Dallas area may be first to see state's new plan to fund toll

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12:25 AM CST on Monday, November 23, 2009
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News
[e-mail]
AUSTIN – Lawmakers might have left the Capitol earlier this year without getting much done when it comes to transportation. But they were clear on one point: They wanted the Texas Department of Transportation out of the business of building privately financed toll roads.>>>>>>>>>


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/112309dnmettxdot.43c2816.html

AT A GLANCE: PRIVATE TOLL ROADS Some private toll roads in Texas:

LBJ FREEWAY: It's a free road now, but Spanish road firm Cintra will begin rebuilding it as a mix of free lanes and tolled lanes beginning mid-2011 or sooner. The $2.1 billion project will take five years, but once completed, drivers will have a choice: Sit in traffic on the free lanes or pay tolls that could reach $1 a mile to take the tolled lanes.

NORTH TARRANT EXPRESS: Another hybrid project, the state of Texas committed hundreds of millions of dollars toward this $2 billion effort. But the work will be done by a team led by Cintra, which will cover the rest of the costs, and collect tolls for 50 years. Construction begins next year and the highway will open by 2015.

INTERSTATE 35E: Not yet a toll project, but with the Transportation Department strapped, the only way this highway will be widened anytime soon will be if toll lanes are added. State officials say the only way it will be able to afford to build it anytime soon will be to partner with a private firm. Once funding is resolved, construction could begin within two to three years.

STATE HIGHWAY 130: In Austin, Cintra paid $25 million upfront as part of a deal struck in 2007 that gives it the right to build and operate a 40-mile stretch of the highway from Austin to Interstate 10 near San Antonio. The state gets a cut of the tolls and avoids costs estimated at well over $1.5 billion. Construction is under way and the road could open as soon as 2012.

[sonias]

1. A toll road is a toll road by any other name

(snip)
But less than six months later, state highway bosses may have found a loophole. And the Dallas area, already home to more toll roads than anywhere in Texas, probably is the place where they will try it first.

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"These deals look very much like a CDA, and I want to make sure you understand that," executive director Amadeo Saenz of the Transportation Department told a Senate hearing in El Paso this month. "We're getting a lot of push from Denton and Dallas County . I want to be forthright and maybe say, 'Be careful what you are asking for.' If you look at a private pass-through model project, it is very similar to a CDA. You are using a private firm to bring equity to the project."

Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, took that in stride, conceding that the agency had been woefully underfunded by the Legislature in recent years, and had to explore all of its options. But he lashed out at Houghton when he said the department also would be willing to shop a major Tarrant County toll project to private investors, if only the North Texas Tollway Authority first would relinquish its rights to the road.

"The community is not at all excited about you coming in and building toll roads," Carona said. "NTTA builds our toll roads. ... We don't want you running toll operations in North Texas. The Legislature has been very clear."

Sonia

[Lithos]

2. Yep

You notice that the idea of selling off public assets in order to make a profit for the private sector while double charging the public is not being addressed. Just a squabble among who is going to have the right of monopoly (and guaranteed profit).

L-

[sonias]

3. Privitization at the core

That's what happens when the Lege decides to sell assets. The entity making the "profit" is not the State, and the taxpayers are still on the hook. If these things go bust, the taxpayer is on the hook to take it over anyway.

Everyone should remember the flawed food stamp registration privatization scam. It was a failure and the state had to take it back in-house. Millions of dollars wasted.

But even the Rs admit that the Lege is "woefully underfunding" road construction. Why should the state pay for road construction when a private entity is salivating at the mouth to make profits on toll roads?

Texas Republican Legislature has been pretty successful at drowning the state government in a bathtub. They turn a blind eye to problems until they become a crisis. And even then they won't act. Not until an accident happens or the Fed forces them to address it.

Who thinks the Lege is going to do anything about our decaying bridges in Texas?
Texas Leads States With Deficient Bridges

Anybody? I didn't think so.

Sonia

[bamacrat]

4. If they want to have privately funded roads then they should take the toll away when its paid back.

Just a crazy idea I know. i take the Dallas Parkway as much as I can, yes it takes way longer to get around but I get some nice scenery, and sometimes its less crowded than the toll way. Also I hate the yield to ramp signs, the inside lane immediately merges with the ramp lane. how unsafe is that?