Heads up, Texans ...State considering plan to toll unfinished roads
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Posted on 12/18/2003 5:11:43 AM PST by Arrowhead1952
Texas Transportation Commission could make change in policy today
By Ben Wear
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Under a policy change that the Texas Transportation Commission could make as early as today, highway projects nearing completion could become toll roads without any elected or appointed board taking a vote, an official familiar with the proposal said Wednesday.
The proposal, in effect, would render all new highway projects -- even those virtually completed and about to open -- as turnpikes unless the state Department of Transportation decides otherwise, according to those familiar with how it would work.
It could affect a number of Central Texas roads, including the extension of U.S. 183 from McNeil Road to north of RM 620, set to open as soon as March. Under the plan, that stretch would be a tollway.
Projects far enough along in the design and construction process to have received federal environmental approval would have to go through an amendment process and get further federal approval.
No public, elected or appointed board would consider the toll question. Instead, under the "minute order" coming before the commission, the commission's staff alone would decide, the official says.
Commission Chairman John W. Johnson said Wednesday that he's not sure the policy, as written, cuts the board out of tolling decisions. But if it does, that's wrong, he said.
"But I think the important thing here is that these are guidelines, and guidelines are meant only to guide," he said.
Agency rule changes by the transportation commission require a two-step process and public comment before final approval, but the board could make a final decision today.
The Transportation Commission is a three-member board appointed by the governor that sets policy for the state Department of Transportation. Gov. Rick Perry recently created and filled two additional positions on the board.
The department would not release a copy of the proposal Wednesday, continuing a longstanding practice of not sharing the text or backup materials for proposed commission action until the board has voted.
Richard Monroe, general counsel for the department, said the agency does not release the minute orders commissioners will be considering because they could be changed.
"We take the position that until it goes to commissioners and is finalized, it's a draft document, a work in progress," he said.
The proposal could affect several projects that are in the planning stages or under construction. They include the extension of U.S. 290 in Oak Hill, the upgrade of Texas 71 east of Interstate 35 and the conversion of Ed Bluestein Boulevard (U.S. 183) into an expressway.
The prospect of making a tollway out of the U.S. 183 stretch has angered neighborhoods in southwest Williamson County that border the road. It has also prompted the formation of a new advocacy group called the 183 North Council of Neighborhoods and Businesses.
Vivian Sullivan, who lives east of U.S. 183, is the group's coordinator.
"Nothing surprises me anymore," she said when she learned of the proposal. "It's just like they're turning every single road in Texas into a toll road. Pretty soon, if you pull out of your driveway, you'll be charged a toll. This is getting out of control."
Last month, the transportation commission gave preliminary approval to rules for "toll conversions," in which a road already open to the public as a freeway becomes a toll road. Depending on which entity is involved -- the state, a county or a regional mobility authority -- one or more public boards must vote to change the status of a road. Not so with roads that have yet to open.
Under the proposed policy, the Transportation Department would hold a public meeting. The state then would have to work with the Federal Highway Administration to amend environmental analyses to take into account the differing traffic and socioeconomic aspects of a toll road.
Assuming federal regulators approve the change, the transportation department would have the final authority to proceed with charging tolls.
State Sen. Steve Ogden said that although he supports building toll roads, the process should be open and accountable. His district includes the section of U.S. 183 that could be made into a tollway.
There needs to be "plenty of checks and balances so we wouldn't convert a bunch of free roads to toll roads just to raise taxes," Ogden, R-Bryan, said.
I suggest all concerned Texans call or email their senators and reps today.
Perhaps some current residents of Tejas can help me out, but when I lived there, the state had almost NO toll roads. The ones I can think of:
I can't think of any other Texas roads on which a toll was charged. What's going on to make that person claim that every road in the state is now a toll road?
You want toll roads - try Oklahoma. They had a ton of them.
Michael
I contacted and got replies from my representative this morning. The reply was much quicker than I ever expected.
Things have gone beyond insanity everywhere in the country.
If you haven't heard about this, you will be seeing quite a few toll roads in Texas. This is a quote from the article:
The proposal, in effect, would render all new highway projects -- even those virtually completed and about to open -- as turnpikes unless the state Department of Transportation decides otherwise, according to those familiar with how it would work.
Any road currently under construction and any future roads will be toll roads. This is taxation upon taxation.
I wouldn't have a problem with them using the tolls to repair roads either.
Here is my take on this matter, build roads, take the tolls, build another road, more tolls, build another road, more tolls until it is an unending cycle.
The only good I see coming out of this, is getting the EV whackos totally p!$$ed off.
Heads up, Texans ...State considering plan to toll unfinished roads
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Ask me how much I trust these guys.
My thoughts exactly. Just heard a blip on the news about the toll roads. One of the big wigs at the transportation committee who said "If we have to pay for roads with fuel taxes, we would have to raise that tax from 20 cents to 50 cents."
HUH? I thought the fuel tax is already over $.35.
This is what I am afraid of. Once we are taxed or have a toll put on us, it will never go away.
Ask me how much I trust these guys.
Same as my answer would be. NOT ONE BIT.
Haven't heard a thing. I don't use the North Tollway very much.
I do use the Highway 190/George Bush Tollway sometimes (though not on tolltag).
I wonder if that's part of the deal/consolidation ??
I doubt a single elected official was involved. This is a stupid agency staffed and run by stupid bureaucrats.
Texas won't stand for this. It won't happen.
Seriously, I hope the loopy enviro-nazis are out there protesting this.
I just love sitting in a long line on 183 for 20 minutes every day to get to the Anderson Mill stoplight. It makes my day. < /SARCASM>
This is being driven by the need to handle the increasing traffic associated with NAFTA, FTAA, and other trade agreements. Not only wheeled goods crossing the border but also sea freight associated with the port expansion at Seabrook as well as constructing the deepwater port in Brownsville.
Then there is La Entrada al Pacifica(web site) which is a deep water port in the Gulf of California with a new road thru the Copper Canyon into west Texas passing thru Midland-Odessa north into the plains via an expanded US 287. This is part of the new Ports to Plains(website) that is to find a way around the bottle-neck at US pacific coast ports.
Then there is the new road from Texarkana to Houston, down the coast to the valley and then up the border to Larado or Del Rio then swinging north to join up with La Entrada. This road will also go north from Texarkana to Detroit
Then there is the new highway from Texarkana west passing above DFW to then join up with 287.
That segment of the road thru Williamson County that is described in the article is the first segment of the new highway to parallel I 35. It is being built first as a bypass around the Austin bottleneck. This road is planned as 6 lane with 2 more dedicated truck lanes, a freight and a passenger rail as well as utilities. No access roads. This has always been planned as a toll road, including the loop portion around Austin. It is not a cheap toll, either.
The Texas DOT website has much info on all this. Texas is planning on being the hub of hemispheric trade.
In this form I would agree, but this is just another (typical) way to scare Texans into accepting a doubling or tripling of state assessed fuel-use taxes, IMO.
Not a good move.
Why should I pay for a road that some wellpaid/overpaid Dell Computer employee will be using? Why should I pay for a road that will be used to transport goods from Vera Cruz to Chicago?
Nor do we want a system where you're charged for every mile of road you use.
Roads increase commerce, which increases the standard of living for everyone. Toll roads are used less than non-toll roads. A policy of making every road in this country a toll road would be a policy to discourage using them.
Commerce would suffer, and so would your standard of living. Paying for that road to Chicago is going to be a good idea.
One way or the other, the people who use the roads are going to have to pay for them. That could be through tolls or through taxes.
But the economic reality is that people who don't use them, still benefit from them. The biggest unreported scandal in the country is the power of politicians to plan roads and benefit the adjoining real estate which either they or their benefactors own.
Larado is handling 48% of the freight between the US and Mexico. Add in Brownsville and El Paso or consider what the future holds for increasing levels of trade and you can see quickly see that requiring Ma and Pa Public to pay for these roads is out of the question.
The problem as described in the article boils down to the state creating the Austin bypass as a toll road way ahead of the rest of the toll road. It is only natural for the public to not be able to connect the two. When the road is completed, you can travel across the state on toll or take I-35 and pay no toll. Or take I-35 and utilize only that toll segment around Austin. The Dallas News,about a year ago, published an article about the Austin Bypass and what the tolls would be and as I recall it was to be 35 cents per mile. Not cheap.
You've made some excellent points, but it's a fine line between encouraging the construction of roads to benefit all of us and figuring out how to pay for them.
Doing it entirely out of gasoline taxes isn't entirely fair to the commuter who never sees new roads, and shifting the burden entirely to those who drive the new roads isn't fair to them, either.
--John Donne
Well well, is it time for an Austin Tea Party yet?
As one who only occasionally takes leave of these piney woods, I sympathize with those affected. Presumably, my gas would be cheaper because those that actually use the toll roads will be paying for 'em instead of me having to chip in? I dunno Meek, but I'm generally against toll roads/bridges because I don't want to end up like Charlie on the MTA. For want of a nickel, I might not be able to get off the damn thing ;^)
FGS
Dec. 19, 2003, 6:55PM
Toll roads to be considered for all new freeways
By LUCAS WALL
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Texas motorists better stock up on change for future trips: the state is going to consider tolls as part of every new freeway project, and user fees could be added to existing highways as they are expanded.
GAS TAX CAN'T KEEP UP Increases in Texas from 1990 to 2000:
• Vehicle miles traveled: 40 percent
• Registered vehicles: 26 percent
• Population: 23 percent
• Jobs: 20 percent
• New highway lane miles: 4 percent
Source: Governor's Business Council
Gary Trietsch, engineer for the Transportation Department's Houston District, briefed local policymakers today on the new directive from Austin.
"We will be looking at many corridors to see if this makes sense," Trietsch told the Houston-Galveston Area Council's Transportation Policy Council. "We will be very much in the tollroad business."
The policy, set in motion Thursday by the Texas Transportation Commission, marks another significant change in how the Lone Star State pays for highways. Up until now, the state always built only those roads it could afford, relying mostly on funding from state and federal gasoline taxes. But those taxes have been unable to keep up with the state's rapid growth.
Voters approved a constitutional amendment in September allowing the Texas Department of Transportation to borrow money to accelerate construction. Thursday's commission decision directs Transportation Department staff to establish guidelines for evaluating all freeways "in any phase of development or construction" for potential tolling.
"The gas tax is an inefficient way to fund our roads," said Commissioner Robert Nichols of Jacksonville. Tolling "allows us to build roads years, if not decades, faster."
Texas assesses a 20-cent tax on each gallon of gas purchased. A nickel of that is funneled to schools. The 15 cents for highways is unable to keep up with a growing population because it is not indexed to inflation. And as more fuel-efficient vehicles are built, gasoline purchases per capita drop.
The Legislature has declined to raise the gas tax. Instead, last session it directed the commission to come up with new ways to finance transportation improvements. Earlier this year, the commission agreed to transfer some state highway funds directly to metropolitan areas to decide which projects they want to build first.
Harris County drivers are used to paying tolls. The county runs a toll road authority that operates two freeways and is building a third, with plans for several more in the next decade. Fort Bend County's first tollway is under construction, and Brazoria County is forming a tollroad agency.
Plans for the Katy Freeway expansion in west Harris County, under construction through 2008, already call for four toll express lanes in the median. The design for future widening of U.S. 290 envisions a similar setup.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County is studying converting its High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, restricted to buses and carpools, into High Occupancy Toll lanes, which would allow single-occupant vehicles into the express lanes with a toll. Future HOV lanes are expected to carry tolls for single drivers because Metro has not budgeted any money for new HOVs in its 2025 transit plan to build them.
An existing free road has never been converted entirely to a tollway in the Houston region, however, and Trietsch said he anticipates that would be highly controversial. Under the commission's directive, the Transportation Department might, for example, consider charging tolls on an entire freeway to pay for adding a new lane.
"I'm not sure I want to be first in the state" to make a conversion, Trietsch said. But he supports the general concept.
"I can't imagine what the traffic would be like without the toll roads that we have today," he said.
Other parts of the state, not accustomed to paying to drive, are concerned about the policy change. A council of neighborhoods and businesses in Williamson County near Austin objected, fearful a planned upgrade to U.S. 183 could be turned into a tollway. A Bexar County official has called tolls a "double tax" on motorists and joked that "TxDOT" will soon be known scornfully as "toll-dot."
John Johnson of Houston, Transportation Commission chairman, stressed public input will be part of the decision whether to start charging tolls. He dismissed concerns published in the Austin American-Statesman that existing roads could be tolled by agency staff without accountability such as a vote of the commission or Legislature.
Adding fees will benefit the entire transportation system because money that would have been spent on freeway expansions could be shifted into other local roads or mass transit, he said.
"This is an investment for the state," Johnson said, "that will return the positive revenue back into the area for additional projects for the users' benefits."
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2309397
Except in the 'gas tax can't keep up - increases in Texas' "resources" side box they, for some reason, failed to show what the percentage increase/decrease of the gas tax revenue (resource) actually is.
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RESOURCES
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| GAS TAX CAN'T KEEP UP Increases in Texas from 1990 to 2000: Source: Governor's Business Council |
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