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Cintra BAILOUT: firm snags $3.6 million payment for LOSING BID on SH 121 PDF Print E-mail
Written by Terri Hall   
Friday, 14 August 2009

Link to article here.

Wanna know why there's no money for roads? Here's your answer...

Hold your breath or at least resist the urge to throw things at your computer or kick the dog...despite public opposition, Texas Senator John Carona and State Rep. Charlie Geren carried the bill to lift the cap on payments to losing bidders on certain toll contracts called Comprehensive Development Agreements or CDAs. The original limit was $1 million, then in 2007 it was reduced to $250,000, and now since SB 882 passed, there is no cap on how high these payments can go. The amount of taxpayer money is solely at the discretion of government bureaucrats and politicians who bow to foreign interests, like the Spanish firm Cintra. So we're paying LOSERS for not even building the roads! I warned you...the cronyism is only getting worse, and it's at the expense of the taxpayers!


Thursday, Aug 13, 2009

Spanish firm to receive $3.6 million after losing road project
Gordon Dickson
Star-Telegram
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The Regional Transportation Council agreed Thursday to pay Spanish firm Cintra $3.6 million to cover costs the Spanish firm incurred before losing its bid for the Texas 121 toll road project, despite objections from some Denton County officials.

The road is now known as Sam Rayburn Tollway, and connects cities north and east of Grapevine such as Coppell, Carrollton and Plano.

Cintra, a publicly held firm known worldwide for building toll roads with private investment dollars, was conditionally awarded the toll project in Denton and Collin counties by the Texas Transportation Commission in February 2007. But under pressure from Dallas-area leaders, the state commission terminated that award in August 2007, allowing the Plano-based tollway authority to take the project.

During the seven months it held the project, Cintra incurred costs related to the federal TIFIA loan program, a stipend for unsuccessful work and other, unidentified post-bid costs, North Central Texas Council of Governments transportation director Michael Morris said.

Denton County Commissioner Andy Eads spoke against the payment, noting that Denton County wanted Cintra to keep the project. "For Denton County to now be looked at to remedy this is, in our opinion, inappropriate," Eads said.

Even so, the 40-member RTC approved the $3.6 million payment on a split voice vote.

The money will come out of toll revenues generated on the tollway in these counties: Denton County, $1,961,063; Collin County $1,446,086; and Dallas County $253,065.

Tarrant County won't have to pitch in to pay Cintra, even though about 4 percent of tollway traffic is from greater Fort Worth. State law prohibits the transfer of toll revenue from the Texas Department of Transportation Fort Worth district to the Dallas district, where the tollway is.
 
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Newsflash

Poll: Texans don’t want tolls, gas tax hikes

Link to poll story here or read it below.

The headline declares Texans want their roads fixed but don't want to pay for them. But it's not a matter of not wanting to fund them, it's a matter of economics. Texans don't have any more money to give to transportation with gas at $4 a gallon! The cost of living is rising much faster than our ability to pay for it. Then, when you consider TxDOT spending $100,000 a month on lobbyists and $9 million on an ad campaign pushing toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor, frivolous spending like $18 million rest stops with free Wi-Fi, and the endless raiding from our gas taxes that we ALREADY PAY for roads, it's no wonder Texans are in no mood for tax hikes.

Add to all that the fact that the State of Texas has had surplus after surplus (which is a result of overtaxation) with another $15 billion surplus projected by the start of next year's legislative session, Texans don't believe the State is out of money or that we're taxed too little, not for one minute!

I found it interesting that the poll didn't use numbers at all like amount of gas tax hike or any cost comparisons on toll project costs versus freeways. Like on US 281, to keep it a freeway would cost $170 million, but to make it a toll road, it will cost $1.3 billion. This would likely draw much stronger opposition to tolling existing roads given that information. They also shied away from informing people about the specific number of lane-miles slated to be tolled and how much they'd pay per mile in tolls versus gas tax, which would help people make a more informed comparison of the choices and show that it will be difficult to avoid taking the more expensive toll roads with so many in the queue.

Nonetheless the message is clear, Texans don't want tolls or higher transportation costs, period.

New poll shows Texans want better roads, don't want to pay for them
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

AUSTIN – Texans think congestion is a serious problem and want road improvements, but a solid majority is adamantly against paying at the toll booth or gas pump for bigger and better highways, a poll released today shows.
Read more...