Transportation

Bill Hammond writes that underfunding transportation imposes a litany of costs on Texans. These costs are:

Wear and tear from driving on deficient roads: $25.1Billion/year.  This amounts to $1,740 per year per person in Dallas; $1,850 for Houstonians; $1,780 in San Antonio; and $1,655 in Austin. [McAllen Monitor]

TribTalk offers perspectives. Today’s perspective is from State Representative Jeff Leach. The highlights of his persceptive on transportation funding:

• Prop. 1 is good.
• Tollroads are bad.
• Long term TXDOT debt is bad. 
• Transportation funding must be “aggressively addressed”
• Must “reprioritize transportation funding”
• End budget diversions.
• Dedicate to transportation funding some existing revenue accounts, like the motor vehicle sales tax & auto parts sales tax.

[TribTalks]

Texas is moving ahead with privately built high speed rail. The first public meetings began this week to discuss the proposed Dallas-Houston leg. Federal Railroad Administration and TXDOT jointly held the meetings. At issue were:

• Where to locate main stops in Dallas and Houston
• How will any plan impact private land owners
• How to properly plan high speed rail so it can expand 

For the list of public meetings: Go here.  [TX Tribune]

Empower Texas opposes a lot of things, including changes to the gas tax. In the penned opposition, note their last paragraph:

 The biggest advocate for a gasoline tax hike in the state senate is Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas). He talked a lot about his desire to hike taxes and revenues for several years. And he lost. To a guy promising not to raise taxes.  

Gas tax is a campaign issue for Empower Texas. [Empower Texas]

Proposition 1 on the November ballot would provide an additional $1 Billion to transportation funding. TXDOT estimates that the state under funds transportation by at least $5 Billion per year or $10 Billion each time the Legislature meets.

Organizations are lining up to support Proposition 1 including Texas Good Roads and Transportation Advocates of Texas. [Houston Chronicle]

San Francisco’s Prop A on November’s ballot has the primary goal to reduce the number of cars and car lanes. San Francisco is willing to spend $500 million, in its tiny 9 mile by 9 mile area, to add bike lanes, improve CalTrain down the peninsula, update traffic signals to move buses more expeditiously, and improve pedistrian paths. [SFGate and SF Chronicle]

A proposed new toll road in North Texas by the Texas Turnpike Corporation has garnered the attention of activists. Lots of activists.

A public forum was shut down by the Fire Marshall. The next public forum included heated and vocal opposition. Last week there was an organized protest by Texas TURF. And now Breitbart, the same organization for which Michael Quinn Sullivan writes, posted in opposition to the toll road. 

Besides the disdain for toll roads, the proposed North Texas road may be built with wminent domain exercised by the private entity, the Texas Turnpike Corporation. Activists are not pleased. [Breitbart]

Ride sharing is now regulated by Austin City Council. Taxi companies are not pleased. Refreshing our recollection, the District Attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco recently sent ride share companies a list of concerns about the legality of ride sharing.

The legislative and regulatory issues are plenty- properly licensing drivers, background checks for drivers, tort liability issues for injured riders, and the kicker- how to tax ride sharing. [KUT]

High Speed Rail is moving forward in California. The California Supreme Court this week cleared the path for high speed rail after challengers attempted to block the bullet train. The $68 billion dollar bullet train is moving forward.   [WSJ] [LA Times]

The statewide Prop. 1 for $1 billion in additional funding for state transportation projects will be joined on the November ballot by local transportation funding propositions. Austin has a $1 billion funding package of its own to expand roads and additional rail. [KUT]

Tax policy can be complicated to explain and hard to depict with graphics. The good folks at the Transportation Research Center at Texas A&M have solved this dilemna for us. They have an easy to follow graphic on the gas tax and all state highway funding. It’s beautifully executed. [Transportation Policy Research Center at Texas A&M]

There are animated speakers who talk about the need for increased transportation funding and then there are animated depictions of transportation funding. This is the latter. The Texas A&M Transportation Policy Research Center animates Prop 1. [Transportation Policy Research Center]

Super Tuesday sounds like a primary day. For North Texas Super Tuesday is today, October 14th.  Texas TURF will ake a public stand on its opposition to the Texas Turnpike Corp.’s Northeast Gateway. Six city council’s along the toll road’s path have passed resolutions opposing the toll road. [KETR]

The controversial Northeast Gateway, a new toll road project in North Texas, spearheaded by the Texas Turnpike Corporation, is facing a reversal of fortune. The North Central Texas Council of Governments may reverse its support for the project.

The project that has been greeted by over flowing crowds overwhelmingly opposed to the new toll road. Toll roads, especially toll roads by private companies, are not en vogue in 2014 Texas. [Dallas Morning News]

Community Impact Papers have a fantastic headline, Rainy Day Road Relief, even if revenue types would question the veracity of the headline. Back in the summer of 2013, Texas Legislature passed SJR 1 to add $1 billion in transportation funding which diverts a portion of the oil and gas revenues before the revenues reach the Rainy Day Fund.  [Community Impact] [SJR 1]

Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Addkisson supports indexing the gas tax. He points to the Governor’s  Business Council which said that a 10 cent per gallon increase could make up the $60-90 Billion deficit in Texas transportation funding. He goes on to say that local governments are contributing millions in upfront funding to cover TXDOT transportation projects. [My SA]

Texas recevied $48.6 billion in federal funds for fiscal year 2013. Texas complied with federal rules when it spent the $2.6 billion in funds from the federal highway planning cluster programs audited.  [SAO]  

Every expo has its day. The days October 12-15 this year are the days for the APTA transportation expo. [APTA]

In the summer of 2013 the Texas Legislature was busy with three back to back special sessions. The final special session brought us SJR 1 and HB 1 which begins the process of solving Texas transportation funding structure. Legislative voyeurs are concerned about diversions in transportation funding. Transportation funding has been used to fund everything from education to law enforcement. [SJR 1 (2013)] [HB 1(2013)]

Local governments are paying attention to the robust public input on a North Texas private toll road project by the Texas Turnpike Corporation. To translate lawyer speak- robust public input means angry voters. This week the town of Wylie called a special council meeting  & voted to OPPOSE a private toll road, which gives the private corporation eminent domain authority. Texans don’t like private toll roads. Texans dislike private companies using eminent domain & building private toll roads more.[NBC DFW]

From Waco’s ABC 25 News: ” Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization Director Chris Evilia says, “I can tell you that our financial forecasts are pretty bleak.”  

When it comes to transportation funding, the Waco MPO isn’t alone.  That’s why lawmakers are putting Proposition 1 on the November ballot.

If it passes, a significant amount of money will be diverted from Texas’ Rainy Day Fund — into the Highway Transportation Fund every year.  ”  [ABC 25 Waco]

New transportation options are coming to our streets. Good for the laisse faire market. As the District Attorneys in LA and San Francisco recently warned by letter, liability for injuries is an issue that should be addressed.  This liability issue directly relates to how should a state or city regulate these new methods of transportation? Do these new transportation methods fit within the liability rules for an existing transportation provider? Maybe, maybe not. Tort issues will arise.  [CNET]

Way back in the summer of 2013, the Legislature passed legislation to support adding $1 Billion, a fraction of oil and gas tax revenues,  to the State Highway Fund. Usually a 2013 constititional amdendment is put to the vote in 2013. But, not in this case of this quirky bill, it set the election date as 2014. [KUT] [2013’s transportation bills: SJR 1 and HB 1]

A tiny blind spider colony is causing major headaches in San Antonio. Three years after finding the blind spider, the project has been re-routed, and the price tag trippled. The spider gets to keep its habitat, the citizens get their needed roadways. [My SA]

Preserving farmland is high on the minds of West Texans. The Brazos River Bottom Alliance says Texas leads the nation in disappearing farm land. Texas without farm land is like Texas without cowboys, a seeming impossibility. [Odessa American]
 

Creative business enterprises Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, which all provide ride-share services, received a friendly letter from the District Attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Friendly in this case is defined as- hey companies, we think you’re breaking several laws,and we might sue you. The district attorneys raised issues such as whether proper background checks on drivers are being conducted; the threat to public safety for riders; ride share calculations violate state law; and failure to get proper state licenses. Expect California to regulate ride sharing more heavily both locally and statewide. [San Francisco Chronicle]

Private companies exercising eminent domain is eerily familiar to the TransTexas Corridor. TransTexas Corridor brought an emergence of grassroots groups opposed to a private, foreign company being granted the power of eminent domain. The Legislature ended the TransTexas Corridor years ago. But, private tollroad companies still exist, including The Texas Turnpike Corporation. It has proposed a new Northeast Gateway Toll Project. Vocal opposition to this project caused the first public meeting to be shut down by a fire marshall when capacity was quickly exceeded at the venue. The second public meeting turned heated with unanimous opposition. Such is the case when the words private company and eminent domain appear in the same sentence. [WFAA Dallas]

Imagine if Texas Legislators had to authorize eminent domain for a project to move forward? California hasn’t gone that far to make the Legislature approve eminent domain, but the California Public Works Board is voting to condemn a feed store, a vacant lot, and other Fresno properties to build the San Francisco-Los Angeles high speed rail line. [Fresno Bee]

The North Central Texas Council of Government did the right thing by hosting a public meeting on a planned toll road linking Bush Turnpike with Greenville. Unexpectedly the meeting drew a crowd. A really big crowd. A crowd too big for the school cafeteria. People were there to voice opinions about eminent domain. The big crowd caused a quick end to the meeting. There is nothing that pleases people who are upset more than being denied a forum to voice their opinions. Tempers are sure to flare.   [Dallas Morning News]

An interesting nugget from the article: “Blair Fitzsimons, the executive director of the Texas Agricultural Land Trust, said 

there are few options for private landowners in Texas who are fighting against eminent domain.” She goes on to discuss potential eminent domain protection from certain conservation easements.

High Speed Rail is progressing in California. Billion Dollar construction contracts have been awarded. But, there’s a hitch. Eminent Domain and right of way negotiations aren’t moving. Hard to build when land disputes exist. [Fresno Bee]

This is one to watch. In Texas, the FBI is investigating right of way purchases in North Texas, which some say was land speculating because of the potential use of eminent domain while constructing I-35E. [Denton Record]