Author: Terri Hall

Trend of selling-off public roads to Wall Street goes south

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Link to article here.

Privately run infrastructure deals dry up

By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

October 27, 209

A rush by state and local governments to sell roads, bridges and airports to private operators in return for eye-popping upfront sums has all but collapsed in the recession.

That could leave taxpayers on the hook for more of the $200 billion a year needed to maintain the nation’s transportation system, according to federal estimates.

An era of privately operated infrastructure seemed near when Chicago leased its 7-mile Skyway for $1.8 billion in 2003 and Indiana leased a 157-mile toll road for $3.8 billion in 2006, deals that had other governments rushing to cash in, too.

States had proposed selling all kinds of things, from highways to lotteries, to raise $10 billion or more. In return, the private companies would operate the assets during long-term leases and bank the revenue.

The purchase of government assets has all but stopped as credit has dried up. Now, with tax collections falling, state and local governments are scrambling to finance projects.

The biggest casualty so far: a $2.5 billion agreement to sell Chicago’s Midway Airport fell apart in June when investors could not round up enough money.

“Investors are skeptical. These are difficult times,” says Peter Samuel, editor of Toll Road News, a trade publication. The buyers of the Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road “have lost their shirts,” he says.

Earlier this year, Macquarie Infrastructure Group said its toll road investments, which include the Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road, had lost one-third of their value. The investments are made based on long-term, historic trends, company spokesman Alex Doughty says. “In any business, there’s likely to be peaks and troughs,” he says.

The high-priced deals were great for government, though. Indiana got paid in cash and is using the $3.8 billion to fund 400 road projects.

“We had great timing,” Indiana budget director Ryan Kitchell says. “We may never see those types of prices again.” Recent dead ends:

•South Carolina. The 16-mile Southern Connector, outside Greenville, announced it will default Jan. 1 on the $312 million borrowed to build the four-lane road. Traffic has been about half what was predicted.

•Pennsylvania. A Citigroup-led investor group withdrew a $12.8 billion offer to buy the 537-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike in September. Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, had his proposal blocked in the Legislature.

•Florida. “Alligator Alley,” a 78-mile section of Interstate 75 that crosses the Everglades, received no bids when the state put it up for auction in May.

A few small deals are still alive. A Florida company has agreed to build and own a $100 million toll bridge in Chesapeake, Va., to replace a closed city-owned bridge. “Without private money, this bridge wouldn’t get built any time soon,” Chesapeake City Manager William Harrell says.

“These deals aren’t dead,” says John Schmidt, an adviser on infrastructure deals. “The economic logic makes too much sense.” The amount paid in cash may be lower, he says.

TxDOT uses up funds for Wurzbach instead of 281, 1604

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Even residents who want Wurzbach Pkwy finished admit this is a bad case of misplaced priorities. Even a casual observer can see the traffic is far more acute on 281, 1604 than Wurzbach. TxDOT is advancing Wurzbach for Prop 12 bonds BEFORE the MPO has even formulated a project priority list to submit for Prop 12 bonds. Once again, TxDOT races to use up ALL available funding (gas tax, Prop 14 bonds, Texas Mobility Funds, stimulus funds, Prop 12 bonds) to fix 281, 1604 so it can continue to claim there’s no money and toll our existing FREEways!

However, the MPO just voted down an amendment to fund the most congested segment of 1604 (from 151 to Bandera Rd) using Prop 12 bonds last Monday. So it’s clear our politicians have no interest in fixing these freeways and keeping them toll-free. Also of note is the fact that costs are at their lowest in years due to the downturn in the economy. TxDOT’ CLay Smith even said so: “In August, TxDOT officials estimated the project would cost $170 million. But Smith said costs have dropped recently and construction bids have come in lower. He also said he believes the project could be completed within the budget the transportation commission would approve.” Over half of 281 or the west side of 1604 could be fixed with $126 million!
Web Posted: 10/30/2009

Wurzbach Parkway’s finish may be near

By Josh Baugh
Express-News

By next summer, the Texas Department of Transportation could at last begin finishing Wurzbach Parkway, adding an east-west connector expected to relieve congestion on Loop 1604 and Loop 410.
The Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday reviewed a list of 78 projects — including the parkway and an expensive expansion of Interstate 35 in Hill, McLennan and Bell counties — that would be funded by proceeds from Proposition 12 bonds approved by voters in 2007. Commissioners are expected to vote on the package in November.

Read the rest of the story here.

TxDOT plans to use more than HALF Prop 12 bonds on I-35 in Central Texas

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Link to article here.

This is punishment for Texans daring to slay the Trans Texas Corridor, TTC-35 project. As retaliation, Rick Perry’s Transportation Commission is going to use more than half of the Prop 12 bonds to expand I-35 (the parts that aren’t even the most congested as they are in Austin and DFW) since he can’t get his Trans Texas Corridor built. The Legislature passed the Prop 12 bonds to help give urban areas relief without needing toll roads. Now, as usual, that’s not what TxDOT is doing….
State transportation officals recommend more than a billion dollars for widening Interstate 35 in Central Texas

By Michael W. Shapiro Tribune-Herald staff writer

Friday, October 30, 2009

Calling Interstate 35 the most important corridor in Texas, state transportation officials took an important step Thursday toward paying to widen several four-lane stretches of the highway in and around McLennan County.

At a meeting in Fort Worth, Texas Department of Transportation staffers recommended the Texas Transportation Commission put $2 billion toward road construction statewide. More than half of that total would go to widening portions of I-35 in McLennan, Bell and Hill counties from four to six lanes.

The recommendations aren’t final, and the five-member commission won’t vote on the projects until a Nov. 19 meeting in Austin. But Commissioner Bill Meadows made an oral demonstration of the importance of the highway.

“We all know it: I-35 arguably is the single most important travel corridor in the state of Texas,” Meadows told The Dallas Morning News.

Though plans for the Trans-Texas Corridor, a proposed network of toll roads running parallel to I-35, have floundered, Meadows said that “does not negate the fact that it is a critical problem we have to face every day.”

The portions of I-35 listed for widening in the recommendation and the estimated costs of the projects are:

* About 13 miles between North Loop 340 and West ($212 million).

* About nine miles between Farm-to-Market Road 2063 in Hewitt and Woodlawn Road near Bruceville-Eddy ($192 million).

* Another $679 million for four projects widening the interstate from West to Abbott; from Bruceville-Eddy to Troy; from Troy to north Temple; and through much of Salado.

The projects would be financed with Proposition 12 bonds. Proposition 12 was approved by voter referendum in 2007, allowing the state to borrow up to $5 billion for road projects. The money is to be paid back using general state revenue, not gas taxes.

For Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization director Chris Evilia, the development came as a relief after several rounds of belt-tightening forced local planners to cut back a series of construction projects.

“It’s excellent news, and we’re very pleased to hear it,” Evilia said.

He said he’s hopeful the Transportation Commission follows its staff’s advice and approves the widening projects, noting that “obviously the recommendation will carry some weight with the commission.”

Chris Lippincott, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation who was at the Fort Worth meeting, said the chances the commission will move forward on the I-35 widenings, while not certain, are “pretty good.”

“The commission understands the urgency of advancing these projects,” he said.

Gilbert only gubernatorial candidate with transportation plan

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Link to article here. Hank Gilbert is a Board member for Texas TURF. He’s fought alongside us to stop the Trans Texas Corridor and toll road proliferation for more than 4 years. He was instrumental in KILLING private toll road contracts (where they sell our TX roads to the highest bidder on Wall Street and hand them over to foreign companies) in the special session and protecting teacher and public employee retirement funds from being raided for these risky toll road deals that are failing all over the country.

Hank Gilbert has transportation specifics
8:15 PM Thu, Oct 29, 2009 |  | 

gilbert.jpg

Unlike other candidates for governor who are looking to knock off Rick Perry, Hank Gilbert has a detailed proposal for transportation. The East Texas rancher has been battling against the Trans-Texas Corridor concept for years, so it stands to reason that anti-tolling is at the heart of the plan the Tyler Democrat announced today.

The most remarkable item is on the bottom of page 10 of a 10-page pdf. It says:

Hank proposes a one time increase in the gas tax of 8 cents and implementing automatic increases in the gas tax annually from 2012 forward based on increases in the Highway Cost Index (HCI), with a four percent cap on any annual increase. Should the HCI increase by more than 4% in any year, the balance would carry forward to the next year and be added to any increase for that year.In years where there is a zero or negative increase in the HCI, revenue generated from carryovers would go toward reducing TxDOT’s existing debt. This is the only way we can build out the infrastructure Texas desperately needs and restore fiscal responsibility to transportation funding without incurring massive new debts that will burden this state for decades to come.

At least Gilbert has the guts to own up to the cost of building and maintaining a first-class transportation system. Tom Schieffer came out critical of an 8-cent increase today but neglected to make clear that he was responding to his Democratic rival. We have yet to see a fleshed-out Schieffer plan, however.

Gilbert’s hostility to toll roads makes sense only if a higher gas tax would raise enough money to build the projects we need. Without lots of new money, this metro area can’t keep up without tolls.

The giant LBJ rebuild and North Tarrant Express project, for example, could never go forward without outside money and tolls, under the current revenue picture.

If a governor could squeeze that kind of tax money out of the Legislature, he or she would be a miracle worker. And it might take a miracle for a person to get elected while calling for a tax increase. Lots of political leaders thinks it’s needed, but few of them will admit it publicly.

One thing I like is Gilbert’s call for state money to help build mass transit systems.

One thing I hate is Gilbert’s idea for an elected transportation commission. We don’t need more politics in transportation policy.

____________________________________________________________________

Will voters buy a tax increase for roads?
12:30 PM Fri, Oct 30, 2009 |
Rodger Jones/Editorial Writer    Bio |  E-mail  |  Suggest a blog topic
gilbert (Small).jpg

And maybe put a guy like Hank Gilbert in the governor’s office?

The rancher Democrat announced his transportation plan yesterday in Fort Worth, including an 8-cent gas-tax hike and permanent indexing of the tax to cost of construction.

It came on the same day as doomsday scenarios laid out elsewhere in Fort Worth, before the Texas Transportation Commission. Money for roads continues to slide by the billions as cars use less fuel.

Coincidentally, regional transportation guru Michael Morris suggested to commissioners that traffic and roads might get so bad that voters could end up supporting raising taxes for roads.

Enter Gilbert. Does he have a chance with voters with his tax plan, as Morris might suggest? One trade-off Gilbert offering is to make it very tough to get more toll roads built. He has strong backing of anti-tollers across the state.

Gilbert said his gas tax plan would cost the average commuter between $1.20 and $1.60 a fillup. Say that’s $10 a month for a lot of people. It could sound like a bargain for those who pay as much in tolls as they do to the electric company each month. A Frisco resident who commutes downtown on the tollway pays more than $8 a day if they have a TollTag.

Other things to like about Gilbert from the standpoint of local transportation officials: He is bullish on mass transit. (Aside: That could win him points with this newspaper’s editorial board, considering our years-long push for expanding regional rail transit.)

The Gilbert plan says:

Improving and further integrating additional transit models into Texas’ transportation infrastructure makes both financial and environmental sense. Hank proposes making more state funds available to cities to improve existing transit systems in the state’s major metropolitan areas.Hank also proposes funding more “ring line” transit routes and commuter/light rail systems to allow commuters to travel around a city’s center without going through it, and connecting these ring lines to existing transportation infrastructure to make public transportation more efficient and consumer-friendly. …

Hank proposes expanded high speed commuter rail lines. Hank proposes funding to allow cities with large suburban populations to create (or expand) commuter rail to help commuters get in and out of major metro areas faster and more efficiently.

Like it or not, Gilbert has the only transportation plan out there among challengers to Rick Perry from either party.

Wolff threatens to oust Adkisson as Chair of MPO

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In a not so veiled threat, the freshman commissioner on the Bexar County Commissioners Court, Kevin Wolff, whose father is pro-toll County Judge Nelson Wolff, is publicly attacking the senior Commissioner on the Court, Tommy Adkisson, for what Wolff calls “severely lacking” and “myopic” leadership of the MPO, and threatened to remove him as Chair if he doesn’t move on from the toll road issue.

“If he doesn’t start figuring out that this job is much larger than the narrow, myopic place he’s taken it to, I think you’ll find a board that says, ‘You know what, we’ve got to make a change,‘” Wolff said.

Apparently Wolff hasn’t read the MPO’s long-range plan that has no less than 22 toll projects. That sure seems to warrant some focus since the vast majority of those toll roads are in Wolff’s precinct and amount to a NEW TAX on his constituents without a vote of the people. Since the majority of the angry taxpayers who filled the Alzafar Shrine Temple at Monday’s MPO meeting to testify against toll roads are Wolff’s constituents, it also seems wise for Wolff to take heed. Those same attendees heaped praise on Adkisson and are now cursing Wolff, yet he boldly attacks Adkisson in this article.

To clarify, I told this reporter that TxDOT and the RMA are setting themselves up for a third round of litigation by refusing to put a non-toll option on the table, which is legally a different statement than what he placed in the article where he made it sound like it’s a “kill tolls or I’m suing” ultimatum.

Tolling IS THE ELEPHANT in the room and has been the MAJOR focus of the MPO since Rick Perry took office. To brush it aside and to brush aside the voices of hundreds of people opposed to tolling who took time out of their busy lives to attend and/or to testify at the MPO ought not be ignored and seems like denying the obvious. Adkisson’s point at the outset of Monday’s meeting is exactly right….we CAN’T move on as a community until we move past this constant impasse over tolling existing highways. As long as 22 projects are in the MPO’s plan, it WILL BE an issue.

By contrast, the other transportation issues at the MPO do NOT involve levying new taxes. The MPO’s own public involvement policy is that people should have a say over the transportation decisions that affect their lives. The people overwhelmingly opposed tolling these freeways. The MPO violated it’s own policy Monday night. Why doesn’t the Express-News print that in the paper?

Web Posted: 10/27/2009
Adkisson shifts focus after losing toll vote
By Josh Baugh
Express-News

Terri Hall knows no defeat.

Monday night’s toll road vote by the Metropolitan Planning Organization, she said, wasn’t a loss in her crusade against toll plans in Bexar County.That the proposal to strip toll plans from segments of U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 was shot down by a 13-5 vote wasn’t a surprise to Hall. The MPO board held a “roll call” vote, Hall said, and now there’s an official record of how each MPO member — 11 of whom are elected officials — stands on toll roads.

Alongside Hall, MPO Chairman Tommy Adkisson, a Bexar County commissioner, had pushed the plan to strip tolls. But shortly after its resounding defeat — and for perhaps the first time since rolling out the proposal several weeks ago — he didn’t appear to be on the same page as the activist.

It’s time to “turn the page and get on with other governance items,” Adkisson said.

He pointed to Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation as major obstacles to removing toll plans. “I think that unless we get a new governor, the toll road issue is on hold.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Throw the BUMS out! MPO votes to toll AGAIN…

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More details to come, but here’s the list of the MPO members who voted to toll your EXISTING FREEWAYS despite 800 people packing the room and one hundred testifying AGAINST tolls. In total there was 5 and a half hours of testimony against tolling our existing freeways, 13 MPO Board members still voted in favor. Only 7 people testified in favor of tolls, and they were the Greater Chamber of Commerce, the North Chamber of Commerce and those who work for the highway lobby. It was over 90% AGAINST tolls. This should sound the alarm quite clearly that our elected officials no longer represent us. It’s taxation without representation!

Let’s issue pink slips to the elected officials and FAST!

Senator Jeff Wentworth
Commissioner Kevin Wolff

Commissioner Chico Rodriguez

Councilman John Clamp

Councilman Ray Lopez

Councilman (of Selma) William Weeper

Plus City appointees:

Mary Briseno (Via)

Rick Pych (Via)

Majed Al-Ghafrey

Mike Frisbie

(2) TxDOT votes

Joe Aceves (county employee)
______________________________________________________________________________

GOOD GUYS WHO VOTED AGAINST:

State Representative David Leibowitz

Commissioner Tommy Adkisson

Mayor of Leon Valley Chris Riley

Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos

Councilman Reed Williams

MPO MUST vote to keep our freeways toll-free!

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Link to article here.

Board must vote down NEW taxes to drive on 281, 1604
By Terri Hall
Published in Express-News & the Examiner
Oct 25, 2009

What began as a taxpayer revolt like the Boston Tea Party over four years ago known as the San Antonio Toll Party (later going statewide as Texas TURF), will culminate in a decisive meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (or MPO, local board set-up by federal law that allocates highway dollars to local projects) tomorrow night at the Alzafar Shrine Auditorium at 6:00 PM. After petition drives, packing public hearings, grassroots organizing, working for change at the MPO and in the Texas Legislature, and even a recall campaign, angry taxpayers who oppose imposing tolls on our existing freeways (already built and paid for with gas taxes) will have a shot at reversing course tomorrow night.

In July of 2004, the MPO voted to convert 281 (north of 1604) and the entire northern loop of 1604 (from 151 on the west side to I-10 on the east side) into toll roads. Since then, parts of I-35, I-10, Bandera Rd., and Wurzbach Pkwy have been added to the toll plans. The voters have NEVER had a say about whether or not they approve of this new tax for driving on northside freeways, the lifeblood of daily living. We still aren’t getting a vote, but many of the elected officials on the MPO represent residents who live and work near 281 and 1604, and they need to HEAR FROM YOU and SEE YOU at tomorrow’s meeting at Alzafar Shrine.

The Express-News calls a non-toll plan for 281 and segments of 1604 the “Adkisson-Hall” plan, but the non-toll plan to fix 281 is TxDOT’s plan promised in public hearings in 2001 ( see www.281overpassesnow.com for proof). TxDOT recently disavowed its own plan that had $100 million in gas taxes to fix the freeway (the gas taxes inexplicably disappeared last year), and said it was “old” based on an engineering study from 1984 that it now “can’t find.”Converting freeways to tollways — a DOUBLE TAX

Schematics for the lanes planned by the tolling authority (the RMA) for 281 and parts of 1604 clearly demonstrate that access roads, not conventional highway lanes, will be the only non-toll lanes if these freeways are converted to tollways. Tolled lanes are clearly overlaid onto the existing free lanes on 281, which under the RMA’s plans will no longer be free. This violates Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s federal law that prohibits imposing tolls on existing highway lanes, a practice that wrought the term DOUBLE TAXATION. Commuters should NEVER have to pay NEW taxes to drive on a freeway their tax dollars have already built and paid for (at a cost of $2,000-$3,000 a year on average)!

Today’s Express-News story explains how the MPO specifically asked for a side-by-side comparison of TxDOT’s original non-toll plan for US 281 and the RMA’s current toll plan, and after three meetings, none was provided. However, TxDOT’s Clay Smith made the case that a 2005 proposal by Zachry, for what was to be the first phase of the toll road on 281, was a valid plan and testified that the Zachry bid of $78 million for the first 3 miles (which went to contract) is the REAL cost of improving 281.

Rick Perry’s TxDOT in total rebellion, refuses to do non-toll fix on 281

After a complete failure by the MPO Committee tasked with providing the board vital detailed information about toll and non-toll options, Good Guy Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, Chair of the MPO, asked TxDOT to sponsor a non-toll option for 281 using the 2005 Zachry proposal (changing the highway lanes to free lanes versus all-tolled) for the Board’s consideration at tomorrow’s big meeting. TxDOT REFUSED to do that, too! Read it here.

If this doesn’t demonstrate the complete obstinance of this out of control agency, I don’t know what does. All the while they and the RMA, who are conducting what’s required to be a new unbiased environmental study of both tolled and non-tolled options, claim to be studying a non-toll option for both 281 and 1604. Yeah right!

It’s high time the MPO shows these un-elected agencies who’s boss, and insist a non-toll plan be implemented NOW! Exacerbating the long-standing problems with the San Antonio-Bexar County MPO, nearly half, 9 of its 19 members, are also UN-ELECTED, unlike MPOs around the state that average 2 unelected members. These rogue agencies have the pecking order reversed…it’s the MPO who directs TxDOT and the RMA what to do, not the other way around.

Claims of insufficient info is a ruse

Members of the MPO Board cannot claim they do not have data for a non-toll option on 281 upon which to base a decision tomorrow when TxDOT just testified October 9 that the 2005 Zachry plan and cost are valid. This plan was previously vetted by the MPO and actually went to contract. The total cost to fix 281 from 1604 to the Bexar County line (7.8 miles total) using Zachry’s hard numbers to get a cost per mile ($26 million per mile) comes to $202.8 million, nowhere near the tolling authority’s $475 million toll road cost. Just for the interest on PART of the toll road debt comes to a whopping $864 million over 40 years. That makes the minimum toll project cost $1.3 billion. RMA documents also affirm the toll tax will NEVER come off the road when the debt is repaid, so it’s a permanent new tax on driving!

On Monday, October 19, 2009, the RMA testified that they plan to enter into risky multi-leveraged debt financing of the Texas Mobility Fund money in order to finance the toll road. This is the sort of multi-leveraging (like taking out second, third and fourth mortgages on our highway system) that created the current global financial meltdown, and which the Texas Legislature rightly rejected during the special session in order to prevent TxDOT from doing so. Will the MPO allow such reckless financial schemes by the Bexar County RMA that racks-up unsustainable debt?

The 281 market value study shows that the toll plan requires 200,000 cars per day in the out years just to stay financially solvent (versus today’s 86,000 cars per day, on average). This level of traffic guarantees ongoing legal battles over environmental impacts to our aquifer.

Some also claim all options must remain on the table, however, the ONLY option currently on the table in the MPO plans are toll roads. So a vote for the status quo is a vote for toll roads. If you care to see who’s using YOUR taxpayer money to lobby for a new tax on driving on the northside, read about the partially tax-funded San Antonio Mobility Coalition, the chief lobbyists for toll roads and its list of road contractors and financiers who have a vested interest in raiding your wallet on risky toll road schemes here.

Skiddish MPO board members seem to be holding 281 and 1604 to a different standard and different level of scrutiny than when these plans were adopted as toll plans. For instance, when the project cost for 281 went from a $100 million freeway plan in 2004 dollars to a $475 million toll road by 2006, no one questioned it. Now when the taxpayers seek accountability for the “lost” $100 million in gas taxes that were promised to fix 281 and insist the non-toll fix be restored, board members shudder at a cost reduction and want more “data”?

RMA’s risky toll road financing scheme a house of cards

None of the RMA’s toll road plans on 281 and 1604 are toll viable, meaning they already know not enough people can afford to take the toll roads to even cover the cost of construction, so it needs to SUBSIDIZE them with MASSIVE amounts of public money. The RMA couldn’t even secure all the subsidies it needed for 281 last year before the environmental clearance got yanked, and at one point was considering an additional loan, this one for $95 million that would have required $700 million in interest!

It also sought $135 million in stimulus funds to subsidize the 281 toll road before the public outcry ensued over such TRIPLE TAXATION: gas taxes already paid for existing lanes, they planned to use more tax money (stimulus money) to turn existing lanes into toll lanes, and then charge a third tax, toll tax to drive on it. Bottom line: the RMA can’t show how it will finance its toll road other than to use the word “leveraging” a bunch of times and basically say “trust us.”

Can they name investors who will finance a start-up toll entity with a BBB rating (one step above junk bond status) using extremely risky multi-leveraging scenarios (using borrowed money to leverage another loan to get more borrowed money to use as down payments to “secure” yet more borrowed money and so on multiple times over) with this tight credit market where ratings agencies have gone sour on toll roads that are going into default all over the country? This is the rock solid “data” the RMA has provided to finance it’s $1.3 billion toll road that some MPO members argue they’re more comfortable keeping in place than a $202 million non-toll fix? What’s wrong with this picture? Politics and BIG MONEY!

Insist our elected officials stop playing politics with people’s lives, end the controversy and legal wrangling, and get our community moving forward again by voting against these ill-conceived plans to turn our freeways into tollways. Those being held hostage in congestion EVERY DAY because of TxDOT’s mismanagement of funds and two environmental studies (one inadequate, the other fraudulent) that caused the clearance to be pulled on 281 twice (then later affecting 1604), deserve better.

Contact MPO Board members here: www.FixGridlock.com.

Be at Alzafar Shrine Auditorium Monday, October 26, at 6 PM and make your voices heard or be tolled!

Burka: Raising the gas tax?

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Link to article here.

Senate Transportation Chair John Carona: Modestly raising the gas tax “is the most fiscally conservative way to build our Texas roads.”

Raise the gasoline tax?
Texas Monthly
Wednesday, October 21, 2009

posted by paulburka at 4:13 PM

In the comments to my earlier post, “Dewhurst hits bottom,” referring to the light gov’s op-ed piece in today’s American Statesman, I wrote about what I would have done to close the budget deficit. One of my recommendations would be to raise the gasoline tax, index it to inflation, and issue bonds on the revenue.

This suggestion generated a response from the TxDOT camp. It is worth a discussion:

Paul, you really believe raising the gas tax and indexing to inflation will provide any additional funding?

It would need to be raised to about $1.50 per gallon immediately to fund current transportation projects and then raised very frequently. With the current TX population boom, projects will increase, and so will the need for funds. Eventually (soon), folks would stop paying $4 or $5 per gallon (carpool, public transit, etc.), and then the tax would be raised even more to account for lost revenue.

This is not to mention the additional dollars per gallon the gas tax would need to be raised to deal with more fuel-efficient vehicles that offset revenue (and they’re getting more MPG all the time).

Relying on the gas tax is not an option. It would very quickly be raised so high that goods will stop moving across Texas, businesses will relocate to cheaper gas tax states, and our economy would quickly collapse.

I completely disagree that the gasoline tax has lost its viability as a source of revenue for building highways.

If we raised the tax by 50% (ten cents per gallon), and dedicated all the new revenue to roads (no diversions), it would raise about an extra $1.4 billion. That may not sound like a lot, but it would more than double the available baseline funding — and if you index to inflation and add bonding ability, the ability to build roads grows accordingly.

I find it incredible that TxDOT and its supporters are still clinging to Ric Williamson’s projection that the gasoline tax would have to be raised to $1.50 per gallon. Nonsense. TxDOT couldn’t spend that kind of money if you drove up a Brinks truck and handed it to them. The $2.4B could clear up a lot of urban congestion: Loop 1604 in San Antonio, which needs a third lane going both directions; Highway 290 east out of Austin (probably tolled); U.S. 67 out of the Metroplex toward Cleburne; and these would be free roads. And that’s this year. Next year there another $2.4B would be on the way.

It is true that fuel efficient cars have reduced the revenue raising capacity of the gasoline tax. But that doesn’t mean that the tax is no longer viable, or that it has to be raised to $1.50 to get anything done, or that if you increase the gas tax our economy would collapse. Nobody believes that stuff any more. TxDOT has cried wolf too often.

I think that the prospects are decent for the Legislature to raise the gasoline tax next session. Dan Patrick, for example, has said that he would support a statewide increase (although he opposes a local-option gas tax). This is something that can get done, with a little leadership. Unfortunately, that’s something we haven’t had much of.

________________________________________________________

October 21st, 2009 at 5:23 pm

State Senator John Carona says:

Look, folks. Paul Burka is right on this one. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security, I can attest that the only near-term answer to the transportation funding dilemma we are facing is to raise and index the gas tax. Stopping the diversion of gas tax revenues for other legislative purposes, as is long overdue, will not alone solve the problem. Calls from naysayers indicating that the tax would have to be raised to $1.50/gal are ill-informed. The Governor’s Business Council, a blue ribbon panel of Perry invitees, told the Legislature over three years ago that the shortage of roadway dollars (estimated then at $60-90 billion dollars, depending upon whomever you believe) could be corrected by a modest (ten cents per gallon) gas tax increase, indexed to annual inflation in highway construction costs, and then bonded against. Those who speak otherwise share misinformation and are sending us into a massive network of privately-operated toll roads which will cost the average driver exponentially more than simply raising the gas tax.

The motor fuels (gas) tax is a credible source of transportation funding for at least the next 20 years. Based upon careful study, it is by far the most fiscally conservative way to build our Texas roads. The persons who most often criticize it are politicians doing their level best to avoid any sort of “tax increase” on their political record. Where, fellow drivers, is the statesmanship in that?

Houston to convert paid-for HOV lanes to toll lanes

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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 2×2 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.

see http://www.ridemetro.org/Services/HOV_HOTLanes.aspx

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

Hogs at the trough lobby MPO to keep 281, 1604 toll roads

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Let’s keep the hogs at the public trough from raising our taxes by pushing to impose tolls on existing freeways for their personal profiteering! Fight back by emailing the MPO here. Phone numbers to elected officials on the MPO and information on the October 26 MPO meeting where they’ll decide whether or not to keep 281, 1604 toll roads or fix them as freeways are at www.FixGridlock.com
If you want to see who is paying the San Antonio Mobility Coalition (SAMCo) to lobby AGAINST the taxpayers go here.
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In yet another glaring example of taxpayer-funded lobbying, the San Antonio Mobility Coalition (SAMCo), a coalition of over 70 private companies who profit from road building, has sent out multiple email blasts encouraging its members to lobby the MPO to keep 281 and 1604 toll roads. The emails also contain blatantly erroneous and even libelous information as well as glaring examples of “the sky is falling” hysteria.

Let’s not forget that SAMCo is also supported by dues from the City of San Antonio and Bexar County. The County has contributed in excess of $250,000 since 2005. SAMCo is chaired by none other than pro-toll Terrell McCombs, with Jim Reed of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (ARMA, the tolling authority) as an officer. Guess who else sits on the Executive Committee? Mayor Julian Castro and Councilman John Clamp (who also serves on the MPO). Good Guy Commissioner Adkisson is also on the Executive Committee since the MPO Chair has an automatic seat (I believe its the same for the Mayor and County Judge). But after you read SAMCo’s email, I don’t think you’d fault Commissioner Adkisson for not attending the meetings or supporting this organization.

SAMCo Members:

On October 19 and 26, the Bexar County/San Antonio MPO will host two special meetings to consider revisions to the project descriptions and funding sources for the US 281 North and Loop 1604 Projects.

Specifically, the MPO Policy Board will receive testimony on a proposal by Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson and Comal County resident Terri Hall to eliminate toll financing as an option for funding US 281, Loop 1604, or other projects in Bexar County.

Instead, the Commissioner and Ms. Hall have proposed a plan for US 281 and Loop 1604 that provides far less congestion relief for motorists,  eliminates two-thirds of new lanes along Loop 1604, truncates US 281, makes faulty funding assumptions, and risks losing San Antonio’s existing federal stimulus funding.

After considered review, we believe the MPO Policy Board should reject the Adkisson/Hall plan for the following reasons:

1)      The plan completely removes 16.33 miles of Loop 1604 improvements between Bandera Road and Redland Road, leaving motorists stuck in traffic near I-10, US 281, UTSA, and other key corridor segments.

2)      The plan will result in a substantial reduction in scope for the US 281 North by reducing funding from $475 to $200 million.  The plan does not address how the project would be re-engineered to reflect a funding reduction of 58 percent.

3)      The plan risks losing $216 million in Texas Mobility Fund (TMF) dollars that have been reserved by TxDOT for Loop 1604 and US 281 as leveraged (i.e. tolled) projects.  Because the Commission (TxDOT) has required projects in other urban regions to meet TMF  leveraging requirements, we believe it is extremely doubtful that the Commission would make an exception for San Antonio that would expose TxDOT to charges of favoritism and unfairness.

4)      The plan risks losing $140 million in federal stimulus (ARRA) and Prop 14 dollars awarded specifically for the US 281/Loop 1604 Interchange.  The plan unilaterally diverts $60 million in Prop 14 dollars from the Interchange to  US 281 North and attempts to substitute a similar amount of TMF dollars in its place – also likely to be rejected due to leverage requirements and other technical issues.  With the Interchange no longer fully funded, Commissioners would have little option but to transfer the $140 million to the next eligible “shovel ready” project on the statewide federal stimulus list developed by TxDOT last February.  This might not be in San Antonio.

5)      The plan assumes the Transportation Commission will allocate $200 million in Proposition 12 dollars to Loop 1604.  As of today’s date, the Commission has yet to determine how $1 billion available from Prop 12 dollars for the current biennium will be allocated.  Based on last month’s Commission workshop, it appears that much of this funding will be allocated to safety/maintenance projects and to statewide connectivity (for example I-35 north of Waco).   Whatever remains for  “urban mobility” will likely be awarded through a competitive call for projects.

6)      The plan is not geographically balanced and  fails to provide a system-wide solution for congestion, focusing only on small parts of US 281 and Loop 1604 and leaving little or no funding for transportation improvements in other part of San Antonio and Bexar County.

Since our inception in 2001, SAMCo has supported introduction of new and expanded funding tools and approaches – including tolling as a funding option of last resort – to address declining levels of traditional state and federal funding.

In an era of increasing uncertainty regarding future available funding and with more than $19 billion in unmet transportation needs for our region by 2030 (2006 MPO estimate), we would urge members of the Bexar County/San Antonio MPO Transportation Policy Board to:

1)      Retain all funding options in the MPO’s future plans for US 281, Loop 1604, and other added capacity projects;

2)      Support the ongoing Alamo RMA Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) processes for US 281 and Loop 1604, which will include development of both toll and non-toll options.   With two or more years of intense study still ahead, there is no need at this time to pre-determine the outcome or eliminate any particular option;

3)      Reject any plan that does not provide a system-wide solution or that creates a significant geographic imbalance in how the MPO’s transportation funds are allocated.

4)      Continue to support local option legislation, federal and state motor fuels increases/indexing, and creation of other new revenue sources to provide potential new funding for San Antonio projects;

5)      Continue to support development of “Super Street” projects along both US 281 North and Loop 1604 (west) to provide some measure of temporary relief while the longer term studies are being completed.

How SAMCo members/partners can help:

1)      Attend the October 19 and 26 public meetings Click here for details and register to say a few brief words In support of keeping all funding options on the table.

2)      Strongly encourage your co-workers, employees, business associates, friends, neighbors, etc. to do the same.  It is important that the MPO Policy Board see that there is broad-based support for moving forward with these mobility projects and approaches. Consider car-pooling to the meetings, especially the evening of October 26.

3)      Send a brief one or two sentence email to the MPO Policy Board letting them know you support:
a.       Retaining all available options to fund US 281, Loop 1604, and future mobility projects
b.      A system wide solution, not just a solution that only addresses a few selected miles
c.       Moving forward with the Alamo RMA’s Environmental Processes for US 281 and Loop 1604
d.      Anything else you might want to add to personalize your email
e.      Just cut and paste the following email addresses for all voting and ex-officio (nonvoting) MPO members:  jaceves@bexar.org; tadkisson@bexar.org; mmedina@dot.state.tx.us; rpych@attcenter.com; John.Clamp@sanantonio.gov; jennifer.v.ramos@sanantonio.gov; reed.williams@sanantonio.gov; mayorriley@hotmail.com; weepersr@satxrr.com; Majed.Al-Ghafry@sanantonio.gov; garriaga@aacog.com; chico.rodriguez@co.bexar.tx.us; csmith1@dot.state.tx.us; david.leibowitz@house.state.tx.us; jeff.wentworth@senate.state.tx.us; susanfarris@bexar.org; ray.lopez@sanantonio.gov; mike.frisbie@sanantonio.gov; mary.briseno@viainfo.net; keith.parker@viainfo.net; vboyer@samcoinc.org; dlann@dot.state.tx.us; kirk.fauver@fhwa.dot.gov; jimrreed@swbell.net; ksb314@sbcglobal.net

4)      We will continue to provide updates as this issue evolves.

A small minority has dominated this issue for too long, with significant consequences for San Antonio’s quality of life and economic future.   It is time to change that.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this effort.

Vic
Victor M. Boyer
Executive Director
San Antonio Mobility Coalition, Inc. (SAMCo)
13526 George Road #107
San Antonio, TX 78230
(210) 688-4407 – Phone
(210) 688-4507 – Fax
vboyer@samcoinc.org
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Our response to this vitriolic email from SAMCo:
There are glaring inaccuracies in Vic Boyer’s email (above). First of all, the non-toll plan is not Commissioner Adkisson’s or my plan, it’s TxDOT’s plan promised to the public in hearings in 2001. It doesn’t risk stimulus money, and, in fact, the RMA seeking an environmental exemption on the interchange and it’s failure to coordinate with the City of Hollywood Park risks losing stimulus money far more than shifting pots of money ever could. They’ve been warned from day one that how ever they design the interchange will pre-determine what it connects to in the future (either a future toll road or non-toll lanes), and will prejudice both the 281 and 1604 environmental studies (that require all alternatives to be studied). The RMA’s vacillation on the promise to build the entire interchange non-toll, only to abandon the northbound ramps, makes their intent to impose tolls in the future on 281 abundantly clear.

The non-toll amendment before the MPO only affects 281 north and the west side of 1604 (by Braun Rd) and uses money already allocated to those roadways and DOES NOT take money from other projects. San Antonio can expect about 10% of the Prop 12 monies to come to our region. TxDOT is trying to advance Wurzbach Pkwy for that money, which is far less congested than both 281 and 1604 west. By TxDOT’s own admission, if a reasonable source of revenue can be identified (in this case Prop 12 and Texas Mobility Funds which have already been allocated to 281/1604), it’s sufficient to place it into the short range and long range plans at the MPO.

The eventual pot of money may change. In addition, the Texas Mobility Funds DO NOT REQUIRE leveraging or tolling. The Transportation Commission’s own Minute Order shows in black and white that Texas Mobility Funds can be used for FREEways and that it’s not necessary to toll a road to get access to them. It’s also possible to meet the bogus leveraging requirement for the Texas Mobility Funds with a different source of revenue (instead of Prop 14 bonds), which Commissioner Adkisson is working on (with next to no cooperation from any of the agencies).

By comparison, virtually every segment of the current toll plans are not funded either, and make financial assumptions that cannot be substantiated. To assume massive leveraged debt to fix the entire northside at one time is reckless. This proposed toll system is unsustainable and requires MULTI-BILLIONS to be sucked out of our local economy, money that now goes to support local restaurants, stores, hotels, movie theaters will now have to go to transportation costs that few in San Antonio can afford. If they could, the toll road would pay for itself and not need to be subsidized with public money!
San Antonio cannot afford the interest on $900 million of debt for the 1604 toll road and the $864 million in interest just for the 281 toll project (not counting the interest on the other loans proposed to subsidize the 281 project). I’ll be 90 years old when these tollways would be be paid off, if they’re EVER paid for before going into default (which just happened in South Carolina). What on earth are we doing? In addition, the non-compete agreements that prohibit or penalize the region for expanding or building any new free lanes surrounding the tollways for up to 50 years at a time is plain malfeasance. That means Stone Oak Pkwy, Bulverde Rd., Blanco Rd., Braun Rd., Shaenfield, Culebra, Bander, etc.

The MPO is an equal player in transportation decision-making along with the FHWA and Transportation Commission. Though under Rick Perry Transportation Commission decisions have become highly politicized and bullying and threats have ruled the day, ultimately, these roads cannot be tolled if the MPO votes to make them non-tolled. Let’s not forget Perry is a heated primary battle and has already retreated on the Trans Texas Corridor because “there was no political support for it.” Well, clearly there has been no political support for tolling our existing freeways in San Antonio either.

So it’s pure hogwash to say the non-toll options will cause the sky to fall. This is pure politics. We can have an endless impasse and get nothing done, or we can move this community forward.
Contact your city, county, and state elected officials and MPO Board members NOW to tell them to VOTE NO TO TOLLS and fix our freeways without TOLLS!