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State Rep. Jim McReynolds has sent a letter to the Texas Department of Transportation saying he thinks TxDOT should drop the idea of tying the Trans-Texas Corridor in with plans for routing Interstate 69 through East Texas. McReynolds says tremendous negative outcry from his constituents and other East Texas residents has made it clear to him no one wants infrastructure that massive and disruptive to the quality of life to be built, taking big swaths out of the Pineywoods countryside. "Within the past several weeks, I have personally attended every TxDOT hearing held in my district regarding this proposed corridor,"...

In the midst of inflation, funding difficulties and halted expansion projects, a budget error on the part of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) may have exacerbated their challenges. "TxDOT does some mysterious accounting," said Rep. Chuck Hopson (D-Jacksonville). "They had close to $1 billion counted in their budget twice." "That was a serious error on our part and we have made changes to try to prevent that type of error from occurring again," said TxDOT Spokesman Chris Lippincott, adding that the amount added twice in their financial statement was unrelated to the $1.2 billion in federal rescissions, which are...

Senior executives of the Texas Department of Transportation can expect some heavy grilling from state legislators when the state Legislature convenes next January, state Rep. Jim McReynolds said Friday. Speaking to the monthly First Friday luncheon of The Chamber, Lufkin-Angelina County, McReynolds said many legislators, especially those from rural East Texas, are unhappy with TxDOT leaders over the Trans- Texas Corridor project and how it has incorporated plans for an Interstate 69 through the region. McReynolds said he attended all four of the TxDOT hearings on the TTC held in his district, which included one in Diboll, and "never heard...

AUSTIN - When it comes to road improvement and maintenance, by most accounts, the South Plains and Panhandle are fortunate. Despite a $1.1 billion accounting error, the Texas Department of Transportation recently reported no projects in the region have been canceled or delayed while cities like Dallas, Houston and Laredo had at least a half dozen highway projects delayed. But the $1.1 billion-error, which occurred because TxDOT inadvertently counted some bond money twice and consequently allocated more funding than it had, is just the latest problem plaguing the beleaguered agency. For months, TxDOT executive director Amadeo Saenz and other transportation...

Sometimes the truth just has a way of coming to light. A public information officer with the Texas Department of Transportation this week wrote a column in the Herald-Press describing the financial woes facing TxDOT and how because of those problems the state’s transportation department doesn’t have the money to deal with many of the state’s transportation issues. Apparently, several of the state’s senators do not feel that is the case at all. David Dewhurst called out the state’s interim chairwoman of the Texas Transportation Commission, Hope Andrade, on this very issue, according to a story from the Associated Press....

A big protest is planned for Monday afternoon, ahead of the latest public hearing on the proposed statewide tollway. Lots of landowners are upset about the state’s plan to build a tollway from Mexico to northeast Texas. There have already been several town hall meetings about the Trans-Texas Corridor. Most of the people who have spoken out about the plan say it will put them out of business. But state officials argue the tollway is necessary to keep up with the growing population in Texas. Monday’s meeting is being held in Huntsville. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Walker...

State Sen. Glen Hegar says he opposes a route that would bring the mammoth Trans Texas Corridor through his district. The Texas Department of Transportation has kicked off a series of public meetings to discuss the project. Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday in Hempstead (6:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 22892 Mack Washington St.) and Jan. 29 in Bellville (at the Austin County fairgrounds, also beginning at 6:30 p.m.). No meetings are scheduled in Washington County, which likely wouldn’t be impacted much by the highway project. Much of the discussion in public meetings already held centers on Interstate...

Push for higher gas tax could follow chief's death The death of Ric Williamson, the fiery, whip-smart chairman of the state transportation commission, could upend the still-roiling debate over toll roads in Texas in the new year. Mr. Williamson died Saturday of a heart attack at age 55, sending shock waves through the nearly 15,000-employee department he led as well as the political and policy circles where his combative style and pro-toll-road agenda had engendered enormous change – and criticism. Always careful to credit Gov. Rick Perry, a close friend and former roommate, Mr. Williamson emerged as a lightning rod...

Deficit may top $1.8 billion by fiscal 2012 with current slate of road projects AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Transportation, working to fend off a funding shortfall, intends to cut hundreds of millions of dollars budgeted for everything from consulting engineers to right-of-way purchases. The plan wouldn't affect existing road projects, and it's "difficult to say" what future projects would be delayed as a result, agency spokesman Randall Dillard said Friday. Projections show that if existing plans on awarding contracts and expenditures were to go forward, the department would have at least a $1.8 billion deficit by fiscal year...

A report left out of the public spotlight for more than six months reveals that officials at the Texas Department of Transportation want to toll interstate highways and shelter private investors from paying income taxes on toll revenue. On Feb. 28, Texas transportation officials submitted the report to the 110th Congress entitled “Forward Momentum.� The report did not attract much attention at the time. State lawmakers have only recently begun to speak out about it. Texas state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, called the recommendations a form of double taxation, according to The Associated Press. In the report, TxDOT urges federal...

Even though he didn't get a majority for re-election last year, Gov. Rick Perry's 39 percent was ahead of everybody else. And so he's now in a term that lasts into 2011. In the eyes of some of his detractors in the blogosphere, that's too long. Political activist Linda Curtis has started a website calling on legislators in 2009 to impeach the governor (www.impeachperry.indytexans.org/). That's a pretty rash idea. But since Texas doesn't allow for recall elections, like the one that nailed California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, Texans' only way to toss Perry out before the 2010 election...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry's campaign Web site touts public education as a long-standing "top priority" of his, but the school year began this week with teachers and administrators still wondering who will be the next commissioner of education. That question mark is one among many with nearly 400 expired gubernatorial appointments this year alone to state boards, commissions and universities. Senators — worried that Perry is dodging their constitutional role of confirming most gubernatorial appointments — are crying foul. By Friday, 388 of Perry's appointments will have already expired so far this year, but only one in eight have...

Texas drivers are tired of traffic gridlock. We want new roads built sooner rather than later, but we do not want a Trans-Texas Corridor that would surely invite more illegal drugs and more illegal aliens. Legislators have gotten our message but since both highway funds, the State Highway Fund (a gasoline tax) and the Texas Mobility Fund (bond money), have been pilfered for other uses, there is no money for road building. Members of the Texas Senate Transportation & Homeland Security Committee met on August 7 to discuss this funding dilemma. Committee Chairman John Carona suggested a new constitutional amendment...

Toll roads will not solve Texas' roadway woes, state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, told the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors on Tuesday. The state must take care of its infrastructure needs, and Eltife said he has always supported indexing the gasoline tax to inflation to ensure funding to handle those needs. "I think we need to get back to the basics in this state and pay for road and bridge improvements," he said. "We ought to index the gas tax to inflation, we should build our own roads," Eltife said. "The toll roads are a piece of...

IRVING — Just two months after the state's transportation department got its latest marching orders from the Legislature, a leading state senator said Tuesday the agency is as arrogant as ever. At a hearing of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas, accused Texas Department of Transportation officials of circumventing legislative intent and even refusing to explain what they're up to. "What does it take to get TxDOT to listen to the will of the legislators?" he said. "It is a core attitude of arrogance that I believe still exists." Carona made the same complaint last...

AUSTIN – State Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson is proud that he can still work a bulldozer, a skill he learned early on the ranch and in the gas fields. Others would say he still drives it at meetings, committee hearings and town hall gatherings. Mr. Williamson, 55, is one of the most influential men in Texas. He has the ear of the governor, with whom he speaks almost daily. He is the architect behind the state's road plan for the next 25 years. He is smart, studious, self-made. And critics, who seem as endless as a West Texas highway,...

Gov. Rick Perry’s veto this week of an eminent domain bill designed to protect landowners left a lot of Texans scratching their heads, and you can lump us in with those feeling dumbfounded. Perry — who was among those making political hay when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that cities can seize homes under eminent domain for use by private developers and made the issue an emergency item in a special session that same year — had a chance to back his tough talk and posturing on property rights with action. But when push came to powerful shove...

LUBBOCK, Texas — One Central Texas farmer said Monday he was "dumbfounded" by Gov. Rick Perry's veto of an eminent domain bill designed to protect landowners when the state wants to take their property. Robert Fleming is not alone in an area worried about the massive Trans Texas Corridor proposal. The planned route cuts through Fleming's Bell County farms. He's bewildered by Perry's veto. "We were so close to getting something done," Fleming said. "We've worked hard trying to get private property rights." Perry vetoed the bill, and 48 others, Friday. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kelo...

Hank Gilbert was not impressed with the 80th meeting of the Texas Legislature. Gilbert, a former candidate for agriculture commissioner and Democratic anti-toll road lobbyist, offered his opinions and reported on his efforts, specifically on bills concerning the toll roads, at the Texas Democratic Women of Gregg County's monthly meeting Thursday. "The 80th session probably had some high points," he said of the Democrats' progress. "But I didn't see them; except the raising of the minimum wage to $7.25, which won't go into effect for another two years." Gilbert spoke in detail about Texas House Bill 1892, a piece of...

Now that legislators have gone home and trumpeted how they passed a bill to freeze private financing of toll roads, the governor's office has some bubble-busting news. There isn't much of a moratorium in Senate Bill 792. "Of any kind, that we can tell," said Robert Black, spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry. "Unless there was something screwy that happened." Actually, there were plenty of screwy machinations in the Legislature as lawmakers hammered out bills to rein in tolling powers of the Texas Department of Transportation. Slapping a two-year moratorium on privatization contracts started out simple. But skittish lawmakers carved out...

AUSTIN – Lawmakers broke camp Monday, taking it on faith that Gov. Rick Perry won't slam the brakes on a compromise toll road bill. Monday's session finale came and went without Mr. Perry signing the bill, which imposes a partial two-year freeze on private toll road deals. Lawmakers did not try to override his veto on their initial bill to overhaul the state's toll policies. Many involved in the contentious toll road debate were expecting Mr. Perry to approve the bill by now because his office was closely involved in hammering out the compromise. Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody said the...

If anything has approximated unanimity in the 80th Texas Legislature, it is the desire to slow down on toll roads. This has left the state’s biggest proponent of toll roads, Gov. Rick Perry, the odd man out. But he’s still the man with the veto pen. The House and Senate last week overwhelmingly approved a two-year moratorium on most toll roads, including the Trans-Texas Corridor. Lawmakers earlier sent a bill to Perry with toll-road restrictions. He vetoed it, and threatened a special session if he didn’t get a bill he could sign. The bill that emerged reportedly meets his terms....

Those persuasion skills were key to Ms. Kolkhorst marshaling support for a partial two-year moratorium on private toll roads. The bill could get lawmakers' final blessing today. The Brenham Republican has emerged as a central figure in the Legislature's efforts to slow down the privatization of Texas roads. She has persuaded nearly all of her 149 House colleagues to back the moratorium, which excludes most North Texas toll projects. Ms. Kolkhorst, 42, has parlayed a blend of persistence, fearlessness, smarts and country charm into a more visible role in Austin. In addition to leading the toll road freeze, she has...

AUSTIN -- Key negotiators were still working Wednesday night to hammer out a compromise version of a toll-road moratorium bill that Gov. Rick Perry won't veto. Earlier Wednesday, Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, said a compromise between the House and Senate versions of a transportation bill had been negotiated, but key House members quickly insisted that a deal had not been reached. The compromise version would require both chambers' approval. Perry vetoed a toll-road moratorium bill last week, citing concerns that it would cost the state federal funding of transportation projects. Different versions of a second moratorium passed both chambers last...

Paul Burka’s blog has a nice update on the legislative efforts to de-rail Gov. Perry’s Trans Texas Corridor project. It hasn’t been stopped yet (reference to bills are bills to halt the TTC): So here’s where we are. HB 1892, the original bill, has been vetoed. SB 792, Carona’s bill, is in conference committee. The governor’s office, through former senator Ken Armbrister, is trying to round up enough votes in the Senate (11) to block an override of the veto. If he is successful, then the governor holds all the cards. He can veto 792 as well, with the calendar...

In many ways, Terri Hall was on a collision course with Texas toll road policies long before she and her family loaded up their van and drove from California to the Hill Country three years ago. A lifetime of volunteering, a hunger for staying on top of politics, and strong religious and moral convictions helped hone Hall's activist instincts. Her brains, drive, superb speaking skills, engaging personality and wholesome good looks — noted by friends and enemies alike — make Hall especially effective. They help explain why this 37-year-old mother of six is a leading force in a populist assault...

Senate rebuffs House changes to SB 792, pushing final action on the tollway overhaul into the session's last week. The Texas Senate declined to accept House changes in a key toll road bill Friday, thus requiring a House and Senate conference committee to craft a compromise version and triggering a gubernatorial veto of another bill. When the House decided to knock off work for the weekend early Friday afternoon, Senate Bill 792 was put on ice until Monday. That led Gov. Rick Perry to follow through on his pledge to veto the legislation that SB 792 is meant to replace,...

More projects exempted from private toll road moratorium in unanimous Senate vote. The Texas Senate, after hours of closed-door negotiations stamped out hot spots of dissent, unanimously passed revamped toll road legislation Monday that would supplant a bill languishing on Gov. Rick Perry's desk. Perry, who has made it clear he would veto the first bill, House Bill 1892, immediately signaled that he would allow Senate Bill 792 to become law if the House passes it in its current form. Lawmakers involved in the negotiations say they hope to get SB 792 to Perry late this week in time to...

Toll road compromise reached By Ben Wear | Monday, May 14, 2007, 08:10 AM Lawmakers, representatives from the Texas Department of Transportation and others have reached agreement on major toll road legislation that will be laid out this morning in a meeting of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee. But there could be a backlash. Many legislators had said this session that what they didn’t want was to be presented with a large “agreed-upon” transportation bill late in the session with little or no time to absorb it. That’s exactly what they’re getting, however. The bill, in this instance,...

Our colleagues at The Dallas Morning News offered this advice to lawmakers fighting to keep intact complex regional plans to deal with transportation issues in Dallas, Fort Worth and the surrounding counties: "Keep Up the Fight." Good advice. Both the Dallas paper and the Star-Telegram have felt some ownership of this issue since we combined on a joint editorial project in 2003, calling for a regionwide effort to link area cities by rail. But rail is only part of the solution to the serious problem of traffic congestion that is approaching gridlock during parts of the day. Officials in North...

AUSTIN — Intense negotiations on compromise transportation legislation continued Thursday, a day after Gov. Rick Perry threatened to call a special session on the issue. Senate Transportation Committee chairman Sen. John Carona said the sides were close to an agreement, though his House counterpart wasn't as optimistic. "We are very close, however we've been close before," said state Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock. Asked if thought the deal could be completed before the session ends on May 28, he said: "It's 50-50." The dustup involves a sweeping bill the Legislature sent Perry earlier this week that would put a two-year...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry doesn't like a transportation bill Texas lawmakers sent him and threatened Wednesday to call them back to address the issue if no solution is reached before the legislative session ends May 28. "The good news is, there's still time to fix it .... if not, I have no other option as the leader of this state than to bring the Legislature back until we address these issues and we get Texas back to where it can have a vibrant transportation infrastructure," Perry said. Though a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts is a major...

The Texas House voted 139-1 Wednesday, May 2, to give final approval to a bill that is intended to buy the state more time to review the effects of handing over roadways to private groups. The vote cleared the way for the bill to move to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk. The bill – HB1892 – would place a two-year moratorium on toll road leases with private groups. It also would require a study of the long-term effects of public-private partnerships. Perry, who has touted the benefits of his proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project, had urged lawmakers to reject the freeze but...

AUSTIN — The House gave final approval Wednesday to placing a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts, sending the bill to Gov. Rick Perry and setting up a showdown over the future of the state's transportation policy. Perry had urged the Legislature to reject the freeze but has stopped short of promising a veto. The House approved the measure 139-1, showing it has broad enough support that lawmakers could vote to override the governor if he tries to kill it. The Senate approved the bill 27-4 last week. The Legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote of...

he Texas state auditor has concluded that transportation officials used inflated numbers when they reported an $86 billion funding gap for highways and transportation projects. The audit released April 30 has a familiar ring to it because it is the second scathing review of transportation funding estimates this year in the state. State Auditor John Keel said the $86 billion estimate by Texas Department of Transportation officials should be more like $77.4 billion, but that’s not all. Nearly $38 billion of that estimate took into account undocumented cost estimates from city officials competing for shared transportation dollars. Keel’s team of...

Report says that more than $45 billion of the estimate is either in error or undocumented. The State Auditor's Office this morning released a report challenging the validity of almost half of a purported $86 billion shortfall in Texas transportation funding over the next generation, and cautioning that the gap estimate "may not be reliable for making policy or funding decisions." That $86 billion figure has been cited repeatedly by Texas Department of Transportation officials and some legislators as a major reason for the state's increasing need for new toll roads. The number is a compilation of estimates from local...

AUSTIN -- The Texas Senate passed its second bill this session creating a two-year moratorium on privately funded toll roads Friday, a sharp rebuke of Gov. Rick Perry's plan to solve the state's transportation problems. Senators voted 27-4 to approve the bill, which would prevent the creation of toll roads made by public entities contracting with private companies. The Senate passed a similar bill earlier, but that version appears dead in the House. The version approved Friday easily passed the House this month by a vote of 137-2. The bill's Senate sponsor, Republican Tommy Williams of The Woodlands, said he...

Opponents of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s proposed Trans-Texas Corridor say they can count on the votes to override if Perry vetoes a bill that would delay such projects. The Texas House and Senate didn’t just support a two-year moratorium on public-private partnerships like the Corridor – they did so overwhelmingly. In the Senate, the vote was unanimous to approve legislation to stall privatization deals. In the House, it was 137 to 2 on a similar bill. If one of the bills ultimately becomes law, the state would use the two years to study the feasibility of privatization, including the massive...

Wonder why there is all the fuss over toll roads? Well, we're not talking about traditional toll projects. Gov. Rick Perry and his Transportation Commission are pushing private toll road deals that limit free routes and allow the private operator to charge high tolls. As ex-Transportation Commissioner Sen. Robert Nichols, a stickler for details and the author of a bill to halt comprehensive development agreements, or CDAs, has noted, the devil is in the details. These private toll contracts include noncompete agreements like Cintra's. There will be no improvements made to existing roads or new free routes built within a...

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a bill placing a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts and creating a panel to review the terms of those agreements. Gov. Rick Perry had urged the Legislature to reject the freeze. He said the state's current transportation system, which involves public-private partnerships to build toll roads, needs to continue if Texas is to keep attracting big companies and jobs. But growing opposition to Perry's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor — a combined toll road and rail system that would whisk traffic from the Oklahoma line to Mexico — have made some lawmakers...

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a bill placing a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts and creating a panel to review the terms of those agreements. Gov. Rick Perry had urged the Legislature not to act on the bill. He said the state's current transportation system, which involves public-private partnerships to build toll roads, needs to continue if Texas is to keep attracting big companies and jobs. Critics of Perry's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor and the state's contract with Spanish-American consortium Cintra-Zachry have made some lawmakers nervous about the project. Sen. Robert Nichols supported the corridor as...

t was a quick-and-dirty job, but somebody had to do it. The "it" in this case was a cost comparison between expanding Interstate 35 beyond six lanes and building the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor twin to I-35. The "somebody" was HNTB Corp., which is serving as the Texas Department of Transportation's general engineering consultant on the I-35 corridor project. It was hired to do the comparison after skeptical Texas senators asked questions at a March 1 hearing. It doesn't take a doctorate in ethics to divine that HNTB, which produced a 101-page report plus hernia-inducing exhibits in just three weeks, might...

AUSTIN - A two-year moratorium on private toll roads that won preliminary approval in the House last week would put the brakes on the Trans-Texas Corridor, a superhighway that a private firm received a contract for earlier this year. The moratorium also would halt seven near-term projects in the state, said Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, the Brenham Republican who added the proposal to a House bill. "This is us tapping the brakes, looking before we leap ... into contracts that last 50-plus years," Kolkhorst said. Her proposal would require the state to create a commission to study the effects of private...

Proponents and opponents alike of the proposed Trans Texas Corridor might be pleased with a bill amendment that, if it completes the legislative process, will put a two-year moratorium on private-public highway partnerships. Officials in Austin believe it will pass both the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate but are unsure whether Gov. Rick Perry will sign it into law. Senate Bill 1267 and House Bill 1892 impose a two-year moratorium on privately funded toll road projects by barring any new comprehensive development agreements or toll-project sales to a private entity, and requiring a study committee to examine...

The growing traffic congestion in Texas is a multipronged problem that cannot be solved by one policy. At a time when toll roads appear to be state leadership's primary answer to the dilemma, a bill proposed by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, has merit. The legislation would index the gas tax to the Highway Cost Index, or the cost of highway construction over time. According to Carona's office, the bill by 2030 would generate about $16 billion in gas tax revenue — or 31/2 times more than the current gas tax would. Not only would more money be available for transportation...

A two-year ban on long-term toll road leases with private companies, pockmarked with exceptions and thus largely symbolic, cleared a Texas Senate committee Wednesday on a unanimous vote. However, the more meaningful action on toll roads should begin in the next two weeks, when a large bill addressing a wide range of concerns over tollways will be introduced in the Senate. The much-publicized moratorium bill by Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, Senate Bill 1267, has an excellent chance of passing the Senate, given that 29 of 31 senators have either signed on as co-sponsors or voted for it in committee. But despite...

(April 3, 2007)—Gov. Rick Perry spoke out Tuesday against proposed legislation that would put a two-year moratorium on private toll road projects including the Trans-Texas Corridor and urged lawmakers to “ensure vital transportation projects continue as planned.� Several bills are pending in Austin aimed at putting the brakes on the massive highway project. State Representative Lois W. Kolkhorst of Brenham has filed a bill that would kill the project altogether and a second measure that calls for a two-year moratorium on allowing private entities from buying the rights to build and operate toll roads. During a visit with US Transportation...

While many strides were made in the previous legislative session in regards to Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), farmers and ranchers feel there are still concerns to address, a Texas Farm Bureau representative told state senators in a transportation committee meeting recently. “We believe the impact of the TTC will be devastating to the agriculture industry and to rural communities,� McLennan County Farm Bureau President Marc Scott said at the Austin hearing. The lack of access due to the division of family farms and ranches, the massive condemnation proceedings that would trail in the wake of corridor approval and the usage of...

The massive Trans-Texas Corridor project is a disaster for farms and ranches that lie in its proposed path, the Waco-based Texas Farm Bureau says. The Farm Bureau has been steadfast in its opposition to the project and says its encouraged by efforts in Austin to derail or at least delay the $184 billion plan, which ultimately calls for a 4,000-mile network of transportation corridors that would crisscross the state with separate highway lanes for passenger vehicles and trucks, passenger rail, freight rain, commuter rail and dedicated utility zones. ?Our members are overwhelmingly opposed to the Trans Texas Corridor,? says TFB...

Mike Krusee looked tired. The Republican state representative from Williamson County, interviewed at his Capitol office last week, for 10 days or so had been fighting what some people call the creeping crud, a debilitating mixture of cold, flu and allergy symptoms hitting many Central Texans this spring. But Krusee, for much longer than 10 days, has also been fighting the creeping realization among legislators that over the past two sessions, they might have granted Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation too much power to create toll roads. For the first time in his three sessions as...