Bring me a shrubbery!
Posted on 10/16/2006 6:45:49 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Do you remember voting on the Trans-Texas Corridor?
Me neither. But I think I might have. Sort of.
Toll road proponents have said over the past couple of years that Texans had voted to authorize what has turned out to be a very aggressive push for toll roads. Gov. Rick Perry said as much in the Oct. 6 gubernatorial election debate.
One of the moderators relayed a question from a McKinney woman asking why Texans haven't gotten to vote on the "Trans-Texas Corridor and related toll highways."
The corridor is Perry's 4,000-mile plan of tollways, railroads and utility lines.
The governor's response was deft.
"First and foremost, the people of Texas had the opportunity to vote on a substantial amount of that in a constitutional amendment," he began, going on to say that the Legislature had debated and passed toll laws in several sessions. The voters, he said, "sent a clear message of how we're going to build infrastructure."
What actually happened is that in a September 2003 election, 810,855 Texans said yes to ballot language that only the most wonkish among them could have known authorized wholesale borrowing for toll roads. The 45 words on the ballot, in fact, do not include the words "toll" or "turnpike."
Here's what Proposition 14 proposed:
"The constitutional amendment providing for authorization of the issuing of notes or the borrowing of money on a short-term basis by a state transportation agency for transportation-related projects, and the issuance of bonds and other public securities secured by the state highway fund."
I was told at the time that the purpose of this was to allow the agency to borrow here and there against future gas-tax revenue to address cash-flow problems. And that, in fact, is what the first part of the language refers to.
But then there's a comma, and some more words. Some technical but powerful words that amounted, apparently, to the electorate saying, "Whoo-eee, slap some toll roads on us, baby!"
Now, Texans did approve another constitutional amendment, this one in 2001, that created the Texas Mobility Fund, and it actually said the money could go to "state highways, turnpikes, toll roads, toll bridges, and other mobility projects." A total of 543,759 Texans said yes to that one.
In 2003, lawmakers dedicated some fees allowing that fund to borrow $4 billion or more.
And as the governor said, that same year the Legislature approved a huge bill allowing the creation of the Trans-Texas Corridor. That bill, passed in a session marked by Democrats fleeing to Ardmore, Okla., and a $10 billion budget gap, got little press coverage.
Did Texans vote on the Trans-Texas Corridor? Not in any real sense.
Did we vote on a "substantial amount" of the toll road revolution? Yes, technically, in a special September 2003 election with predictably poor turnout and all the focus on other amendments, we gave the Texas Department of Transportation carte blanche to borrow for roads and charge tolls.
Who knew? Almost no one.
Sometimes FReepers crack me up. I live in a world where private companies, subsidiaries of huge publicly-traded conglomerates, spend billions of dollars just for the sake of wasting money.
This project is not meant to increase the mobility of Texans. It is part of the Nafta Super Highway to transport Chinese junk from Mexican ports to Kansas City where it will then be inspected by Mexican "Customs" Agents and then distributed throughout the country.
Just another step in the direction of the so-called North American Union. This will be an open sewer of illegal immigration and all sorts of smuggling. Our Soveriegnty is being eroded in front of our eyes while the Sheeple's attention is rivited on Proffesional Football and other Circuses.
Dude, we're talking about public monies and taxes, not a private contract.
The Kansas City facility is a port of entry to Mexico where goods from the US bound for Mexico can go trough customs. There are customs facilities like this all over the world. Several international airport have customs preclearance facilities that allow clearing of US customs before boarding so airplanes can fly to domestic US airports that lack customs facilities.
Don't stop him, he's on a roll.
BnBlFlag I don't share your alarmist mercantilist views about trade. Sure the TTC improves the transport of goods. That's why it was designed with truck lanes separated from passenger vehicle lanes. That's also why there will be double tracked freight rail lines built parallel to the highway lanes. It will be possible to ship goods by rail through the state non-stop at 85 mph, because there will be no grade level crossings. It will probably upset you that the improved saftey will unemploy lots of trial lawyers who file multimillion dollar lawsuits every time 18 wheelers crash and maim or kill people driving cars. You'll also miss the insurance company payouts when rail roads no longer have trains traveling on tracks with grade level crossings.
I'm more upset by roads that aren't fixed with the tax money I pay in. How many people in Texas died due to road improvements that have been postponed due to money siphoned off to pay for the Big Dig in Boston. Anyway, you don't have to use the toll roads if you don't want to. You're free to use I-35 instead of the new toll road that will be built parallel to it. If it's "double taxation" it is voluntary.
Those like this one have been going on for several years and many different issues are cussed and discussed.
More recently, the second type of thread has begun to show up and it is based on the concept that these Texas toll roads are part of the conspiracy to destroy America.
We try to keep these two types of threads separate. Otherwise, everyone is talking about different things.
Most of the money will be spent in the US. Most of the engineers will be in the US. I bet all the concrete will come from Texas and states bordering Texas. As far as steel content is concerned, I really don't give a damned about subsidizing lazy unionized steel workers in US steel plants. I think US steel companies should have to compete on the basis of price and quality just as any other company in the world does. If US companies can match the quality and costs of foreign steel producers, they won't have any trouble getting contracts for TTC projects.
It is part of the Nafta Super Highway to transport Chinese junk from Mexican ports to Kansas City where it will then be inspected by Mexican "Customs" Agents and then distributed throughout the country.
Bring me a shrubbery!
IMPOSSIBLE! We don't make ANYTHING anymore. Everything in Wal Mart is from China.
Quick. Name the largest exporting state (in terms of manufacturing goods) in the U.S.
Everything in Wal Mart is from China.
You're right.
I didn't discern it. So I've been comparing apples to oranges or something like that.
I still can't wait for my 1st trip to Texas.
I am certain that once I go there, I'll never go back to where I come from.
I hope my sarcasm was sensed in the previous post.
I-35, with every truck in the country? No, thanks. I don't use it now unless I'm going to Austin or Dallas. The inconconvience of it will make it a have-to to use the tolls. I agree the maintenance is a problem, but what about Houston? Will 610 EVER not be under construction?
This will turn out to be like every other large government undertaking... a lot of hype, marginal benefit, and a lot more cost to those of us in the middle.
Trying to convince us otherwise is just denying reality.
It is often said that Guv Perry or "the state" is converting the roads. Neither have the authority. That decision rests with the local authority and it was the legislature that gave them the authority.
There are two reasons for the regional/local authorities. First, it is congruent with "Home Rule" in the constitution to decentralize authority. Second, it prevents the more politically powerful population centers from using the legislature to "gang up" on the rural areas. The cities need the local roads improvement and improvement to the roads/highways linking them. It would certainly benefit them if they could impose a statewide funding method such as a gas tax increase to build these roads.
When the local authority does face the situation of converting, that decision is not made without public imput and the decision is always based the alternatives of being able to proceed immediately if tolls are used or wait years/decades if highway money is used to incrementally improve for free. Additionally, with tolls, the improvements are made quickly with the least amount of impact due to construction. When it is done incrementally as a free improve ment, the construction never stops.
The anti crowd always like to try portray this converting as a situation where a perfectly good road with adequate capacity, that was paid for by tax money, is being converted. I know of no such case, nor have I seen anyone on these threads point to such a case. The reality is these roads have been chronic problems for decades and while there have been improvements in those decades, the increased usage in those decades has overwhelmed those improvements. Certainly some of these past improvements will be incorporated if the road is improved by tolling, but in the overall scheme/cost they will be only a small part. Many of those past improvements are now obselete.
It should also be noted that, as a generality, the most strident of the anti-TTC crowd are those who are actually mad about their local toll roads. It should also be noted that, as a generality, those maddest about their local toll roads are those in the Ausin area.
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