing plan. All these gates will have 24 hour video coverage at the traffic management center.

Some are already in use as part of HOV operations, others must be supplied.

The gates have their own acronym ARGO - automatic reversible gate operation. A car that gets entangled in a closing gate will be an "ARGO Incident."

Old eyeballed occupancy checking and cruiser pullovers

Each access point will divide into an HOV lane and a toll lane.

The HOV lane will have a monitoring booth for random visual checks of vehicle to see they have the required number of occupants for the free ride.

Enforcement staff at the booths will work by radio with police in cruisers downstream. There will be pullover zones for police to stop offenders and issue citations.

The contractor will supply a communications system between the eyeballers and the cops.

However the contract does provide for one location on US290 where the holy grail of automatic occupancy checking equipment can be pursued via tesing. TransCore is to nominate an experimental system for this location.

The design-build contract requires TransCore tobegin HOT Lanes operations by the end of 2010 and have the whole five highway system operating by th fall of 2011.

Conversion to HOT lanes is expected to increase utilization of the lanes by at least 50%, earn some net revenues and improve travel times and air quality.

Metro is a regional public transit authority that runs buses throughout the Houston region and more recently trolleys. The HOT lanes have their origins in exclusive bus lanes built in the 1980s. They were progressively converted into simple HOV or carpool lanes, then in a couple they charged a toll for HOV2 with HOV3+ free.


COMMENT: this is a long overdue project that will make use of an underused system of HOV lanes.

Pity they can't combine it with a widening to a minimum 2-lanes per direction.

We're skeptical about single toll lanes because their speeds and throughput are set by the slowest motorist.

Slugs forming queues behind them hardly allow the kind of service that a toll should buy.

HCTRA set the standard for toll lanes in the region with the 2+2 lanes on the I-10.

TOLLROADSnews 2009-10-22

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