Trans-texas Corridor

[pineda]

Austin Chronicle story on Rick Perry

Good story about Governor Rick Perry and the Trans-Texas Corridor!

[pineda]

Off-the-Kuff remarks

Several interesting observations regarding the doubtful profit potential of TTC.

[GovernorAggie]

If you've been out to the construction zone of SH 45 (north) and SH 130, you'll see that the development is happening now, not in the long run. In fact, there is an astounding amount of new development in that area.

The only way SH 130 will be even remotely financially viable is if the corridor is heavily urbanized and it picks up substantial commuter traffic. My expectation is that urbanization will focus on the section north of SH 45, between Pflugerville and Georgetown. Traffic will take SH 130 and then connect to SH 45 going to Austin. I think SH 45 is going to be the cash cow for CTRMA and will probably help bail out SH 130.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Isn't 183A was CTRMA's first project? When I was at the TXAPA conference in Austin in October, both CTRMA and CTTP reps were there--separately. I think that CTRMA is responsible for 183A, 360 toll lanes, 183 toll lanes (east Austin), MoPac toll lanes, 290/71 toll lanes, etc. CTTP I think is working on 130, 45N, 45S, and Loop 1 extension. However, you are more of an expert in this.

I think 360's toll lanes and MoPac's Toll lanes will take care of CTRMA for a looong time.

[MaxConcrete]

Isn't 183A was CTRMA's first project?  When I was at the TXAPA conference in Austin in October, both CTRMA and CTTP reps were there--separately.  I think that CTRMA is responsible for 183A, 360 toll lanes, 183 toll lanes (east Austin), MoPac toll lanes, 290/71 toll lanes, etc.  CTTP I think is working on 130, 45N, 45S, and Loop 1 extension.  However, you are more of an expert in this.

I think 360's toll lanes and MoPac's Toll lanes will take care of CTRMA for a looong time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're right, TxDOT (not CTRMA) is building SH 45 and SH 130. US 183A is CMTRA's first project.

What I should have said is that SH 45 will help TxDOT cover what I expect to be an underperforming SH 130.

[pineda]

Senor Jose Lopez de Fuentes of Cintra made an interesting comment that may have been overlooked in all the Governor Rick Perry back-slapping going on. Senor Jose said that out of the 1200' wide corridor, four DEDICATED truck lanes will be built FIRST, and based upon demand, up to six lanes for passenger car traffic may be included in the 270' easement up the middle. What happens if and when the financing troubles start? What happens when the trucking companies rise up in revolt and refuse to use the more expensive truck lanes? Gawd, this thing has so many holes in it right now, I can't hardly wait to see the inked contract, if and when it will ever be released for public scrutiny. Governor Rick Perry said that 12/16/04 will go down in infamy for the Texas Transportation Commission. All I can add there is, "Truer words were never spoken, Rick!" What a disgrace...

[GovernorAggie]

Senor Jose Lopez de Fuentes of Cintra made an interesting comment that may have been overlooked in all the Governor Rick Perry back-slapping going on. Senor Jose said that out of the 1200' wide corridor, four DEDICATED truck lanes will be built FIRST, and based upon demand, up to six lanes for passenger car traffic may be included in the 270' easement up the middle. What happens if and when the financing troubles start? What happens when the trucking companies rise up in revolt and refuse to use the more expensive truck lanes? Gawd, this thing has so many holes in it right now, I can't hardly wait to see the inked contract, if and when it will ever be released for public scrutiny. Governor Rick Perry said that 12/16/04 will go down in infamy for the Texas Transportation Commission. All I can add there is, "Truer words were never spoken, Rick!" What a disgrace...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There may actually be a bright side to this--

The main argument of the TTC is that there is such a huge concern for truck traffic, right? Well, the way I see it, Cintra, being a private company, is going about this thing the right way. The reason is because I-35 is supposed to already be under a lot of NAFTA weight, with more trucks apparently going to and from Mexico. So, if the TTC will really work, then this I-35 parallel route will do what it's supposed to and draw those trucks off of I-35 and to the TTC. On the other hand, if the truck traffic doesn't go to the I-35 TTC as expected, then the rationale for the TTC as if goes down in flames. If the I-35 TTC doesn't draw the truck traffic that so impacts I-35 today (hence the reasoning for it being the first segment), then it definitely will not meet projections on the I-69 TTC or any other TTC.

I think that Cintra sees I-35 TTC as a make or break project, and the state should see it as a bellweather. Even though car traffic would pay what, $40 to go from San Antonio to Dallas? Cintra is counting on the money being made from the truck traffic.

Actually Pineda, I like this approach. This will be the true test for the TTC.

BTW, I heard Williamson say the SH 130 could be the auto component of the I-35 TTC--is that still the case with this Cintra plan?

[pineda]

New website for Trans-Texas Corridor

There is a map there, Gov. Aggie, for you to see the areas being considered. But, as Senor Lopez says, the Trans-Texas Corridor is "a live instrument", subject to change. I've been reading some notes on TxDOT's website and NEPA and FHWA, and from what I've been able to gather, there is a movement afoot as we speak to limit the gross vehicle weights allowed on certain Texas roadways. This is part of the "toolbox" of goodies available to Williamson and Johnson in Hb-3588. I think the freight companies will be forced by legislation to use the road (TTC) whether they want to or can afford it or not. But, what I haven't been able to understand is how Texas can do that because it flies in the face of everything NAFTA represents, free trade with no restrictions. It remains to be seen how they could enforce it. It may end up being a showdown between Governor Rick Perry and his bold vision of the Trans-Texas Corridor vs. President George Bush and his father's bold vision of NAFTA. It should start to get real interesting, real quick, though!

[tamtagon]

The trucking companies will find an excellent value paying $60-100 (or however it will be) to use the TTC if the trip from Laredo to Dallas becomes quicker. TTC, with dedicated truck lanes, should not limit travel to non commuter rush-hours through the cities, allowing trucks to operate 24 hours a day. It's worth more than $100 dollars to save two hours between Laredo and Dallas.

There does seem to be a bright side! I have a feeling the passenger lanes will fade out of the routing of the TTC in favor of widened I-35. I'm glad a rail component will not be considered along the TTC route until much later; the most logical rail routing is through the cities, where the people are.

[CincoRanch-HoustonResident]

I don't mind Interstate 69 running through Houston, on the same path has U.S. 59. I don't mind its original route from Mexico to Canada. I hate the way Perry is doing this thing now. $60 going to Dallas is insane. I wouldn't travel up there anymore. I hope this doesn't go into effect.

[pineda]

interesting "flash" population map

[pineda]

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washingtonpost.com

Texans Are Divided Over Plan for Miles Of Wide Toll Roads

Funding, Property Issues Debated

By Sylvia Moreno

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, February 8, 2005; Page A03

AUSTIN -- Everything's big in the Lone Star State, but the term "superhighway" barely begins to describe Texas's transportation plan for the 21st century.

Called the Trans-Texas Corridor, it is the most ambitious highway project since the Eisenhower administration introduced the interstate system in the 1950s. The $184 billion, 50-year plan calls for building 4,000 miles of roadways up to a quarter-mile wide. Each corridor would contain six high-speed toll lanes for cars and trucks; six rail lines and easements for petroleum, natural gas and water pipelines, as well as electric, broadband and other telecommunications lines.

With Texas's population expected to double to 50 million in the next few decades and NAFTA-fueled cross-border trade increasing, the new corridor would move people and goods on these mega-highways from the Mexican border to Oklahoma and from the piney woods of East Texas to the El Paso desert. Cars and trucks could zip along at 85 mph. Oil could be piped out of Mexico across the country. Water from the Louisiana border could flow into drought-stricken West Texas. And hazardous materials could be routed out of Houston and Dallas, improving the state's ability to prevent terrorist attacks or other disasters.

The price would be minimal to taxpayers, say state officials, who are seeking private companies to finance, develop, build and maintain the corridor in exchange for the right to charge tolls for half a century.

Gov. Rick Perry ® calls the corridor a "vision," and transportation experts are watching to see whether the Texas plan will work in other states that are contending with clogged roads and scarce highway funding. The project's reliance on tolls would mean a significant shift in how road construction is paid for and might not easily translate to such states as Ohio, Washington and Indiana that recently decided a gasoline tax increase to pay for highway construction was more palatable than creating more toll roads.

"The Texas concept has great potential that the rest of the country could benefit from looking at," said John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. "Is this a panacea? . . . I think the jury is out on that."

Opponents have lined up against the plan, worried about the environmental impact, the trampling of property rights, the expense of tolls and the loss of business along already established interstate routes.

"What's going to happen when they come across our farms and ranches that have been in some families for generations?" said cotton farmer and Texas Farm Bureau President Kenneth Dierschke. "You could be sitting on your back porch looking at this corridor and looking at your property on the other side."

In December, the Texas Transportation Commission chose a private consortium led by a Madrid-based toll road operator to construct the first segment of the corridor. Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA, in conjunction with a San Antonio construction company, will build 316 miles of four-lane turnpike, with substantial room for expansion, from north of Dallas to east of San Antonio. The cities are connected by the most congested portion of Interstate 35 in Texas -- a stretch of road packed with commuters at rush hour and freight trucks round-the-clock. The "Trans-Texas Corridor 35" will be built east of and parallel to I-35 and construction will begin, subject to environmental approval, in the next five years.

Cintra will spend $6 billion to build the highway and will give the state an additional $1.2 billion to fund other road-improvement projects along I-35, Texas's primary NAFTA truck route. In exchange, Cintra will get the right to charge state-approved tolls on the road for 50 years. The Texas Transportation Department will spend $3.5 million to develop the master plan for the turnpike, but other details are still being worked out. Officials expect to sign a contract with Cintra this month.

Private-public transportation contracts make some analysts wary. The Southern Environmental Law Center, which monitors transportation projects in six states, found that similar agreements in Virginia, for example, are costing taxpayers millions through the subsidies or tax-exempt bonds the state has provided to private road contractors.

"With tighter transportation dollars, there's an obvious appeal" to private-public projects, said Trip Pollard, the center's director of land and community projects. "But people have to realize, it comes out of the public's pocket, whether it's taxes or tolls. . . . There's no free lunch with these projects."

For now, Texas officials are touting the first phase of their new superhighway.

"To Texans stuck in traffic now, know that help is on the way," Perry said last week in his State of the State address. "This toll project will allow us to build the needed corridors sooner and cheaper."

Perry proposed the concept of the corridor during his 2002 reelection campaign. The legislature approved the plan, and it became law in 2003. Perry's plan envisions the building of corridors parallel to interstate highways to ease congestion, decrease air pollution in urban areas and move hazardous materials out of city centers. The private-public financing arrangement would minimize state investment in the corridor, which, state officials said, would be expanded across Texas only as traffic growth dictated and private investors were found.

"The vision that the governor put out there was our interstate system is over 50 years old and, especially at key choke points in some of our cities, it's at its end," said state Rep. Mike Krusee, the author of the corridor bill. "It's time to think about the next 50 years. We've got to basically build another interstate system."

But how to do it was the challenge. There were two choices, as state transportation officials saw it: raise the gasoline tax -- which barely covers the cost of highway repairs, much less expansion -- or finance new roads through tolls.

"We immediately turned to the private sector," said Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission. "We said we have the law, the will, the philosophy, the mentality to entertain your proposals. . . . We're out of money."

The law creating the Trans-Texas Corridor allows the state to acquire property under the power of eminent domain and then to sell or lease the property for revenue-generating facilities, from hotels to gas stations and convenience stores. Texas economist Ray Perryman estimates the corridor could generate $135 billion in economic development for the state over 50 years.

That is good news for the state and the toll-road operators. But big-city and small-town officials say that is bad news for them. The River of Trade Corridor Coalition represents about 20 communities from Dallas to tiny Hooks, all alongside interstates, that are concerned about losing business if traffic is diverted to roadways miles away.

"We have economies that are based on the truck traffic," said Michael Hurtt, mayor of DeSoto, a community of 43,000 that borders the southern edge of Dallas along I-35. "Don't destroy those."

Ranchers and farmers are worried about losing as much as half a million acres of arable land without much recourse or fair compensation, said the Texas Farm Bureau, which represents 383,000 farmers and ranchers. The bureau, a traditional backer of Perry, who grew up on a West Texas farm, voted at its state convention in December to oppose the Trans-Texas Corridor.

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups are concerned about the impact of massive building and the potential paving over of parks and wetlands to accommodate 12 lanes of corridor. Even the governor's staunchest supporter, the Texas Republican Party, expressed opposition to the corridor in its state platform last summer.

"The party rank and file feels very strongly about property rights, and the plan includes condemnation of a number of acres," said state GOP spokeswoman Sherry Sylvester.

Anti-toll-road groups have sprung up across the state, including Corridor Watch, run by the former city manager of Columbus, a town off I-10 midway between Houston and San Antonio. David Stall predicts the Trans-Texas Corridor could hurt small-town economies by diverting traffic off current interstates and removing thousands of acres from property tax rolls.

"It's a lose-lose," he said.

[pineda]

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Toll-road critics are invited to serve on advisory committee

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Gordon Dickson

HOUSTON - A state-sanctioned watchdog group will keep an eye on the construction of toll roads across Texas, and state leaders promise that those who are most critical of the idea will have a voice.

The Texas Transportation Commission voted unanimously Thursday to create an advisory committee for the Trans-Texas Corridor. The committee's first duty will be to oversee the design and construction of a toll road running roughly parallel to Interstate 35 from North Texas to San Antonio.

Commission members said they are inviting toll road opponents to join the advisory committee, which will answer directly to Mike Behrens, director of the Texas Department of Transportation.

The number of committee members and frequency of meetings will be decided by March. Members could be appointed as early as April, said Richard Monroe, the commission's legal counsel.

Critics are encouraged to submit ideas for how the committee should work, commission Chairman Ric Williamson of Weatherford said.

"We will be taking suggestions from government officials ... and anyone else who wants to take part," he said.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is the state's plan to build up to 4,000 miles of high-speed toll roads, rail lines and utility lines during the next half-century.

The first leg would bypass I-35, starting in Denison, running around east Dallas and continuing roughly parallel to I-35 near Waco, Austin and San Antonio. Madrid, Spain-based Cintra and San Antonio-based Zachry Construction have been selected to build and manage the $6 billion project.

Many critics worry that the toll road would hurt cities along I-35 that have built their economies around highway traffic, especially the constant flow of commercial trucks. Others want to make sure that farms are not divided and that toll road operators treat drivers fairly.

Serving on the advisory panel is critics' best chance to influence the toll road's route, Williamson said.

Transportation Department bylaws allow up to 24 members on a committee, but the corridor committee may be smaller, said Phillip Russell, director of the Texas Turnpike Authority Division. Committee members may include technical experts and representatives of city and county governments, neighborhoods, businesses, property owners and environmental groups.

The panel should have a balance of voices, including consumers and industry representatives, Russell said.

Where the committee will meet and how often are undecided.

The committee will attempt to reach local consensus on toll roads and high-speed rail projects, Russell said.

IN THE KNOW

Be involved

[pineda]

Texas Toll-Roads website

This was forwarded to me this afternoon, it has some interesting information!

[kjb434]

I think the concept that Toll Roads are a "Double Tax" just shows how people distort the facts.

Toll Roads such as SH 130 and SH 45 are not funded by the state of Texas except for adminstrative procedures and design costs. The construction costs are not bared by the taxpayer and the gasoline taxes we pay. Nor is federal money involved. That is the whole concept behind a Toll Road. Not to use taxpayer dollers for the facilities and only charge the users of these roads.

This doesn't mean I'm toll happy and want to toll roads. I have no issue with tolling new facilities, but any existing facility I'm completely against tolling them. I know Ric Williamson and Gov Perry have endorsed tolling existing roads, but those concepts have to state legislative approvals and federal approvals (not likely). Interstates in the US that are currently tolled were built that way from the begining. The states that have toll interstates could afford to build what the federal government was mandating that they build. These states setup tolling systems to assist them in paying for it.