04.22.07
The Latest On Private Toll Roads
This editorial in today’s SAEN, Toll road deals merit scrutiny, by Terri Hall of Texans Uniting for Reform & Freedom (TURF).
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.
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The Texas Department of Transportation promises toll rates of 12 cents to 15 cents a mile, but the reality has been 44 cents up to $1.50 per mile on similar projects that just opened in Austin. When TxDOT has admitted it costs 11 cents to collect the tolls, it can’t possibly cover the operation or maintenance of that road with 12-cent to 15-cent tolls, much less pay the private toll operator its guaranteed 12 percent profit.
In fact, TxDOT’s mantra is that the private company will charge “market rate,” which essentially means tolls without limit since there will be few, if any, alternatives. Bottom line: Using CDA private toll contracts is the most expensive option for motorists. Yet the governor and his cronies claim they’re doing all this without raising taxes.
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Since an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure, let’s revisit the gas tax to prevent this shady widespread shift to private tolling and be done with it.
Great job Terri! Succinct and to the point.
Next the Startlegram has more, Toll road battle draws near, on Time’s A Wastin’ for the moratorium to get finished before session’s done.
But if the Legislature wants to make sure it keeps that breathing time by avoiding a veto, it had better move fast. Both chambers must agree on a bill and have it on Perry’s desk by May 16. That way, if the governor does veto it, both chambers would have time to try to override the veto before the legislative session expires May 28.
Nichols said his bill, or one of a handful of others with similar features, could easily work its way through the legislative mill before May 16. And he added that it would not be difficult to round up the two-thirds majority in both houses needed to override the veto.
If the scenario plays out, it would be the first time since 1979 for the Legislature to override a governor’s veto.
And Peter Stern has the skinny on Sen. Jeff Wentworth, Senator Jeff Wentworth sold-out Texans.