Austin Mojo - Tolls in the News

the TTC with 9 lives

2009-10-06T13:38:00.004-06:00

The AP is reporting that TXDOT has once again "killed" the TTC. Back in January they renamed it "Innovative Connectivity in Texas|Vision 2009".

Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows said, "The reason that's being given for the no-build option is that people don't want it. They said 'Hell no.' "

The Ap reports this:

Planning for the corridor has nevertheless quietly continued. A consortium led by Cintra of Madrid, Spain, and Zachry Construction of San Antonio had prepared a master plan, and a detailed environmental study of the TTC-35 corridor was under way.

Meadows said that was all ending.

"Formally, absolutely, TTC-35 is dead. We are canceling the contract with Zachry," he said.

Information from: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6654879.html

Toll road billing continues to take its toll on drivers

2009-03-18T08:34:00.004-06:00

In an article today on News 8 Austin, writer Bob Robuck says they've received dozens of emails complaining about toll road billing , poor customer service and varying other problems. So many in fact, that they had the BREAK DOWN the complaints into "recurring themes".

Isn't this a job that should be done by the toll road administrators? I think so. Let another business like AT&T or Sprint try to get away with poor customers service and high fees - oh, wait, they have competition within their industry

Robuck writes, "The complaints most prevalent include: accusations of inaccurate billing, exorbitant administrative fees, inaccurate record keeping and promises made by customer service that were not fulfilled.

To be fair, these claims have yet to be substantiated."

Fair enough - but TxDOT has delayed giving News 8 any records. Several weeks ago News 8 "made an open records request for the total amount currently owed by toll road users, broken down into actual tolls and administrative fees."

News 8 has been told that Turnpike Authority Director Mark Tomlinson is too busy to talk with them and News 8 "wouldn't settle for talking to one of TxDOT's media representatives because, by their own admission, one of them had already given us inaccurate information."

In my opinion this is an obvious case of trying to cover up what this billing agency really likes to do. Force people into giving up thier bank account numbers (getting a TXtag) by charging excessive fees and "offering" to wave them if they get the tags. If people choose not to get the tags, then stick them with fees high enough to force them off the tool roads.

CONTACT NEWS 8 AUSTIN:

"We still want to hear from you if you have issues with Central Texas toll roads. E-mail us at yournews@news8austin.com, call (512) 531-8888 or write to us at News 8 Austin, 1708 Colorado St., Austin, TX 78701."

Full article:

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=234443

Study: Austin drivers to pay-by-mile using GPS tracking system

2007-10-15T14:10:00.000-06:00

Here it is... the ultimate toll road. GPS logs your miles and bills you a use tax each month. Brilliant! But wait it gets better. You'll actually be tracked everywhere you go, not just if you choose to take a toll road! Wonderful!

Several states.... are studying whether to scrap the gas tax and replace it with pay-by-the-mile user fees, effectively turning the road network into another public utility.

Oregon is finishing a fascinating yearlong study with 280 volunteers who equipped their cars with Global Positioning System tracking devices.

Every time they filled up at two specially equipped stations, per-mile user fees were added -- and the gas tax deducted -- right on the receipt.

A similar $16.5 million study of 2,700 drivers in Austin, Baltimore, Boise, San Diego, eastern Iowa and North Carolina's Research Triangle is set to begin next year.

Motorists will continue to pay gas taxes, but researchers at the University of Iowa will gauge driver responses to a monthly invoice -- not much different than a cellphone bill -- detailing actual miles driven and what they might have paid in per-mile fees.

READ FULL ARTICLE

Texas $8.5 billion budget surplus... but no money for roads?

2007-10-10T15:03:00.000-06:00

No money for roads?
Texas collected $1.5 billion more than projected

Texas Legislature needs to budget this money to the most important needs just like every citizen and business must do. We all have limited funds and we make due by prioritizing and cutting waste in our spending.

Transportation is at the top of the list when it comes to running a productive modern society.

TxDOT and our elected REPs are flat out lying when they say there's no money.

They refuse to cut expenses in unecessary areas and re-direct money meant for roads so they can in turn say there is no money for roads.

THERE"S A SURPLUS FOLKS.... BUDGET ACCORDING TO IMPORTANCE.

State surplus grows by $1.5 billion Austin American-Statesman
State has extra $1.5 billion leftover from last year's budget Houston Chronicle
Texas collected $1.5 billion more than projected KVUE

Austin Phase 2 Toll Roads Approved

2007-10-09T07:11:00.000-06:00

We all saw this coming years ago. Last night CAMPO voted YES to shift $910 million of our tax dollars (meant for for freeways) to build toll roads.

Voters, take note and support these folks -
Who didn't vote for these toll roads?
Nineteen members are on CAMPO's Transportation Policy Board. Each road was voted on separately. Austin City Councilwoman Jennifer Kim, Hays County Judge Liz Sumter, Sunset Valley Council Member Jeff Mills and Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, were the only four members of the board to vote against every toll road proposal.

CAMPO: Let the Contracting Begin

Plan's approval creates 5 toll roads

Texas Group Files Lawsuit to End Government Toll Road Lobbying

2007-09-21T12:52:00.001-06:00

Lawsuit seeks to prohibit Texas Department of Transportation from lobbying on behalf of toll roads.

A grassroots anti-toll road activist group yesterday filed suit to block the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) from lobbying on behalf of toll roads. Texans United for Reform and Freedom (TURF) petitioned the Travis County District Court for a temporary restraining order that would prohibit the transportation agency from expending public funds on its "Keep Texas Moving" advertising blitz.

"Unlike purely educational public relations efforts such as the 'Don't Mess With Texas' campaign, the Keep Texas Moving campaign is a one-sided attempt to advocate one political point of view on a highly controversial matter," TURF founder Terri Hall wrote in her filing. "Absolutely no non-toll related solutions to the transportation needs of Texas are presented in the Keep Texas Moving campaign... As such, the Keep Texas Moving campaign and the lobbying campaign constitute state agency-sponsored political advocacy that is prohibited by sections 556.001 et seq. of the Texas Government Code."

Texas law allows government agencies to provide information to the public and to respond to requests for information and analysis, but it states that agencies, "may not use appropriated money to attempt to influence the passage or defeat of a legislative measure." All state employees must sign a document stating that they have read and understood this provision of law.

The state attorney general's office, representing TxDOT, postponed a hearing on the case until Monday. The state argues that because visiting Judge Bill Bender resides within the path of the proposed Trans Texas Corridor toll road, he should not be allowed to hear the case. Hall's team of lawyers are prepared to fight any of the state's procedural tactics.

"We knew they'd try this and we'll combat it so that this case is heard and TxDOT is forced to comply with the law," Hall said. "Between TxDOT's PR campaign, report to Congress asking that all limitations on tolling be lifted including buying back existing interstates, and Chairman Ric Williamson's recent trip to D.C. lobbying for the same, it's clear they've not only crossed the line into illegal lobbying, but they leaped over it."

Other related sources:

(590 KLBJ)

Anti-Toll Road Activist Sues State Over Ad Campaign (KXAN)

Toll road foe sues over TxDOT ad campaign (MySA.com)

TxDOT threatened with injunction (more details here)

Reporter banned from secret meeting on selling US assets

2007-09-20T08:43:00.000-06:00

WND banned from secret meeting on selling U.S. assets
'We don't feel news site is appropriate for a business conference'

Posted: September 19, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

EuroMoney PLC, the UK-based company that arranges dozens of financial conferences around the world each year, has refused to allow WND staff reporter Jerome Corsi to attend next week's "North American PPP (Public-Private Partnership) & Infrastructure Finance Conference" in New York, even though WND offered to pay the $1,999 conference fee required to attend.

"When government officials want to go behind closed doors with investment bankers and lawyers to discuss selling our public infrastructure to foreign investment leaders, investigative reporters need to be there to tell the public what is really going on," Corsi said.

"Why is it that all these PPP and SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership)
meetings are behind closed doors," Corsi asked, "and government officials and their supporters think that's normal? But when investigative reporters want to attend and report on what is being said, we are the ones who get accused of being the conspiracy theorists?

"By refusing to allow WND to attend as a paying customer," Corsi argues, "EuroMoney is telling the American public that they intend to conduct a secret meeting designed to teach government officials how to sell out U.S. public infrastructure to foriegn investment concerns.

(Story continues here)

Austin: Nation's most congested mid-sized city

2007-09-18T21:39:00.000-06:00

Saw this on the news tonight.

It takes us (on average) 31% longer to get to our destination in Austin during peak hours.

To compare, LA (the worst congested) takes 77% longer.

By Ben Wear
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, September 19, 2007

That Greater Austin is "the most congested medium-sized city in America" has become something of a mantra among local transportation officials, a handy fact used to justify or oppose toll roads, promote green measures or, this week, attack a proposed bus fare increase.

The Texas Transportation Institute, in its biannual Urban Mobility Report released today, once again puts the Austin metro area in that dubious position, giving it a congestion index of 1.31. That figure, which means a rush-hour trip takes 31 percent more time than the same journey at off-peak hours, puts Austin and its suburbs atop 30 metro areas designated as medium-sized.

(enlarge photo)

However, the criteria used for that grouping lists the Austin-area population as 855,000, just less than 60 percent of the 1.45 million people that U.S. Census bureau says lived in the Austin metropolitan area in 2005, the year studied in the report. Most other similarly sized American cities in the report are credited with 70 percent to 80 percent of their total metro population.

The reason for the discrepancy is that the institute bases its calculations on data from "urbanized areas," rather than using entire metropolitan areas. If a satellite town, such as Georgetown or San Marcos, has slivers of rural areas separating them from the central city and close-in suburbs, then they fall out of the urbanized area.

The relatively stingy population estimate has the effect of putting Austin below the 1 million population threshold for a "large" city (thus the "medium-sized city" designation) and of driving up Austin's congestion index.

"I'm not sure how much lower the number would come down"if more of the Austin metro area was included in the calculations, said study co-author Tim Lomax, a research engineer at the Texas A&M University-based institute.

Austin traffic, according to the report, has worsened steadily through the years. In 1982, Austin's congestion index was 1.07, causing about a minute and a half of delay on what would be a 20-minute trip outside of rush hour. By 1992, that number had increased only slightly to 1.12.

But in 2000, after the high-tech boom of the late 1990s, the index had reached 1.24 in Austin, five extra minutes for that 20-minute trip. The estimated delay on that 20-minute jaunt now would be just over six minutes.

And in those 23 years, according to the report, the percentage of the Austin-area road system experiencing congestion during rush hours has grown from 21 percent to 55 percent. The hours of such congestion, it says, have grown from three hours in 1982 to 7.2 hours now.

Austin's congestion, by the calculations of the report, is the 15th worst among the 85 cities studied (which includes the largest metro areas such as New York and Los Angeles). Among Texas cities, it's worse than San Antonio's 1.23 index and not much better than Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, which have travel time indexes of 1.35 and 1.36, respectively.

And because the data in the 2007 study dates to 2005, that means the 61.5 miles of four- and six-lane tollways that came online around Central Texas in the past year do not figure into the ratings. Austin's index could improve when the next report comes out in 2009.

"Something to look forward to," Lomax said. "The key would be how much traffic is on those new lane-miles."

Traffic has been heavier than expected on all four tollways added, but is still light on the longest of those roads, Texas 130.

The institute has been studying urban traffic and issuing the mobility report since 1982. Lomax and his associate, David Schrank, do not literally time people's commutes, but use traffic counts along with specific highway and public transit data.

Congestion, Lomax and Schrank say in the report, is a problem in all American cities and is getting worse.

"The solution to this problem is really to consider all the solutions," the report says. "One lesson from more than 20 years of mobility studies is that congestion relief is not just a matter of highway and transit agencies building big projects."

The authors recommend a combination of such expensive construction and additional strategies — telecommuting, flexible working hours, clearing accident scenes faster, strategic construction to eliminate "choke points" in the highway system — to create "a balanced and diversified approach to reduce congestion."

However, the authors say, "realistic expectations are also part of the solution. Large urban areas will be congested. Some locations near key activity centers in smaller urban areas will be congested. But congestion does not have to be an all-day event."

bwear@statesman.com, 445-3698

Austin Mojo - Tolls in the News: 183-A Tollway design generating rash of violations

2007-09-12T09:02:00.000-06:00

In response to Lindsy's issue on the previous post... you're not alone.

Austin Mojo - Tolls in the News: 183-A Tollway design generating rash of violations

This report from July says this stretch of toll road has an amazing 30% violation rate.

Have a TX Toll Tag? Then you "voted" to convert Freeways to Tollways

2007-09-10T22:18:00.001-06:00

A lot of "Take On Traffic" hats showed up early at tonights CAMPO meeting (contractors, private interests, chamber of commerce, not the working men and women who will pay). Among the arguments was the following:

"Supporters of the tollway plan pointed out that about 270,000 probable voters in this area have already cast something of a ballot for the four existing tollways that opened in the past 10 months by signing up for electronic toll tags."

How about that? You bought a TxTAG and you just voted to turn Existing Freeways into Tollways.

But all is fine, there'll still be free frontage roads!

"Most of the new tollways will overlay existing roads (though there would be free frontage roads alongside with at least as many free lanes as currently exist)." Frontage roads with intersections and stop lights do not equal free highways.

Hundreds of anti-toll speakers locked out of last nights meeting.
Read a report and view photos

FOX 7 News Report (video)

WHAT!! TxDOT pushing Congress to sell back existing interstate highways - turn into Tolls

2007-09-10T13:43:00.000-06:00

Wow...... I've been out of the loop for several weeks, but what else will these crooks dream up? I'm amazed at their creativity. Too bad they don't put it to good use to serve the public. Instead, they use their gifts to find ways to rip us off!

AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Transportation is pushing Congress to pass a federal law allowing the state to "buy back" parts of existing interstate highways and turn them into toll roads.

The 24-page plan, outlined in a "Forward Momentum" report that escaped widespread attention when published in February, drew prompt objections Thursday from state lawmakers and activists fighting the spread of privately run toll roads.

The report not only advocates turning stretches of interstate highways into toll roads, but it also suggests tax breaks for private company "investment" in such enterprises.

It seeks changes in federal law to allow the use of equity capital as a source of transportation funding. Along with that, it calls for altering the tax code to "exempt partnership distributions or corporate dividends related to ownership of (a) toll road from income taxation."

Read the whole smelly article......

The "Forward Momentum" document can be read on TxDOTs website. These people are listed at the end of the document as contacts:

Contacts
Cindy Mueller, Manager, Federal Legislative Aff airs
Government & Business Enterprises Division
202-434-0230
202-628-1943 fax
CMueller@dot.state.tx.us

Patrick Mullane, Federal Representative
Government & Business Enterprises Division
202-434-0209
202-628-1943 fax
PMullan@dot.state.tx.us

Chris Lipp incott, Federal Representative
Government & Business Enterprises Division
512-463-9957
512-463-9389 fax
CLippin@dot.state.tx.us

Coby Chase, Director
Government & Business Enterprises Division
512-463-6086
512-463-9389 fax
CChase@dot.state.tx.us

State officials trained to promote toll road plans on radio

2007-09-10T08:53:00.000-06:00

State officials trained to promote toll road plans on radio. The $20,000 contract with ViaNovo is part of the agency's Keep Texas Moving campaign, a public relations effort touting its implementation of Perry's transportation policy.

I'm so tired of seeing my tax dollars wasted.

Here's a glimpse into the minds of government crooks:

Coby Chase, director of the department's (Keep Texas Moving campaign) government and public affairs division, wrote in a July e-mail that plans call for the state officials to start out on satellite radio, in part because "the listening audience is paying for radio so they might be more apt to pay a toll." He wrote that the agency likely will buy advertising time on the satellite networks.

Isn't it nice to see your tax dollars being spent to try to convince you it's OK to take more of your money? Training and buying air time not to educate you, but to mis-inform you with partial truths.

But Rep. Mike Krusee, House Transportation Committee chairman, said the campaign is a response to lawmakers' demands for the agency to improve its communication with the public.

"I think TxDOT's doing exactly what the Legislature asked them to do, demanded that they do, and legislators who now cry foul are being hypocritical," said Krusee, R-Round Rock. "They were the ones that beat TxDOT over the head in public hearings for not explaining this."

Mr. Krusee, TxDOT we (lawmakers and the public) did not demand TxDOT spend our money on advertising or on training employees how to speak to us. We demanded honest answers and open government. The reason we didn't get it isn't because TxDOT did not know how to communicate. It is because the agency is corrupt, dishonest and they know it. They purposely try to prevent information flow to the public in fear that they will be exposed and relieved of their duty.

The final public CAMPO meeting to discuss "Phase2" tolls will be held at the state capital tonight from 6pm-9pm. Here are some details including free parking.

Area highway plan may require more tolls

2007-08-05T21:06:00.000-06:00

They aren't calling it "Phase 2" any more, but the plan probably isn't changing much. The only good thing since the plan was conceived in 2004 is that HW71/I-35 and 183/I-35 will likely not turn into toll roads. They were already under construction in 2004 when CAMPO designed the plan.

Read more....

CAMPO Road plan meetings

(All run from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.)

•Aug. 21, Covington Middle School, 3700 Convict Hill Road, Austin.

•Aug. 23, Kyle City Council chambers, 100 W. Center St., Kyle.

•Aug. 29, East Communities YMCA, 5315 U.S. 183, Austin.

•Aug. 30, Allen R. Baca Center, 301 W. Bagdad Ave., Round Rock.

Sen. Watson says "Phase II Toll Plan is truly dead"

2007-08-02T12:56:00.000-06:00

Sen. Watson sent an e-mail today saying Phase2 tolls (conversion of existing highways into toll ways) "are no longer on the table" and "truly dead." I've attached the e-mail in whole and unedited except for some bold statements which are interesting.

He also mentions the "decision tree" which I've attached here as an image.

Kudos to Watson for communicating directly.

I hope Phase2 is truly dead. This was the BIGGEST RIPOFF scheme to date!

Senator Kirk Watson wrote:

From: "Senator Kirk Watson"
Subject: A New Plan For Roads
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 11:25:58 -0500

Good morning.

As you may have seen, the Texas Department of Transportation has proposed new highway projects for Central Texas. But I think the proposal is most notable for what it does not include: TXDOT no longer proposes tolling sections of highways that have been built and opened without tolls.

In other words, the proposed toll road conversions that were a fundamental part of the Phase II Toll Plan are no longer on the table, and the Phase II Toll Plan is truly dead.

What's left are highway improvements that are important to this region, including work on:
-- State Highway 71 past Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to SH 130;
-- The heavily congested merge of SH 71 and U.S. 290 in Southwest Travis County;
-- The completion of U.S. 183 from 290 to 71.

You can find more information on these projects at http://www.campotexas.org/.

The estimated cost of these projects is approximately $2.24 billion. However, due to the financing problems that we all know too well, we are at least $500 million short of building them.

The Board of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization will spend the next two months collecting public input and studying options for constructing these projects, serving our region, and filling the half-billion dollar hole we're facing.

One option, for example, might be to put in High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes on some of the road segments and continue them onto some of the already-constructed portions. Another might be to use some sort of fee mechanism to make sure that essential road capacity isn't wasted as it has been in other areas.

Again, these are options for the public and the CAMPO board to consider. But as I've said repeatedly, I think at least one option should be taken off the table: the conversion of existing and open highways into full toll roads.

I believe the process will be far more transparent and accountable than it has been in the past, due in no small part to the policy framework -- the "Decision Tree" we have created -- that will guide our work. I have attached a copy of the Decision Tree that was the product of work by CAMPO's Mobility Financing Task Force and input from a number of you.

These roads belong to us, and I think the Decision Tree will help us ensure that they remain effective -- and public -- assets. But just as the public must continue to control its infrastructure, we cannot shrink from our responsibility to ensure that it truly serves the region, meeting the needs we have now and those that are coming.

Thank you for your interest and your assistance in this vital mission. Our region and our future are better because of it.

Kirk Watson

Decision Tree
[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

Pay more on existing Tolls to Fund more Toll Roads

2007-07-25T07:38:00.001-06:00

It's the new buze.... toll roads use is higher than predicted. Therefore we are not paying enough to use them. Increased toll rates will help keep people off the roads who can't afford it so that congestion remains low. Higher toll rates will also fund more toll roads.

Just check out the the media barrage we are seeing on a daily basis.

For this mess, you can thank your politicians for mis-managing your current tax dollars and refusing to address the problems before they grew this large.

Toll Road traffic exceeding projections

Motorists can - and should - pay more

A desire to keep the rates low could torpedo toll road goals

TxDOT - Gas Tax doesn't meet road expenses

NTTA on road to more tolls

Driving 45 is a numbers game

2007-07-25T07:31:00.000-06:00

Confusion is king in Austin road names. Click above to read.

State of TX monitors movement of toll road workers

2007-07-20T11:27:00.000-06:00

In this article today titled "the movement of those contractors is monitored to guard against abuse or fraud."

TxDOT Audit Urges More Toll Roads and Higher Fees

2007-07-19T11:32:00.000-06:00

Houston Chronicle-
Audit urges more tolls for Texas drivers
The state's best chance for keeping up with demand for new and improved roads is to build more toll roads with higher fees, according to an external audit of the Texas Department of Transportation.

Among other recommendations, the audit by Dye Management Group and Deloitte Consulting suggests the state replace the existing gasoline tax with a fee based on miles traveled per vehicle.

Dallas Morning News-
TxDOT could bump tolls to improve roads
Texas needs more toll roads, and drivers should pay more to use them, an external audit of the Texas Department of Transportation suggested Wednesday.

A fee for miles driven to replace the gas tax, wow... They blame part of the funding shortage on vehicles getting better gas mileage. So, lets tax per mile instead of tying it to a product. That's nice except that means you would have to convert all roads to toll or charge an extrordinary amount on existing toll roads to make up the difference.

If there's no gas tax, would the profits from tolls be used to build MORE TOLLS or would it be used to offset the lost revenue meant to build new free roads and maintain them.

I see this as more propaganda for crooks to justify their theft.

Phase II in a fuzzy phase

2007-07-16T07:26:00.000-06:00

Article by Ben Wear

Highway shortfall is worsening

2007-07-09T11:25:00.000-06:00

This stuff makes my blood boil so much that I have to pause before I make a post. There's a budget surplus, politicians won't index the gas tax and on top of that, let's pull more money from the Highway Fund. Oops, not enough money, looks like we'll need to build toll roads in your town. In this case I'll let the article speak for itself.

183-A Tollway design generating rash of violations

2007-07-05T14:55:00.000-06:00

183-A's toll-tag-only section has more than 30 percent violation rate.

More than 30 percent of people who drive on the 183-A tollway's anomalous toll-tag-only section are doing so illegally, an abnormally high violation rate that has the road's operator pondering alternatives to the confusing setup.

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority has asked Vollmer Associates, its traffic and revenue consultant, to analyze what might result from several scenarios, including continuing under the current arrangement. The authority expects to have that information within a few months and could consider making changes in the fall.

Tracking 183-A tolls

In June, the first month when all cars on 183-A were subject to tolls (albeit at a reduced rate for toll tag users), the road averaged 55,850 toll transactions a day. However, more than 11,000 of those times — about 20 percent — the driver did not pay for the privilege, many at the toll-tag-only toll gantries near Lakeline Boulevard.

Toll point	Daily toll transactions	Violations	Violation %	Tag Use
Lakeline (northbound)*	16,246	6,216	38.3	61.7
Lakeline (southbound)*	10,260	2,148	20.9	79.1
Brushy Creek (northbound)**	3,623	187	5.2	76.5
Brushy Creek (southbound)**	2,701	151	5.6	79.7
Park Street (both directions)**	23,016	2,515	10.9	73.2

* Toll-tag-only plaza with no cash booths

** Cash booths and toll tag readers

Source: Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, unaudited toll statistics

MORE.....

State chooses NTTA for SH 121

2007-06-29T12:56:00.000-06:00

The approval still leaves an opening for Cintra if deadlines are not met..

"The commission’s decision allows the NTTA 60 days to reach a project agreement with the Regional Transportation Council (RTC) and 45 days to close on that agreement. If the deadlines are missed, the contract would be awarded to Cintra, the private Spanish company that had been tentatively given the project in February"...........

Well it looks like the pressure TxDOT has been under this year has had some affect.

"Williamson said “baseless” accusations and “unattributed quotes” about the character of TxDOT staff have made him wary of encouraging the department to get re-involved in the process."

“Every time something doesn’t work, it is always TxDOT’s fault,” Williamson said. “I am having a hard time keeping district engineers…because they are getting beat up by public officials.”

It wasn't quit the outcome the NTTA wanted......

“They could have canceled the Cintra procurement and awarded the project outright to us,” Wageman said. “I think we have to be very focused on getting this thing done in the time frame allowed us. “

“By the end of the day today, or certainly by Monday, we will work up a schedule with the RTC so that we can drive this thing to a successful conclusion,” Wageman said.

Whole Article......

Free toll rides on 183-A only today

2007-06-27T09:51:00.000-06:00

Surely this isn't out of the goodness of their heart due to the flood. If it were, they would wave the tolls for the whole stretch of 183. I imagine with the flood evacuation, many folks are traveling WITHOUT TxTags. The CASH-ONLY portion of the toll road is being used by an unusually high number of non-paying drivers who normally would never use these roads.

Maybe Cedar Park Police refused to pull them all over and issue tickets for not paying.

AAS Reports:

Steve Pustelnyk, a spokesman for the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, said the agency decided to waive tolls for Wednesday on the 183-A toll road to ease evacuation from the South San Gabriel River flooding.

The road runs from RR 620/Texas 45 North, near Lakeline Mall, to just south of the South San Gabriel River, but tolls are charged only on the southerly 4.5 miles in Cedar Park and Austin.

The Texas Department of Transportation, while it continues to charge tolls today on the bulk of the three other Central Texas tollways it operates, was waiving tolls at the Texas 130/U.S. 79 interchange near Hutto.

According to the agency, FM 685 in that vicinity, the free alternative to the Texas 130 tollway, had some flooding. So, until further notice, the agency said people would be able to enter and leave Texas 130 at U.S. 79 without paying the 50 cent toll at that location.

State may defy local leaders on 121 toll plan

2007-06-27T09:43:00.000-06:00

Dallas Morning News Report:

Money, politics could push panel to override choice of NTTA

The Texas Transportation Commission has made a habit of honoring local leaders' decisions.

But when commissioners meet Thursday to consider North Texas leaders' plans for the politically charged State Highway 121 toll road, nobody expects a rubber stamp.

The Regional Transportation Council voted 27-10 last week to endorse the North Texas Tollway Authority for the multibillion-dollar project. If ratified by the commission, the local vote would torpedo an earlier deal the state reached with the Spanish company Cintra.

Commissioners have never overruled a decision by the regional council, but with so much money and politics at stake, Highway 121 could set a precedent.

Read More.....

NAFTA superhighway heads north from Texas

2007-06-21T16:14:00.000-06:00

Two articles worth a look with supporting documentation linked in.

NAFTA superhighway extends north
Plan under way in Texas will extend to Oklahoma, Colorado

NAFTA superhighway heads north

Nichols discusses legislative session with group

2007-06-21T15:57:00.000-06:00

The Palestine (TX) Herald had a piece today reporting on Sen. Robert Nichols speaking to the Republican Women of Anderson County. The following is a excerpt from the report that deals with his position on toll roads. Click the header to read the whole thing.

“I am pro-toll roads, especially in urban areas, but selling those roads to foreign companies is not something I believe the people of the state of Texas want,” he said. “I am proud of the legislation we passed basically providing for a moratorium on private equity toll roads. The companion House and Senate bill protects 99 percent of Texas roads or gives local entities first right of refusal. In a great part of the state the bill shut down the Trans-Texas Corridor plans.”

Regarding issues of eminent domain, Nichols said he filed a bill which would have prohibited the taking of private property for recreational purposes. The bill received a hearing but it never made it to the senate floor for a vote.

Houston - As Westpark tolls rise, so do tempers

2007-06-20T10:18:00.000-06:00

Drivers up in arms after officials double the fee at peak hours to ease congestion

Harris County Commissioners Court's decision Tuesday to fight congestion on the three-year-old Westpark Tollway by forcing some drivers off the road with higher rush-hour fees drew the ire of cash-strapped commuters.

And a dismissive response from Commissioner Steve Radack — "Let them go down Richmond Road" — made the new $2.50 tolls even less palatable for some.

Commuter Vic Stewart, in an e-mail, said of the Commissioners Court, "And 'Let them eat cake!' They'll certainly have time."

Commissioners Court voted unanimously to hike fees to $2.50 from 6-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m., hoping fewer drivers will use the tollway.

The court, also in a unanimous vote, raised fees by 25 cents on all county toll roads. The increases will go into effect in September.

With the toll roads already known among some area residents as "Lexus Lanes," the new prices left some drivers wondering whether the court has forgotten about working people.

More....

NTTA gets OK for 121 toll project

2007-06-18T19:30:00.000-06:00

Today, The Dallas Morning News reports that the local Regional Transportation Council endorsed the North Texas Tollway Authority over Perry/TxDOT favored Cintra.

"The 27-10 vote Monday by the Regional Transportation Council sets the stage for a showdown in Austin at the Texas Transportation Commission, which is expected to make a final decision June 28. While the commission has previously said it will place great emphasis on the council’s vote, it is not bound to do so, TxDOT spokesman Randall Dillard said."

"Council members appear to have been convinced that endorsing a local entity, with a long history of building and operating toll roads in North Texas, was preferable to awarding the contract to a private company based in Spain that builds toll roads across the world, but which has limited experienced in Texas."

“What it really boils down to is whether the dollars that are made here stay here in Texas, or if they are going to fly off [as corporate profits] to Delaware, or wherever they go,” said Dallas City Council member Bill Blaydes."

Commission authorizes more than 80 toll road projects across Texas

2007-06-15T11:11:00.000-06:00

This from articles in the Statesman and Texarckana Gazette today:

"State lawmakers recently passed a two-year moratorium on some private toll road contracts. The law still allows local and state planners to move on the new toll projects....

“The message we got was toll roads are OK, but we don’t want privately owned roads,” said Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, which approved the projects."

Government left unchecked will only get bigger. The bigger and more powerful it becomes, the more self-serving it becomes.

Those in positions of power, rather elected or APPOINTED, begin to make decisions based on their own greed. Instead of serving the public, they contrive schemes to profit from public funds.

They change laws to benefit their own agenda, they create committees and agencies staffed with individuals who will do their bidding. They hide behind these committees to protect their true intentions from the mostly unknowing public. NEWS FLASH: The Governors office signs a "compromise bill" BEHIND THE SCENES: his committees continue with the mission as he intended.

Absent a dictatorship, government grows slowly while the sleeping masses allow it to be fed term after term.

There is no difference in party. All politicians are subject to the temptation of power and money. They must be rotated out of office frequently to keep them honest. Career politicians make a living off of manipulating law for personal gain.

It's time for a rotation.

TxDOT to install cameras on I35 from Austin to San Antonio

2007-06-13T16:21:00.000-06:00

The Texas Department of Transportation has awarded a contract to install cameras on Interstate 35 from Loop 1604 to Ben White Blvd. in Austin, officials said. It spans 79 miles in all and is the first joint project connecting two metropolitan areas, TXDOT officials said.

Soon you will be able to log on to your computer or turn on your television and check traffic from San Antonio to Austin.

More...

Perry signs SB792

2007-06-11T15:45:00.000-06:00

Monday, June 11, 2007
Associated Press

AUSTIN -- A compromise Texas transportation bill has been signed into law Monday by Governor Rick Perry.

More...

CapMetro could fall into red in next 3 years

2007-06-11T15:42:00.000-06:00

NYC Mayor wants to charge FEE to enter Freeway - Idea backed by FEDS

2007-06-08T14:50:00.000-06:00

This is the first I've heard of this, but this appears to be a perfect example of tolling an existing freeway. Only in NewYork! (we hope).

It is extremely important that we know where our candidates stand on this issue before we vote.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Traffic congestion and devastating pollution are among the "inconvenient truths" of our age and could be eased by imposing pay-to-drive fees on Manhattan motorists, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a legislative panel Friday.

Under Bloomberg's proposal, cars entering Manhattan south of 86th Street would be charged $8 per day, and trucks $21. Under a three-year pilot program, the fees would be collected only during the worst traffic hours, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Two major roadways flanking the east and west sides of Manhattan, FDR Drive and the West Side Highway, would be exempt.

Some lawmakers in the city's outer boroughs and bedroom communities do not support the so-called "congestion pricing," saying it would punish many drivers.

"This is a tax on middle-class people," said state Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat who chairs one of the committees that held the joint hearing. "This will stop the Chevrolets from coming in, not the BMWs."

The city would become the first in the nation to adopt a congestion pricing plan of this magnitude. The proposal is similar to a system that London has used since 2003, and government officials there say it has significantly reduced congestion.

Feds back Bloomberg's traffic fee plan

This was expected.

DON'T DRIVE, HE SAID.....

S. Fla. a step closer to converting I-95's carpool lanes into 'Lexus' lanes

2007-06-07T15:26:00.000-06:00

"We're very pleased," said Alice Bravo, who is overseeing the Florida Department of Transportation's $200 million plan to convert I-95's carpool lanes into express toll lanes between Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

If the region doesn't get federal funds, officials are still committed to the project. But the timeframe would be delayed, Bravo said.

Are all these DOT people related? They all talk the same.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday that the region is among nine semifinalists competing for $1.1 billion in federal funds to help cities fight gridlock.

It's a Federal Funding LOTO, eerr BRIBE!

South Florida is competing against New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. Up to five cities will split the money, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. The winners will be announced in August.

Read it all....

Hays County Court not intimidated by TxDOT deadline

2007-06-04T14:55:00.000-06:00

Hays County established a Citizen's Transportation Committee following the failure of a $172 million road bond package at the May 12 polls. TxDOT would have repaid up to $133 million in the "pass through financing" deal.

Now the state wants to know where commissioners stand on the funds earmarked for the Hays County roads. TxDOT Austin District Engineer Bob Daigh asked the court in a May 23 letter to inform his office within 30 days of the county’s decision to terminate or carry through with the pass-through agreement.

But Hays County Judge Liz Sumter said she’s not scared of playing chicken with TxDOT’s deadline.

“I think TxDOT has demonstrated that it’s not necessarily firm in what it says from day to day,” Sumter said. “I don’t feel pressed to make a decision in 30 days…"

Read the whole thing....

TxDot, Mopac1 team meets with citizens this week about Managed Lanes.

2007-06-01T13:39:00.000-06:00

[click image above to see large view of some proposals]

TxDot and the Mopac1 planning team met with over 200 citizens Tues 6/29/07 to discuss Mopac managed lane proposals. John Kelly, the MoPac1 project manager, published this memo outlining the proposal.

On page 2 of his memo, he addresses safety concerns regarding reducing lane width to 11 feet:

"What some folks might not realize is that several sections of Loop 1 and other highways in cities across Texas have 11-foot wide lanes that safely carry traffic today. Even so, the recommended design for Loop 1 includes a number of elements to enhance the safety of the traveling public, including improved traffic control devices (What?), limited access points and extra-wide shoulders (where possible)."

Here Mr. Kelly defends the charge that Managed Lanes are Tolls on roads we've already paid for:

"Some people have expressed concern that charging a fee to use a managed lane on MoPac is akin to charging a toll to use an existing public highway. There is an important distinction here: tolls are charged to all users of a road as a direct method of funding the road and the tolls remain the same regardless of the time of day. For the Loop 1 project, fees would be used as a tool to keep the managed lanes free of congestion and functioning at optimum capacity."

Sorry, it's still a fee, toll, double-tax or whatever you want to call it on existing public right of way. Also, I understand the concept of using the fees to keep congestion down, but where exactly will the money go? He already says that tolls are charged to fund roads and he uses this as a distinction from managed lane fees. So, where exactly will the money go?

They will lay down more pavement to widen the lanes. But they will stay within "TxDOT's existing right of way".

"Another criticism I’ve heard is that this project simply involves re-striping the existing pavement. This criticism ironically stems from the project team’s successful effort to keep the recommended improvements within TxDOT’s existing right of way, so as not to intrude upon adjacent residents and other landowners. While the right of way width will remain unchanged, the roadway and several bridges will indeed be widened. In fact, the approach we have recommended involves widening the existing roadway and bridges the entire project length, laying down new pavement, making significant drainage system improvements, and adding nearly seven miles of noise barriers."

They have a website where you can see lots of propaganda and drawings of the proposal. Go to Mopac1.org to see what's there. I couldn't find anything about how this thing would be funded or how the income from fees would be handled. Also haven't found anything about HOW MUCH the fees would actually be.

State transportation department chief to retire in August

2007-05-31T14:19:00.000-06:00

Michael Behrens, who as executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation since 2001 has led the agency through a period of radical change, is retiring at the end of August.

TX Anti-Toll Groups Dissagree; TxDot and NASCO Host Annual Meeting between U.S./Mex./Can.

2007-05-30T10:16:00.001-06:00

I am sad to see the unity between anti-toll groups eroding. While Texas Anti-Toll groups are split on whether SB792 is a compromise or a moratorium, their foes are moving on with business as usual.

We Texans are caught up in a plan to connect North America. The TTC is just were it starts (after all, we are the largest state and our former Gov. is now President). NASCO is but one example of the private interests that are influencing how Texas transportation policy is being made.

It is extremely important that Anti-Toll/TTC groups unit if there is to be any chance of slowing down this snowball that has been building for over a decade.

Beginning today,
TxDot and NASCO (North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition) are hosting it's 3rd annual three-day conference in Fort Worth, TX. According to the NASCO program flyer, next year the conference will be in Guanajuato, Mexico, June 4-6, 2008.

More than 350 transportation, logistics and economic development specialists from the United States, Canada and Mexico are attending the meeting.

The nonprofit coalition, whose members include public- and private-sector organizations, wants to develop an integrated transportation system linking the three countries.

It is reported that NASCO has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan the NAFTA Super Highway. Their own website reveals how they have been actively involved in shaping our federal transportation legislation.

"Federal Legislation Overview

For over ten years, NASCO has been developing a strong coalition of cities, counties, states, Canadian provinces, and private sector companies to lobby for federal funding and promote a "SuperCorridor" to address the transportation, trade and security needs of the three NAFTA nations.

We have succeeded in bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to the NASCO I-35 Corridor, resulting in High Priority Corridor status for I-35 in 1995 under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). In addition, we successfully lobbied for the creation of two new categories under the Transportation Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) – the National Corridor Planning & Development Program and the Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program.

The NASCO "SuperCorridor Caucus" was formed on Capitol Hill to promote corridor development and to help secure NASCO legislative initiatives in both the authorization and appropriation processes.

We continue to be recognized as the strongest International Trade Corridor Coalition on Capitol Hill, and we are the only Corridor Coalition with true international representation from the three NAFTA nations."

Additionally, on their website:
North America's SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc. supports the Multi-state International Corridor Development Program in S. 1072

In a 1996 study done for NASCO, it was estimated that the corridor needed $2 billion per year in infrastructure improvements over an 18-year period. NASCO supports as high a funding level as possible for the Multi-state International Corridor Development Program to operate as intended.

More
About NASCO

Despite Loss of Amendment 13 CorridorWatch.org Backs SB792

2007-05-25T21:37:00.000-06:00

CorridorWatch released a statement today expressing, gratitude for all supporters, disappointment about losing amendment 13 and yet, support for SB 792. Sometimes in politics, you take what you can get now and save your energy for the fight ahead. It's like the old saying of "two steps forward - one step back".

"The valiant effort of Representative Lois Kolkhorst together with dozens of other legislators, thousands of CorridorWatch members, and the thousands more who joined us could not over come the tremendous power of the Governor's office."

"Did we lose? NO WE WON! We got a lot, a lot more than anyone thought possible!"

"public representations have been made to the legislature that no TTC construction contracts will be executed during the moratorium. Should that occur a certain firestorm will erupt with CorridorWatch leading a charge against TxDOT."

"Here are some of the positive things that Senate Bill 792 will do:

SB792 creates a formal legislative study committee to research and report on public policy implications of private partnership toll projects. This will provide the public a substantive opportunity to participate in the discussion of public-private partnerships and perhaps the overarching Trans Texas Corridor.

SB792 will require the authorization for comprehensive development agreements to come under review and reauthorization. This provides another opportunity to stop the use of CDAs.

SB792 provides for greater public access to information and more disclosure with regard to the Trans Texas Corridor and other toll related contracts and details."

"If you have ever heard a CorridorWatch program presented in your community you might remember that one of our goals has been to make the TTC less attractive to investors and private participants by placing limitations and restrictions on the potential deals. SB792 takes us a long way in that direction.

Here are some of the other things that Senate Bill 792 will do:

SB792 prohibits a firm who has developed the market valuation for a toll project from investing in a private entity that participates in financing, development, construction or operation of a toll project. This helps eliminate a conflict of interest that has occurred in other state’s public-private partnership deals. It should also inject more accuracy into the financial model.

SB792 prohibits the use of an estimate of future project revenue in calculating the estimated amount of loss to the private participant in the case of termination for convenience (unless it was in the agreed base case financial model). This impacts the ‘buy-back’ provision of public-private toll roads and safeguards us against unreasonably high buyout expenses.

SB792 provides local toll road authorities with access to the state highway system without being required to pay excessive and unreasonable access fees to TxDOT. Those fees would of course be passed on to motorists.

SB792 grants authority for local toll roads to be developed using comprehensive development agreements within the framework setout in the bill’s provisions. Not a great provision, but does allow more local control that would otherwise exist.
SB792 invalidates a TxDOT ‘protocol’ established in north Texas that restricts the ability of regional toll road authorities to fully participate in toll road projects in the region. The ‘protocol’ served to force private toll road participants over public authorities.
SB792 places limits on the non-compete and competition penalties allowable in the terms of an agreement with a private toll road partner. Limits included a geographical limitation of four miles and a series of transportation projects and facilities that cannot be prohibited or for which no penalty can be paid.

Some anti-toll groups will advocate for defeat of SB792 when it comes up for a vote in the House and Senate. CorridorWatch however will advocate for it to be passed into law. It represents a giant step in the right direction and lays the ground work for more progress in the future."

Read all @ CorridorWatch.com...

Toll road agreement reached WITHOUT amendment 13

2007-05-25T15:11:00.000-06:00

SB 792 no longer includes an amendment the House added to ensure that no legs of the Trans-Texas Corridor tollway flanking Interstate 35 will be built over the coming two years.

S B 792 is the distillation of dozens of bills filed this session by legislators dissatisfied with how Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation dove headlong over the past four years into pay-as-you-drive highways. More.....

Senate Bill 792 "is not only full of loopholes, but it makes things worse. 792 allows local authorities the same powers we were trying to take away from TxDOT," said Sal Costello, leader of People for Efficient Transportation.

Critics believe that Texas Department of Transportation officials will simply call the temporarily banned private equity toll road agreements another name: facilities agreements.

But. Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, author of the "facilities amendment," said TxDOT would get dragged into court if the agency tries to thwart the moratorium by using loopholes to get around it.

"It's a strong bill, with or without the amendment, if you think about how far we've come in the last year and a half," said Kolkhorst, who helped lead the fight for a moratorium on private toll roads.

Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, who helped craft the final legislation, said the message in the bill is that "the public is telling TxDOT that 'We don't trust you. We have lost faith in what you are doing.'"

Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform & Freedom, called SB 792 "a counterfeit moratorium because this governor snuck in a way to charge us 'market rate' on all tolls projects from now on" that will result in the highest possible tolls.

"It does us no good if 281/1604 are in the private toll moratorium if they can still use our public toll authority to do the same thing," she said.

"Our victory comes in the power of us sending a shot across the bow to this governor and TxDOT that their tricks are no longer under the radar."

She accused lawmakers of selling out and predicted that voters will respond at election time.

WHO IS THIS MONUMENTAL TEXAN?

2007-05-25T15:08:00.000-06:00

SB 792 Support needed to keep Ammendment 13

2007-05-21T09:11:00.000-06:00

Without ammendment 13, SB 792 won't slow down the TTC. CorridorWatch just released this info:

Open The Floodgates!

The Lt. Governor's Office has cleared their voicemail box that was filled to capacity yesterday and report that they have established a temporary fax line today.

Please Note:

Lt. Governor
David Dewhurst

800.441.0373

512.463.0001

If you have already called, Great!

It would really help
if you could also send a fax today

Fax 512.463.0677

Additional (temporary) Fax 512.936.8144

Fax Form Letter You Can Use [CLICK]

e-Mail [link]

Toll road foe a powerful force

2007-05-20T19:28:00.000-06:00

Interesting piece on Terri Hall the founder of San Antonio Toll Party.

"When TxDOT says tolls are fair because only users pay, Hall sees tax-funded rights of way being converted to tollways, with profits going to other uses.

When TxDOT says market forces will keep toll rates in check, Hall sees a government monopoly squeezing cash from congestion-weary drivers.

When TxDOT says private sector innovation and efficiency will save time and money, Hall sees corporate handouts and toll rates rising faster than ever."

"She's doing what she thinks is right," said former San Antonio Mayor Bill Thornton, chairman of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority. "I also think she's misguided. She's been harmful to our community's transportation needs."

Full Story...

With replacement in limbo, Perry vetoes toll bill

2007-05-20T19:25:00.000-06:00

"I am grateful that legislators are working with me in subsequent legislation to address these concerns I have expressed," Perry said in his veto message.

Report that moratorium bill may not affect TTC

2007-05-18T16:24:00.001-06:00

Fri, 18 May 2007 16:56:17
Have We Been Sold Out?

Afraid So!

By the time you read this the Governor's office may have already out maneuvered us all by effectively removing the Trans Texas Corridor TTC-35 from any moratorium limitations in SB792.

The Governor's office has targeted seven House amendments for removal.

Things are moving so fast there may be no time for anyone outside a small circle of key legislators to impact the outcome. By the end of today it is likely that Governor Perry will have his way and the citizens of Texas will have been sold out at the highest levels of Government.

The Governor's representatives Kris Heckmann and Ken Armbrister arrived to visit senators shortly after 11:00am this morning. About that same time a three page analysis/summary of SB792 amendments reportedly prepared by TxDOT was circulating.

CorridorWatch has been told that seven amendments has been targeted for removal. Among those are one by Pickett (6) effecting the El Paso RMA; one by Callegari (12) they believe was misdrafted; three by Kolkhorst (13, 15, & 16) effecting TTC35, CDA penalty payment funds, and a prohibition of investment firms being on both sides of a CDA; one by Quintanilla (22) a county contract provision; and, one by Y. Davis (27) requiring land taken by condemnation be offered back to the owner is unused.

Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst met on the floor of the Senate this morning with Senators Williams, Carona, and Nichols in an apparent attempt to convince Nichols to sign off on the prearranged deal.

It was Dewhurst that forced SB792 in to play in the first place making his intent very clear. As expected the Senate members of the conference committee are stacked in favor of producing the Governor's outcome. With only three votes out of five required it is unlikely that Nichols will find enough support to preserve the moratorium.

You may recall Austin political insiders predicted that the legislature would fold under the Governors' pressure. We had given them more credit, but that may prove to be sorely undeserved.

Conference Committee Members.

Senator Tommy Williams, Chair 512.463.

Senator John Carona 512.463.0116

Senator Eliot Shapleigh 512.463.0129

Senator Kim Brimer 512.463.0110

Senator Robert Nichols 512.463.0103

Representative Wayne Smith 512.463.0733

Representative (to be announced)

House Conference Committee members will not be formally named until Monday. But that doesn't mean that Rep. Smith has got them picked and begun the process of looking at the bill language the Governor expects them to agree on.

Word has it that Senator Carona will start 'visiting with likely House conferees' this weekend.

Anything can happen in conference, but this time the sheet music has been supplied by the Lt. Governor and the Governor is calling the tune.

CorridorWatch was wrong!

Have you heard that HB1892 won't effect TTC-35? We had, and we thought that it was a load of baloney. Unfortunately, we were wrong. Now we know it and they know we know it.

There is no question that it was the clear legislative intent of HB1892 and SB792 to stop TxDOT from proceeding with any TTC facility construction during the two-year moratorium. Everyone knew that including the Governor and TxDOT and yet they let the legislature believe that these bills would do that. In fact the Governor went on record saying that he would sign the moratorium.

Amendment 13 to SB792 by Kolkhorst closes a moratorium loophole in HB1892 by including TTC-35 CDA facility agreements. The only exception would be Loop 9.

If only one amendment survives the Conference Committee it needs to be Amendment 13.

Amendment 13 is "Do or Die" for TTC-35.

It is no surprise that Kolkhorst amendment 13 is on the Governor's hit list. If we are to have an enforceable moratorium on the TTC, we must have amendment 13 remain on SB792.

Amendment 16 is just good business practice.

Rep. Kolkhorst doesn't think that the financial advisor who develops the market valuation for a project (for the toll authority or TxDOT) should also advise the company that will finance, build, develop or operated a TxDOT toll project. This is another amendment that is targeted for removal.

Other amendments also have merit, but we can't save the world, and were not too sure we can save ourselves from the Trans Texas Corridor.

Once again we ask, Will Our Senators and Representatives Continue Standing-Up For the People of Texas?

With your help we believe they can.

CorridorWatch will be watching and reporting.

David & Linda Stall, Co-founders

CorridorWatch.org

House approves toll road moratorium bill

2007-05-18T10:53:00.000-06:00

SB 792 (<-click to see the whole bill) still needs another round of final Senate approval.

There have been 35 ammendments to the bill over the last 3 days and I haven't had time to read through them yet and it's a long bill.

Looks like the CDA term limit is reduced from 70 to 50 years.

More later..........

Harris County Judge Ditches Lobbying Group

2007-05-17T10:37:00.000-06:00

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett voted Tuesday to withdraw the county’s membership in the Alliance for I-69 Texas, an organization that has supported converting U.S. 59 into an interstate highway.”It’s no longer an alliance for I-69,” said County Judge Ed Emmett.

“It’s an alliance for the Trans-Texas Corridor.”

Harris County this year paid a $50,000 membership fee to the alliance, a coalition of counties, towns, chambers of commerce and others.

It will ask the alliance to return more than two-thirds of this year’s fees.

$50,000 of our tax money to lobby against us. A refund is a nice start but how about passing a law that says no government agency can spend a penny for any lobbying firm? Yeah, that’ll go over well.

Full Article

Perry’s veto clock runs slow

2007-05-17T10:33:00.000-06:00

and the game goes on.......

By Ben Wear | Thursday, May 17, 2007, 09:34 AM

So, how long does Gov. Rick Perry have to decide what to do with HB 1892, the toll road bill he wants to die?

Perry’s office says he has until 11:59 p.m. Friday, and everyone seems to be going along with that. But it takes a flexible interpretation of the Texas Constitution to come up with that time.

Here’s the relevant excerpt of what the Constitution says about a governor and his consideration of bills from the Legislature: “If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor with his objections within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law … “

The Constitution, at least in this section, does not define what a “day” is. Under the interpretation of Perry’s office, he’ll actually have 10 days, 14 hours and 44 minutes to make a decision. His office received the bill at 9:15 a.m. on Monday, May 7. To get to Perry’s interpretation, you pretty much have to treat May 7 as Day Zero and assume that the 10-day clock didn’t start ticking until May 7 turned into May 8.

That extra time of almost 15 hours is not an inconsequential difference, under the circumstances.

The Legislature is scrambling to pass a replacement bill, SB 792, and to get it done before Perry has to veto HB 1892. This is not a drop-dead thing — the Legislature could still pass SB 792 and Perry could sign it even after an HB 1892 veto — but for a variety of political, tactical and symbolic reasons everybody really wants it to go down that way.

But with SB 792 just getting to the House floor today, and needing two days to pass, a 9:15 a.m. Friday deadline probably would be too soon. Waiting until the cusp of midnight, however, gives the House another working day.

Absent a Texas Constitutional scholar raising a stink, however, this is the interpretation that will carry the day. Or maybe that’s a day plus 14 hours and 44 minutes.

Impasse on the toll roads

2007-05-17T10:23:00.000-06:00

Well written opinion in the East Texas Weekly today.

TOLL ROAD LOBBY THREATENS TEXAS BLOGGER WITH LAWSUIT

2007-05-16T15:53:00.000-06:00

The Muckraker: TOLL ROAD LOBBY THREATENS TEXAS BLOGGER WITH LAWSUIT

Texas: Phase1 of NAFTA Super Highway

2007-05-16T13:52:00.000-06:00

Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway

Headlines like the one above are popping up all over now days. Consider this and it's no surprise that the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) tried to influence Texas legislators not to pass HB 1892 (the TTC moratorium bill now on Gov. Perry's desk). Their actions sparked a sequence of interesting correspondence.

1) A copy of Federal correspondence to TxDOT can be found here. TxDOT then pushed on Texas legislators to kill HB 1892 by using Federal leverage.
2) May 1, 2007, their letter prompted a response from U.S. Senator Hutchison (here) expressing concern.
3) May 9, 2007 FHA replied to Senator Huchison (here).

So let's say this NAFTA Super Highway (TTC) plan by the Bush Administration is true. It could be possible Bush and Perry discussed this plan in the late 1990s when Bush and Perry were both in the Texas Gov. office. There was still plenty of work to do since some texas laws would have to be "modified" to allow for the TTC.

Interestingly enough, All 3 Texas Parties Officially Oppose the TTC. Yet, as we see, no party is willing to stop it. There are a lot of powerful people pushing this Highway with a lot of money to be made. The Bush Administration has remained quite publicly, but it appears they are working hard in the background to lay the foundations that connect Mexico to Canada.

From "Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway":

NASCO, the North America SuperCorridor Coalition Inc. has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan the NAFTA Super Highway as a 10-lane limited-access road (five lanes in each direction) plus passenger and freight rail lines running alongside pipelines laid for oil and natural gas. One glance at the map of the NAFTA Super Highway on the front page of the NASCO website will make clear that the design is to connect Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. into one transportation system.

Kansas City SmartPort Inc. is an “investor based organization supported by the public and private sector” to create the key hub on the NAFTA Super Highway.

The U.S. government has housed within the Department of Commerce (DOC) an “SPP office” that is dedicated to organizing the many working groups laboring within the executive branches of the U.S., Mexico and Canada to create the regulatory reality for the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The SPP agreement was signed by Bush, President Vicente Fox, and then-Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Tex., on March 23, 2005. According to the DOC website, a U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee on Transportation Planning has finalized a plan such that “(m)ethods for detecting bottlenecks on the U.S.-Mexico border will be developed and low cost/high impact projects identified in bottleneck studies will be constructed or implemented.” The report notes that new SENTRI travel lanes on the Mexican border will be constructed this year. The border at Laredo should be reduced to an electronic speed bump for the Mexican trucks containing goods from the Far East to enter the U.S. on their way to the Kansas City SmartPort.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is overseeing the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) as the first leg of the NAFTA Super Highway. A 4,000-page environmental impact statement has already been completed and public hearings are scheduled for five weeks, beginning next month, in July 2006. The billions involved will be provided by a foreign company, Cintra Concessions de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. of Spain. As a consequence, the TTC will be privately operated, leased to the Cintra consortium to be operated as a toll-road.

Compromise transportation bill approved by Texas Senate

2007-05-15T15:26:00.000-06:00

Well, that was fast.

Goodbye HB1892.

Hello SB792.

Senators bicker over SB 792

2007-05-14T16:14:00.000-06:00

Sen. Robert Nichols:
“It adds a whole new level of new transportation codes and new authorities that have never been fleshed out in public hearings,” Nichols, a former Texas Transportation Commission member, said of the bill’s hot-off-the-printer’s 81 pages. Given the new exceptions added to his moratorium, and other new language, “we’re not quite sure what the moratorium will do.”

Sen. John Carona:
“Some of your comments are just not accurate,” said Carona, who has been in on the closed-door negotiations on the bill over the past few days. Nichols was not invited to those sessions. “I don’t want to let those statements go unchallenged before the press.”

Nichols replied that he had spent from 9 p.m. Sunday to 1 a.m. today going through the bill line by line and that his comments were in fact informed.

“Did you do that last night?” Nichols asked Carona.

Toll road bill brings Senate to standstill

2007-05-14T16:07:00.000-06:00

Now there's a rush to get another transportation bill to Perry to replace HB 1892 which Perry is expected to veto. Here's a report from Ben Wear, the headline gives it away.

By Ben Wear | Monday, May 14, 2007, 02:07 PM

The Senate, with just two weeks left in the session, has come to a big fat standstill. The reason: negotiations over SB 792, the newly crowned Big Transportation Bill.

Supporters of Gov. Rick Perry’s preferred toll road bill want it out of the Senate today. That would get it to third reading on House floor by Thursday, the scenario goes, in time to avoid a gubernatorial veto Friday of HB 1892, its older brother that Perry doesn’t like.

But the key senators on the bill, Tommy Williams of Houston and John Carona of Dallas, have been mostly missing in action since the Senate convened at 11 a.m., along with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. In the hallway outside waits a clutch of increasingly hungry staff members and lobbyists who worked on the bill.

Inside the Senate, the rest of us wait.

So what does SB 792 do?

** It allows private toll road contracts to last 50 years, instead of 40 years as in HB 1892, and up to 70 years under current law.

** It exempts some more roads from the two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts, including Texas 99 near Houston and I-69 south of Interstate 37. South Texans, believing Perry’s claim that HB 1892 would kill any chance for that road, demanded this.

** It changes language in HB 1892 that would have allowed the state to buy back a profitable toll road from a private company based primarily on what the company had invested in the road. Instead, the buyback amount would be based on original estimates of toll revenue for the life of the project. This would be higher price generally than under HB 1892, but lower than under current law for successful toll roads.

** It fixes a mistake in HB 1892 which would have directed all money from multi-billion concession payments for the Texas 121 tollway to Dallas. Under this bill, the money would be allocated to both the Dallas and Fort Worth areas.

** The Harris County Toll Road Authority, which under HB 1892 would have gotten right of way free from the state for some new tollways, will have to pay the state its the original cost to the state of getting the land. However, those payments will stay in the Houston area for other road projects.

** In a completely new section, all future toll road projects would undergo a “market valuation” by a third-party to determine what their value might be in up-front concession payments. Then the local toll road agency would have first shot at doing the project as long as it could raise that up-front money

Rep. Krusee HB 2268 let's TxDOT acquire land before a toll or road project is approved

2007-05-11T13:33:00.000-06:00

before environmental studies are completed, before public hearings take place, etc. In short, it lets TxDOT lock in a route in advance, and then pretend like all the public input and research might actually change their decision.

AAA Texas Now Selling TxTags

2007-05-11T13:07:00.000-06:00

Click Title to read the story..........

Austin’s Grumpy Old Troll Under the Bridge

2007-05-11T10:26:00.000-06:00

Well, I knew it would happen sooner or later. Eventually I would have to meet the Toll Troll.

When all the toll roads started going up in Austin, I decided I wouldn't use them even if it means a longer drive. But this week I had a meeting and needed to get to 1431 toward Cedar Park and things didn't go as planned. I had not driven that area in several years so I was not familiar with the layout of the new 183 Toll Roads. I couldn't use the Toll Road anyway because I don't have a TxTag and the first entrance doesn't take cash.

Don't trust the maps
I looked up the route using online maps and thought I could take 183 North and exit before the toll roads, then stay on the access road until I get to 1431. I figured I could at least follow the signs to stay on the access roads because I had read that they had been re-routed. Things went fine until I got past 620 and Lakeline Blvd, then the access road ended and I was forced up onto the Toll Road entrance ramp. I stayed in the right lane and the entrance ramp turned into the 1431 exit ramp almost immediately. As I exited I was forced to pay $1.50 and man was I pissed! I couldn't have even been a mile and I didn't have a choice!

Suckered into Paying a $1.50 for 1/2 Mile!
If there were signs saying I needed to turn somewhere to avoid getting on the toll road, I sure didn't see them and there was no way to turn around. Once I exited, there were four toll booths and the signs are hidden under a cover over the booths, so I couldn't tell which one was the cash booth or how much the toll was until I was nearly at the booths. Luckily, I was the only car there. That's funny somehow.

Out-of-Towners Beware:
Ridiculous! $3/mile should be illegal. I feel sorry for any visitors to our town. They won't know about the NO CASH entrance and they won't know what the total tolls will be until they exit and then get an additional $6 bill in the mail for not having a TxTag. They'll probably go away thinking what a bunch of rip-off nickel-and-dime thieves we Texans are.

Warn your visitors so they don't get screwed too.

CAMPO's 2030 plan, ALL TOLLs

2007-05-04T15:29:00.000-06:00

According to CAMPO's 2030 plan, only 4 sections of highway will not be tolled in Austin. This is an insane example of poor management of tax dollars. I think I will not have my family living in such a city before to long.

Map:
http://www.campotexas.org/pdfs/Map5-2.pdf

Plan:
http://www.campotexas.org/pdfs/AdoptedMobility2030Plan.pdf

HB1892 sitting on Gov. Perry's desk

2007-05-04T14:45:00.000-06:00

"Many House lawmakers applauded when the
bill was passed. The only dissenting vote
was cast by Rep. Mike Krusee."
– Houston Chronicle.

How sad that Krusee is my representative. I petitioned him to vote for this bill.

So here's a time line for the bill:
05/02/07 - TX, House sent the bill to Gov. Perry 139-1 (Senate 27-4)
05/12-13/07 - Gov. Perry must veto the bill or allow it to become law (sign it or not)
05/14-28/07 - Legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote of both chambers
05/28/07 - Session Ends

Judging by the support by both House and Senate, it appears this bill will become law even if Perry does decide to veto in protest.

My bet is he just lets it sit. A veto would make another national story of Perry vs. the State of Texas! But Ic ould be wrong. Perry has already proven he's comfortable with controversy. You know what they say... "any press is good press". Maybe this is his way of getting his name out there for a presidential run in 2012.

Regardless, HB1892 is well on it's way to slowing down the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Austin's angry rude drivers

2007-05-01T12:12:00.000-06:00

Is it just me or are people in Austin driving worse? I've been here since 1994 and people used to have common courtesy. There is a real attitude of "screw you, it's all about me."

I spend about 1.5 hrs a day on Austin roads and not a day goes by that I don't see near-wrecks because people do not let merging traffic into a lane. People speed up behind and cut you off when you are exiting, even though you were in front of them with your blinker on.

People will try to exit at the last minute, often without blinkers, and cut through several lanes of traffic where the gaps between cars are barely big enough to squeeze into.

I'll be doing 75 in a 65 and some nut will get on my rear bumper like I'm driving 10 below posted!

I've passed two vehicles were I thought the one in back was being towed, but as I pass I see they are just tailgating with only 2 feet between them!

If I leave a gap of 10 feet between my car and the one in front of me going 70, you can guarantee a moron will cut in and force me to hit my breaks.

I think driving here is getting worse. It's like a bunch a caged rats fighting with no regard for others.

TxDOT "too big for their britches"

2007-05-01T10:56:00.001-06:00

Texas Public Radio reports that members of Texas Congress received a letter from the Texas Department of Transportation demanding that they seek approval of ALL transportation projects with them before obtaining federal funding.

Republican Congressman Ted Poe of Texas:

“They’ve gotten too big for their britches. Obviously, TxDOT is an administrative group and they are to spend the money as we direct that they are to spend it, whether they like it or not. Their responsibility is not to determine projects. Their responsibility is to build bridges and roads and freeways.”

Democratic Congressman Charlie Gonzales:

He thought TxDOT’s letter was strange, and says the agency’s position could hurt the state.

“For TxDOT to basically say ‘don’t send us any federal dollars’ is not truly in the best interests of Texans and our communities…..”

Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar:

Said he is also upset at TxDOT.

“I understand and respect the Department of Transportation for the position that they’ve taken. But for us to pre-clear everything through them – it’s just not the way things are done,” Cuellar said.

Lawmakers argue that TxDOT officials aren’t elected, so they shouldn’t choose which projects are built. They wrote a letter to TxDOT explaining their concerns. Gonzales says, “I thought it was a very polite letter saying, ‘look, what do you mean by this and it doesn’t make any sense.” “Do you really want us to stop attempting to gain federal dollars for Texas highway dollars when we have every other state in the union fighting for the same dollar?’

TxDOT issued a statement saying the “intent is just to make sure that we can advance transportation projects here in Texas,”

Most lawmakers think their dispute with TxDOT can be worked out before federal transportation dollars are threatened. But almost a month after their letter was sent, they say they have not even received a response.

Source: Texas Public Radio

Without a Tx-Tag you'll start playing on 183-A today

2007-05-01T09:40:00.000-06:00

590 KLBJ-AM
Motorists without Tx-Tags will begin paying to drive most of the 183-A toll road this morning. If these drivers blow through the southern most electronic toll plaza of 183-A near Lakeline Mall, they will be charged a $5.00 fee on top of the 45-cent toll. Steve Pustelnyk, with the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority says their intent is to eventually go to electronic tolling only.....

News8 Austin
"If you don't have the money, we'll be taking a picture of your license plate and we'll be sending you a notice in the mail just letting you know we are now charging and you need to pay the toll. Eventually that notice will turn into a $5 administrative fee, plus the toll that will be due,".....

Mapping out how to pay on 183-A
The pay structure is complicated. Click above to learn what to pay, where to pay and how to pay.

Audit questions estimated $86 billion transportation funding shortfall

2007-04-30T14:53:00.000-06:00

AUSTIN -- The State Auditor's Office released a report on Monday that questioned the validity of nearly half of a purported $86 billion shortfall in Texas transportation funding and warned that the estimate may not be a valid basis for policy decisions.

See Auditor's Report

Read Statesman article

MoPac managed lanes: A question of safety

2007-04-23T15:35:00.000-06:00

Special lanes in Dallas have sharply increased accidents, but engineers say MoPac plan would address flaws.

Commentary by Ben Wear:

New HW183/SH45 tollway flyover to open soon

2007-04-23T15:24:00.000-06:00

Next week, the latest portion of the Central Texas Turnpike will open up to traffic.

The focal point is on the massive flyover interchange, near Lakeline Mall, that will connect Highway 183 to the new SH 45 tollway.

The opening of the interchange will complete a core section of the turnpike project. It links to SH 45, creating a new major east-west connector around North Austin.

Tolls will not be collected on the new intersection of SH 45 until later this summer. But getting through to the 183-A tollway will cost you. Tolls will be collected starting May 1.

more KVUE...

Public Private Partnerships - Pushed by Bush Administration

2007-04-23T15:08:00.000-06:00

The Federal Highway Administration has an entire training program on it's wedsite designed to teach state governments how to implement "PPP" projects specifically designed to lease public highways to investment consortia desiring to run the roads as toll roads under long-term leases.

More about PPP than you ever wanted to know.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/PPP/index.htm

Senate unanimous: No private toll roads for at least two years

2007-04-20T15:21:00.000-06:00

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate voted unanimously Thursday for a two-year moratorium on private company toll roads —

"You have House clarity. You have Senate clarity," Nichols said. "There's an obvious will by this body to take the time to study private-equity contracts before we lock up many (road) contracts of our transportation system that cannot be corrected until our children and grandchildren are past retirement."

A recent study showed private toll roads could net investors nearly $300 billion over the next 50 years for part of one project.

MORE.....

Moratorium Bill (HB1892) Passes Out of Senate Committee Unanimously

2007-04-19T15:00:00.000-06:00

Corridorwatch.org issued this press release today:

HB1892 is on the way to a vote by the full Senate with a committee recommendation that it be passed.

Arnold Romberg represented CorridorWatch today giving testimony before the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee in support of a moratorium on Comprehensive Development Agreements.

The bill passed with seven amendments.

A series of amendments were offered and attached to protect and/or allow a number of regional and local projects to continue. However, none of the amendments to HB1892 made by the House or by the Senate keep it from putting TTC-35 and TTC-69 on hold for the next two years.

It was well into the evening before the bill was brought up again, given its last three of seven amendments, and put to a vote. All nine Senators on the committee were present and voted for their HB1892 substitution. And, they certified it for the local and uncontested calendar.

First a vote by the full Senate, then back to the House.

HB1892 should move quickly now. First stop will be a vote on the floor of the Senate where it is unlikely to see any additional amendment. Then back to the House where it will either be concurred with or sent to conference committee. Given the tremendous support shown so far we fully expect that the Senate substitution will be accepted by the House.

Then what? It gets sent to the Governor, that's what.

Before you know it HB1892 could be on the Governor's desk. Will he sign it? Not likely. No really, that's not very likely.

Will he veto it? Maybe. But if he does it looks like there will be enough time and support to overturn a veto. We're told that it has been more than 30 years since a Texas Governor had a veto overturned. Does Governor Perry want to add his name to that column in the record book?

Well done ya'll! It's goal and only inches to go.

This has been a tremendous effort and you all are to be congratulated on what you have accomplished so far. Yes, it is to soon to count our chickens, but we sure are sitting on a lot of nice looking eggs.

When we have that two-year moratorium as law we will certainly celebrate and name names. But until then we will keep our heads in the game, not lose sight of the finish line, and be vigilant for any threat to our pending success.

Congratulations Texas!

We are one more giant leap closer to stopping the Trans Texas Corridor.

Thank You!

David & Linda Stall

CorridorWatch.org

every scam requires a sucker

2007-04-18T10:57:00.000-06:00

I love this commentary by Jay Bookman:

"Get your free money!" the sales pitch goes. "Billions and billions of dollars in free money! Just step right up and sign right here on the dotted line. ..."

And public officials, desperate for money to build badly needed roads and bridges, are indeed stepping right up. In Indiana, a private consortium recently handed the state a cool $3.8 billion in return for the right to collect tolls for 75 years on the state-owned Indiana Toll Road. In Chicago, city leaders have collected $1.83 billion in return for a 99-year lease on the Chicago Skyway toll road. In Texas, a private group has agreed to pay the state $2.1 billion just for the right to build a toll road that doesn't even exist yet. And by the end of the year, Georgia Transportation Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl expects a similar type of long-term lease deal will be floated for an unspecified project here in metro Atlanta.

It all sounds so sweet: State officials get billions of dollars without having to raise taxes; private companies get long-term leases on toll projects that are all but guaranteed to turn a nice profit for them, year after year; bankers, financial analysts, lawyers and consultants all get a healthy cut of the billions passing through their hands. Everybody's happy.

But of course, to make such an arrangement work, there's gotta be a sucker somewhere. Look in the mirror. You're it.

Read the whole thing here.

El Pasoans take toll-road moratorium debate to Austin

2007-04-18T10:53:00.000-06:00

By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau

Article Launched: 04/18/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

AUSTIN -- El Paso's fight over toll roads has made its way to the Capitol, where lawmakers and officials disagree over whether the city should be excluded from a two-year statewide ban on private toll projects.

"Communities that have toll roads have decided to push for a moratorium," said El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos, who was in Austin on Tuesday. "There's no reason for El Paso to be excluded."

Responding to public outcry over toll roads, legislators are considering two separate bills that would put a two-year stop on government contracts for private toll-road operations.

The House bill would prevent El Paso's new Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority from entering into such contracts for toll roads. The Senate bill, though, would exempt El Paso from the ban.

Cobos and state Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, both members of the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the city should be included in the private toll moratorium. But state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said the ban could slow development of much-needed roads in the rapidly growing city.

The House last week overwhelmingly approved a measure that would impose a statewide moratorium and call for a study of private toll road deals.

A Senate committee approved a similar measure, but that bill would exclude El Paso County from the moratorium. It would also exempt Houston and North Texas.

Shapleigh said with the coming of 23,000 new soldiers to Fort Bliss and their families, El Paso needs as much flexibility as possible to negotiate contracts to build critical new roads.

Pickett, though, said the moratorium would not hamper local projects. He said the regional mobility authority could even build toll roads under the ban. The only restriction, he said, would be that private companies could not contract with the authority to build the toll roads.

Exclusion from the moratorium, he said, would be worse for El Paso.

The Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee will consider the House moratorium bill today.

Shapleigh, who is on the committee, said he would try to add the El Paso exemption to the House measure.

Lobbyist hopes to make a million

2007-04-16T10:47:00.000-06:00

Source: Statesman

High-profile Austin lobbyist Dan Shelley is trying to sell his Pemberton Heights house for $2.9 million, according to various real estate Web sites. The asking price is nearly $1 million more than he paid for it in 2003.

The house on Wooldridge Drive has a history of appreciating quickly. Shelley bought it from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for $1 million more than Dewhurst paid for it in 1998. Dewhurst and his ex-wife, Tammy, reportedly paid about $900,000, but the couple divorced in 2001 and never lived in it.

Shelley, a former legislative liaison for Gov. Rick Perry, works for Cintra-Zachry, the Spanish company that won the rights to develop the state's $7 billion Trans-Texas Corridor toll road project.

The two-story house, built in 1936, has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and one half-bath. It also has more than 5,200 square feet, a tile roof and a courtyard.

Mondays' CAMPO meeintg a low-key affair

2007-04-12T15:25:00.000-06:00

Austin Chronicle:
Monday night's meeting of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's Transportation Policy Board was a low-key affair, despite the serious changes that new Chair Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, has brought to the regional planning committee. As of this month, most of the elected officials on the board are gone, replaced by small-city representatives. And Watson has added a peer-review committee to take a look at standing transportation organizations such as Capital Metro and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. As of now, the 18-member board includes Watson, Austin Mayor Will Wynn, and three City Council members; three Travis County commissioners; the mayors of four smaller cities, including Round Rock; the Hays County judge; a Williamson County commissioner; plus state Reps. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, and Mike Krusee, R-Taylor. Capital Metro and TxDOT also still have representatives on the board.

Austinites Speak Out On TxDOT's Mopac Expansion Plan

2007-04-11T09:27:00.000-06:00

Here's a summary:

Construction on managed lanes could begin late next year

$110 million plan

One managed lane in each direction, on the inside

All current lane widths reduced from 12ft to 11ft

Shoulder would be converted to a lane

Sound barriers could be added

"You're going to pay an increased fee to get on this lane", said Marcus Cooper of TxDOT

Fees have not been decided

KXAN.com Feedback Forum

James 04-09-2007 22:54:04
Any time they want to improve something that has been around for 30 years they want us to pay again. What about all the money being returned to federal government for highway expenditures? Why not do away with TxDot or should we say TxEur.

Paolo 04-10-2007 00:05:34
Why should I have to pay taxes at the gas pump for the roads and then pay for a road that is already there. Some pavement and some striping does not give TXDOT the authority to tax us twice. If you build a NEW road then yes tolls may be appropriate, but on an existing roadway, no way.

DJ 04-10-2007 01:24:51
I don't think they should make the lanes 11 feet instead of 12 to fit in 2 extra lanes and then make us pay to use the 2 new lanes that were made virtually by the old lanes. I could see building an upper deck (brand new roads ) and then tolling them but not using existing roads and revamping them to fit in 2 new lanes...I also think it will open Mopac up for more accidents by making us drive closer to eachother. Not a good plan at all ! I think TXDOT is confused about what New verses Old means.

thanks for screwing us!! 04-10-2007 04:35:42
Liberal swine at their finest once again, make it sound appealing to you then you realize you are getting bent over. Wolves in sheeps clothing.

dp 04-10-2007 06:35:59
Any elected official thinks that tolling existing roads is a good idea, needs to be impeached. We have the money to build roads, but it is used to build courthouses and other garbage. We have spoken as voters we do not want tolls.

JES 04-10-2007 08:13:59
On Mopac the road is so conjested at morning and evening travel, and now you want another left lane plus make it a toll , well how will you get to that toll lane from many of the on ramps and exits. The crossing into and the exit from these lanes will make the traffic more dangerous. Sounds like if another lane will help Mopac, there should be no fee to use it. Simple math.

http://salcostello.blogspot.com/ 04-10-2007 08:49:33
1) TxDOT wants to use our tax dollars and publicly owned MoPAC right of way (our existing freeway) to create a toll tax (managed lanes) - THAT�s A DOUBLE TAX! I SAY NO TOLLS ON ROADS WE�VE ALREADY PAID FOR!

2) Narrowing lanes will increase accidents and deaths.

3) The managed lanes will create more gridlock as people try to cross over 3 lanes to enter and exit the center managed lanes! Look at freeway 91 managed lanes ($1.00 a mile!) in California.

dw 04-10-2007 10:01:00
It's a terrible idea! What you are proposing is just a SHORT TERM PATCH. A short term patch is a waste of money. I'm all for toll roads if you can build the upper deck along MoPac with FEWER EXIT ramps. I would think that those of us who live out far North or Northwest or South would be happy to pay a toll for new roads that will enable us to avoid the traffic "parking lots" and scurry past the "central" part of Austin over MoPac... (which is basically from Far West to 15th/Enfield). We can not stop growth...Austin already tried that and look at the mess we're in! Build with the future in mind!

austin native 04-10-2007 10:02:27
The additional lanes created should be free to the public. No double taxes. Crossing back and forth over three lanes of traffic to ride less than five miles in a managed lane is insane!

txbighair 04-10-2007 10:32:44
I think we need to go for it! The traffic is HORRIBLE in south Austin! South Austin needs to deal with change. It takes longer to get anywhere in South Austin. We are a big city now- even though we dont want to admit it. The transporation options need to grow with it as well.

mojorider 04-10-2007 10:46:25
I agree with txbighair. I have seen both sides of the toll road coin and originally opposed the plans all together. Coming from Taylor into Round Rock once took 45 minutes. That trip now takes 25 and the cost is negligable against my time. I now live southwest of Austin and am gridlocked to 'past the river' everyday from 290. Growth is happening. Like it or not. TXDot expects more than 100,000 vehicles to pass through the Y at Oak Hill in the near future. All options need to be explored to keep Austin moving. I am certain that those in opposition would be even further enraged by 2+ hour commutes. What good are wide lanes on MoPac if you are going 5 miles per hour?

DBP 04-10-2007 10:55:51
I'm new to Austin, from Houston, has anyone thought of using elevated HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes. They are restricted topeople who live in outlying areas and can carpool. It's really helped Houston. Txdot what about it??

I Carpool... 04-10-2007 11:55:51
...and I hate this idea. It will just take two lanes away and make the remaining lanes more hazardous. Ever seen the size of some of the trucks, trailers and SUVs around here? They barely fit in the lanes as they are now, and will become a real menace in narrower lanes. Think people have trouble staying in their lanes now? What happened when parking lot designers narrowed the slots? That's right, now people take up two... STUPID IDEA. Double deck the thing like I-35, or live with it as is. I vote for the latter.

gbizz 04-10-2007 13:45:07
What we need to do is rethink the whole project yet again. Instead of another lane overhead for cars, an overhead, enclosed skylift that follows Mopac and dumps into downtown. These "pods" would carry up to 6 people and you could have a LOT of them travelling around town. This seems to be the cleanest and least impacting idea, but I haven't seen anyone else come up with a better plan.

yee haw! 04-10-2007 15:17:46
The Springfield MonoRail! MONORAIL!!!

bikebob 04-10-2007 22:10:07
Ride a bike through the neighborhoods; enjoy the birds, trees, and quiet. Arrive relaxed at work. I ditched my car eight years ago and have never loved Austin so much.

Dale Johnson 04-10-2007 22:12:29
This Mopac expansion proposal seems like a lame bandaid fix for a real problem that needs a real answer. Living in NW Round Rock I've seen the traffic hazzards of bottle-necking caused by the I-35, Toll Road interchange. The Mopac bottle-neck would be much more severe in my opinion. Thank You KXAN for giving me a voice.

Marie G. 04-10-2007 22:13:49
You can wrap it with a bow or a ribbon I still am not on board. I want real solutions without smaller lanes or higher costs to counter act overpaid politicans trying to figure it out.

John H. Gray, Jr. 04-10-2007 22:14:18
Anything to improve traffic flow. Will gladly pay. City officials push the money wasting Cap Metro at the expense of more/better roads. Doesn't anyone have a functioning brain. People (in any significant numbers) will not give up the freedom and flexibility of their vehicle for an inefficient and ineffective bus system or an even less effective rail pretense which could not move enough people to even make a dent.

Erin T 04-10-2007 22:24:02
No one is asking the big questions: "We've already paid for roads with our tax dollars, so where did that money go? Where is the accountability for our sky high property tax dollars? Why is the Austin area disproportionately financing the roads for the entire state of Texas for perpetuity? Compared to Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, our population is lower, our wages are lower, our housing is higher and now we're facing 2 - 4 times the road taxes! Why is it taking so long to get the commuter train (which we've also already paid for)up and running? Could it be that CTRMA wants to delay it to "encourage" us to use/pay for the toll roads?

Louis 04-10-2007 22:27:20
I work for TXDoT. The Federal Government gives TXDot our money, over three million a year for building and improving roadways. Sometime in the near future the money will be cut back. I like my job, but there are too many indian chiefs that make too much money and they treat the people like me like ".. hit". They steal work time and hide it. They cover up and make up their policies. I was physically abused by a manager, I reported it and with manipulation changed the whole story to cover it up. So, with that out, We the people are getting *******ered into paying out more and more so we can line the pockets of those who are greedy. Let those who want to say , Yeah , I'll be glad to pay so I can get where I want to go ..faster. Then you pay for managed roads//toll roads. Or move out of Austin. By the way, there are many roads that are being tolled throughout Texas. GREED!

Marie G. 04-10-2007 22:40:01
Why are we who dispute this not more organized? We must and are allowed to organize!!!!!

JJ 04-10-2007 22:53:43
I'm an ex Californian. Down near San Diego they had a SINGLE CAR POOL LANE. In the morning, it opened going South, and closed after rush hour. In the evening, it opened going North and again closed after rush hour. It was the perfect idea for heading off the rush hour congestion (2-3+ hour commutes!!!) It takes up less space, opens in the direction needed, and you don't have to try and carve two extra lanes out of the already compacted MOPAC. Before you know it, the CITY will invoke it's EMINANT DOMAIN and start shaving more acreage off of MOPAC residents, who already are getting the raw end of the deal!

JJ 04-10-2007 23:00:06
I like that JJ.

The Dude 04-11-2007 00:26:58
I'm with the Monorail guy. Monorail! Monorail! Monorail! I think we should just rename Mopac to be the Matlock Expressway. That would be just as helpful.

Actually, I live next to the Cedar Park tollway. If my wife and I want to drive the four miles from our house to the existing free 183 using the new Toll Road, I'm going to have to pay $240/mo for the privilege. Let them toll the existing road and they'll be using your tax dollars to screw you even more.

4 miles = $240/mo. I'm very happy to sit in traffic for ten minutes longer. I can use the money I'm not spending on tolls to buy a better car and enjoy the ride. If the state is so keen on erecting toll roads everywhere and using our already paid roads to do it, I want a refund on gasoline taxes. I have a feeling I'll be waiting a while for that.

Larry 04-11-2007 06:31:31
As anyone who's ever lived in Houston will tell you, HOV lanes (which is what this is) are completely ineffective, they don't help at all. Just make it a regular lane. Why does there always have to be some complicated hocus-pocus idea? Simply adding one more lane would help, for a while, but even that is not going to be enough in a couple more years. The toll thing is getting out of hand, and somehow we need to reign these dolts in and prevent another fiasco, which is what this is shaping up to be. Speak up, y'all. One thing I can tell you, I will not pay a single toll, period. I and everybody I know, will go out of our way to avoid it. So how effective does that make your toll system now? I already pay taxes nine ways from Sunday, and I am NOT going to pay again. It's just one too may layers, too many times paying for the same thing.

haha 04-11-2007 07:40:14
If you don't like it, THEN DON'T USE IT!!!!!!!!

Concerned Citizen 04-11-2007 07:49:52
What you don't know about state agencies - Many higher-ups in state agencies are "Double Dipping", including TxDot. What this means is that they have reached retirement age, are receiving pension, but are still working and receiving a salary as well. It is legal, but unethical, in my opinion. There is where a lot of your tax money goes. Plus, these agencies are so over-staffed, it is time to take the ax to them. I'm also VERY afraid of Perry's plan of the Trans-Texas Corridor. Why didn't we get a vote on this???

The new toll roads on Loop 1 also plugged up traffice even more. I come in from Parmer and it used to get backed up around 183 before the tolls opened. Now it is a parking lot starting at Parmer. People are paying for that???

JJ 04-11-2007 08:03:45
Did I mention that the SINGLE CAR POOL lane in San Diego is FREE with taxpayers dollars at work? Of course, here in Texas the make you pay for everything. (Everything IS BIGGER in Texas, especially TAXES)

Debbie 04-11-2007 08:16:20
Just the facts that a stalled car will completely stop traffic in one lane, or that entering or exiting the tolled lanes requires multiple lane changes---I see more accidents and, therefore, more traffic congestion, not to mention more fatalities.

S 04-11-2007 09:38:17
I don't see why tax payer dollars are being used to build sound proof barriers along Mopac. It's not like Mopac just sprang up overnight. Those people bought those houses knowing it was there and I would guess they heard the noise when visiting the house before buying it. It's just another example of whiny people thinking they are owed something because of the decisions they make. Let them build there own walls or move!

Sally 04-11-2007 09:39:41
Why aren't they putting a sound barrier in front of TxDOT? Those that live close to Camp Ben Hubbard will get a great deal of increased noise and pollution. The TxDot buildings don't provide much of a sound barrier.

Terri 04-11-2007 09:44:07
It doesn't matter how much we complain.They will do what ever they want to fill their pockets anyway!

DJ 04-11-2007 09:55:47
OK I'm just wondering why they have the money to build this and yet The flyovers for Mopac and Ben White are still sitting unfinished . The ramps are there and have been there for 10 years or so but no fly over to connect them . Whats up with that ? it would be nice to just exit a ramp on mopac to head east on ben white.

Dallas Toll Road Bait and Switch Politics

2007-04-11T09:14:00.000-06:00

This is one of the Toll Roads exempted from HB1892.

Angela Hunt is a Dallas City Council member and wrote this article that was published today.

If you entered a voting booth on May 2, 1998, you saw the following on the ballot:

"Proposition 11: The issuance of $246,000,000 general obligation Trinity River Corridor Project bonds, the project to include floodways, levees, waterways, open space, recreational facilities, the Trinity Parkway and related street improvements, and other related, necessary, and incidental improvements to the Trinity River Corridor."

Two key words are conspicuously absent: "toll" and "road."

Almost a decade ago, the city sold voters a vision of parks, lakes and sailboats. After the election, in a classic bait and switch, City Hall quickly dispensed with any pretense that this was anything other than a roads project. Originally envisioned as a low-speed parkway that would provide direct access to the park, the "Trinity Parkway" quickly devolved into a high-speed toll road completely disconnected from the park.

Other changes followed:

•In 1998, the estimated cost of the Trinity Parkway was $394 million. Today, the toll road is $600 million over budget and will cost more than $1 billion. City officials are unable to provide a final cost estimate.

•In 1998, the city claimed that flood control was a critical component of the Trinity River Corridor Project. This February, we learned that the Tollway Authority intends to seek a waiver from the federal government to build the road using pre-Katrina safety standards, instead of new, more stringent standards being developed in response to the disaster in New Orleans.

•Last November, the city moved the toll road even farther into the park in response to safety concerns by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who feared that the road would weaken our levees. By the city's own calculation – and despite furious backpedaling and word-parsing – this will eliminate one-third of the downtown Trinity parkland and reduce the size of our lakes.

•The Corps also confirmed that the toll road will flood and that they must reserve the right to rip out sections of the road to repair our levees.

•There are no guarantees that this toll road will not be sold to a foreign company. In fact, last week, the state Senate transportation committee exempted the road from a proposed two-year ban on long-term toll road leases with private companies.

Read the rest of the Article.....

HB1892 Passes with HB2772 Language

2007-04-11T08:46:00.000-06:00

A two-year moratorium on private toll roads that won preliminary approval in the House on Tuesday would put the brakes on eight near-term projects in the state, including the Trans-Texas Corridor, a superhighway that a private firm received a contract for earlier this year...... more

HB1892 will require the state to create a commission to study the effects of private equity toll roads and present findings to the state next year but would not affect projects planned by regional mobility authorities. The bill also exempts all projects that fall within the boundaries of the four-county North Texas Tollway Authority in Dallas-Fortworth.

Smart Government? A small, low-cost computer on board every vehicle

2007-04-10T13:46:00.000-06:00

I am just amazed at the ideas people have to use roads to steal from the public. Like this CEO of Meadow Networks, a "consultant" company for wireless technologies. Why not put a chip in our arms and charge us for walking on the side walks too?

Here's what I'm referring too.

"But can we do better in this century than a patchwork of road funding and repair fixes? Robin Chase, CEO of Massachusetts-based Meadow Networks, advocates a big leap forward. She recommends abandoning all gas taxes and shifting to wireless technology. A small, low-cost computer on board every vehicle would report (in real time) miles actually traveled, allowing a realistic government user charge. Fees could be adjusted for roadway congestion pricing (premiums to travel on peak roads at peak times), by wear and tear related to vehicle weight and footprint, and by the vehicle's emissions (a carbon tax to encourage vehicles with reduced greenhouse gas emissions).

Indeed, says Chase, there could be a local government bonus — a percentage of road user fees returned to the county, city or neighborhood through which the vehicle traveled, compensating for the burden of emissions, noise and congestion.

FULL ARTICLE

"Managed Lanes" (Toll Roads) Planned for Mopac Expressway

2007-04-10T12:21:00.000-06:00

Quoting a bizjournel.com article,

"The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization has approved the managed lanes project in its transportation improvement plan, and along with the Texas Department of Transportation, has found a way to build the extra lanes without taking any right-of-way from the Union Pacific line or any of the property that abuts MoPac.

The new plan calls for the lanes, one in each direction, to run from Town Lake to Parmer Lane. By narrowing existing lanes from 12 feet to 11 feet and making MoPac's shoulders narrower, TxDOT has found a way to add the lanes in already existing space. Kelly says that reduces the price tag by at least $10 million, because it eliminate the need to pay Union Pacific an acquisition fee and build a debris containment wall."

My Comments:
The tax payers own this right of way. Why in the world would they think it's OK to narrow existing lanes and the shoulders, add a lane and then charge a fee to use it?

Additionally, adding lanes while reducing lanes size and shoulders seems dangerous. Are they planning to lower the speed limit to 55 mph?

More Articles:

Statesman: Plan would change Mopac from 6 to 8 lanes

KVUE: Proposal unveiled to extend Mopac from six to eight lanes

KXAN: TxDOT Proposal Expands Mopac Without Widening Road

SB 1267 Voted Out of Committee

2007-04-05T08:36:00.000-06:00

This from corridorwatch.org:

The Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee voted today to send Senate Bill 1267 to the full Senate.

SB1267 is no longer held up in committee. Within days of Lt. Governor David Dewhurst directing Chairman Carona to move SB1267 out of committee, it has been done.

By unanimous vote the Transportation and Homeland Security Committee voted today to send a slightly modified SB1267 to the full Senate. Given up were managed lanes added to existing highways as well as the ban on any deal if it is approved by the County Commissioner's Court.

Lt. Governor Dewhurst Key to Movement.

Your efforts to let the Lt. Governor know how important this issue is to Texans played a big part in getting the bill moving again. But it's not over yet. Dewhurst has told Carona that he will delay the Senate vote to give the Chairman time to broker a compromise.

Accordingly, we need to make sure that the bill gets voted on in time to overcome the promised veto. The only person standing in the way of that vote today is Lt. Governor Dewhurst.

We still need your Representative's support.

Isn't incredible that House Transportation Chair Mike Krusee alone stands between more than 70% of the House members, including a majority on his own committee, that want to see HB2772 passed?

Once again we need to make sure that everyone of our Representatives knows that we still demand action on House Bill 2772.

We Keep Moving Closer - Stay Tuned.

This week there has been positive movement towards achieving a 30-month hold on many bad CDA deals, including TTC-35. At the same time lots of arm twisting and questionable negotiations are taking place behind the scenes in an effort to stop progress.

CorridorWatch will continue to monitor and report on both the action and inaction.

David & Linda Stall, Co-founders

CorridorWatch.org

Federal transportation chief backs Perry's toll plan

2007-04-04T13:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Perry chose a visit to a Samsung semiconductor plant in suburban Austin to make his highway pitch.

John Carona: gas index tax not getting support needed

2007-04-02T15:31:00.000-06:00

Ben Wear reported in the Statesman today that State Sen. John Carona called a noontime press conference to call on his colleagues to support indexing the gas tax.

According to Carona, the Senate is ready to pass a gas tax indexing bill, but the House bill is still sitting in the Ways and Means Committee.

It appears the bill doesn't have much support in the House.

Carona took the press room podium alone stating “I didn’t want to put anybody on a political stage for an initiative that may not be successful,” he said. “In this building nobody likes to vote for anything that resembles increased taxes, so we did not even make the request. We just felt like it was fair to leave everyone out, and I’d take the heat for it.”

Quoting from the article:

Carona’s charts indicated that indexing the gas tax (actually the combined 38.4 cents a gallon state and federal taxes) to the consumer price index would raise an extra $5 billion a year by 2030, and linking annual increases to an even higher highway construction index would generate about $11 billion a year extra by then. Do that, Carona said, and leverage that extra revenue to sell highway construction bonds, and there would be a lot fewer Texas toll roads in 2030 than under the status quo. And no private toll road leases by the state, which the Legislature is talking about banning for two years.

“This issue needs to rise to the top of the list,” Carona said.

Right now, however, it may not even be on the list.

Read the full article

Carlos Guerra: Stopping toll roads not so simple when the Legislature is involved

2007-03-27T15:32:00.000-06:00

www.mysanantonio.com

Cedar Park neighborhood dealing with noise from 183A Toll Road

2007-03-27T15:14:00.000-06:00

News8Austin

A construction company has completed one segment of the sound barrier on the 183-A toll road in Northwest Austin.

Now they say the sound wall is scheduled to be finished by April 30.

The toll road opened up earlier this month, but many people living in the Forest Oaks neighborhood in Cedar Park say they have dealt with noise from the site for several months previous.

They say they were promised a sound wall would be in place when the toll road opened.

Project coordinators say there were unavoidable delays.

3/28/07 - Update from Statesman:

"I'm all for progress, but this is too close," Sanders said while standing on her backyard deck. "I get woken up from the sound of 18-wheelers."

Indiana Governor withdraws Toll Road Proposals

2007-03-27T15:09:00.000-06:00

Perry should be so wise...

Press Release

INDIANAPOLIS (March 24, 2007) -- Governor Daniels today contacted Indiana House and Senate leadership as well as members of the Senate Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Committee, the House Roads and Transportation Committee and legislators in the areas of the proposed Indiana Commerce Connector and Illiana Expressway to advise them that he is withdrawing his suggestion that action be taken on the Indiana Commerce Connector or the Illiana Expressway east of Interstate 65. The governor suggests moving forward on the Illiana concept west of Interstate 65.

The text of the governor’s letter, dated today and sent to Senator Thomas Wyss, author of SB1 and chairman of the Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Committee, and Representative Terri Austin, chairwoman of the Roads and Transportation Committee and copied to the aforementioned groups, is below. An imaged copy of the letter to Senator Wyss (the letter to Rep. Austin is identical) is also attached.

“Like you, I have been paying close attention to the vigorous public discussion around my proposal to explore new privately funded bypass roads in Northwest and Central Indiana. After legislative action to date, some forty public meetings, and lots of other open debate, it is clear to me that we are far from the degree of consensus that is necessary before embarking on major public works projects of high local impact.

Accordingly, I withdraw the suggestion that any action be taken on an Indiana Commerce Connector, or an Illiana Expressway east of I-65. Either of these ideas might benefit from further research, and I would welcome some form of that if your committees are so inclined. But the people of the affected areas have spoken clearly enough to persuade me that these ideas are, at best, premature.

By contrast, an Illiana bypass from I-65 west seems to be broadly supported and can, I hope, be given the chance to move forward.

I appreciate the citizenship of everyone who participated in these two debates. We must never be afraid to venture new ideas for fear of controversy; a state that does that will surely stagnate. But we must also never assume that every new idea is a good one, or imperative to act on immediately.

I hope that you will reshape the legislation along the above lines, but am happy to work with you on whatever approach you deem best for the interests of our state.”

Source: Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' Office

just keepin it in perspective

2007-03-23T17:57:00.000-06:00

Although I agree with Ed on a philosophical level, there is still a need for the public to hold politicians responsible for the use of our tax dollars. Being said, building a toll road is not the issue. It’s the terms that matter. It's about making sure our current tax dollars aren't squandered and making sure we move forward in a way that will provide for our own as well as the next generation's needs.

Ed says:

Selling our souls

What is all of the fuss about toll roads? Our leaders don't have the guts to tax us and our gasoline to pay for the roads that we demand to have, and we are selfish dreamers who take all our luxuries for granted and expect others to pay for our roads.

Our poorest folks are richer than 80 percent of the world and yet we refuse to give up our $5 cups of coffee, our big-screen TV sets, our luxury SUVs and oversized houses to pay for roads to drive on.

It is a terrible shame when our selfish and narrow-minded attitudes force our leaders to seek foreigners to finance our roads (and take the profits) because we refuse to pool our resources to build our own roads.

We are selling our souls because it will keep us happy for a short time — just as we get cars and TVs on credit because it makes us feel good for a little while.

ED ROBERTS

eroberts6@juno.com

Round Rock

CAMPO wants to make Austin more mass transit friendly

2007-03-23T17:47:00.000-06:00

For the past 40 years, the population of Austin has grown by 50 percent every decade. That growth is expected to continue, meaning about 3.75 million people will live here by the year 2035.

Monday, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization laid out its latest transportation plan to handle the needs of such a population boom.

One of the things CAMPO envisions is redesigned roads that are more bike, bus, and pedestrian friendly.

With a commuter rail line going online next year, and an HOV lane on MoPac in the works, CAMPO would also like to..... read more here

Jere Thompson Jr.: We would forfeit billions with private partnership on 121

2007-03-23T17:35:00.000-06:00

This is an informative read printed in today's Dallas Morning News

Over the past few weeks a drama has played out in Austin over the future of State Highway 121, a huge roadway that will soon be the equivalent of a 26-mile-long "LBJ Freeway" between Central Expressway and Interstate 35.

The story began over a year ago when the decision was made to obtain badly needed transportation funds by converting Highway 121 to a toll road and then selling a 50-year concession on it.

At the insistence of the Texas Department of Transportation, the North Texas Turnpike Authority – the region's only experienced toll road agency – was ultimately excluded as a bidder.

Last month, Gov. Rick Perry announced with some fanfare that a Spanish company, Cintra, had the winning bid of $2.8 billion for the rights to the toll road. That's when things got interesting.

At the request of state Sen. John Carona, the NTTA responded that it could likely "offer" $6.3 billion using the same general assumptions employed by Cintra.

How can the NTTA produce so much more than Cintra? Because of its lower cost of funds.

The NTTA requires no equity returns and has access to low-interest municipal bonds. This capital structure is significantly less expensive than Cintra's combination of taxable bonds and equity.

Therefore, with the same revenue assumptions, the NTTA can return $3.5 billion more to the region than Cintra. This amount is more than TxDOT spent on new road construction in Dallas, Collin and Denton counties during the past five years.

The contract with Cintra has not yet been signed. By selecting the NTTA, an additional $3.5 billion would become available to the region. By selecting Cintra, that same $3.5 billion would become profits for Cintra and interest income for Cintra's banks.

Which would you pick?

Welcome to the new world of comprehensive development agreements, commonly referred to as CDAs. They involve the sale of a toll road's revenue stream to a private entity in return for huge upfront signing fees and future revenue sharing.

CDAs can sometimes be good. Examples are ventures that the public sector is unwilling or unable to construct, very expensive urban projects with uncertain traffic estimates, and projects in rural areas with no history of toll roads.

The private sector's willingness to accept the construction, financing, traffic and revenue risks in these examples justifies their economic rewards.

On the other hand, a perfect example of a bad CDA is Highway 121. The NTTA is willing and able to finance and construct the project, right-of-way costs are known, construction cost increases are not being assumed by Cintra, noncompete penalties are provided, traffic can be reasonably forecasted, and area commuters have already demonstrated their receptiveness to toll roads. Cintra would capture very high rewards for very little risk.

Because of the controversy over Highway 121 and other projects around the state, a two-year moratorium on CDAs has been proposed in Austin.

Local opponents to the moratorium claim that critical projects will not get built and congestion will strangle our region.

But the proposed moratorium applies only to selling to the private sector the rights to public assets. The NTTA is a public agency and would be exempted from this moratorium. It could build and, with legislative permission, allocate funds to nontoll projects.

If the moratorium halts a flawed selection process, results in more transportation dollars for this region, and permits construction of critical projects without delay, how can it be viewed as anything but good?

How should the Legislature address the use of CDAs and solve the funding crisis?

First, regional toll road authorities should obtain the first right to build new toll projects and should not have to pay TxDOT for this right to build.

Second, toll road authorities should obtain the ability to allocate funds to nontoll transportation projects.

Third, funding raised from tolls should not reduce funding from gas taxes, and all gas tax dollars due this region should be promptly returned here and not spent elsewhere.

Finally, the only serious long-term solution to this crisis is to index gas taxes. When the pain of the status quo exceeds the pain of change, change happens.

The Legislature needs to increase and index the gas tax to fund new transportation construction.

Jere Thompson Jr. is a former chairman of the North Texas Turnpike Authority and its predecessor, the Texas Turnpike Authority. He now serves as the Transportation Chairman for the Dallas Citizens Council and the Trinity Commons Foundation. His e-mail address is jwt@ambitenergy.com.

Corona: Friend or Foe?

2007-03-22T20:45:00.000-06:00

From the Statesman

Carona was quoted in this paper and the Dallas Morning News today indicating that, well, he didn’t plan to let SB 1267 come up for a vote in his committee. Tarrant County officials, at yet another Carona hearing Wednesday, had made it clear they don’t want a moratorium because it could delay for years some road projects they were counting on to get going.

People like David Stall, with anti-Trans-Texas Corridor group Corridor Watch, and Austin toll opponent Sal Costello went into action. Carona’s office was flooded with demands that he give the bill a vote, and some of his staffers said, well, he’d been misquoted.

No, Carona’s office, later said, the news stories got it right. But he issued a statement at mid-afternoon trying to put his position on SB 1267 in context.

“There are things we need to accomplish this session, such as stopping or reducing diversion of transportation revenues, and indexing the motor fuels taxes,” the Carona statement said. “If all we do is pass SB 1267, then we have told TxDOT it is okay to build all future roads as toll roads, just not (private) toll roads… . We have heard the public loud and clear about toll roads, public private partnerships, and the Trans Texas Corridor. We have also heard from Tarrant County and others for whom SB 1267 creates a hardship, and we have an obligation to listen to them as well.”

Carona keeps eye on state roads

2007-03-19T21:54:00.000-06:00

Since taking over as leader of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee – thanks to an appointment by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst – the Republican lawmaker has made himself a force to be reckoned with in policy and planning for the state's multibillion-dollar highway needs.

Krusee is having to play defense

2007-03-19T21:32:00.000-06:00

Nice little read........

March madness over tolls grips Legislature

Vexed by private tollway deals, affronted by TxDOT's attitudes, Legislature looks to rein in Perry's turnpike push

By Ben Wear
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, March 19, 2007

Mike Krusee looked tired.

The Republican state representative from Williamson County, interviewed at his Capitol office last week, for 10 days or so had been fighting what some people call the creeping crud, a debilitating mixture of cold, flu and allergy symptoms hitting many Central Texans this spring.

But Krusee, for much longer than 10 days, has also been fighting the creeping realization among legislators that over the past two sessions, they might have granted Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation too much power to create toll roads. For the first time in his three sessions as chairman of the House Transportation Committee and the leading legislative architect of toll road policy, Krusee is having to play defense.

For a number of reasons — campaign trail grumbling last year, disputes with Dallas and Houston toll road agencies, lack of deference to legislators by Texas transportation commissioners, turf battles over huge pots of money suddenly coming Texas' way — the Legislature has been gripped by a sort of March madness over tollways, particularly those that would be in private hands for a half-century.

What remains to be seen is what the madness will lead to by the end of the session May 28. As transportation chairman, Krusee can, in theory, block most legislation seeking to roll back tollway powers. And Perry could veto whatever makes it to his desk.

But more than two-thirds of the Legislature has signed on to legislation that would put a two-year moratorium on concessions, contracts with private companies to build and run toll roads. Dozens of other bills limiting tollway powers have been filed. And powerful legislators, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, are talking about using the power of the purse to curb the Transportation Department.

Perry and Krusee may have no choice but to make concessions on concessions and on other prongs of their toll road agenda.

"Watch the budget," Ogden said. "At the end of the day, TxDOT can't spend a dime without our permission. So, watch the budget."

Ogden has a unique role in the situation.

In 2003, when he was chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, Ogden sponsored House Bill 3588, a humongous bill that, among other things, authorized Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor plan and allowed the state to enter into concession agreements with private companies. That bill, conceived and carried by Krusee in the House, basically made possible everything that Ogden and most of the Legislature are now stewing over.

Ogden has filed bills that would prohibit the granting of long-term road leases and require that toll roads become free roads when money borrowed by government for construction is paid off. He says tolls should be a mechanism to get a specific road built, not a profit center. Those two short and simple measures would gut the Transportation Department's toll road policy.

Ogden was asked for his take on why he and so many other lawmakers have had second thoughts about their 2003 handiwork.

"What's going on? We had an election, that's what," Ogden said. "All we're doing is reflecting what we heard on the campaign trail."

Others paint a more complicated picture. Repercussions from HB 3588 were already being felt when the Legislature met in 2005. There was grass-roots toll opposition in Austin and San Antonio and widespread unhappiness among farmers and ranchers about the corridor plan to build 4,000 miles of tollways, railroads and utility easements. But although the Legislature made some tweaks in 2005, mostly to appease the rural concerns, nothing like this session's Category 5 blowback occurred.

It's one thing to upset residents of Austin or Fayetteville and quite another to get crosswise with toll road agencies in Dallas and Houston.

The Transportation Department, in its zeal to award long-term toll road leases to private companies and thus reap multibillion-dollar upfront payments from them, has managed to alienate the North Texas Tollway Authority and the Harris County Toll Road Authority.

The local authorities want first shot at operating toll roads in their areas and feel that the state agency has shouldered them out of the way.

On Feb. 27, the Transportation Department awarded a contract for Texas 121, a road in suburban Collin County north of Dallas, to a partnership headed by Cintra, a Spanish toll road company that earlier won a bid to build 41 miles of the Texas 130 tollway southeast of Austin with Texas partner Zachry Construction. Cintra said it could give the state $2.1 billion upfront and $750 million more over 50 years for Texas 121.

The North Texas Tollway Authority declined to bid on that contract, a choice that, depending on who is telling the tale, may or may not have been made under pressure from Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson and his department.

In Houston, the Transportation Department said in April that it wanted more than $1.2 billion to sell some right of way to the Harris County authority for three more toll roads. That huge price reflected not the real estate value, but what the state could get from a private tollway operator.

Those kinds of huge upfront payments from private road operators excite Williamson and other tollanistas. But they come with a probable consequence to consumers — higher tolls — and stoke fear that the state is underselling the farm to tollway companies.

And legislators are made nervous by the Transportation Department's newfound ability to generate towering wads of cash independent of the state budget.

The Dallas and Houston episodes, along with Williamson's sometimes off-putting certitude about toll roads, have earned the Transportation Department some vigorous enemies in the statehouse, most prominently state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas. Carona, chairman of the Senate transportation committee, has used that pulpit to bash Williamson and the agency. He also has a thick packet of tollway rollback legislation pending.

Then there is freshman Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, a former transportation commissioner and Williamson ally who is unhappy about language in the pending Texas 130 contract that he says would either tie the state's hands from building free roads near Cintra's section of Texas 130 or force the state to pay Cintra-Zachry tens of millions of dollars in the future. He has filed a Senate bill, with 24 co-sponsors, for a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts.

State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, has a House twin that has 97 co-sponsors.

Those freeze bills, and most of the other toll road bills, may never move, however. This month, Carona has met in private at least three times with Krusee, Williamson and Perry transportation aide Kris Heckmann with the intention of creating an omnibus transportation bill to include elements from the pending bills as well as policy changes sought by the Transportation Department.

"It's important that we take these ideas now and wrap them into some piece of policy that is balanced and makes the most long-term sense," Carona said. "In all fairness, the Legislature has not left the commission with many options other than the pursuit of toll roads."

Which brings up the gas tax. At 20 cents a gallon and holding since 1991, the tax is falling far short of meeting the state's need for new pavement. Carona and Krusee have separate bills to make automatic annual increases to the tax, based on different measures of inflation. Initially, Carona's bill might increase the tax 3 cents a year and raise about $300 million more a year. Krusee's bill might generate a sixth of Carona's.

Neither will come close to eliminating the need for new toll roads.

Perry spokesman Robert Black said the governor, who has steadily opposed gas taxes, "is not going to close the door" on a gas tax indexing bill. Black suggested that if lawmakers take away some powers, "they need to replace them with something. . . . If the Legislature wants to make changes, additions, amendments, that's fine. But let's make sure it pushes forward."

bwear@statesman.com; 445-3698

All 3 Texas Parties Oppose the TTC

2007-03-15T13:52:00.000-06:00

So why are we still having this debate?

It's time for our representatives to step up and support HB2772 and SB1267.

2006 TX Republican Party Platform
Page-10. "Tran-Texas Corridor - Because there are issues of confiscation of private land, state and national sovereignty and other similar concerns, we urge the repeal of the Trans-Texas Corridor legislation,”

Page-24. "Tolls on Existing Roads - We oppose tolls charged for traversing previously toll free roadways and disallow continued tolls except for maintenance on existing toll roads already paid for."

2006 Texas Democratic Party Platform
Page 21. "We oppose the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, a proposal that is little more than an attempt to transfer ownership of a strip down the middle of the state to a foreign corporation with close ties to the Governor, which could have a potentially devastating effect on rural areas, property owners and communities."

2006 Texas Libertarian Party Platform
"3. TOLL ROADS Libertarians oppose the Trans Texas Corridor Act, a costly boondoggle intended to benefit land developers through the abuse of eminent domain and the power of highway monopoly. Further, we support legislation that would forbid tolls on any highway right of way which was obtained with tax dollars or through the use of eminent domain or condemnation."

Watson files bills for Special Austin district in the Texas 130 corridor:

2007-03-09T15:55:00.000-06:00

To follow up on yesterday's news, Sen. Kirk Watson files the 3 bills today.

SB1688 Relating to the creation, powers, and duties of a transportation infrastructure services district created by a municipality; imposing taxes and authorizing bonds.

SB1689 Relating to the municipalities that may annex an area for limited purposes.

SB1690 Relating to the authority of a county to zone, apply building standards, and impose impact fees in an area near certain toll projects; providing a penalty.

Contacted My State Reps about HB2772 / SB1267

2007-03-08T16:47:00.000-06:00

As you probably know by now, there are 2 identical bills by the TX House (HB2772) and Senate (SB1267) that would from a legislative committee to study the implications of comprehensive development agreements (CDA) used to give control of roads to private entities.

My House Rep, Mike Krusee, has not signed on yet so I sent him this message. It's short and to the point. Feel free to copy and edit if you need to contact your REPs.

Dear Representative Mike Krusee,

Subject: Support HB 2772

I live in House District 52 and I ask you to represent my family by supporting HB 2772. We have read, completely understand and completely support the content of the bill including public hearings and a legislative committee to study the implications of comprehensive development agreements.

Thank you,

DON'T KNOW WHO YOUR REPs ARE? Look it up here

Watson to propose bills for Special Austin district in the Texas 130 corridor:

2007-03-08T15:46:00.000-06:00

New taxes coming for those who live around Texas 130 Toll Road

By Kate Miller Morton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 08, 2007

Article Excerts:

Watson plans to file three bills Friday. The most ambitious would allow Austin to create a special district around the toll road (Texas 130) where it could impose its development rules and collect sales and property taxes to pay for roads, streets and utility improvements in the district without being required to provide city services for years.

Watson is also proposing that counties along Texas 130 be granted zoning authority and the ability to levy impact fees and that cities near the toll road be allowed limited-purpose annexations regardless of their size.

The bill has the support of Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Williamson County, who said he supports the idea of creating a special district because otherwise it will be impossible for Austin to keep up with the infrastructure that is needed to plan for growth around the toll road.

Krusee said he knows of no other transportation service districts in the state but also knows of no other case in which so much road has been built in so little time.

Read Full Article

Kirk Watson successful in reducing CAMPO board

2007-03-08T15:35:00.000-06:00

Today the Austin Chronicle says:

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, chair of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's Transportation Policy Board, told participants of a work session on Monday that all members of CAMPO's joint powers agreement have signed off on proposed changes to the CAMPO board. That means a leaner and more local board, with fewer proxies and elected officials, should be in place by the CAMPO meeting in April.

Corridor proposal looks like huge scandal waiting to happen

2007-03-07T14:53:00.000-06:00

This commentary is so well written I wanted to post it here in case it got removed in the near future. Very well spoken Kent Conwell!

Corridor proposal looks like huge scandal waiting to happen
Kent Conwell

Now, I know most of us make fun of our politicians. Even politicians make fun of themselves. Henry Kissinger once made the perceptive comment that "ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad name."

Lincoln once commented, "you can't fool all of the people all of the time; you just have to fool the majority." Remember Enron, Whitewater, Watergate, and Sharpstown?

And the scandals continue. In fact, one news journal called 2006 the 'year of corruption.'We had to stomach Rep. Mark Foley and his obsession with congressional pages. Before that there was ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Louisiana Rep William Jefferson, Bob Ney, Duke Cunningham, and Texas own Tom DeLay.

I seldom make predictions because I'm usually wrong, but this time, I'm not. I predict that within five to 10 years, a scandal will rock Texas like no other. Enron and Sharpstown will be penny ante stuff compared to it.

And it will be because of our current governor, TxDot, and the Trans Texas Corridor.

Trans Texas Corridor. Have you heard of it? Not many have. And the legislature passed the bill in 2003.

The governor and TxDot have tried to keep it quiet. Almost 200 individuals have been forced to file charges to get the information that is supposed to be public.

The TTC is a proposed corridor four-football fields wide running from Laredo up I-35 and eventually all the way to Canada. It is to have six lanes for traffic, four for trucks, two for automobiles. The corridor will also carry pipelines for natural gas, oil, water, electricity, and electronic data. The land will be taken by eminent domain. And you all know what eminent domain is. It is the loophole that lets politicians steal your land legally. This greedy serpent will ultimately be 4,000 miles long, each mile using 146 acres taken by eminent domain.

How does it sound so far? What about the cost to taxpayers? The state doesn't know.The governor implores us just to trust him.We'll all benefit, just trust him.

A super-super highway speeding goods and citizens across the country. On the surface, it sounds great, the sort of initiative someone courting the vice-presidency (U.S.) would come up with. But, what are the drawbacks?

There's a couple. Minor ones the governor suggests.

First, the initial contract was signed by the Spanish firm Cintra and its partner, Zachry Construction Corporation, with TxDOT for a 316-mile section of road to be built from San Antonio to Dallas. The contract includes what is known as a nocomplete clause. That means TxDOT has agreed not to improve any roadways that run parallel to the corridor for the duration of the 50 to 75 years of the Cintra lease, unless those improvements had already been approved prior to the signing of the contract.

That means when farm to market roads fall apart, citizens' only option is the TTC and pay the toll. Texans will be forced to use the TTC and pay tolls. Crossovers are from 24 miles apart. Farmers and ranchers whose property is cut in two must travel several miles to cross over.

Oh yes, I mentioned a toll to use the road, 44+ cents for cars and $1+ for trucks per mile in addition to the cost of gasoline; and the inconvenience of 40 miles between exits; and the fact the Cintra Zachary people will control all the gas stations, eating stops and whatever all along the route.

And then there is the little matter of about 700,000 acres ripped from farmers and ranchers by eminent domain.

Folks, this scheme makes the railroad robber barons of the old west look like street corner hustlers. Over my 70 years, I've seen many obscene efforts to make the rich richer, but this is the most outrageous I have ever witnessed.

This goes through, and then it is a matter of time before it reaches us.

Kent Conwell is retired from Port-Neches Groves ISD.

Another Senate Bill to block the TTC

2007-03-07T14:30:00.000-06:00

Twenty-five of 30 Texas senators have co-authored the bill Tuesday evening that would require a two-year moratorium on public-private development agreements, which could put the Trans-Texas Corridor on hold.

SB1267 calls for setting up a group to study the long-term impacts of the state enlisting private corporations to build and operate toll roads in exchange for collecting profits.

SB1268 was also filed yesterday and would prevent any conversion of an existing free lane to a toll lane, regardless of whether or not local voters approved it.

Gov. Perry's Laundry List

2007-03-06T09:58:00.000-06:00

News 8 Austin published an interesting article about the recent problems Perry and his staff are having. I'm going to summarize the article but here's a link.

"the Legislature is in near-open rebellion against the governor on toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor. Relations between the Texas Department of Transportation and key legislators have rarely been so bad."

Executive order mandating HPV vaccinations for 11-year-old girls: Even his most reliable political base rebelled leaving the mandate in tatters.

Executive order to permit 11 coal plants: Turns out the utility really only needed three or four and intended to use the rest to trade for pollution credits. Then, TXU announced it was going to be bought in a deal that could possibly leave Texas largest electricity provider burdened with crippling debt.

Sexual abuse at the Texas Youth Commission and possible 2 yr cover up: District Attorney Ronnie Earle has announced an investigation.

Last, in a few months a judge is expected to rule on a class action lawsuit against the state, known as Frew v. Hawkins which argues that Medicare failed to provide basic services to children. Details at the Texas Medical Association. This case could cost the state billions of dollars that were not budgeted.

El Paso Mayor John Cook wants RMA and Toll Roads

2007-03-06T09:43:00.000-06:00

"There is going to be three types of roads built in Texas, 'Toll roads, slow roads, and no roads.' So you pick which kind you want," said El Paso Mayor John Cook.

John Cook supports creating a Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) in El Paso to oversee road projects that cross state lines into Mexico and New Mexico.

"Under state law, the only vehicle that we have that can do projects in Mexico and New Mexico is a Regional Mobility Authority," said Cook.

Source: KFOX-TV

183A now open - $1.80 for the 11.6 mile trip

2007-03-04T19:25:00.000-06:00

Sunday morning is the first in which commuters can take advantage of a new toll road.

Highway 183A stretches north of 620 at 183 to Liberty Hill. The entire 11.6 miles will cost you $1.80.

Until May 1, everyone who uses this toll road will drive for free. TxTag drivers have until June 1 to drive without paying. Supporters say it will alleviate traffic on 183 from Cedar Park to Liberty Hill along with encouraging growth in the area.

Something to be aware of: the toll plaza near Lakeline Mall Drive will only accept electronic payments. That means you will have to have a TxTag, or you will get a violation notice in the mail.

Source: KXAN.com

TxDOT 183A Mail Promo

2007-03-03T17:23:00.000-06:00

This came in the mail today. Thanks for the info TxDOT.