Link to article here. May we finally get some accountability at TxDOT?

Top leaders order audit of TxDOT
By Pat Driscoll
Express-News
February 21, 2008

The Legislature’s top two lawmakers this week said the transportation department’s recently admitted billion-dollar boo-boo, and refusal to issue available bonds, has cast enough doubt to warrant a thorough outside audit.

Tom Craddick

David Dewhurst

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick sent a letter to the state auditor to get him to comb through the Texas Department of Transportation‘s finances.

“It became evident that significant weakness and questionable accounting procedures exist in the financial forecasting and reporting of the agency,” the letter says. “We are requesting that the entire financial process of TxDOT undergo a comprehensive review.”

• LETTER

The light clicked on two weeks ago when TxDOT, which says it’s going broke, announced a $1.1 billion blunder at a joint hearing of the Senate finance and transportation committees. Money had been counted twice, and so half had to be stricken from the books.

TxDOT officials also told senators they won’t issue $3 billion in available bonds, or count on another $5 billion that voters approved in November until legislators actually fund it. Yet the agency expects to be $3.6 billion in the hole by 2015.

More than half a dozen senators opened fire and bluntly told TxDOT officials they don’t trust what they saying, and suspect some ploy may be underfoot because lawmakers last year slowed down privatization of tollways so they could take a closer look.

• State senators grill TxDOT

Dewhurst and Craddick also want the audit to peruse TxDOT numbers on construction inflation, higher maintenance costs and a projected 25-year funding gap, all agency fodder to justify toll roads and private leases while downplaying ideas to raise the gas tax.

“I hope the audit will dig deep and provide a clear picture of the agency’s finances,” House Transportation Committee member Linda Harper Brown said in a statement.

State Auditor John Keel told Reuters his staff will try to finish the audit by Aug. 31, and Texas Transportation Commission Chairwoman Hope Andrade said she welcomes the review.

“The mobility challenges we face are significant, and effectively addressing these issues will require an open dialogue,” Andrade is quoted as saying.

• Texas lawmakers seek audit

TxDOT is also undergoing a scrubbing this year with a sunset review and probing by legislative committees. Also, a state panel is now studying the merits of privatization.

Past highlights:

• The dark side of bonds
• State senators grill TxDOT
• Lt. governor wants answers from TxDOT
• Shortfall forces TxDOT to cut budget
• TxDOT cries “uncle”
• They want more, more, more
• Draining the highway fund
• Holes in the funding gap
• Probing the Trans-Texas Corridor
• Tolls vs. taxes … a real study

Link to hit pieces here.

It’s always interesting to watch politicians come unhinged when they’re about to lose their lock on power. There is not ONE single factual error in my column supporting Tony Kosub against Frank Corte, yet to read Corte’s hit piece today, you’d think I was the Great Deceiver himself, the devil with ten horns coming out of my head. Wow, such vitriol and hatred over a housewife turned activist whose mission it is to protect the taxpayer from getting fleeced. Who knew one could get under their skin so easily? Note to Frank Corte: you’re running against Tony Kosub, not Terri Hall, perhaps you should focus on your actual opponent.

Well, allow the TRUTH SQUAD to clear things up…

First of all, it is Frank Corte who is lying about his voting record.

“I have never endorsed any toll project — statewide or local. I have never voted to toll any freeway.”

Who’s he kidding? Frank Corte voted for these toll road bills: HB 3588, HB 2702, and SB 792, to name a few. SB 792 was no moratorium, it was Rick Perry’s counterfeit moratorium that unleashed market-based tolls that will gouge Texans with the highest toll tax the “market will bear” (read what Express-News columnist, Jaime Castillo, had to say about market-based tolls here). SB 792 was so full of exceptions and loopholes, that TxDOT announced 87 new toll projects within weeks of the bill passing. Anyone who honestly believes toll projects have been put on hold in this state has had a break with reality.

Also, SB 792 only put a moratorium on certain types of private toll contracts. All projects old and new can and will move forward as public toll projects, and still without a vote of the people (since 281 and 1604 were conveniently grandfathered in).

Second, toll rates on toll roads opening all over the state of Texas average 25 cents to 60 cents a mile. Though the published toll rate for 281 is 17 cents a mile, they fail to mention the 25 cents it’ll cost you to get on and off the toll road and it also fails to take into account paying tolls on any of the 36 miles planned on 1604 or the nearly 60 cent toll to use the interchange at 281/1604. It also fails to factor in more than 73 miles of toll lanes all over Bexar County, including tolls on I-10, I-35, and Bandera Rd.

Then, when you factor in truck toll rates, 46 cents per mile, and the truck toll to use the interchange, at $1.15, the true cost to our families is nearly incalculable due to businesses passing on the cost of tolls to customers. We’ve already seen the price of food, goods, and services skyrocket with high gas prices, add tolls to the mix and it will be devastating!

Jim Reed’s calculation also assumes only one member of the household would be paying the tolls and that motorists would only use the lanes to go to work. What about shopping, dropping kids off to school, or medical appointments? When factoring in 2 commuters per household, just toll lanes on 281 alone adds up to $2,000-$4,000 a year PER FAMILY, as I stated. If that family has to take 1604, I-10 or the other toll lanes all over the northside, it’ll be far more than $2,000-$4,000 a year per family. That’s also not including paying tolls to travel to other Texas cities for work or pleasure. Toll lanes are saturating the Austin, Houston, and Dallas areas as well.

Lastly, there are two studies, one from a study conducted by a London-based consulting firm, Steer Davies Gleave, and one from Penn State that show toll roads push traffic to neighborhood streets due to people trying to avoid paying the toll. I would have included this level of detail if the Express-News had furnished me as much space as it did to Corte and Reed.
So who is lying to whom? You decide.

Focus: In response to Terri Hall
02/19/2008
Misrepresentations
Re: “Rep.Corte on wrong side of toll road,” (Feb. 15)
One of the joys of being a citizen in a free nation is the right to complain about elected officials using inflammatory language, telling half-truths and slandering the character of the official without fear of retribution or consequences. One of the joys of being a U.S. Marine is protecting that right.

Having said that, Terri Hall’s misrepresentation of my position on toll roads has gone far enough.

It is time you learn the truth:

I have never endorsed any toll project — statewide or local.

I have never voted to toll any freeway. Additionally, it is a matter of record that I voted for both moratoriums on additional toll projects.

I oppose raising the “gas tax” and any attempt to create an income tax. Since being elected, I have consistently voted for limited government and tax cuts, including the 2006 tax cut which was the single largest since World War II.

The truth of the matter is Ms. Hall is intentionally deceiving the public in a dishonest attempt to get her handpicked candidate elected.

Ms. Hall may not like the fact that there are toll roads in Texas; that’s fine. But her campaign preys on the fact that you don’t know the truth about my record or my service to our community.

I was recently asked what the most important aspect is of my job as a state representative. Simply put, it is listening to you.

That is why I have always supported local control. It is why twice I voted for moratoriums to stop any new toll projects. And it is why I will file legislation to have local Regional Mobility Authorities elected to make them more responsive to the people they serve.

Frank Corte,

State representative,

District 122

Facts changed

Terri Hall is certainly free to have her opinions; however she is not free to change facts.

To start with, she comments, “turning freeways into a network of toll roads.” Converting existing non-toll roads into toll roads is against Texas state law. State law requires the Alamo RMA to maintain the same number of non-toll lanes after a toll project is built as existed before the project started. That’s the plan for the U.S. 281 North toll project.

Second, “Toll roads will cost the average family $2,000-$4,000 a year in new taxes.” At the established $0.17 per mile, going approximately 8 miles on U.S. 281, from Sonterra Blvd. to the Bexar/Comal County Line, will cost a motorist, who chooses to go the entire route, $1.36 for a one-way trip.

Suppose you take that trip twice a day, you’ve spent $2.72 and avoided idling in traffic, burning gas, and increasing your own frustrations. Even assuming you drove that same way, every day, for 365 days, you will have spent under $1,000.

For far too long, Ms. Hall has thrown out figures without backing them up with the real numbers and the real impact.

She also neglects to mention it’s an individual choice on whether or not to take the toll lanes.

Third, “Studies show toll roads make neighborhood streets more congested.” I am not aware of any independent studies that arrive at that conclusion. Traffic will find the easiest route to go; that is what is happening today.

With new non-toll lanes, including improvements made to intersections along the U.S. 281 North Toll corridor, we are doing all we can to help improve the traffic condition for all drivers, not just the ones who choose to use the toll facility.

If you want to get the accurate information, and if you want to see the plans for U.S. 281 North, visit the Alamo RMA website, www.AlamoRMA.org.

Opinions are one thing but constantly changing and ignoring facts are quite another.

James R. Reed,

Chairman, Planning Committee

Alamo Regional Mobility Authority

Follow the Money
Larson hires bidder on 281 toll road

By Terri Hall, Founder, San Antonio Toll Party
February 19, 2008

To modify a line from Shakespeare, “Methinks Lyle Larson dost protest too much.” Bexar County Commissioner Lyle Larson, who finds himself in a tight race for Congress, protested our criticisms too much and with far too much vitriol than warranted. Here’s why…

Larson has hired a firm, KGB, to handle public relations for his campaign. Nothing unusual about that, right? Here’s the kicker. KGB also happens to be part of Zachry’s consortium that’s bidding on the 281 toll road (click on KGB, then scroll down to “approved short list” of bidders on 281 toll project). Not only does this revelation remove all doubt about Larson’s position on toll roads, it also explains the very publicized personal attack on me to attempt to discredit our suspicions about his toll road stance. It’s PR 101 to shoot the messenger, call your enemy a liar, and deflect attention from the real issue, which is Larson’s inexplicable behavior of refusing to replace a pro-toll appointee to the tolling authority when he emphatically claims to be anti-toll.

But Larson protested too much and too loudly, which caused further digging. Now the cat’s out of the bag in plenty of time to effect the outcome of the election. If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a citizen advocate, it’s this. If something doesn’t smell right, it’s highly likely that it isn’t right.

Unfortunately, too many elected officials are politicians rather than statesmen. They equivocate, “spin,” misrepresent, and accuse anyone who dares to criticize them to be looneys and liars. But at the end of the day, follow the money. The truth will be found out, and the truth will set the taxpayers free! Now go do what your conscience tells you to do on March 4!

By Terri Hall, Founder, San Antonio Toll Party
Express-News
February 15, 2008

The most politically radioactive issue in San Antonio today is toll roads, and State Representative Frank Corte chose the wrong side. Corte chose to endorse Rick Perry’s new policy of turning FREEways into a network of toll roads where they’d like to charge us for every mile we drive in addition to gas taxes.

The Republican candidate running to replace Corte is Tony Kosub, who has the full endorsement of the San Antonio Toll Party. Kosub adamantly opposes double tax toll roads that charge us twice for the same stretch of road, and will work to rein in TxDOT that’s prone to $1 billion accounting errors and bloating their budget by $30 billion.

Toll roads will cost the average family $2,000-$4,000 a year in new taxes to drive on what was once a freeway and will price commuters off our public freeways. This leaves those who cannot afford toll taxes with few alternatives to sitting in traffic. In fact, in many places, the only non-toll lanes will be access roads with stop lights and slower speed limits making those who can’t pay tolls second-class citizens on permanently congested streets, while those that can afford the tolls get their own personal lanes to bypass traffic.

Studies have shown toll roads force more traffic onto our neighborhood streets making them more congested and less safe as accidents increase. This increased traffic on neighborhood streets will cost the City and County more money and could result in further tax increases to pay for it.

Even worse, those toll lanes are being subsidized with taxpayer money, lots of it, but you won’t be able to drive on those lanes without paying another tax, a toll tax, for every mile you drive.

Corte voted to toll our freeways every chance he got despite massive opposition by his constituents. It’s time for the taxpayers of District 122 to elect a legislator who will represent their best interests instead of special interests.

Road contractors stand to make four times the money off tollways compared to freeways. The choice is clear, Corte is a vote for higher taxes to benefit special interests, and Kosub is a vote to keep our FREEways free.

Terri Hall is Founder/Director of the San Antonio Toll Party, a tax revolt like the Boston Tea Party. SA Toll Party.com is a non-partisan grassroots group working to stop toll roads. She’s a mother of six children and was named San Antonian of the Year in 2007 for her work educating and mobilizing concerned citizens to keep FREEways free.

Link to story here.

Exclusive Investigation: You’re Paying For State’s Big Bonuses
By Brian Collister
WOAI-TV
San Antonio
February 14, 2008

Hiring freezes, cuts in services and increased fees. Those are just a few of the steps state agencies are taking, claiming they are strapped for cash. Wait until you find out what they do have money for.

Share your comments below…

News 4 Trouble Shooter Brian Collister is breaking the story of how millions of your tax dollars are going into the pockets of state employees.

In the very near future stretches of highway in our area will be toll roads. That’s because TXDOT says it does not have the money for new road projects, but we found that TXDOT and others state agencies apparently have enough of your money to give out big cash bonuses.

State senators scold TXDOT officials at a hearing in Austin last week over the agency’s budget shortfall and claim it needs to build toll roads because it does not have enough money.

Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, said last week, “I have to tell you that the impression out there is that, really, this is a ploy to put pressure on us to go back to the toll road plan, and that’s just the political reality of it.”

We’ve uncovered that TXDOT has enough money to give more than $1 million in bonuses to employees in the past three years. That includes top management. We got our hands on these state documents, that show before he retired last August, TXDOT Director Michael Behrens gave several of his top managers cash bonuses ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 each.

Terri Hall with the San Antonio Toll Party said, “I think it’s completely wrong. It’s outrageous. It shows they have a really bad case of of misplace priorities.” Priorities that toll road opponents say should be aimed at saving every penny for new roads.

“This really just highlights everything that’s wrong at TXDOT,” said Hall. “They’re giving hand-outs to top management while everyone out here is suffering.”

TXDOT defends the bonuses saying it is only one half of one percent of its budget and that it needs to reward and retain its best employees, adding that money would not prevent the need for toll roads.

TXDOT is not the only state agency claiming it does not have enough money. After the governor asked all state agencies last year to cut their budget by 10%, budget shortfalls have forced state parks to close, Child Protective Services says it need more staff, but cannot afford to hire them, and cuts to public colleges means tuition rate hikes.

That’s why what we uncovered in these records from the Comptrollers Office is even more disturbing. The list includes every cash bonus given to every state employee in the past three years. It also reveals that state agencies combined have given nearly $75 million of your money in bonuses.

The money went to state employees like Dimitria Pope, who until this week was the acting head of the scandal-plagued Texas Youth Commission. She has been criticized for her handling of that agency, including spending thousands on new office furniture. Last April, while the agency’s chief of staff, she got a nearly $14,000 bonus on top of her $88,000 dollar a year salary. TYC says it gave her the bonus to bring her salary more in line with what the position pays.

George Ferrie, the Director of Compliance at Licensing and Regulation got three bonuses totaling $13,000 in just over a year, on top of nearly $80,000 salary. The agency says he was rewarded for taking on more responsibilities, and this is just one example of their efforts to properly reward and compensate its employees for outstanding performance.

When it comes to handing out bonuses to top managers, Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office tops the list. Abbott gave $493,000 in bonuses to 142 of its directors. The agency says the money comes from unexpended salaries from vacant positions, and these directors shoulder the weight of added responsibilities.

Senator Carlos Uresti thinks these bonuses are out of line. Because of our investigation, he’s asking the state auditor to look into it.

Uresti told us Wednesday, “What we’re going to ask the state auditors office is to look into not only TXDOT, but all the agencies as a whole, to be sure that if they’re awarding these bonuses that they are applied consistently, they are reasonable and it’s fair.”These bonuses were created to help agencies keep employees in difficult jobs that have a high turnover rate, and we did find some doing just that. We’ll be sure to let you know what happens when the state auditor looks at these bonuses.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Comal County, TX, February 11, 2008) – State Representative Nathan Macias (R – Dist 73) is pleased to announce the endorsement by the San Antonio Toll Party, a non-partisan grassroots group that advocates toll-free transportation solutions.

San Antonio Toll Party Founder, Comal County resident, and WOAI San Antonian of the Year for 2007, Terri Hall, shares why she enthusiastically endorses Representative Macias: “Representative Macias was one of only a handful of true heroes fighting toll roads in Austin. He took a stand for Texas drivers by working to keep our freeways toll-free.

“It’s been refreshing to see a State Representative who actually represents the concerns of the citizens. We wholeheartedly support Representative Macias’ principled leadership and understanding of the issues. The highway lobby would like to see him go, but we’ll work to send him back to Austin to secure the reforms needed in transportation policy.”

Representative Macias holds a degree in Civil Engineering and sits on the House Transportation Committee. He fought to keep public freeways from coming under the control of foreign companies by co-authored a private toll moratorium bill that had teeth to it, HB 1892, which the Governor vetoed.

Macias then worked to kill the counterfeit moratorium bill advanced by the Governor, SB 792, that opened the door to market-based tolls which Express-News columnist Jaime Castillo described this way: “If you want to raise funds for other projects, keep jacking up the toll price until drivers cry ‘uncle,’ and then back it off a penny or two” (Express News, July 22, 2007).

Macias also demanded accountability and open government by working to defeat a provision allowing TxDOT to keep financial documents secret from the public. Every freeway into and out of District 73 is slated to be tolled. As Macias visits with constituents across the district, toll roads remain one of the top concerns. “People do not want tolls on existing corridors and they want accountability at TxDOT,” insists Macias.

Macias is seeking his second term as State Representative and he received many accolades during his first term in office, including Freshman Legislator of the Year by his fellow Republican legislators, “Taxpayer Hero” by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, “Conservative Leader” by the Heritage Alliance, appeared on the “Honor Roll” of the Young Conservatives of Texas, and also earned their designation as “Rookie of the Year” in the Texas House. Macias is recognized as a “Champion for Free Enterprise” by the Texas Association of Business.

A lifelong conservative, Nathan is committed to serving in Austin to keep freeways free, improve education, lower property taxes and make state government more accountable.

After years of being the lone ranger against tolling existing freeways, Bexar County Commissioner Lyle Larson seems to have taken a strange turn. Most will recall Councilwoman Sheila McNeil’s remarks about Larson’s precinct, “Those people up there can afford the toll roads. The average income up there is $300,000 a year.” In days past, Larson would have been the first to defend his precinct from such inflammatory and discriminatory rhetoric (he’s called these toll roads a targeted tax on his precinct), but no more. Just hours before the December 3 vote to approve toll rates for 281 at the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), Larson got on the radio and actually defended McNeil instead of taxpayers and then did the exact same thing at the MPO meeting itself.

Considering Larson stood before a crowd of more than 600 at AlzafarShrineTemple at the final 281 public hearing proclaiming that he’s adamantly opposed to ANY toll roads, his behavior in the last few months casts doubt about the credibility of his position. Case in point, Larson’s appointee to the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (tolling authority) is former City Councilman Bob Thompson, who is pro-toll and in favor of toll-taxing 281 users in Larson’s precinct to fund mass transit projects his constituents may never use.

Larson got an earful after Thompson’s remarks as he did after several other meetings where Thompson didn’t seem to square with Larson’s public position on toll roads. So naturally now that Bob Thompson’s two-year appointment is up, his constituents are asking for a toll opponent to replace Thompson on the ARMA. Larson nor his office has returned phone calls requesting a meeting to discuss possible replacements.

Over the years, Larson has also repeatedly blamed the Legislature for diverting gas tax revenues away from transportation creating the need for toll roads, and for their insistence on making local government pick-up the tab for building and maintaining STATE highways. He’s essentially asked angry taxpayers to take out their rage on the Legislature. Well, this year his constituents have a choice to vote out a pro-toll incumbent, Frank Corte, and replace him with toll opponent, Tony Kosub (www.TaxpayersforTony.com) in the Republican primary. Yet who is Larson siding with? The gas tax raiding incumbent who got us all in this mess.

They say politics makes strange bedfellows, but it sure looks like more of the same good ol’ boy club to voters when the man who they once thought was their hero promotes business as usual instead of democracy in action.

___________________________________________

Below is Lyle Larson’s response to this article:

On Toll Roads and Transportation Infrastructure…

As a long-serving member of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Transportation Policy Board, I am convinced that transportation congestion affecting this region can be addressed without the use of toll roads. Previously, the MPO approved a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) that provided for the construction of three overpasses at major intersections along US 281, north of 1604. These overpasses would alleviate the congestion, eliminating the need for a toll road. I intended to follow through with this plan, however, in December 2003, TxDOT passed a minute order indicating that all future capacity added to the state highway system would be tolled, if proven viable.

As former Chairman of the MPO, I take exception to the toll plan. I have a history of cooperating with TxDOT to ensure that our community’s transportation needs are fulfilled. During my tenure as an MPO board member and former Chairman, TxDOT approached me numerous times in an effort to garner additional funding and I worked actively to see that their requests were satisfied.

I worked on behalf of TxDOT to set aside 25% of the community’s portion of the Metro Mobility Fund and voted with TxDOT to make this a reality. I was one of three individuals to work closely with late State Senator Frank Madla to develop the Advanced Transportation District legislation. I have consistently been supportive of TxDOT while serving on the MPO and as if to punish me, they placed the entire starter toll system in Precinct 3.

I have worked diligently to provide local funding for this community, and in return, my constituents are being forced to pay tolls in order to subsidize other transportation projects countywide. For this reason, I will never be supportive of the toll project in my precinct.

Where I Stand…

Since the inception of the of the Texas Department of Transportation’s starter toll plan for Bexar County, I have been one of its most outspoken opponents. My stance on this issue is widely known throughout the community as I have actively promoted an alternative to the toll plan, prior to the existence of the San Antonio Toll Party.

In addition to consistently voting against all toll projects that have come before the MPO Transportation Policy Board, I also worked to get a bill filed in the state legislature which intended to prohibit legislators from diverting funds from the Fund Six, the State Gas Tax Fund. Furthermore, I have repeatedly approached legislators on both the state and federal level to assist in whatever way possible to use overpasses, instead of tolls, to alleviate congestion on 281.

Despite the fact that many members of the business community have disagreed with my opposition to toll roads, I have consistently represented the interests of my constituents.

Prior to making an appointment to any County board or commission, I evaluate each candidate based on several factors including attendance, possible conflicts of interests, rationale for decisions and motive for serving. Several people have indicated an interest in serving on the RMA Board and I will interview all applicants for appointment and plan to evaluate each one thoroughly.

Separately, as Chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Board, I worked to ensure that the IH-10/Loop 410 Interchange and the I-37/Loop 410 Interchange projects were made possible.

Clearly, transportation is a paramount issue for all levels of government and, as your Congressman, I will be committed to making transportation issues a top priority, ensuring that we invest federal money in infrastructure so we can avoid catastrophes like the collapse of the I-35 W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota last year.

On Political Debate…

It is unfortunate that Terri Hall has chosen to attack the individual who has led the charge to prevent toll roads in Bexar County. I have actively and dutifully worked to address this community’s transportation needs and have never wavered in my opposition to toll roads in my precinct. Long before the founding of the San Antonio Toll Party, prior to Terri Hall’s move to Texas, I have attempted, from every angle, to address traffic congestion without the use of tolls.

It is also unfortunate that Mrs. Hall has elected to criticize my relationships with other public servants in Bexar County. In response to my relationship with Frank Corte, we disagree on the issue of tolls roads; however, we have worked together on a number of other issues throughout the years. I consider Frank a personal friend and have a great respect for his military and public service, as well as his Christian values. I don’t believe in disposing of friends over a single issue.

I also work closely with Sheila McNeil, as we are both Co-Chairs of the Bexar County Military Transformation Task Force. In order to work with other elected officials to achieve great things for a community, it is not prudent to burn bridges over one issue. Although Sheila and I disagree on some issues, I respect her commitment to public service.

I respectfully request that Mrs. Hall refrain from making any additional derogatory and disparaging comments about me. I believe that this debate should be continue to be held in a respectful manner, without personal attacks and allegations.

______________________________

Can someone please point out what was disrespectful, disparaging, or derogatory about my comments? There is no bigger issue in Larson’s precinct than toll roads. Many neighborhoods will be completely landlocked by toll roads. How does he achieve “no toll roads” by supporting the very people who repeatedly vote to toll his precinct? Also, how does he achieve “no toll roads” with a pro-toll appointee to the RMA who advocates a Robin Hood scheme of charging taxpayers twice for the same stretch of road in order to fund mass transit? How is that logical or good public policy?

I factually stated observations not only made by me, but by many of his constituents. Throw Jeff Wentworth in the mix, and Larson is supporting three politicians who have repeatedly voted to toll his precinct. Wentworth is doing radio ads for Larson…let’s remember that every time we got our roads in the toll moratorium bills (HB 1892 & SB 792), Wentworth stripped them out. Wentworth has taken a heap of cash from the highway lobby and has worked off and on for the law firm that represents Zachry and road contractors.

Who’s attacking whom here? It’s fine to do one’s best to get along with friends and work with colleagues, but when they repeatedly stab your constituents in the back (on an issue you claim to champion) and then you line-up with politicians instead of one’s constituents, there is a HUGE disconnect. The voters may just remedy that March 4.

Link to article here.

Tollways may or may not be money machine
By BEN WEAR
Austin American Statesman
February 11, 2008

It was the first, and seemingly best, argument I heard for toll roads when I got this beat more than four years ago. Haven’t heard it much lately, however.

Toll roads, Texas Department of Transportation officials said, would be an “economic engine” for highway financing as gas taxes grow increasingly scarce, generating excess cash that could be spent on other roads. Like in Houston, they’d say, where the Harris County Toll Road Authority has spun off cash for other nontoll projects and still has hundreds of millions of dollars stockpiled.

But when TxDOT officials the other day gave legislators a spreadsheet with the agency’s expected cash flow through 2015, I didn’t see any toll road profits in there. I asked James Bass, the agency’s chief financial officer, about that. After all, TxDOT owns six toll roads now, including three in the Austin area. Won’t they be throwing off some cash, I asked Bass?

Not anytime soon, he said.

So I looked at the “official statement” for the Central Texas Turnpike Project, which is the overall name for the Loop 1, Texas 45 North and Texas 130 tollways. It was a thick document shared with the investment community before the agency went out and borrowed $2.2 billion on the bond market in 2002.

The numbers are startling. It looks like the only thing throwing off dollars will be TxDOT itself.

According to that statement, the three roads will make $8.7 billion in toll revenue through 2042. In that same time, there will be $7.2 billion in debt payments for that borrowed $2.2 billion, $1.1 billion in operations costs, $752 million in routine maintenance and $388 million for long-term maintenance. The net of all that? Almost $750 million in the hole over 35 years.

More like an economic jalopy.

Of course, the three roads could do better than expected. That happens. But sometimes tollways underperform instead.

Parts of the Austin toll roads have been open for 15 months now and have charged tolls since last January. Hard to draw any firm conclusions from the limited history. But at first glance, the results don’t scream, “Bonanza!”

The three roads made $27.5 million from January through November, $3.6 million in the last month, which equates to about $31 million for the first full year. That’s well under the $42.4 million first-year projection in the official statement. That statement shows revenue nearly doubling in three years, to $79.4 million, and then topping $100 million in year five.

Will that actually happen? Only 75 percent of Texas 130 is open — the rest opens in April — and another tollway completing the Austin bypass to Interstate 35 should be done in about a year. Maybe the tollways — with that loop done, with economic growth and more consumer comfort with tolls — will hit the targets. And lose three quarters of a billion dollars over the next generation.

Economic engine? We’ll see.

Link to article here.

Michael Stravato for The New York Times

Leon Little, right, and Dean Nesloney attended a meeting last week in Robstown, Tex., on the Trans-Texas Corridor project, which could cut through their land.

Proposal in Texas for a Public-Private Toll Road System Raises an Outcry
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
New York Times
February 10, 2008
ROBSTOWN, Tex. — Leon Little’s farm here near Corpus Christi would not be seized for Texas’s proposed $184-billion-plus superhighway project for 5 or 10 years, if ever.

Skip to next paragraph

Multimedia

Map

The Trans-Texas Corridor

Enlarge This Image

Michael Stravato for The New York Times

Near Victoria, Tex., a sign announces the coming of Interstate 69, which is now listed as part of a major state highway project.

But Mr. Little was alarmed enough to show up Wednesday night with hundreds of his South Texas coastal neighbors to do what the Texas Department of Transportation has been urging: “Go ahead, don’t hold back.”

Don’t worry. Texans have gotten the message, swamping hearings and town meetings across the state to grill and often excoriate agency officials about a colossal traffic makeover known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, a public-private partnership unrivaled in the state’s — or probably any state’s — history, that would stretch well into the century and, if completed in full, end up costing around $200 billion.

“Is your road more important than the foodstuffs we put together for you?” asked Mr. Little, glaring at transportation officials at the town meeting.

The plan envisions a 4,000-mile network of new toll roads, with car and truck lanes, rail lines, and pipeline and utilities zones, to bypass congested cities and speed freight to and from Mexico.

Critics abound, but experts say Texas is addressing a problem certain to worsen nationally in coming decades: the price of gasoline may be rising but revenue from gasoline taxes is not, and with the rise of more fuel-efficient vehicles, less money is being raised for highway projects, even as traffic grows.

So transportation planners are increasingly looking to the private sector to put up construction money for toll roads in return for revenue from motorists.

“We’re relying on 1993 income for 2008 output,” said Robert Harrison, deputy director of the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas in Austin. “It’s unsustainable.”

Texas has been a victim of its own success, officials say. From July 2006 to July 2007 it added more people than any other state — nearly half a million, beating California by nearly 200,000. In the past quarter century, they say, the state’s population has grown by nearly 60 percent while road use has doubled.

“They make fun of us, but a whole bunch of people want to be Texans,” said Phillip E. Russell, assistant executive director of the Texas Transportation Department, who presided over the meeting here at the Nueces County Fairgrounds, along with the agency’s executive director, Amadeo Saenz.

Mr. Saenz said that Texas highways averaged 46 years of age and that the state was running out of money to maintain them, let alone build new roads. “The problem is our needs far outweigh the money available,” he said.

At particular issue in South Texas is a stretch of federal Highways 77 and 59 designated part of a proposed new segment of the federal highway system, I-69. But what was to have been a new interstate long sought by some businessmen and local officials is now listed as TTC-69, or part of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

“I don’t think people realize it has morphed into a toll road,” said Linda Stall, founder of a opposition group called Corridor Watch. Ms. Stall said the project was backed by “the guys who build, financiers and the suits.”

“The only person who loses is the citizen,” she said. “We’re paying everyone’s profit.” She also said investors would “cherry pick” the most lucrative toll routes, leaving other sections unfinanced.

Mr. Saenz said some routes might not require bypassing. “The no-build alternative is still an alternative,” he said.

The corridor project grew out of the 2002 governor’s race when Rick Perry, the former Republican lieutenant governor who had completed George W. Bush’s unfinished term, surprised transportation experts by taking ideas they had discussed a decade earlier, to little interest, and “supersizing them,” as one recalled.

The project grew to consist of four “priority segments:” new multimodal toll roads up to 1,200 feet wide paralleling Interstates 35 and 37 from Denison in North Texas to the Rio Grande Valley; a proposed I-69 from Texarkana to Houston and Laredo; I-45 from Dallas-Fort Worth to Houston; and I-10 from El Paso to Orange on the Louisiana border. But the exact routes are years away from being designated.

With construction, land acquisition and other expenses, the cost was estimated in 2002 at up to $183.5 billion, all of it to be put up by private investors, state officials say. No existing roads would gain tolls.

Skip to next paragraph

Multimedia

Map

The Trans-Texas Corridor

The first planning contract, for a segment paralleling I-35, was awarded in 2004 to a partnership of Cintra, a publicly traded transportation giant based in Madrid, and the Zachary Construction Corporation of San Antonio. But lawmakers, concerned over the public outcry, put the brakes on additional contracts until next year.

Legislators also asked transportation officials last week to explain why they were complaining of budget shortfalls while failing to use $9 billion in voter-approved bonding authority.

Now that 12 town meetings have concluded and the agency this month began the first of 46 public hearings to run through next month, Mr. Saenz said, “We have now gotten to first base.”

Once the Federal Highway Administration signed off on the plans, he said, the agency, perhaps next year, could begin a second phase of four to six years to select actual routes. But meanwhile, people here complained, they were being left hanging.

“Six to 15 years puts us in limbo forever,” said John Floyd, whose antiques shop is the only business in San Patricio, a historic crossroads dating from 1828 and on the map as a possible corridor route.

David Helpenstell, himself a soon-to-retire employee of the transportation department, also felt threatened. “Your proposed alternate passes through the middle of my house,” he said. Now even if he wanted to sell, he said, “nobody would buy it.”

At least Texas could share the road wealth, said John Coggin of Bluntzer, suggesting that displaced landowners get a percentage of toll revenues, just as they would for mineral rights.

On his nearby farm, where he was turning over the soil for sunflowers, Dean Nesloney climbed out of his tractor to show where he feared TTC-69 could go. “It’s kind of like this,” Mr. Nesloney said extending his arms diagonally across his field.

“They’d probably take it all up,” he said. “Maybe leave me some little bitty corners.”