Posted on 04/12/2017 10:10:09 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Texas had high hopes for the southern segments of SH 130, a 41-mile stretch of the high-speed toll road east of San Antonio.
The state had put off building that stretch of road until a pair of investors stepped forward and offered what sounded like a great deal: Texas would get a big check for turning the rights to build and operate the toll road over to a private entity, a move that would give the state a new highway and a share of the tolls. The state would own the road and rake in revenue, but wouldn't have to put up the cash for its construction.
That's the kind public-private partnership model that President Donald Trump and some conservatives say the nation needs to rebuild its crumbling infrastructure without adding to the debt and deficit. Trump vowed a $1 trillion infrastructure plan funded by public-private partnerships in his first joint address to Congress in January and hired an expert in such deals, D.J. Gribbin, as the special assistant to the president for infrastructure policy. Since then, few details of Trump's plan have been released.
But a decade after Texas and its partners first shook hands, the corporation running the road is in bankruptcy — with more than $430 million still owed to U.S. taxpayers stemming from a loan approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation when Gribbin was general counsel in 2008 — and more than a billion owed to other investors, too.
It's the latest in a slew of toll road public-private partnerships that have fallen apart in the wake of the recession 10 years ago, at times leaving taxpayers struggling to recover their investment. The pitfalls could serve as a yellow caution light for lawmakers considering Trump's plan.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Somebody didn’t build that...
This is the mud shark in your mythology.
SH130 failed because nobody uses it.
I’m okay with that type of public/private partnership.
That is how the national highway system was built.
Hate driving through Austin but going toward SA not sure why anyone would not just use 35. Does seem like a waste.
SH130 failed because nobody uses it.
I used it when I was trucking. It was the most reliable way to get around Austin and San Antonio traffic headaches when I was driving the Dallas to Laredo route twice a week. It was deserted especially on the southern stretch from Sequin to Mustang Ridge. Loved it. Then again, the company was paying the tolls.
A convenient story meant to show we can’t build a wall.
A convenient story meant to show Trump can’t build anything.
Did you see these stories about the public-private partnership of the Chicago Skyway when Obama was president?
BTW how is that Chicago Skyway doing now? If it is making money for the private investors than clearly those private investors robbed Chicago.
But if it is losing money for the private investors then clearly the private sector is incompetent and despicable. ;)
There's a reason Texas "put off building that stretch of road". It simply duplicates Interstate 35, which is already in place, and it's free. The tolls on 130 are quite high.
Austin has horrible traffic congestion. The new parts of 130 do nothing to fix that. They all lie south of Austin, where the traffic is manageable. This was simply the wrong road, in the wrong place. It has no bearing, whatsoever, on what Trump might do.
Am I misunderstanding this?
Investors offered to build the highway in exchange for tolls. They built it. They didn’t make what they hoped in tolls.
But the highway still got built.
I use it, lol, about 3 times per year.
It’s the best highway in Texas with posted speed limit of 85mph.
It’s use is way up and one day it will no doubt pay for itself ten times over. The initial financial plan was not designed with enough flexibility to react to reality on the ground long term.
In the dozen + times on I-10 between SA and Houston,I have never seen a vehicle use it. On the plus side it still looks brand new.
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