State approves bid for I-35 toll alternative (hmmm, I wonder...)

Austin American Statesman ^ | Dec. 17, 2004 | Ben Wear

[BobL]

State approves bid for I-35 toll alternative

Spanish group led by Cintra and Zachry would pay for $6 billion of turnpikes, and give state a $1.2 billion concession payment.

By Ben Wear

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

The Texas Transportation Commission, not prone to staring at the mouths of gift horses, today chose a consortium to build an alternative to Interstate 35 that pledges to construct most of that road on its own dime.

Actually, the partnership led by Spanish tollroad operator Cintra and Zachry Construction corporation would spend $6 billion worth of its dimes to lay down a four-lane toll road from San Antonio to Dallas — and give the state $1.2 billion to boot.

Cintra and Zachry would construct more than 300 miles of highway, leaving a gap only for Texas 130. The corridor road would tie into the south and north ends of Texas 130, a tollroad currently under construction by Lone Star Infrastructure. Lone Star's primary partner is Fluor Enterprises Inc., one of the two losing bidders today.

The Cintra-Zachry consortium would then have a concession to charge tolls on the road for the next 50 years. The toll rates would be subject to approval by the transportation commission.

If the Texas Department of Transportation and the Cintra-Zachry group can work out a final contract in the next two months, then officials expect construction could start on the first segment from Austin to San Antonio by 2007. The other four segments would begin in 2009 and 2010, with completion of the entire route by the end of 2014.

Cintra and Zachry, along with about 16 other subcontractors, would also build other segments of the I-35 alternative and might participate in freight rail relocation projects, as well as other elements of the corridor project in decades to come.

Gov. Rick Perry, who proposed the 4,000-mile Trans-Texas Corridor during the 2002 election campaign, made an unusual appearance at today's commission meeting, joining the commissioners on the dais for a long presentation on the I-35 alternative. At the end, Perry, who has taken hits from every direction for what many saw as an unrealistic pipe dream, took a few minutes for a rhetorical victory lap.

"When our hair is gray, we will be able to tell our grandchildren that we were in a Texas Department of Transportation meeting room when one of the most extraordinary plans was laid out for the people of Texas," Perry said. "I hope there are a lot of people in this room that are knocked back on their heels saying, 'I can't believe it.' Well, believe it."

Just how Cintra and Zachry can afford to lay out all of the money, give the state $1.2 billion for the right to operate the roads, and then make money, remained unclear Thursday.

Jose Lopez, United States and Latin America director for Cintra, said the toll rates would be comparable to current Texas toll rates, generally between 10 cents and 20 cents a mile for passenger cars and three to four times that for large trucks. And he said the company's financial plan did not include making money off concessions along the roads such as fast food joints or gas stations.

Cintra and Zachry, simply put, believe that if they build it, the drivers will come. One possible incentive: The 2003 legislation that allowed the state to build the Trans-Texas Corridor, or let someone else build and operate it, allows speed limits on the road of up to 85 miles per hour.

[BobL]

"Don't embarrass yourself by letting it slip that you aren't from Texas."

Non-Texans are allowed too!!

Actually, this is a national problem, that could pretty much be snuffed out in Washington, if they chose to do so. All they would have to do is NOT tamper with the structure of the Interstate Highway system. But they are tampering, so we have to now fight it at the state level, as when governors come up with harebrained schemes.

[zeugma]

If the people of Texas have anything to say about it,

Therein lies the trouble. We won't have a say. Perry is determined to turn Texas into a toll hell just like NY or PN. He's one of the slimiest pubbies in office. I wouldn't vote for Perry for dog catcher, because he'd soon be proposing taxes on all dog tags.

[Erasmus]

Pardon me if I seem a bit suspicious here, but I'm supposed to believe that a private company is willing to spend $7.2 Billion of its own money to build a toll road that runs parallel to a freeway that is mostly underutilized.

Underutilized? WTF???

[BobL]

"Underutilized?"

No - mostly underutilized. The stretches (of I-35) in and near the cities clearly packed and could some widening. But the rest of the freeways does move smoothly most of the time. This plan, at this price, does not even cover the Austin stretch, right in the middle - that's being done separately

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

"When our hair is gray, we will be able to tell our grandchildren that we were in a Texas Department of Transportation meeting room when one of the most extraordinary plans was laid out for the people of Texas," Perry said. "I hope there are a lot of people in this room that are knocked back on their heels saying, 'I can't believe it.' Well, believe it."

We will tell our grandchildren of how our extraordinary plans ruined local economies, ran numerous Texans off their land, and put the state's taxpayers on the hook for massive debts, all for a problem that could have been solved by widening I-35 a little...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I think that the state could apply to the Federal Government to convert a federally funded freeway to a tollway...

[BobL]

"I think that the state could apply to the Federal Government to convert a federally funded freeway to a tollway..."

Presently true. In the next Transportation Bill (likely to pass earlier this year) they won't even have to apply. A rogue governor, for example, can simply decree that his Interstates will be Toll Roads. But that would never happen in Texas (ha).

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

A rogue governor, for example, can simply decree that his Interstates will be Toll Roads.

Shouldn't there be legislative approval for such a conversion? after all, it could come under raising revenue, and the people should be involved in such a thing.

[BobL]

Amen.

The governor slipped this one past us when people weren't looking. We used to have a real simple system - pay as you go. If you want to build, you have to have the money. It worked great until about 12 years ago, when the state started diverting highway money. About 3 years ago the governor got people to agree to a constitutional amendment that allowed "creative financing" of highways. No one (other than me, I think) understood the implications. The amendment passed and the governor is now in the process of building a multi-hundred billion dollar toll road system - that, by definition, will result in the end of our recently functional freeway system.

He's doing it this way, so that he can go to the voters in 2006 and say (with a straight face) that he didn't raise their gas taxes. That little $400 monthly addition to our credit card bills is now a "user fee".