Highway Trust Fund needs to be cut 92%?

Link to article here.

How about they start making the trust fund more solvent by ending the diversions of federal gas tax to pay for transit that only an estimated 1% of travelers use?

Just How Screwed is the Highway Trust Fund?
Posted By Ryan Holeywell | April 24, 2013
Governing.com

The Highway Trust Fund won't be able to meet its obligations come 2015, according to a statement by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to the House Budget Committee.
Federal lawmakers, the report says, would have to cut transportation spending by 92 percent or raise the gas tax by more than 50 percent in order to bring revenue and spending in line.

The Highway Trust Fund, which gets its money from taxes on gasoline and motor fuels, is the source of money for federal spending on highways, bridges, roads and transit. The fund has struggled for years to remain in the black -- ever since federal transportation spending started exceeding the dedicated taxes used to pay for it.

VA Residents protest toll lanes on I-395

Link to article here.

Virginia Residents Protest Against Toll Roads
Virginia residents protest latest plan to convert freeway lanes into a toll road.
The Newspaper.com
April 8, 2013

About 100 residents of Alexandria, Virginia gathered Saturday to protest the conversion of the Interstate 395 high occupancy vehicle lanes into a toll road. The Concerned Residents of Landmark, a group representing eight homeowners associations in the area, are concerned that the plan includes building an elevated ramp that will raise freeway traffic up to the level of nearby homes, within 75 feet of some buildings.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) chose to end the toll road at the Landmark location instead of running the toll lanes all the way to Washington, DC because the city of Arlington filed a lawsuit that blocked the toll road from extending north through the city.

Reasons to be wary of public private partnerships

Link to article here.

6 Reasons to Be Wary of Public-Private Partnerships
By Laura Barrett

Huffington Post

April 5, 2013

During his recent visit to Miami, President Obama praised Public Private Partnerships ("P3s") and lifted up the idea of a national infrastructure bank. While most Americans support the idea of building a sustainable economy and fixing decaying infrastructure, building up a national system of public-private partnerships is a whole other animal and needs to be carefully considered. The record on P3 agreements is mixed at best.

Legislators pass law to use property tax to build TOLL roads

Link to article here.

DOUBLE TAX: Texas lawmakers vote to use property taxes to build toll roads

By Terri Hall
April 25, 2013
Examiner.com

While the Texas House and Senate are busy competing over which chamber can come up with the most funding for public schools, another top priority of state government has taken a back seat -- roads. Though roads are needed to get to school, work, and make our economy thrive, state lawmakers continue to demonstrate that roads are NOT a top funding priority for state government. Instead, lawmakers are content to push the state’s obligation to fund our state highway system down to the local level by using LOCAL sales tax and property tax to build STATE highway projects.

Senate Bill 1110 that passed the Texas House today will go straight to Governor Rick Perry’s desk. The bill gives local authorities the ability to use property tax and sales tax to build TOLL projects. So the road would be built with tax money, but Texans would be charged a toll to actually use the road.

Trans Texas Corridor update: Hwy 59 gets I-69 designation

Link to article here.

This is the next step in creating a NAFTA superhighway trade corridor through east Texas. I-69 used to be known as Trans Texas Corridor 69 (TTC-69) and was going to fall into the hands of ACS, a Spanish toll operator, who was awarded the initial development rights but eventually found the project to be unprofitable and never entered into a final public private partnership contract.

Portions of US 59 lined with new IH 69 signs
By Cory Stottlemyer
Ft. Bend News
April 15, 2013

In February, the Texas Transportation Commission designated 28.4 miles of US 59 from the south side of Rosenberg to the 610 loop as part of Interstate 69. This month, signs are being officially planted along the strip of highway to designate it as both I-69 and US 59.

Texas Department of Transportation’s Houston District crews are currently installing the signs. I-69 will ultimately become a 1,600-mile-long highway stretching from Michigan to Texas. The U.S. Congress has already designated three highway segments in South Texas as equal parts of the I-69 Priority Corridor: US 77 route from Brownsville to Victoria, the US 281 route north from McAllen and the US 59 route from Texarkana to Victoria.

Moody's downgrades Cintra's credit rating on SH 130 for foreseeable future

Link to Moody's downgrade announcement here.

Rating Action:
Moody's downgrades the ratings on SH 130 Concession Company Senior and TIFIA loans to B1
Global Credit Research - 12 Apr 2013
Downgrade affects $1.1 billion of outstanding debt

New York, April 12, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service has concluded the review period for the ratings of the SH 130 Concession Company. The rating on the Senior Bank Facility, which has $686 million outstanding have been downgraded to B1 from Baa3. The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan, which has $451 million outstanding to B1 from Ba1. The outlook on both ratings is negative.

NTTA toll collection called 'byzantine'

Link to article here.

More on NTTA driver’s $30,000 debt to the NTTA, this time from her lawyer
By Rodger Jones/Editorial Writer
Dallas Morning News
April 19, 2013

I have heard from a lawyer hired by a woman I’ve written about who was stressed out about a $30,000 debt to the NTTA. She admits to having been out there using the roads while still owing money. At the same time, her beef is figuring out how to deal with the agency and negotiating a settlement — as many do — about the add-on fees.

I asked the woman’s attorney, Thomas S. Howery, to boil his perspective down for me in an email, which follows. The questions he raises are timely, since the Legislature is in the process of passing bills that strengthens NTTA’s hand in dealing with scofflaws.

Texans to pay tolls for out of state, Mexican drivers on SH 130

Link to article here. 

Toll Road Blues--YOU Will Pay for Out of State, Mexican Travelers on new SH 130 Toll Road
WOAI Radio
Monday, November 12, 2012   

They started charging you to drive on that new 85 mph State Highway 130 toll road over the weekend.  It will cost about $12 to drive the 91 miles from Interstate 10 near Seguin to I-35 north of Georgetown, or about 15 cents a mile.

And congratulations, the people who run the highway say you will also be paying for people from Mexico and from many other states in the U.S. to drive on the highway.

"There is no cross country collection mechanism yet," Project Engineering Manager Guy Russell told 1200 WOAI news.

Toll hikes anger citizens in VA

Link to article here.

Greenway Toll Hikes Decried At SCC Hearing
Leesburg Today
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 

In the first of two State Corporation Commission public input sessions held yesterday at Loudoun Valley High School, a number of speakers decried the toll raises granted to Dulles Greenway’s owners, Toll Road Investors Partnership Trip II.

Opposition came on several fronts—slamming Greenway management Australian hedge fund Macquarie Group for excessive and speculative financial practices; the SCC for not taking a firmer line to control Macquarie’s repeated calls for toll raises; the plight of commuters facing ever-rising tolls; and the intention of some Northern Virginia politicians to assume ownership of the toll road through a budget amendment in the 2014 session of the General Assembly next January.

Toll forecasts over promise, underdeliver

Link to article here.

Study Documents Optimism Bias In Toll Road Traffic Forecasts
Study finds toll road industry plagued by inaccurate traffic forecasting.
The Newspaper.com
April 10, 2013

Toll roads around the world are struggling. Moody's Investment Services on March 21 warned of a possible downgrade of the SH130 toll road in Austin, Texas because the 50 percent fewer people used the road than projected. In Australia, toll operator BrisConnections finally went bankrupt in February after its $4.8 billion Airport Link toll road in Brisbane failed to deliver. In Virginia, the newly opened 495 high occupancy toll lanes have continued to disappoint officials.

Perry backs more debt, toll taxes to pay for roads

Link to article here. Governor Rick Perry's Press release & the text of his speech is also below.

Actually this article makes it sound as though we'd be getting a portion of our existing vehicle sales tax dedicated to build free roads, but actually the Governor's plan is to use that TAX money to leverage more toll road debt. So they'll build the road with some of our tax money, but still charge us tolls to drive on it.

So if the Governor gets his way, he'll take the most promising pot of money we have to build free roads and get back to pay as you go and hijack it to build more toll roads and issue heaps more DEBT! Perry now advocates century bonds that will take 100 years to pay-off - well beyond the useful life of the road. He thinks we can 'manage' all this debt. But it's unsustainable. Under Perry, the state has amassed $31 billion in principle & interest in just the last 8 years maxing out the borrowing against future gas taxes and even dipping into general revenue to back bonds. Imagine what Perry would do with a new revenue stream!

Perry Backs Dedicated Car Sales Taxes for Highway Fund
By Aman Batheja
Texas Tribune
April 12, 2013

Gov. Rick Perry on Friday came out in support of dedicating a portion of future sales tax revenue from car sales to the state’s highway fund, while also leaving the door open to spending more of the Rainy Day Fund on infrastructure projects that he had proposed three months ago.

“With the rapid growth of our population and our healthy economy, the amount we take on in those sales is increasing steadily,” Perry said during a keynote speech in Austin at a transportation infrastructure conference hosted by the Texas Lyceum. “I propose that we dedicate the future growth of sales tax collected on motor vehicles to transportation infrastructure.”

Obama pushes more tolls, public private partnerships

Link to article here.

President's budget strong on transportation, with a catch
By David Tanner, Land Line associate editor
April 11, 2013

President Obama’s proposed budget shows the administration’s commitment to funding transportation and infrastructure. But while the numbers look good for roads and bridges over the short term, critics say the document lacks a long-term funding solution and gets off track in areas such as sharing highway money with rail and expanding the cross-border trucking program. 


Traditionally, a presidential budget request is a wish list, and the one President Obama delivered on Wednesday, April 10, is no exception.

The wish list calls for an immediate $50 billion in upfront spending for structurally deficient bridges and other needs.

CA toll roads $1.7 billion in red ink

Link to article here.

Texas is following the same model, though Governor Rick Perry is fond of comparing Texas as better than California in every way, his transportation policies are incurring massive taxpayer debt and they're building toll roads that will be in a sea of red ink for a generation or more!

California: Toll Roads Generate $1.7 Billion In Red Ink
Analysis shows two Southern California toll roads were unsustainable from the very beginning.
The Newspaper.com
April 12, 2013

The debt load accumulated by the toll roads in Orange County, California is unsustainable, according to a study released Tuesday by the Pacific Research Institute. Researchers Donna Arduin, former budget director for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow at PRI, examined the financial status of the publicly owned Foothill-Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency's 241 toll road and the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency's 73 toll road.

Advocates insist tolling is a superior transportation funding mechanism because it is based on the concept of "user fees" -- those who use the toll road are the ones who pay for it. This concept has gone out the window with the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) toll roads, which the report found use an estimated $1.7 billion in taxpayer subsidies. Worse, the roads are deeply in debt.

PA turnpike corruption worst case ever

Link to article here.

Experts: State’s turnpike corruption ‘the worst such case’
By Brad Bumsted
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Thursday, April 11, 2013

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Turnpike scandal is the worst of its kind in the nation in recent history, experts say.

“There's been nothing as systemic, as enduring and widespread,” Peter Samuel, publisher of Tollroadsnews.com in Frederick, Md., said of allegations in a state grand jury report last month.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane has said the investigation continues; the grand jury had concluded that eight people, including a former Senate Democratic leader and former top turnpike officials, used the agency as a “cash cow” to raise campaign money for lawmakers and gubernatorial candidates. Campaign donations and gifts paved the way for rigged turnpike contracts in a pay-to-play scheme, the grand jury said.

Trans Texas Corridor? Oklahoma-Texas rail corridor

Link to press release here.

The Trans Texas Corridor is no more dead than I am. This press release from TxDOT proves it. Throw Loop 9 into the mix and the original vision is right in front of our eyes.

TxDOT Press Release

Texas-Oklahoma Passenger Rail Study

Texas’ population and economy are booming, with much of its growth occurring in the already-congested I-35 corridor. While TxDOT continues to explore roadway improvements to keep all of us and our economy moving, other options, such as passenger rail service, fit the needs of many travelers and would reduce demand on the state’s roadways. Through the Texas-Oklahoma Passenger Rail Study, TxDOT will consider how passenger rail service could fit into this corridor.

Millionaire travel uninterrupted: TxDOT takeover of municipal airports

Link to article here.

Millionaire travel uninterrupted: Texas taxpayers to takeover municipal airports
By Terri Hall
Examiner.com
April 1, 2013

It sounds like something you’d hear on April Fool’s Day, but in Texas, Governor Rick Perry and his highway department are quite serious. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) just announced it plans to takeover operations of 13 municipal airports across the state that have lost federal funding due to cuts triggered by sequestration.

Perry asked TxDOT to temporarily pay for air traffic controllers, presumably, for public safety, but it’s no coincidence that the governor and his Transportation Commissioners jet set into and out of these small airports for state business, though commercial air travel is much more cost effective for taxpayers. It appears this airport stopgap will directly benefit the governor and his highway commissioners. Perry also uses these airports for campaign travel, especially when he ran for president in 2012.

Greece selling off infrastructure to get out of financial trouble

Link to article here.

Greece On The Auction Block: Country Seeks Bidders For Sale Of Its Railroad Infrastructure By Early 2014
By Angelo Young | April 01 2013
International Business Times

The Greek government has been trying in recent years to sell everything short of its historic Parthenon in an attempt to climb itself out of a massive debt hole.

Now, facing mounting pressure from international lenders to speed up its national yard sale, the government has announced it would begin the tender to sell the Hellenic Railways Organization, known by its Greek acronym OSE, by the end of the second quarter.

SCANDAL: Pennsylvania toll officials charged with bribery

Link to article here.

Pennsylvania: Eight Charged In Toll Road Scandal
Officials, politicians and contractors charged in bribery scandal at Pennsylvania toll road.
The Newspaper.com
March 20, 2013

Top officials at a toll road in Pennsylvania have been charged with shaking down motorists and pocketing the cash. Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane last week filed charges against a former state senator, two contractors and five Pennsylvania Turnpike employees, including the CEO, chief financial officer and a commissioner.

"The former state officials charged wielded extraordinary power which they wrongfully used for self-enrichment and for their own political purposes, rather than for the good of the commonwealth and its citizens," Kane said in announcing the charges. "Their criminal acts resulted in the misdirection, misuse, and theft of millions of dollars of public monies."

Ordinary Americans hurt by P3s

Link to article here.

Obama Plans to Sacrifice Ordinary Americans Yet Again in “Public/Private Partnership” Infrastructure Scam
Naked Capitalism
March 31, 2013

Apparently Obama’s idea of a Holy Week sacrifice is to feed American citizens to rapacious bankers, this time through the device of “public/private partnerships” to support infrastructure spending. Some NC readers were correctly alarmed by a speech by Obama on Friday on using public/private partnerships to fund infrastructure spending. This is not a new idea; Obama first unveiled it in his Statue of the Union address. But it is a singularly bad idea, that is, if you are anyone other than a promoter of or investor in these deals.

Toll roads are double taxation

Link to article here.

Toll Roads and Double Taxation: The Left and Libertarians Converge

By Rachel Alexander
Town Hall.com

4/1/2013

Toll roads are appealing to many on the right, because the fees don't look like taxes; motorists are charged for the voluntary action of driving on a specific road. Toll roads appear to be run by private entities, not the government. Also known as turnpikes, they are becoming an increasingly popular way to raise money to build roads, instead of increasing gas taxes which have traditionally paid for highways. Gas tax revenues only have about one-third the buying power they did a decade ago, insufficient to build new roads or maintain existing ones. There are now 5,244 miles of toll roads in the U.S., operating in 35 states.

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