PHOTO BY shannonpatrick17 from Swanton, Nebraska, U.S.A. Pipes for the Keystone Pipeline

In Texas, property rights are sacred. It's encoded into our ethos—in this state, your ranch is your kingdom. If you catch strangers inside your fenceline, by golly, you can shoot them. No one can infringe on your land.

Unless it happens to be a pipeline company. Then pipeline operators can do pretty much what they want. Even, it turns out, if that pipeline company is Canadian.

TransCanada is the Canadian multinational behind the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a plan to ship bitumen—a low grade, asphalt-like petroleum product— from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf Coast, where it would be refined into crude oil. In trying to secure the pipeline's route through Texas, TransCanada had to gain consent from thousands of landowners along the way. Where landowners have refused to sign, TransCanada has gone to court and seized control of their land through eminent domain.

It appears that pipeline companies in Texas can seize whatever land they want and that no one is regulating the process.

Thanks to a loophole in the eminent domain laws, certain types of pipeline companies can take over private land. In theory, this process is supposed to be supervised, but it's not clear that anyone in the state of Texas actually audits a pipeline's eminent domain claim. There is no place where the buck stops—no one whose job it is to make sure a pipeline company's request for land seizure is reasonable.

Link to Transportation Nation article here.

Tolls are rising precipitously in the northeast, and the backlash is swift and sure, as it ought to be....

Tappan Zee Tolls: The Backlash to the Backlash

Tappan Zee Bridge (photo by waywuwei via flickr)

Following last week’s news that tolls on the new Tappan Zee Bridge could nearly triple by the time it opens in five years, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office has mounted a PR campaign trumpeting support for the $5 billion project.

The governor’s team has been sending out near-daily emails listing numerous backers of a new bridge–including an endorsement from former New York Governor George Pataki, who had defeated Andrew Cuomo’s father, Mario, in 1994. Notably absent from the list of supporters: Rockland County executive Scott Vanderhoef and Westchester County executive Rob Astorino, two elected officials who have yet to sign off on the project in order for it to receive federal funding.

The Cuomo plan would set the new bridge’s cash toll at $14, a hefty jump from the current $5 charge. The governor says the increase is needed to pay for the $5.2 billion span, whose “basic source of financing will be the tolls.”

Monday, Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF) scored a small victory for open government, since the San Antonio-Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) agenda included more specificity about its proposed action for toll projects on US 281 and Loop 1604 as required by the Texas Open Meetings Act. TURF sent a demand letter threatening to sue the MPO on July 20, for its violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act at the June 25 policy board meeting due an extremely vague agenda that merely read: “Action on additional federal and state funding opportunities.”

But the victory didn’t last long.

When the board took action to amend its short-range (TIP) and long-range plans (MTP) at its August 27 meeting, it not only failed to abide by its own bylaws in so doing, it once again failed to properly notice the public about its proposal to toll US 281 and Loop 1604 in Bexar County. The MPO's bylaws require a two-step process, which includes a 30-day public comment period, and an even greater level of disclosure on its agenda before any action can take place.

The Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) lives on. Texas officials and transportation industry leaders gathered in Irving for the annual Texas Transportation Summit to examine how to move people and goods faster. One of the hot topics was to fast track the Loop 9 project just south of Dallas -- a project that’s part of the original Trans Texas Corridor due to its strategic connection to the International Inland Port of Dallas. The TTC is the Texas leg of the NAFTA superhighways designed to achieve the economic integration of the United States with Canada and Mexico through trade.

Link to article here.

This is yet another shining example of how certain industries, that have the potential to do serious damage to the nation's water supply, have lax enforcement by regulatory agencies and get taxpayer bailouts for their spills/mistakes.

With TransCanada pushing its Keystone tarsands pipeline through Texas over several aquifers, it ought to give Texans pause. Then there's the property rights abuse when these companies have to do is check a box claiming they're a 'public use' pipeline (without ever having to prove it) on a one-page application and walk away with eminent domain authority with no oversight.

Public private partnerships also represent public money for private profits. Taxpayers often  secure the private entity's debt, heavily subsidize their profits, and essentially grant a private corporation the power to tax and restrict competition to guarantee their profits.

Private profit, public risk
By J.  Mijin Cha
Huffington Post
August 2, 2012

Within two years, the Enbridge tar sands pipeline has managed to release more than 850,000 gallons of oil in two different spills. The first spill in Southwestern Michigan released over 800,000 gallons of oil and cost more than $800 million to clean up. The second spill released 50,000 gallons in Adams County, Wisc., smaller than the first spill but still requiring two homes to evacuate. These spills cause great economic and environmental harm to affected communities, but barely create an inconvenience for Enbridge, which posted quarterly earnings over $300 million in the last quarter.

The Wisconsin pipeline spill is just the latest in a series of environmentally damaging accidents that end up causing significant loss to local communities but barely make any impact on company earnings. BP's profits rose 17 percent to $7.1 billion in the first quarter of 2011, less than six months after the Deep Horizon disaster, even though clean-up efforts continue two years later. Between 1999 and 2010, there were 804 spills from Enbridge pipelines, releasing five million gallons of oil, yet the company continually posts big earnings.

At the same time, Enbridge engages in a pattern of cutting corners on safety measures. A formal investigation into the 2010 leak found that the company was negligent both in proper equipment upkeep and in dealing with the leak once it occurred. The report states, "[T]he rupture and prolonged release were made possible by pervasive organizational failures at Enbridge Incorporated," which included allowing well-documented crack defects to exist in corroded areas until the pipeline failed and inadequate training of personnel, which allowed the rupture to remain undetected for 17 hours.

This pattern shows the fundamental problem with the argument that corporations can police themselves: It is still cheaper to pay for the occasional fine and clean up than pay for the continued maintenance and upkeep of equipment that would prevent spills. Corporations protect their profits while the public shoulders the risk and cost of their actions. Enbridge was fined $3.7 million by pipeline regulators -- the largest fine they had ever given, yet it was equal only to roughly 1 percent of the company's last quarterly earnings. At that level, fines are just a nuisance and not a deterrent for future bad behavior. Without having to internalize the costs imposed on the public by their behavior, corporations have no financial incentive to prevent environmental harms.

But it's not just corporations that are at fault. The Enbridge investigation also found that weak regulations and poor oversight contributed to the problem. Not only were the pipeline regulations inadequate, they were poorly enforced, which directly contributed to the accident. Yet, even though regulations provide strong health and safety protections, they are continually under attack. The Obama administration launched "Advise the Advisor," which asks people to submit what regulations they think should be eliminated. How many environmental and health regulations do you think will be submitted? On top of this, the House GOP introduced HR 4078, which would suspend all regulations until the unemployment rate fell below 6 percent.

The fact is the benefit of regulations far outweigh the costs. A recent OMB study found that between 2001 and 2011, the benefits of federal regulation ranged from $171 to $700 billion, while the costs range between $43.3 billion and $67.3 billion. Moreover, regulations have a benefit that is difficult to quantify. We know how to price the cost of cleaning up oil, but we are still far from being able to value the benefit of water sheds and natural resources that are not tainted with oil.

Strong regulations and proper enforcement can prevent these disasters from happening. The cost of regulatory compliance should be born by the companies engaging in these activities and not by the public. It should be public profit, private risk, not the other way around.

Houston's I-69 traffic expected to soar to 350,000 by 2035

By Cindy Horswell

Updated 10:35 a.m., Monday, August 6, 2012

If you think the Southwest Freeway is a nightmare at rush hour now, check back in 20 years.

As the transformation of U.S. 59 in Houston to Interstate 69 continues, projections show an increase in traffic of up to 150 percent by 2035. Experts say traffic will increase regardless of whether the so-called NAFTA Superhighway, envisioned two decades ago as a trade route from Mexico through Houston to Canada, is fully built.

Gov. Rick Perry initially proposed a more elaborate Trans-Texas Corridor that would be an entirely new thoroughfare that included room for rail and utilities. But that plan was defeated by farm and ranch groups championing property rights and others opposed to a toll road component.

Now the pared-down plan calls for using existing roads, some of which must be upgraded to divided four-lane highways with access roads. Also, dangerous grade-level streets crossing these highways must be replaced with overpasses.

Grass-roots committees appointed by the Texas Transportation Commission to study how to make the 1,000-mile trek through Texas unanimously endorsed dual use of U.S. 59 for the new interstate as it winds from Texarkana through Houston to Laredo. The committees also included two other highways that branch off U.S. 59 - U.S. 77 for motorists traveling to Brownsville and U.S. 281 for those going to McAllen.

300% freight increase

Houston's segment, which already experiences traffic pileups and is not scheduled for any expansion under the plan, would be hit with the largest increase in traffic volume on Texas' interstate route.

"But that traffic is coming to us no matter what we do. We are going to see a huge increase in freight — more than 300 percent in a little over a decade," said a committee member, Ashby Johnson, the Houston-Galveston Area Council's deputy transportation director. "Some of it is coming from NAFTA and some of it's from the widening of the Panama Canal."

Besides increased trade, the Houston region must grapple with rapid population growth. The area is expected to reach 8.8 million by 2035 - a 51 percent increase.

That same year, traffic is expected to leap 60 percent to 350,000 vehicles daily, including 24,000 trucks, in the stretch of 59 that wraps around downtown Houston.

Outlying stretches of this highway are projected to experience a 150 percent increase, to 225,000 vehicles, near Porter in Montgomery County and 240,000 near Sugar Land in Fort Bend County, according to the report by the grass-roots committee.

No expansion planned

Nonetheless, the report does not call for expansion of that stretch of roadway. It does recommend exploring traffic relief options such as a bypass around the city for those traveling long distances.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, a grass-roots committee member, said developing a plan to deal with the traffic is critical.

"Everyone agreed a bypass needs to be done," he said. "It's something that's been talked about for years, but it all costs money."

He would like to see a bypass on the county's east side that connects to the new interstate south of Wharton and reconnects north of Cleveland. Others, like Sierra Club transportation expert Dick Kallerman, would like to see tracks added to rail lines along this route so it could handle more freight.

"The Legislature has got to start adequately funding transportation. Within a couple of years, we'll only be able to maintain existing roads," Emmett said. "Then if goods can't be moved around adequately, that economic miracle we've seen in Texas will come to a grinding halt."

Perry's spokesman, Josh Havens, said the Legislature will review potential funding for the new interstate in January. He said it's too early to say what the governor will recommend.

The estimated cost of upgrades for the new interstate, excluding the 200 miles in Harris County, is $16.5 billion, the report said.

$626 million allocated

To date, the state has allocated $626 million for small projects along the route, including $40 million to widen the roadway and provide road access control in Liberty County and $13.6 million for a new overpass in Fort Bend County.

"We don't have the funds to do it all at once. The $16 billion price tag represents two years of our entire operating budget and would leave us with nothing else to do maintenance and potholes," said Doise Miers, the transportation department's community liaison. She noted almost two-thirds of the new interstate is in Texas.

Yet committee members believe the new interstate provides a critical link to national infrastructure for trade and transportation, especially since the Houston region contains the state's largest port and manufacturing center.

"I-69 is a big deal for our state," Haven said. "In order for Texas to remain the economic powerhouse it has been over the past decade, we must have an adequate transportation system."

YNN News - Austin

 

As the city continues to enjoy a boon in population, the infrastructure is straining to carry the load.

"This morning I left North Austin from my sister’s and had to come downtown and it has taken over an hour, an hour and a half, you have to plan so much better," driver Amy Smith said.

Some of the newest toll roads across the state offer an alternative. One of the newest toll roads is 183A, which is managed by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. Thursday, the highway’s speed limit increased to 75 miles an hour.

According to statistics from tollway managers, the toll booth on Park Street main plaza had over 18,500 vehicles pass through in 2007. Five years later, close to 40,000 vehicles used the highway, marking a 110 percent increase.

YNN's Traffic Anchor Joe Taylor says the toll roads could effectively pull traffic away from a congested downtown, but the challenge is getting people to use them.

"It comes down to one thing and that is money. It costs a lot of money in a lot of people's eyes to drive toll roads, but what's money without convince?" Taylor said.

YNN wanted to find out exactly how much time and money you save getting through Austin in the middle of rush hour.

Assignment Editor Develon Douglas took the traditional route down Interstate-35. Senior Producer Jean Schlitzkus took the 130 tollway. Both of them drove from Georgetown to Buda at 4 p.m., traveling the speed limit with a full tank of gas.

Jean covered 57 miles from Georgetown to Buda in 44 minutes. Develon traveled 42 miles in one hour and 42 minutes.

Between tolls and gas, Jean paid $12.44. Develon paid less than half that at $5.24.

A race that was far from close, and proves that congestion can be avoided, but like many things, it comes at a price.

"We have a lot of people that move through Austin, we have a lot of people that get off of work early some people that are just out and about for various reasons,” Taylor said. “That's why if you have the opportunity to use the road less traveled in this case that would be the toll roads would be to do it so you can avoid all the congestion and downtown."

Austin American Statesman
Published: 9:43 p.m. Saturday, July 28, 2012

In the three years since the Texas Legislature passed a bill giving the state's toll road agencies the authority to grant free rides to disabled veterans, the two agencies that manage pay-to-ride roads in Central Texas have yet to implement the toll discount and don't have any immediate plans to do so. Statewide, only toll authorities in the Houston area have adopted the 2009 law.

The inaction has angered veterans groups and legislators. "I was hoping that it would be a simple decision," said former state Rep. Abel Herrero of Corpus Christi, who co-wrote the 2009 bill. "I would have thought that this many years later that all those authorities would see it as an opportunity, a way to say thank you. I'm shocked it hasn't happened."

Some toll officials in the state worry the veteran toll discount would open a Pandora's box of toll discounts for other groups. Others say it could be too expensive, despite the experience of Harris County toll officials.

The area's largest toll road authority — the Texas Department of Transportation, which operates Texas 45 North and Southeast, Loop 1 and Texas 130 — says that granting free tolls for disabled veterans could negatively affect annual revenues by up to 10 percent, based on a 2009 analysis of disabled veteran and Purple Heart plates in Travis and Williamson counties.

That worst case finding was based on each driver with a disabled veteran, Purple Heart or Medal of Honor plate making a round trip five days a week. Department officials said they also took into account Austin's geographic location between military installations in San Antonio and Fort Hood.

That conclusion stands in sharp contrast to the experience of the Harris County Toll Road Authority, which reports that disabled veterans account for just 0.8 percent of toll transactions.

In Travis County, 3,637 drivers have disabled veteran or Purple Heart license plates, or 0.4 percent of the county's 973,609 registered vehicles. In Williamson County, 0.7 percent of drivers have the plates. In heavily veteran Bell County to the north, home to a large Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Temple, disabled veterans account for about 4 percent of drivers.

The timing of the 2009 law seemed propitious: With wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, record numbers of veterans were returning home with combat stress and other war injuries and seeking medical care. The bill's supporters argued that the discounts would have minimal effect on toll revenues while helping veterans defray the cost of driving to medical clinics and hospitals. And the law seemed in sync with the boasts of state leaders that Texas takes better care of its veterans than other states. During the same legislative session, Gov. Rick Perry signed a law exempting disabled veterans from property taxes.

But the measure appears to have crashed against the dollars-and-cents realities of toll road administration.

"The people who operate toll authorities are constantly getting requests to exempt this group and that, and they hate it," said Peter Samuel, a Maryland-based toll expert who publishes an industry newsletter, Toll Road News. "They see it as one more complication to their accounting and enforcement. They are worried if they give it to veterans that it will be used for other groups and soon you have a huge hodgepodge of different prices for different people."

Local toll officials also worry about the precedent of free tolls for certain groups.

"On the surface it seems fairly innocuous," said Mike Heiligstein, executive director of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, which operates 183-A. It is building a U.S. 290 tollway in Northeast Austin and next year will probably break ground on MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) toll lanes. "But I would be concerned about, Where do you draw the line? What we don't want is to start the process of exemptions and not know where it stops."

State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, who sponsored the original bill, said she does not believe the law would lead toll authorities down that slippery slope. Van de Putte, a San Antonio Democrat who leads the Senate's Veteran Affairs and Military Installations Committee, said the state has traditionally singled out disabled veterans for special privileges and accommodations such as free or reduced-fee hunting licenses and specialty license plates. "As nice as it would be to help teachers, there are not statues of slain teachers at the capital," she said.

Toll authorities also argue their legal agreements with bondholders to borrow money prohibit them from granting discounts. TxDOT told legislators that its covenant does "not provide the flexibility for a toll reduction or exemption program for disabled veterans."

The transportation agency's bondholder agreement prohibits reduced or free tolls except under certain narrow circumstances. Last year TxDOT significantly reduced truck fares in an attempt to lure more trucks away from Interstate 35. Its bondholder agreement allows discounts if they are expected to eventually result in an increase in revenues.

But experts also say toll agencies may renegotiate their agreements with bondholders, especially if they can demonstrate that the reductions won't affect loan payments. Samuel said the authorities typically oppose such discount programs. "Unless the members of the board of a toll authority are very convinced that this is an important thing to do, unless they are very keen to do it, they are likely to resist it," he said.

Veteran toll discounts are rare across the country. The New York State Thruway Authority grants veterans free tolls if they qualify for an adaptive vehicle through the Department of Veterans Affairs, usually given to veterans who have suffered amputations or hand and foot injuries.

In Florida, disabled veterans can receive exemptions if they have permanent upper body impairments that prevent them from reaching out of their car to drop cash into a toll basket. And in Orange County, Calif., drivers with disabled veteran license plates receive free passage except during rush hour, when their tolls are discounted.

Veteran advocates say the law that emerged out of the 2009 legislative session had two major limitations. It does not require toll agencies to adopt a disabled veteran program, it merely permits it.

The 2009 Legislature, operating at the height of the recession, also did not appropriate any funding to toll authorities to replace any revenue lost as a result of adopting the program.

Despite those limitations, Houston area officials embraced the law in 2009, after what one veteran advocate said was a single meeting with toll officials over brisket.

"We felt it was important to give this advantage to our veterans," said Eric Hanson, spokesman for the Harris County Toll Road Authority, which has operated toll roads for more than two decades and is overseen by county commissioners. The Central Texas authorities are led by boards of political appointees.

Over the past three years, the program has cost the authority about $6 million — less than 1 percent of the more than $1 billion in toll revenues it has collected over that period. Officials also say the disabled veteran number may be inflated because some vets who otherwise wouldn't use the road now do because of the free pass.

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority in 2010 said it would implement the program only when the Legislature appropriated money to make up for lost revenue. "It's not a veteran-specific issue," said agency spokesman Steve Pustelnyk, who added that such a program would come with significant administrative costs. "We felt if the Legislature wanted the program they should fund it."

Ray Wilkerson, who was appointed to lead the mobile authority's board by Gov. Rick Perry, said it wasn't an easy decision. "Our board struggled with this when it was first brought up," said Wilkerson, whose father served in World War II. "I've got the greatest respect in the world for veterans. ... We're between a rock and a hard place."

The Travis County Commissioners Court endorsed allowing local disabled veterans to drive toll-free in 2010, but with no direct toll road authority the resolution amounted only to a recommendation.

Disabled Austin veterans such as Sid Hull, 75, who served in Vietnam as part of a 20-year Army career, say they are left frustrated by a law they perceive as toothless and toll road agencies they see as resistant. Hull said he would take the toll road to his appointments at the VA hospital in Temple if local toll agencies would adopt the discounts.

"There are so many things here in Texas that they do for their vets," Hull said. "Yet this one little thing seems to be a thorn in the side of all of us."

SAN ANTONIO DRAMA:

-- FHWA come to San Antonio MPO meeting in June and flip on their recommendations

Property rights activists seek clarity on eminent domain use by private entities

By Terri Hall
July 24, 2012
Examiner.com

"Why is it my responsibility as a Texas landowner to make a foreign corporation prove it has legally obtained the power of eminent domain in Texas?" asked Julia Trigg Crawford, a farmer in East Texas locked in a legal fight with Canadian company TransCanada over the use of eminent domain to acquire land for its Keystone XL Pipeline. Crawford and other property rights advocates addressed the House Land and Resource Management Committee hearing yesterday at the Texas Capitol in Austin, asking lawmakers to exercise greater oversight over private companies’ use of eminent domain authority.

“Rather than mending fences and tending to crops, I’m here in Austin today fighting to protect my land,” Crawford pointed out.

This should not be.

RMA vows to press on with 1604 toll project

By Vianna Davila

Updated 10:52 p.m., Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority leadership stressed again and again Thursday its pledge to move forward with construction of a long-planned toll project on Loop 1604, despite a recent political shakeup that put Bexar County in charge of the agency's operations.

The declaration came at the mobility authority's first public board meeting since Commissioners Court voted to take over the RMA's staff operations last month, in what was called a cost-saving move. The move came weeks before the agency planned to start the search for a contractor to tackle the 1604 toll project, which could be under construction by December 2013 if things go according to plan.

Interim RMA Board Chairman Robert Thompson remains determined that they will.

MPO plan brings roads faster

Kevin Wolff, For the Express-News

Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Transportation Policy Board of the San Antonio Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO, had to make some important decisions about area road planning last month.

We decided our community can no longer wait for the Legislature to halt the diversion of transportation dollars for other uses and to index the gasoline tax. For this reason, among others, the decisions we made were to push forward with plans for the long-awaited expansions of U.S. 281 and Loop 1604.

The current plans were born in March, when the Texas Department of Transportation announced that it had $2 billion in additional federal and state funding to parcel out among the state's transportation districts. I scrambled to put together a nontolled financing plan that would dedicate our area's portion to U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 and match it with other local, state and federal dollars that we have secured or will secure in the near future.

Italy eyeing public asset sale to slash debt

Vittorio Grilli, who was appointed just last week, also lashed out at rating agencies, in comments to the Corriere della Sera published Sunday in the wake of the decision by Moody's to downgrade Italian debt.

"The government wants to secure, through a multi-year programme, the sale of public assets for between 15 and 20 billion euros ($18 billion to $25 billion) a year, or one percent of gross domestic product," he said.

He said such a programme could reduce Italy's debt, which is currently approaching two trillion euros or 123 percent of GDP, by 20 percent in five years.

"I would be happy to reduce it to 100%, it would be wonderful. Unfortunately... there are no longer as many saleable assets belonging to the state and public enterprises as there were 20 years ago."

Grilli also said that relations with credit rating agencies had "become difficult", in the wake of the decision by Moody's last week to downgrade Italian debt from A3 to Baa2 -- just two notches above junk-bond status.

"Before the subprime crisis, they gave the top triple A rating to entities (that posed) that real public danger, such as special purpose vehicles," he said, referring to complex financial instruments that packaged toxic debt.

"Since the bubble burst, the rating agencies -- private companies that have a potential conflict of interest with their clients with an exposure to an exclusively American culture -- are always late.

"They amplify the effects of events rather than anticipate them," he said.

Turning to financial markets he said they "do do not yet recognise the quality of our country's efforts to put the accounts in order. A balanced budget is at hand, structural reforms are being undertaken."

"No other country has done so much in so little time," he said.

He also said the government was reaping the rewards of its fight against tax evasion, that would bring an extra two billion euros into the treasury coffers.

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

The Texas Department of Transportation is considering development of an unusually wide median area on the Texas 130 toll road near Texas 71 east of Austin, potentially leasing the land to investors to build and operate a gas station, store or restaurant that drivers could use without leaving the tollway.

Although such highway plazas are common in other states and overseas, it would be a first for Texas.

Though the idea is still far from reality, it has drawn critics. Anti-toll-road activist Terri Hall said such an initiative undermines free enterprise and would use once-private land, possibly obtained through eminent domain laws, to enrich the state.

TxDOT in June published a "request for information," asking interested companies to respond by July 25 with the outlines of what they might install and how such a lease with the state could be structured. An agency spokesman on Friday emphasized the preliminary nature of the initiative. A second, formal bidding process would have to occur before TxDOT reaches a deal.

"This is exploratory," TxDOT spokesman Mark Cross told the American-Statesman. "What they're looking to do is to find a way to increase the revenue and enhance the customer service along the tollway."

Cross said the agency is not considering a similar arrangement at any other place along Texas 130 or the other three Central Texas tollways owned by the agency. TxDOT, in its agreement with a private consortium to extend Texas 130 another 41 miles to Seguin, retained exclusive rights for this sort of development. That section of road should open this fall, officials said Friday.

State law allows TxDOT to lease land on its tollways for only a handful of uses: gas stations, garages, stores, hotels, restaurants, railroad tracks, utilities and telecommunications facilities and equipment.

The wide median was a staging area and concrete plant for the tollway's construction before that section's 2007 opening. Cross said it was envisioned as a spot for a possible toll plaza since construction of the road. The area is 2,875 feet long and 450 feet wide, or about 30 acres, the TxDOT document indicates.

The TxDOT solicitation includes a schematic, labeled "for illustrative purposes only," of what might end up in the median, including car and truck parking areas and a 19,000-square-foot convenience store and restaurant.

The document also touts the growing traffic potential of Texas 130, which six years after opening still has light traffic on its four lanes. The document includes maps showing 2010 daily average traffic along various points of the road, including about 20,200 cars and trucks a day at the potential development site. By 2035, TxDOT expects that traffic there will have more than tripled to about 77,500 vehicles a day, according to the solicitation.

About 215,000 vehicles a day pass through Austin on Interstate 35, according to a 2010 count.

The document points out that there are no similar facilities within four miles.

The Texas 130 corridor, with some exceptions near Pflugerville and the coming Circuit of the Americas racetrack, has been slow to develop. But David Roche, the managing principal and a retail specialist with Endeavor Real Estate Group, said he could see small-scale commercial development being successful at the location.

"Yeah, I think it would, providing you have some signage saying it's coming," Roche said. "I don't see a hotel there though. And if they ground-lease, they could stagger the payments so they're much smaller now and increase as the volume of traffic increases."

Hall, the activist who is from Comal County, characterized the possible facility as an improper intrusion of government into private enterprise. Any developers who might open shop in the median, she said, would have a competitive advantage over restaurateurs or service station operators who might hope to operate similar facilities on private land alongside Texas 130.

"Who's going to have that be financially viable when TxDOT has a captive audience, a monopoly inside the tollway?" Hall said. "TxDOT condemned that land. It was supposed to be in the public use for a road. But now TxDOT is getting in the development business, and is picking winners and losers.

"It may be the norm other places, but we see it for what it is. It's a threat to property rights on its face."

Chris Newton, president of the Texas Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said his organization has generally opposed commercializing rest areas along highways. "We're obviously concerned whenever state government begins taking property used for a public purpose and considers how it could be used for a private purpose."

Cross, asked for a reaction to Hall's criticism, sent an email quoting a passage from the request for information that did not directly address the government-
private sector balance.

"The department is dedicated to providing a safe and efficient system of tolled highways," Cross wrote, "while ensuring the highest possible level of service and efficiency to its customers."