Cintra will invest $7.2 billion for the Trans-Texas Corridor

TxDOT Expressway ^ | December 16, 2004 | Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Needed improvements or big government boondoggle?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

TTC Update. Ping your Texas friends.

[BobL]

I put that up last night also.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1303145/posts

Let's keep it going.

There are some real wanderlusts out there that think this is the best idea since sliced bread.

[BobL]

TCC Ping

[BobL]

Your posting is a little different than mine.

A couple of things worth noting in your posting:

1) This company will "build and maintain" this new toll road (and, I guess, somehow make money).

2) We don't get to see the contract until it's signed, sealed, and delivered. That's real nice. I guess we can start complaining after we see what our wonderful governor has committed us to. Here's what to look for:

a) State guarantee of a specific return on investment (with taxpayers being stuck if the road is a White Elephant)

b) Non-compete Clause: California was unable to find any investor for a set of toll lanes running right down the middle of the horrendously-clogged freeway SH 91 (possibly the worst in CA) unless they committed the state to not building or upgrading anything (freeways or surface roads) that ran parallel to SH 91. When California had to add a three quarter stretch of a single lane - they were SOL and wound up having to take over the entire toll road, just to be able to add that stretch.

c) Tolling for I-35, or some other restrictions. I-35 cannot be allowed to compete with this toll road, or the toll road will never make a penny. Something will have to be done - somehow, to protect the new toll road.


We get to see all of that AFTER the governor has signed the contract - seems to me that we have a dysfunctional state.

Finally, watch out for the governor's shills, they're into personal attacks now.

[BobL]

Final post (before going to work):

To believe that there will not be any non-compete clauses, one would have to believe that Governor Hutchison in 2007, or any future governor will not simply raise the gas tax a bit and then widen the existing I-35 (adding 2 lanes in the cities, and 1 lane between the cities) - and thereby driving this toll road in bankruptcy.

You would be making that bet with $7.2 Billion on the line. It ain't gonna happen.

[lodwick]

You know that it's a scam to end all scams.

[Freebird Forever]

Cintra — an international group of engineering, construction and financial firms

Does anyone have more information on Cintra?

I found a Mexican holding company which specializes in airline transportation by that name.

Link to Cintra

"CINTRA is the holding corporation for a group of companies that participate in the air transportation business and related aviation services. We are committed to: Offering trunk, regional and freight airline transportation systems, as well as supplementary services to the aviation industry, applying the highest commercial practices in full compliance with current norms and regulations. "

[MarshallDillon]

B: BIG Government boondoggle!

Thanks for the post. Yesterday, a friend of mine at Austin Toll Party took copies a 15 page press release to a Texas Transportation Commission OPEN MEETING and was ordered to leave by one of the TTC members or his representative for hending it out.

Change the road sign to: "Welcome to SOVIET TEXAS"!

[MarshallDillon]

More complete info available at: http://www.corridorwatch.com

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Redbob]

As one who only occasionally must drive I-35, I think this sounds like a great idea.
Maybe this toll road will be what the interstate highway system once hoped to be: a way to get around the country without having to dawdle through every Middlesex village and town.

I'd gladly pay to be able to avoid driving through Dallas or Ft. Worth on the way south toward San Antone or the Hill Country.

[TXnMA]

I'd gladly pay to be able to avoid driving through Dallas or Ft. Worth on the way south toward San Antone or the Hill Country.

At 15 - 20 cents per mile? (With no guarantee that 20 cents is a fixed upper limit if they don't turn a profit?)

[TXnMA]

MD, last night, I couldn't remember who originally turned me on to this TTC fiasco; apologies for not pinging you to BobL's Cintas thread yesterday evening...

[TXnMA]

Needed improvements or big government boondoggle?

TTC=BGB

(...except I'd substitute "Monstrous". Humongous", "Outlandish", "Asinine", "Criminal", and/or "Outrageous" for "Big"...)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Thanks for the post. Yesterday, a friend of mine at Austin Toll Party took copies a 15 page press release to a Texas Transportation Commission OPEN MEETING and was ordered to leave by one of the TTC members or his representative for hending it out.

Whatever happened to freedom in Texas? Lemme guess...it was stolen by a governor intent on shoving his hero project down the "little people's" throats?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Why not just widen I-35 by two lanes in the country and four lanes in the city, as was mentioned in an earlier reply?

As I understand it, Texas devotes about 1/4th of its gas tax money to education. Imagine what directing ALL of the tax to roads could do for I-35 and other "needy" highways.

[1rudeboy]

"This is an historic change in the way major transportation assets are built and paid for in Texas," said Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission. "Private investment, not taxpayer dollars, will be where we look first for funding."

Anyone remember when conservatives used to think that this sort of thing (generally) is a good idea?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Anyone remember when conservatives used to think that this sort of thing (generally) is a good idea?

The problem is, with "free" alternatives around, people might choose to use "free" roads their gas taxes already pay for while avoiding the extra cost of tolls.

[BobL]

"I'd gladly pay to be able to avoid driving through Dallas or Ft. Worth on the way south toward San Antone or the Hill Country."

That's understandable, I'd probably pay, at times, to go on a toll road, so as to escape a clogged freeway. The problem is that they cannot both function side-by-side in any realistic economic model, without some form of monopoly to protect the toll road. That's why there has to be a wording in the contract that somehow forces people to use the toll road.

In other words, the governor here basically just stole I-35 from us - that what angers me.