Grassroots conservative candidate for Texas Governor Debra Medina slams Rick Perry’s Trans Texas Corridor and usurpation of private property rights on Fox News Channel’s Freedom Watch.
Category: General
One toll project defeated, but misplaced priorities prevent non-toll fix to most congested roadways
It’s a HUGE VICTORY for taxpayers that one Bexar County toll project, Wurzbach Parkway’s completion, has been nixed and reverted back to a non-toll project. However, putting Wurzbach Pkwy’s completion above the fix to the unbearable congestion nightmare on US 281 and the west and east sides of Loop 1604 is inexplicable. On October 26, the local MPO had the chance to fix the west side of 1604 non-toll using Prop 12 bonds and to revert 281 back to a non-toll project using existing monies. The MPO voted it down 13-5, Councilman Ray Lopez and Commissioner Chico Rodriguez who represent that area of 1604 and Senator Jeff Wentworth and Commissioner Kevin Wolff who represent the 281 corridor were among the board members to vote down the non-toll amendments.
Weeks later, TxDOT and the RMA railroaded the Wurzbach Pkwy project through the Transportation Commission and removed Wurzbach Pkwy from the toll plans without even coming to the MPO for approval and without a word of public testimony asking for it. Contrast that to the 281 and 1604 amendments before the MPO on October 26 that would have made them non-toll projects and reduced the cost using the same arguments TxDOT used to get Wurzbach approved at reduced cost, that the MPO rejected despite more than 500 attendees and FIVE AND HALF HOURS of public testimony demanding the non-toll fix to these roadways. Something is seriously wrong with this picture!
The article below references a letter sent to Chairman Joe Pickett by MPO Chair Commissioner Tommy Adkisson but grossly misrepresents the intent of the letter. Read the letter. for yourself. What continues to fuel inaccurate assessments of all these letters flying around of late is that no one seems to be reading them. Adkisson was objecting to TxDOT’s claim that it had come to the MPOs to get an approved list of projects for Prop 12 funding when it had not.
TxDOT acted alone, so did the RMA by removing Wurzbach from its toll plans and passing a resolution to fix it non-toll with Prop 12 bonds. Adkisson was sticking-up for the MPO’s proper role in transportation decision-making, and from what I can tell, that’s been the reason for most of his letters. So that was the rub, yet the article makes it appear Adkisson was blocking money coming to our region when nothing could be further from the truth. Had TxDOT come to the MPO as they are supposed to do and as they told the legislature and Commission they had, there wouldn’t be any question about the MPO’s priorities because the board would have adopted an official list.
At the end of the day, it’s TxDOT who acted unilaterally to use-up the Prop 12 bonds on everything BUT a non-toll fix to our most congested roadways, 281 and 1604. TxDOT needs unbearable congestion in order to entice people to pay a toll to get out of it. TxDOT just gave us another lesson in railroading 101.
Web Posted: 11/19/2009 5:02 CST
Wurzbach Parkway funds OK’d
By Josh Baugh – Express-News
The Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday approved about $2 billion in highway projects across the state, including $130 million to complete the final three segments of Wurzbach Parkway on the city’s North Side.
Envisioned as a major thoroughfare connecting Interstate 35 to the Medical Center, the parkway has languished for years because of a lack of funding. But the state allocation will allow the Texas Department of Transportation to complete the final 4.8 miles of roadway.
Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff said the area was lucky to receive the money during an era of declining funding for road projects.
“This is a huge, huge win for us,” Wolff said. “It’s about time that we finish a project that’s 20 years old.”
Statewide, more than 850 projects worth $8.9 billion were submitted, according to a TxDOT press release. The commission approved 74 projects, including six on Interstate 35 in Central Texas worth about $1 billion.
Not everyone agrees with the transportation commission’s priorities.
Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, who also is chairman of the local Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the commission’s funding allocations were “incomprehensible.”
“I still think U.S. 281 North is easily the No. 1 project in Bexar County that should get our focus,” he said. “But I’m happy to have any money come to Bexar County.”
Read the rest of the story here.
Express-News, Wolff mislead public about non-toll plan for 281
Talk about misleading…the claim that there is no valid non-toll plan for US 281 is flatly UNTRUE. Go here to see the TxDOT documents for a $100 million gas tax funded plan distributed in public hearings in 2001 that were also adopted into the MPO’s plans for 5 years before being turned into a $1.3 billion toll road in 2004. The “let” date on this non-toll plan was 2004. How is a 5 year old plan “outdated” by TxDOT’s standards? Wurzbach Pkwy, just approved by the Transportation Commission, is a 20 year old plan. The interchange at 1604 & I-10 used a 15 year old plan. Nearly all of TxDOT’s planning is long-term, and its plans are meant to meet the needs of future projected traffic forecasts years into the future.
The cost escalation for the fix to 281 going from $100 million to a $1.3 billion toll road has NEVER been justified by TxDOT or the tolling authority (RMA) nor scrutinized by Commissioner Kevin Wolff, the MPO, or any elected officials except Commissioner Tommy Adkisson and Rep. David Leibowitz. Inexplicably, Wolff now advocates unprecedented scrutiny be paid to the far more affordable non-toll option, and he wants more taxpayer money spent on yet another non-toll study.
This unneeded wasteful spending of $200,000-$500,000 of taxpayer money on something TxDOT already has on the books but refuses to sponsor or advance due to its pro-toll agenda is a gross abuse of taxpayers and congestion weary commuters on 281. Fiscal conservatism and responsible government is absent from such “studies”…
Web Posted: 11/19/2009 12:00 CST
Non-toll option needs valid study
Express-News Editorial Board –
Anyone who has to endure traffic in the U.S. 281-Loop 1604 corridor on a regular basis wants the congestion problem solved sooner rather than later. And given the option, they’d prefer that the solution increase mobility with free lanes and interchanges rather than tolled ones.
The problem is that no up-to-date non-tolled option exists. As County Commissioner and Metropolitan Planning Organization Chairman Tommy Adkisson discovered in September, there is no plan or study available that can serve as the basis for non-tolled improvements to U.S. 281.
That didn’t stop him from pushing the non-existent non-tolled plan at last month’s heated MPO meeting. Fortunately, a majority of MPO board members voted down a proposal that would have put hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal transportation funding at risk and delayed progress on U.S. 281 by years.
Read the rest of the editorial here.
TxDOT can issue no more debt, talk of raising gas tax
In a stunning admission that the borrow and spend policies of Rick Perry have put Texas taxpayers in a deep debt hole, Senate Transportation Committee Chairman John Carona announced TxDOT can issue no more debt. They’ve maxed out the road building “credit card” so to speak. Perry has caused us to go from ZERO debt for roads to $12 billion in just over 5 years. Even worse, it appears this push for a gas tax increase is driven more by the interest in having more cash to pay down debt service as well as more cash to leverage yet MORE toll road debt.
In TxDOT’s latest budget, debt obligations entered into for toll roads far outpace estimated toll revenue. In this economy, it’s likely toll revenues aren’t meeting projections either. We’re in a world of hurt fiscally in Texas, yet the Governor touts Texas’ financial “health” as a basis for his re-election. There’s a crowded field of gubernatorial candidates that need to aggressively expose this financial house of cards that Rick Pery built for generations of Texans to pay-off to Perry’s cronies in the road lobby.
Link to article here.
Texas lawmakers consider higher fuel taxes
Associated Press
Nov. 11, 2009, 11:10AM
EL PASO — Some legislators concerned about how to pay for new highways in Texas suggested looking at increasing the 20 cents a gallon state fuel tax.
Members of the Texas Senate Transportation Committee, who convened in El Paso, said money is lacking to build new roads.
The chairman, Sen. John Carona of Dallas, said Tuesday that Texas is growing but having no money to build more roads and “no more debt that we can issue.”
Carona said the state fuel tax has been the same since 1991.
Texas charges 20 cents for each gallon of gasoline pumped. Motorists also pay about 18 cents a gallon in federal taxes.
Rep. Joe Pickett of El Paso says it’s too early to offer precise figures on how much the state fuel tax might need to be raised.
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5:49 PM Tue, Nov 10, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz Bio |  E-mail | News tips |
That's what Joe Pickett, House Transportation Committee chairman, told me this afternoon.
Pickett said that he and Sen. John Carona, who chairs the Senate's transportation panel, have agreed to bring their committees together next year to lay the groundwork for reaching transportation funding solutions in the 2011 legislative session.
The two tentatively agreed to hold the meeting(s) in Austin next summer, he said.
This is a good sign, if progress is to be made. These two weren't exactly buddies during this year's lawmaking session, but it's clear to both that the state is falling father and farther behind in the race to keep up with roadway demands.
Pickett also said that he agrees with the essence of a new proposal that has been taking shape among transportation advocates from major metro areas. It calls for a statewide gas tax PLUS the option for counties to call elections to raise more locally. Local funds could help metro areas build out their rail transit systems.
Carona was probably the Legislature's strongest advocate for local option in this year's session, but as the session began, he abandoned his earlier call for boosting the statewide gas tax -- I believe for strategic reasons. Recently, Carona renewed his call for a statewide gas tax hike in an email to Texas Monthly's Paul Burka.
Perhaps the ultimate cover is coming from Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston, who was quoted this way in a Sept. 17 story in the Houston Chronicle (I can't find a link):
Patrick said he and other state senators who represent sections of Harris County will host a conference of local transportation officials to form a delegation that will push for transportation improvements in the Houston region. A top priority will be the U.S. 290 project."Transportation is not a partisan issue," Patrick said. "No one likes sitting in traffic."
One decision facing lawmakers is the need to generate additional revenue for state transportation projects, he said.
One legislative measure Patrick said he supports is a slight increase to the state's gas tax, and then an annual increase of one penny. The local-option tax proposed in the 2009 legislative session is not a good option, he said. That tax would be enacted in specific cities and counties only if voters approved the measure in an election, and proceeds from the additional tax generated through fuel sold in the boundaries of the specified area would go toward funding local transportation projects.
"I do not want to charge people more to buy gas in Harris County than a bordering county," Patrick said. "I don't want the county to pay the penalty. I want the whole state involved in the process."
Patrick said in addition to pushing for new transportation-funding options, the Harris County delegation must send a message to TxDOT that the reconstruction of U.S. 290 must be placed at the top of that state agency's list of priorities. He said Harris County is continually "beaten to the punch by the Dallas delegation because we are not as well-organized."
Perry pledging to "raise some dollars for roads"
As the Texas Governor’s race heats up, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who’s challenging Rick Perry, released a telling video today that shows the complete waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars by Perry’s highway department. Hutchison makes the argument that why would Texans want to give such a rogue agency MORE of their hard-earned money unless there’s accountability with the money we already give them? We say: here, here! Indeed, Perry’s push to sell-off Texas public roads to foreign toll operators in 50 year sweetheart deals is the MOST EXPENSIVE way to fund roads.
From Hutchison’s press release today:
“When Rick Perry says he’s going ‘to raise some dollars’ for roads, Texans can trust that it’s a commitment he’ll keep to build more toll roads, raise taxes and look at higher gas taxes. Instead of making it more costly for Texas drivers to go to and from work, Rick Perry should end the rampant mismanagement at TxDOT that is wasting billions on everything but roads. As governor, Kay Bailey Hutchison will end the cronyism, reform TxDOT and return to our tradition of free, quality highways and roads.” – Joe Pounder, Texans for Kay Spokesman
Austin, TX – Yesterday, in Dallas, Rick Perry answered a question about transportation priorities by saying we must “come to a stronger realization that we’re going to have to expand our ability to raise some dollars to build roads.” Does that mean more toll roads? Higher taxes? Higher gas taxes? Check out the facts below and our new web video here
Yesterday, In Dallas, Rick Perry Promised “To Expand Our Ability To Raise Some Dollars To Build The Roads”:
Rick Perry: “So Hopefully When We Come Back In 2011, Both The Citizens And Their Elected Officials Will Come To A Stronger Realization That We’re Going To Have To Expand Our Ability To Raise Some Dollars.” PERRY: “One of the problems is that we do not have the dollars that we need to build all the transportation infrastructure needs that we have. So hopefully when we come back in 2011, both the citizens and their elected officials will come to a stronger realization that we’re going to have to expand our ability to raise some dollars to build the roads so that you don’t have the strangulation in places along the 1-35 corridor.” (Rick Perry, Remarks At Conrad High School, Dallas, TX, 11/16/09)
Rick Perry Has Aggressively Championed Toll Roads:
As Governor, Perry Has “Turned Texas Transportation On Its Head, Moving The State From Financing Public Roads Solely With Taxes To A System That Would Be Heavily Dependent On Tolls And Private Road Operators.” “What isn’t in dispute is that the Republican governor and his appointees over the past six years have turned Texas transportation on its head, moving the state from financing public roads solely with taxes to a system that would be heavily dependent on tolls and private road operators.” (Ben Wear, “Governor’s Vision For Roads Could Take A Toll,” Austin American-Statesman, 8/20/06)
Rick Perry Has Diverted Billions In Critical Transportation Dollars To Fund Other Programs:
In August 2009, Houston Chronicle Reported $1.2 Billion Diverted From Gas Tax-Funded Highway Fund To Pay For Things Other Than Road Building In 2010-2011 Budget. “Apart from the general revenue funds, lawmakers did make headway on reducing diversions from a separate account [in the FY2010-11 budget], the gasoline-tax-fueled highway fund – although $1.2 billion still will be diverted from road building.” (Peggy Fikac, “Dedicated funds diverted to state budget,” Houston Chronicle, 8/2/09)
In 2008-2009 Budget Cycle, Nearly $1.6 Billion In Gas Tax Revenue For TxDOT Was Diverted To Other Sources. “But in the letter last week, the three leaders supported ending or curtailing significantly the use of gas tax money for state needs other than building transportation projects. About $1.6 billion in the current two-year state budget went to such ‘diversions,’ the bulk of it to the Texas Department of Public Safety” (Ben Wear, “TxDOT to borrow against gas tax,” Austin American-Statesman, 8/30/08)
Perry Was “Open To Allowing Indexing” Of The Gas Tax:
In 2007, Perry’s Spokeswoman Said Perry Was Open To Indexing The Gas Tax. “Gov. Rick Perry, a staunch advocate for privatization and tolling, has long opposed proposals to increase the gas tax but would be open to allowing indexing, spokeswoman Allison Castle said.” (Patrick Driscoll, “Senator Urging Funding For Roads,” Houston Chronicle, 10/11/07)
Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Record Of Putting Texas First
As Governor, Hutchison Will Take Action To Improve Our Transportation System, Reorganize TxDOT And Put An End To Cronyism And Mismanagement. HUTCHISON: “As governor, you can trust that I will improve our transportation system. To start, I will reorganize the Texas Department of Transportation. We will end the cronyism and mismanagement. Today, TXDOT is the most arrogant state agency in Texas history and it must be reformed. It’s time we return to our tradition of free, quality highways and roads.” (Kay Bailey Hutchison, Remarks To The Texas Federation Of Republican Women, Galveston, TX, 11/14/09)
· TTC “ROAD TO NOWHERE”: “In January, TxDOT Said It Had Spent $131 Million On Planning And Environmental Work For The Trans-Texas Corridor.” (Ben Wear, “I-35 Toll Twin Officially Dies,” Austin American-Statesman, 10/7/09)
· TXDOT POOR PLANNING: Because Of Their Poor Planning, TxDOT Was Forced To Return $742 Million In Federal Highway Funds. “Faced with deteriorating pavement quality scores and growing congestion, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) was required to return more than $742 million to the federal government Wednesday as part of an $8.708 billion rescission of highway project programming authority.” (TxDOT, “TxDOT To Lose $742 Million In Federal Funding,” Press Release, 10/1/09)
· TXDOT ACCOUNTING ERROR: In February 2008, Department Of Transportation Officials Admitted That TxDOT Had Made $1.1 Billion Accounting Error. (Ben Wear, “State road officials say they erred by $1 billion,” Austin American-Statesman, 2/6/08)
Hutchison Has Increased The Amount Of Transportation Dollars Coming Back To Texas:
Hutchison Has Increased Amount Of Funding Returning To Texas From Highway Trust Fund From 76 Cents Per Dollar In 1993, To 92 Cents Per Dollar Today. “When I came to the Senate in 1993, our state received only 76 cents in transportation funding for every one dollar we paid in gas taxes. But in the years since, I have worked with my colleagues to increase our average annual funding by almost $800 million — or 92 cents on the dollar — making Texas second only to California in federal transportation support.” (Kay Bailey Hutchison, Op-Ed, “Highway Trust Fund cut threatens Texas highways,” San Antonio Express News, 6/25/08)
· As Of 2007, Texas Received 92 Cents Back For Every Dollar Paid In Federal Gas Tax. (Michelle Mittlestadt, “Democrats rip state agency for hiring D.C. lobbyists,” The Houston Chronicle, 2/2/07)
· As Of 1997, Texas Only Received 76 Cents Back For Every Dollar Paid In Federal Gas Tax. (Catalina Camia, “Lawmakers race to pass highway construction bill,” The Dallas Morning News, 3/10/98)
Hutchison Placed A Moratorium On Tolling Existing Federal Highways:
In 2007, Hutchison Passed A Moratorium On Tolling Federal Roads In Texas. “U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the senior Senator from Texas, announced that late Tuesday the Senate passed a one year ban on the tolling of federal highways in Texas.” (Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, “Sen. Hutchison Passes One Year Texas Tolling Moratorium Of Federal Highways,” Press Release, 12/19/07)
Only 17% get relief using toll lanes on one of most congested CA roads
Link to article here. Note that only 50,000 cars per day can afford to pay $9.50 ONE WAY daily to use the toll lanes down the middle of existing freeway SR 91 in Orange County, CA. It says the total number of cars that use the corridor is 300,000. So only 17% of commuters ever get congestion relief when politicians toll existing freeways. Also of significance is why they’re finally widening the free lanes…because it’s causing the toll lanes to get backed-up. When profit comes before mobility, the taxpayers consistently LOSE (their shirts)!
One of California’s toughest commutes getting relief with 91 Freeway widening
November 2, 2009 | LA Times
One of Southern California’s toughest commutes is about to get somewhat easier.
Officials Tuesday will break ground on a $59.5-million project to widen the eastbound 91 Freeway with the hopes of easing congestion for commuters along the heavily traveled stretch between Orange and Riverside counties.
The section through the Santa Ana Canyon has long been considered one of the worst freeway bottlenecks in the nation, connecting bedroom communities in the Inland Empire to job centers in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
The roughly 6-mile-long project will run from the 241 Freeway, a toll road, to the 71 Freeway and will add one lane to the four existing eastbound lanes, excluding two express lanes.
“The 91 corridor, that’s been one of the toughest puzzles to solve,” said Peter Buffa, chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority. “There’s 300,000 cars traveling that route each day.”
He said the agency also hopes to eventually widen the freeway in both directions from the 55 Freeway to the 241 toll road. Commuters in that area got another boost this week with today’s grand opening of new lanes on the 241 toll road, another route channeling Inland Empire commuters into Orange County.
The “Fast Trak” toll lanes run through the Windy Ridge toll plaza. Some 50,000 commuters pass through that plaza each weekday and the new lanes on the 241 Freeway are supposed to ease traffic flow to and from the 91 Freeway, said Jennifer Seaton of the Transportation Corridor Agencies. Seaton said that stretch of the 91 Freeway east of the 241 Freeway can be “very, very congested” and that the backup affects commuters using the toll road.
Transportation officials have been talking for decades about how to ease the commute between the Inland Empire and Orange County.
More than a decade ago, officials opened toll lanes along a portion of the 91 Freeway, offering less congestion for commuters willing to pay the price. The 241 toll road, which runs from the 91 into South Orange County, was also designed to improve the commute.
The 91 runs through a narrow canyon amid several mountain ranges, making it hard to build additional freeways between the Inland Empire and Orange County. In recent years, planners have talked about tunneling 11.5 miles through the Cleveland National Forest to build a new route, but those plans are still very much in the conceptual stages.
Orange County transportation officials said the bulk of the 91 widening project, $47.9 million, is being funded with federal stimulus dollars and local agencies.
— Ari B. Bloomekatz
Idaho DOT head fired for reducing cost to taxpayers
Link to article here. We can actually begin to see a trend here…Schwarzenegger tried to oust his own appointee for being critical of giving gravy train contracts to the private sector when it can be done cheaper by the public sector and save taxpayers’ money. Bullies all! Our elected officials DO NOT work for us any longer, they work for the high-paid lobbyists who grease the wheels of government.
Former Idaho transportation head sues over firing
AP ONLINE
November 6, 2009
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The former head of the Idaho Transportation Department filed a lawsuit Friday against the agency, saying she was fired in a political power play to help Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and his big campaign donors.
The lawsuit in 4th District Court claims Pamela Lowe was fired by the Transportation Department board after refusing to bow to threats by governor’s aides not to interfere with a contract originally worth $50 million. The contract benefitted URS Corp. and CH2M Hill.
Lowe says Jeff Malmen, the governor’s former chief of staff, and Darrell Manning, chairman of the Idaho Transportation Board, grew upset after she told the state Legislature in 2007 she would renegotiate the contract so as much of the work as possible was done by the highway agency’s own employees.
“Ms. Lowe was repeatedly warned and harassed by the governor’s staff and Mr. Manning about taking work away” from the companies, according to her lawsuit. “Ms. Lowe was not deterred by these threats.”
The two engineering companies have given the governor at least $22,000 combined since 2005.
After she refused to resign, Lowe was fired in July. The board cited concerns over “improving customer service, economy of operations, accountability and our relations with the Legislature.”
Lowe succeeded in trimming the contract but claims she was fired this year before she could take virtually all the work back from the companies.
She is seeking back pay, reinstatement or compensation in lieu of that, and attorney’s fees, according to her lawsuit. No amount is specified.
Jon Hanian, Otter’s spokesman, said, “because this is in litigation, we are unable to comment.”
Malmen, now a lobbyist at the Idaho Power Co., didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Manning, who previously has said there wasn’t a connection between the contract and Lowe’s firing, was out of town and couldn’t be reached, the transportation department said.
By law, the Idaho Transportation Board can remove its director for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance and nonfeasance in office.”
But Lowe contends she had received satisfactory performance reviews.
Her lawsuit also contends that a bill introduced in the 2009 state Legislature by state Sen. John McGee, R-Caldwell, was meant “to punish her for cutting CIP’s contract.” It would have given Otter the power to fire the highway department director.
In a telephone interview, Lowe said agency board members told her they feared McGee’s bill would undermine their authority so they relented to pressure to force her out. The board hires the director.
McGee said Friday that he had “a different experience” of what happened but said he can’t comment because of the lawsuit.
When he introduced his bill in March, McGee contended he was dissatisfied with Lowe’s performance. Some lawmakers also said they didn’t trust her agency, citing that as one reason for voting against bills like Otter’s proposed $61 million gas tax hike during the 2009 session.
Lowe initially lodged a tort claim against Idaho in August, a notification that she was considering a lawsuit. She hasn’t heard from the state since then, she said, and filed this new lawsuit Friday to meet a statutory deadline for whistleblower complaints.
Additional claims, including for gender discrimination, will be added to the lawsuit next week, said Erika Birch, Lowe’s attorney.
Lowe doesn’t think Idaho has made a serious effort to investigate her claim but said she’s gotten messages of support from her former employees at the Transportation Department to press ahead in court.
“That’s really helped,” she said.
Rendell resurrects attempt to toll I-80 in Pennsylvania
Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/29/2955.asp
11/9/2009
Pennsylvania Resurrects Plan to Toll Interstate 80 Freeway
Pennsylvania re-files application to add tolls to the Interstate 80 freeway to generate $473 million in revenue.
Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell (D) has not given up on his dream of adding toll booths on Interstate 80, a freeway that serves as a vital commercial link between New York and Chicago. On October 30, state officials filed an official memorandum to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) reopening the application for permission to toll the 311 mile route in order to help balance the state’s budget.
“Without tolls on I-80, state lawmakers and the administration would have to plug a $473 million gap in next year’s budget, and that gap will steadily widen,” Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Chief Executive Joe Brimmeier said in a statement.
In July 2008, the FHWA explained that the governor’s plan did not appear to meet the requirements of federal law for conversion of a federal interstate into a toll road. The state’s new filing with federal transportation officials included further details on the proposal, such as planned locations for electronic toll booths and an extensive financial analysis. The deal, authorized at the state level by Act 44 of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, faces an uncertain future as a number of key political players remain unconvinced that the Turnpike Commission should expand its reach to previously untolled roads.
“This is the same Turnpike Commission that has been the backdrop for several scandals and a slew of indictments,” US Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-Howard) explained in a statement. “Act 44 is a cover-up of years of mismanagement of taxpayer funds and the perpetuation of an antiquated and corrupt Turnpike Commission. This is not fair to the taxpayers in Pennsylvania — not just along the I-80 corridor, but in the commonwealth as a whole.”
An opinion poll taken last year found that 63 percent of voters agreed with Thompson’s assessment. A coalition of business groups, the Alliance to Stop I-80 Tolling, formed to coordinate efforts to block the tolling plan.
“There are simply better options that will generate more money with less hardship,” coalition co-chairman Vince Matteo said in a statement. “The bottom line is that once gantries are up on I-80, local businesses and communities will be crippled and a harsh inflationary rise will be felt throughout the entire commonwealth economy.”
A Grove City College study calculated last month that a 10 cent gas tax increase would raise $600 million at a cost of just 0.5 cents per mile for an average automobile — far cheaper than the per-mile rate of a toll road that requires expensive overhead to operate (view study).
Big money wants new govt agency just for PPPs
Texas State Representative Carl Isett already introduced a bill, HB 1815, in the last legislative session to do this very thing – create a whole state agency that does nothing but write contracts that sell-off Texas roads to Wall Street in sweetheart deals. This is an abomination for taxpayers and anyone who cares about maintaining control of our public infrastructure. It’s obvious the big money wants to control our infrastructure through these toll road monopolies, and we have far too many politicians willing to sell-out Texans to give it to them.
Calls Come for ‘Programmatic’ P3 Approach
By Audrey Dutton
Bond Buyer
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
WASHINGTON — Market participants are pushing for states or the federal government to take a “programmatic” rather than a piecemeal or project-by-project approach to financing infrastructure through public-private partnerships.
But states may be better equipped than the federal government to assemble a P3 program, and the Georgia Department of Transportation’s newly launched multi-project P3 initiative could provide a case study, some said last week at The Bond Buyer’s 10th annual Transportation Finance/P3 conference in Dallas.
“Right now it’s too fractured” in the P3-financed infrastructure sector, Chee Mee Hu, managing director for Moody’s Investors Service, said during an interview last week, adding, “It’s almost opportunistic rather than programmatic” how P3s are evolving now in the U.S.
State departments of transportation currently have to do “a lot of footwork” to put together P3 deals and are essentially reinventing the wheel for each project-based partnership, she said.
“One thing we don’t have in a rational way are P3 proponents,” Hu said. “In Canada, they have provincial groups” that focus on P3 programs. The U.S. needs “some agency at the state or federal level” to act as a clearinghouse or design a centralized program for P3s, she said.
Read the rest of the story here.
Houghton flip flops on promise not to interfere with local toll decisions
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Transportation Commissioner wants to strip local toll agency of project after promising “TxDOT should be out of the toll business”
Grassroots cry foul over Houghton flip-flop
Grassroots cry foul over Houghton flip-flop
(November 6, 2009) – In today’s Star-Telegram article, Texas Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton reversed his position on the department’s involvement in toll roads. The article states Houghton “wants the North Texas Tollway Authority to withdraw as the lead partner in the Southwest Parkway project and let the state seek a private developer to build the toll road from Fort Worth to Cleburne.”
When Houghton was up for confirmation in the Texas Senate, he stunned the Chair of the Nominations Committee, Senator Mike Jackson, when the Commissioner said in the hearing on May 13, 2009, “I think TxDOT should be out of the toll business. That’s not our business. It’s the NTTA’s business, it’s the CTRMA’s business, it’s the El Paso RMA’s business.”
Jackson said he was surprised by Houghton’s comment and asked him “and is that a dramatic change in your position over the last few years?”
Houghton acknowledged that it was.
Jackson then asked him what changed his mind and Houghton replied, “We have RMAs that are created. We have people like NTTA and HCTRA that have a history behind them and know how to do it. That has changed my mind, that local RMAs should be the, and local toll road authorities…should be those agencies that build those projects…and again if we (the department) have the resources….enable these authorities to build those projects to give ’em that credit lift, or to participate….There’s a menu to be able to participate, but not to run these toll, no, these toll projects.”
Apparently, Houghton lied to the Nominations Committee to win confirmation and now that lawmakers have left Austin, it’s back to business as usual at TxDOT. The Perry-appointed Transportation Commission is again interfering with local decision-making and attempting to sell our Texas highways to private developers in its classic “it’s our way or no highway” form.
This development comes after more than 80% of Texas voters in Tuesday’s election voted to keep Texans’ land from being taken through eminent domain and given to private developers for profit. However, Proposition 11 doesn’t protect Texans’ private property from being taken in the name of public use for a state highway then sold to foreign entities for private gain.
“Houghton and TxDOT in their arrogance, fail to grasp (or care) that they are under Sunset review once again, and taxpayers and legislators alike are none too happy with them on ANY front. Houghton’s attempt to strip the NTTA of the Southwest Parkway project so the department can sell it off to the highest bidder on Wall Street is another example of why TxDOT has been in perpetual hot water.
“Houghton recently identified himself as the most arrogant commissioner of the most arrogant state agency in the state of Texas. Perhaps a new addition to his list is in order. Let’s add: the most untruthful commissioner,” suggests Terri Hall, Founder/Director of Texas TURF.
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Link to article here.
Official says tollway authority should bow out of Southwest Parkway
Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009
By GORDON DICKSON
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
A Texas Transportation Commission member wants the North Texas Tollway Authority to withdraw as the lead partner in the Southwest Parkway project and let the state seek a private developer to build the toll road from Fort Worth to Cleburne.
Commissioner Ted Houghton of El Paso discussed his recommendation about Southwest Parkway in an interview a day after the tollway authority said that the toll road is expected to cost $2 billion but that only $1 billion is available. The tollway authority said it would needs state aid to start construction next year.
Houghton wrote in an e-mail to Commissioner Bill Meadows of Fort Worth this week that his “recommendation on the project on the western end of the Metroplex is that NTTA turn that project back to us and we utilize the private pass-through tool that would bring in private equity.”
A third party would pay for Southwest Parkway upfront and be repaid over time with tolls from the road.
Pass-through financing has built smaller city- or county-funded projects in other cities and would not be covered by the Legislature’s ban on comprehensive development agreements between the Texas Department of Transportation and private developers, Houghton said.
Concession fee
Houghton, one of five state transportation commissioners, also said that the Plano-based tollway authority had requested a $200 million discount on another Dallas-Fort Worth toll project: Texas 161, which is under construction in Irving and Grand Prairie and is a gateway to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Last year, after months of intense negotiations, the state Transportation Department and the tollway authority agreed that the market value of the Texas 161 toll road from Texas 183 to Interstate 20 was $458 million. That would be the “concession fee” the authority would have to pay the state to take over the project.
The authority hasn’t decided whether to take over Texas 161.
But Houghton and other state officials have balked at the authority’s requests for financial aid, including a request for the state to use its gas-tax-supported Fund 6 as a guarantee against certain authority debts, and a loan of $300 million to $500 million from the state infrastructure bank.
State law gives the authority primacy, or first dibs, on toll projects in Dallas-Fort Worth, and the Transportation Department can’t pursue private development of a toll project unless the authority declines it.
The first portion of Southwest Parkway, an eight-mile stretch from Interstate 30 in west Fort Worth to Dirks Road in an undeveloped part of the city’s southwest side, was expected to be under construction in 2010.
‘I’m all ears’
Tollway Authority Vice Chairman Victor Vandergriff of Arlington said Thursday that he was unaware that a pass-through tolling arrangement with a private developer could even be done.
“I’m all ears,” he said. “I would be pleased to understand that, and be supportive of that, if it will get the project done.”
But Vandergriff reiterated that the authority wants to build Southwest Parkway.
Negotiations between the authority and Transportation Department are reaching a crucial phase, and Vandergriff said he doesn’t want to “point a finger” of blame for the Southwest Parkway funding gap.
But he did say that part of the problem is that the Transportation Department withdrew about $211 million in gas-tax-supported funds from the project to make ends meet on other Tarrant County projects, including the proposed expansion of Northeast Loop 820 and Airport Freeway.
That funding loss is part of the reason the authority is seeking a state loan, Vandergriff said.
Earlier this year, Johnson County officials, who refer to the project as Chisholm Trail, warned that moving gas tax funding out of the project could delay it.
“We’ve got a very tough finance market and very financially challenged agency” in the Transportation Department, Vandergriff said. “It really doesn’t do any good for one side or the other to point fingers unduly. I think it’s premature to say the parties can’t work together to get it done.”