Link to article here. In an almost inexplicable heist of stimulus funds, many elected officials and TxDOT alike are salivating over the opportunity to subsidize their toll projects that can’t stand on their own two feet. Not only is it a DOUBLE TAX to use public money to build it and then charge an extra tax to drive on it, it’s horrible public policy.

We shouldn’t be building toll roads during one of the worst economic crises since the 1930s. Folks are clamoring just to keep their jobs and homes much less have the money to pony-up an extra tax to get to work.

Send TxDOT this simple message in time for their March 5 meeting: “NO stimulus money for toll roads!” Email TxDOT here.

$700 million eyed for toll projects
Grand Parkway’s among 21 Texas roadways where money will be spent
By ROSANNA RUIZ Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 27, 2009

The Texas Department of Transportation has set aside more than $700 million in economic stimulus funds for toll road projects across the state, sparking criticism and questions about whether the pay-to-drive roads are an appropriate use of the federal dollars.

The toll roads — including the Grand Parkway in Harris County — are among 21 major projects up for a vote at next week’s meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission in Austin. The commission had planned to vote on the list this week but delayed its consideration a week after at least one state legislator complained the money was being spent without enough input.

The delay has given opponents an opportunity to organize a lobbying effort aimed at persuading state leaders to withhold stimulus money from toll road projects.

“It’s a total rip-off,” said Terri Hall, director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, a nonprofit opposed to toll roads. “That’s not how the money is supposed to be used.”

TxDOT leaders and transportation planners defend the projects, saying all of them, including the toll roads, are important to their regions and offer tangible economic and mobility benefits.

“I think it’s unfortunate that the discussion about these funds has eclipsed the broader discussion about the state’s transportation needs,” TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said.

The discussion should be on reducing gridlock now, said Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, whose criticism led the commission to postpone its vote. Toll roads should be built later with state money, not onetime federal stimulus funds, he said.

“The Legislature continues to vote for toll moratoriums,” he said, “and TxDOT keeps ignoring us.”

More fees for drivers

U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, also questioned the use of stimulus funds on toll roads.

“It concerns me that state officials would prioritize toll projects that will hit already hard-pressed Texas drivers with additional fees,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “I would like to see stimulus dollars fund projects that ease not only congestion, but an over-taxed public as well.”

The economic stimulus bill does not address toll roads, only that proposed projects satisfy requirements to create jobs and promote economic growth, said Jim Berard, a spokesman for the U.S. House Transportation Committee.

In addition to $181 million for the Grand Parkway, TxDOT’s list includes an additional $50 million for four new ramps connecting the Eastex Freeway and Beltway 8.

The other toll road projects slated for stimulus funds are: $36 million for Texas 550 in Cameron County; $42.5 million for a toll road in Smith County; $144.9 million for Fort Worth’s Southwest Parkway; and $250 million for toll lanes along the Dallas-Fort Worth Connector.

Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack, whose precinct includes Segment E of the Grand Parkway, said the segment satisfies the federal stimulus mandate as a “shovel-ready” project. The Harris County Toll Road Authority would add $16.6 million to the project.

Prioritizing projects

The 15-mile project, he said, potentially will alleviate congestion on U.S. 290.

Citizens Transportation Coalition chairwoman Robin Holzer, who opposed the Commissioners Court’s vote on the Grand Parkway segment, said the state should spend stimulus money on projects other than toll roads that typically are used by a small portion of motorists.

“It’s incomprehensible that TxDOT could think that this is the most important project in the Houston District,” she said.

U.S. 290, she offered, could benefit more from the federal funding.

Radack countered that a planned overhaul of U.S. 290 is not at the appropriate stage for the stimulus funds.

The Grand Parkway and the other projects landed on TxDOT’s project list after extensive planning to identify projects that would improve safety, among other criteria, Lippincott said.

The proposed Grand Parkway would span 180 miles, circling around the Houston area, at a projected cost of $4.8 billion. Segment E calls for a 15-mile, four-lane toll road that would connect the Katy Freeway and U.S. 290 at an estimated cost of $330 million, according to the Harris County Toll Road Authority.

A tolled Segment E could finance other portions of the parkway, proponents say.

Link to article here.

Grand Jury Report Released As Toll Hike Planned
Expressway Authority Approves Toll Hike
February 26, 2009
WESH.com

ORLANDO, Fla. — A grand jury report released on Friday accuses the former head of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority of improperly using his power and influence.

Allan Keen is accused of using expressway contractors to raise money for his favorite political candidates, such as former Congressmen Ric Keller and Tom Feeney and present Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty.The report comes out a day after the authority voted to raise tolls 25 cents beginning in April.

The grand jury report criticizes Keen, the former chairman of the expressway authority, of fostering a “culture of corruption” and acting like a “shakedown artist” to get vendors and contractors of the toll agency to help keep his political friends in office.Keen resigned in 2007.

But Keen’s attorney said Friday that it was legal, which is why Keen is not being criminally charged.The report, which has been sealed since October 2007, reveals Keen had expressway authority contractors and vendors raise money for 18 candidates and the “Mobility 2020″ effort to raise the sales tax to pay for roads. The total raised through Keen was more than $468,000.

The expressway authority held a public hearing on the proposal and voted on Thursday to change the fares.The authority’s vote was unanimous. The hike will occur April 5.The last time fares were increased was in 1990.

Officials said fewer drivers on local toll roads forced them to push for the hike.”We have needs on the system that need to get done to be completed on the 408, on the John Land (Apopka Expressway), down on the BeachLine,” Expressway Authority representative Mike Snyder said.

The Expressway Authority argues that if the increase didn’t pass, roadway projects would have been delayed. Also, toll revenue has been down nearly 5 percent each month for the past year.The increase promises guaranteed completion of the Greater Orlando Beltway by 2018, officials said.

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty serves as board chairman. “Do I like the idea of raising tolls? No. Is it better for the authority to do it and raise jobs rather than have a bond agency come in here and do it for us? Yes,” Crotty said.

Tolls will be adjusted to inflation every five years starting in 2012.Many drivers said the struggling economy has them driving on toll roads less, and since the increase passed, some drivers said they will drive them even less.

“I do go out of my way, actually, to not use the roadways and tolls and stuff,” driver Byron Fain said.

The following toll plazas will not see a rate hike:

Link to article here.

Woman receives toll road bill for more than $11,500
2/25/2009
By: Bob Robuck
News 8 Austin

	Samone Murray handles a stack of bills from TxDOT.

It all began with a woman who received a $4,000 bill from the Texas Department of Transportation for toll road usage and penalties.

Now, another woman has come forward with a bill a lot larger than that.

Samone Murray was recently laid off from her job as an administrative assistant. As such, money has been tight, a factor that only added to her shock when she received a toll bill for more than $11,500.

“Eleven thousand dollars in administrative charges — that’s not going to happen,” she said. “That will not be paid, not by me. That’s ridiculous.”

The actual toll charges on the bill amount to about $358 and the remaining $11,142 is attributed to administrative fees.

“At first I laughed and thought, ‘Well, maybe I’m reading this wrong. I’m a little tired or something,'” she said. “So I put it down and came back to it, read it again and immediately called my sister, and she said, ‘Are they crazy?'”

Murray’s problem actually started in December, when she received a number of invoices, for tolls assessed six months earlier, each including a $5 administrative fee. Since Murray did not receive any notices or bills prior to that month, she said she didn’t know that every time she used the toll road, somebody was adding a new charge to her account

“I called customer service and they explained, ‘Well maybe it was going to a different address,’ and I said, ‘Well I’ve been here long enough to have gotten them from you before, so what would be the difference?'” Murray said.

Murray said she’s had a TxTag on her car the entire time and always passes under the readers in the toll plazas. She said the toll lights never signal a problem.

Though she said she called customer service several times, no one could explain why Murray owed so much. At one point, Murray said, a customer service representative increased the bill right over the phone, without giving Murray an explanation.

In the end, she said a representative told her she now owes more than $13,000.

For more than a week, News 8 Austin has tried to get a representative from TxDOT to explain and to detail the workings of the toll road system and third parties involved. They said they’re working to get that information and may have something later this week.

Link to article here.

After Heated Debate, Court Takes Step Proponents Say May Put Parkway Under Local Control
Ft. Bend News
February 24, 2009
By Bob Dunn

Over strenuous objections by two members, Fort Bend County Commissioners Court approved a complex agreement proponents said gives county officials their best shot at controlling development of the Grand Parkway locally.

But Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers and Precinct 1 Commissioner Richard Morrison said they believe the agreement – approved on a 3-2 vote – may obligate Fort Bend County to make a future payment of $100 million or more to the state of Texas.

The agreement approved Tuesday is between Fort Bend, six other regional counties and the Texas Department of Transportation. Titled “Market Valuation Waiver Agreement for SH 99 (Grand Parkway),” the document does more than waive a valuation study of the Grand Parkway project. (Such a study is required as part of Senate Bill 792, passed by the state Legislature last year.

The agreement also appears to define the Grand Parkway as “a single project that will ultimately include the full scope of work included in the Terms and Conditions.” Those terms were included as an exhibit to the main agreement.

The Grand Parkway, a proposed giant ring around Houston running through parts of Harris, Fort Bend, Brazoria, Galveston, Liberty, Chambers and Montgomery counties, has generated significant opposition.

So-called Segment D, running from U.S. 59 north to Interstate 10 in Fort Bend County, is the only portion of the parkway that’s been built. TXDot has stated that its preference is to construct the parkway as a series of toll roads, which many residents in Fort Bend oppose.

The idea of running Segment C from U.S. 59 south past Greatwood in Fort Bend County has infuriated residents of that community and nearby subdivisions.

County Judge Bob Hebert said a market valuation study of the Grand Parkway project would take two years or more to complete. By that time, he predicted, the Texas Legislature will have decided to reauthorize funding for TXDot, and possibly could designate the Grand Parkway as a state project – a designation the project currently carries.

Hebert and Precinct 4 Commissioner James Patterson said they believes that by waiving the requirement for a market valuation study, the stage is set to allow Fort Bend, Harris and the other five regional counties to meet and see whether consensus exists to make the Grand Parkway a locally controlled project, taking it out of TX Dot’s hands.

If such consensus were reached, Hebert said before Tuesday’s meeting, the seven counties could create a new entity to develop the Grand Parkway on behalf of the counties. Although the agreement passed Tuesday refers to “a single project,” Hebert said it would be developed locally in sections, based on economic demand.

“The citizens of Greatwood and Bridlewood have a bigger influence and voice with local government – as we certainly saw in the last election – than they do in state government,” Hebert said prior to the meeting.

He referred to Morrison’s victory in the November elections over former Precinct 1 Commissioner Tom Stavinoha. Greatwood residents’ strong opposition to Segment C of the Grand Parkway was seen as a major issue in the race.

On Tuesday, Morrison told court members he had spoken just before the meeting with an attorney who had authored the market valuation waiver agreement, and shared concerns he had about the document. Morrison said the attorney had agreed with concepts Morrison described for making certain changes to the document. In order to make such changes and give the revised document to the Fort Bend County Attorney’s Office for review, Morrison asked to table the vote on the Market Valuation Waiver agreement for a week.

Although commissioners almost routinely grant each other such requests, Morrison’s request was rebuffed.

“What in here are you concerned with?” Patterson asked him, holding up the agreement.

“No. 6 -” Morrison began.

“That’s a simple statement,” Patterson said.

“I can read, commissioner, I can read it,” Morrison said. “I have read it.”

Section 6 of the agreement reads, “Development of a market valuation for the Grand Parkway Project is waived.”

Morrison and Meyers’ concerns stem from a provision in SB 792 that indicates if a county or group of counties decides to develop a project such as the Grand Parkway locally, once certain conditions are met, the local development entity would have to:

“Commit to make a payment into a toll project subaccount in an amount equal to the value of the toll project as determined by the market valuation…” or:

“Commit to construct…additional transportation projects in the region in which the toll project is located with estimated construction costs equal to the market valuation of the toll project…”

“I don’t think this agreement, the way it’s written, gives us local control,” Morrison told the other court members. “…it ties the hands of those in the future.”

Hebert and Patterson argued that provisions Morrison referred to in the senate bill could not apply to the Grand Parkway until and unless Fort Bend and the other six counties agreed to create a local entity to develop the parkway. And, Hebert said, a waiver of the provisions quoted above are “implied” by TXDot’s agreement to waive the market valuation study.

“Anything is negotiable,” said Precinct 2 Commissioner Grady Prestage, after about 10 minutes of debate on the issue. “I suggest we go ahead and do it,” whether it’s 5-0 or 3-2 or whatever.”

Prestage, Hebert and Patterson then voted to approve the agreement, trumping “no” votes by Meyers and Morrison.

Link to article here.

Obama Nixes Mileage Tax Idea
President Says He Won’t Adopt Policy Considered By Transportation Chief
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2009

President Barack Obama will not adopt a policy to tax motorists based on how many miles they drive instead of how much gasoline they buy, his chief spokesman said Friday.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs commented after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press that he wants to consider the idea, which has been proposed in some states but has angered many drivers.

“It is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration,” Gibbs told reporters, when asked for the president’s thoughts about the policy and LaHood’s remarks.

Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation’s transportation system moving, LaHood told the AP in an interview Thursday.

“We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled,” the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said Thursday.

LaHood spokeswoman Lori Irving said Friday that the secretary was speaking of the idea only in general terms, not as something being implemented as administration policy.

Most transportation experts see a vehicle miles traveled tax as a long-term solution, but Congress is being urged to move in that direction now by funding pilot projects.

The idea also is gaining ground in several states. Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island are talking about such programs, and a North Carolina panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax.

A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it’s an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.

Besides a VMT tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options, LaHood, one of two Republicans in Obama’s Cabinet, said in the interview Thursday.

“What I see this administration doing is this – thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America,” he said.

LaHood said he firmly opposes raising the federal gasoline tax in the current recession.

The program that funds the federal share of highway projects is part of a surface transportation law that expires Sept. 30. Last fall, Congress made an emergency infusion of $8 billion to make up for a shortfall between gas tax revenues and the amount of money promised to states for their projects. The gap between money raised by the gas tax and the cost of maintaining the nation’s highway system and expanding it to accommodate population growth is forecast to continue to widen.

Among the reasons for the gap is a switch to more fuel-efficient cars and a decrease in driving that many transportation experts believe is related to the economic downturn. Electric cars and alternative-fuel vehicles that don’t use gasoline are expected to start penetrating the market in greater numbers.

A blue-ribbon national transportation commission is expected to release a report next week recommending a VMT.

The system would require all cars and trucks be equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a transponder, a clock and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven, whether it was driven on highways or secondary roads, and even whether it was driven during peak traffic periods or off-peak hours.

The device would tally how much tax motorists owed depending upon their road use. Motorists would pay the amount owed when it was downloaded, probably at gas stations at first, but an alternative eventually would be needed.

Rob Atkinson, chairman of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, the blue-ribbon group that is developing future transportation funding options, said moving to a national VMT would take about a decade.

Privacy concerns are based more on perception than any actual risk, Atkinson said. The satellite information would be beamed one way to the car and driving information would be contained within the device on the car, with the amount of the tax due the only information that’s downloaded, he said.

For more info:

Link to article here. TxDOT had better be ready for this pit bull…

No free ride for TxDOT in the Texas House
San Antonio Express-News
By Patrick Driscoll on Feb 16, 2009

State Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, once said the Texas Department of Transportation’s strong-arming to push toll roads on local communities could come back to bite.

Looks like the new speaker of the Texas House has just handed Pickett some teeth.

Joe Pickett

Joe Straus

Signaling what’s sure to be a bumpy ride for TxDOT and its toll-road and privatization agenda, House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, last Thursday named Pickett as chairman of the Transportation Committee.

“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Straus said. “I think he’s independent, he’s smart, he’s constructive, but he doesn’t mind asking tough questions. From the mail I’ve received regarding transportation issues, that’s the kind of profile of a chairman I was looking for.”

Pickett, who serves on a regional transportation planning board and helped write TxDOT budgets while on the House Appropriations Committee, a few years ago accused the agency of threatening to pull funds to pressure toll critics in El Paso.

“It is the state’s way or the highway, I mean tollway,” he said in a widely circulated letter titled, “TxDOT trampled on us.”

• ‘TxDOT trampled on us’
• Toll angst in El Paso

In the last legislative session, Pickett filed a bill to replace the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees TxDOT, with an elected commissioner. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, who Straus also put on the Transportation Committee, has revived the idea with a similar bill this session.

• Another anti-toll strategy
• HB 565 (McClendon)

Before the 2007 session, Pickett warned that TxDOT might get beaned in its own game of hardball. As the session came to a close, he said a bill nipping the agency’s tolling power makes it clear “the public is telling TxDOT that ‘We don’t trust you. We have lost faith in what you are doing.’ ”

• This is tense
• Freeze on private toll roads ready for vote

Now, with so many key questions needing answers — such as what mix of gas-tax dollars, toll-road fees and private financing should pay for transportation, and how should TxDOT be reorganized as part of a sunset bill — Pickett finds himself in one of the driver’s seats.

And Straus doesn’t want the ball dropped.

“I just feel like transportation is going to be addressed in a much more serious way this session,” he told the San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board today.

Link to article here. How can the taxpayers support this array of tax increases when NO ONE, not even the Sunset Commission, has dug into TxDOT’s books to find the waste and abuse? Also, these could be permanent taxes even after certain projects are paid for. Any tax increase should be tied to specific projects and sunset after it’s paid for.

Posted on Tue, Feb. 17, 2009
North Texas voters could be asked to approve taxes and fees for transportation
By GORDON DICKSON