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Follow TURFTexas on road to highway crisis
Debt to top construction funds.
By Gary Scharrer
Published: 12:00 a.m., Saturday, January 29, 2011
AUSTIN — Texas soon will be shelling out more per year to pay back money it borrowed for road construction than it spends from its quickly vanishing pile of cash to build new highways.
Legislative leaders characterize the state's transportation funding as a crisis. But most Texans are unaware of its severity and must be educated, they say, before the state can find new ways to finance new roads.
The gasoline tax pays for road maintenance and construction, but has not increased in 20 years. Gas tax revenue peaked in 2008 and likely will decline as vehicles become more fuel-efficient.
“It's not a crisis until everybody agrees that it's a crisis. Right now, people who don't understand it are saying, ‘You're crying wolf,'” said House Transportation Committee Chairman Joe Pickett, D-El Paso. “Yes, it's a crisis.”
Read the rest of the story here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Texas-on-roadto-highway-crisis-984511.php#ixzz1CZrPcbFW