|
|
Challenging the Wisdom of the Trans Texas Corridor.
|
| Research Resources | |
|---|---|
|
Highlights Wednesday
from the TOLL ROAD SLOWDOWN April 4, 2007 The Associated Press A key Senate panel approved a two-year freeze on state toll road contracts with private companies, a bill that Gov. Rick Perry had urged lawmakers not to act on. Sponsored by Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, a former member of the Texas Transportation Commission, the bill would also require a study of the long-term effects of public-private toll road agreements. "We don't have the luxury of time," Nichols said. "If we wait too long, these contracts will be signed and Texas will be trapped in agreements that will hold our transportation system hostage for the next half century." The bill was approved by the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee and now goes to the full Senate. Perry has said the state's current transportation system, which involves public-private partnerships to build toll roads, needs to continue if Texas is to keep attracting big companies and jobs. Critics of Perry's proposed Trans Texas Corridor and the state's contract with Spanish-American consortium Cintra-Zachry have made some lawmakers nervous about the project. Nichols supported the corridor as a commissioner and testified before lawmakers in 2005, telling them it is the best way to solve the problems of increasingly congested highways. Now Nichols said he's concerned private toll road contracts hurt the state with penalties for building or improving publicly-owned roads and could leave drivers to the whim of a private company's ability to raise toll rates. The contracts also aren't clear how much it would cost the state to end the deals early and "buy back" the toll road, Nichols said.
|
|
|
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. CorridorWatch.org is making this article available for academic research purposes in our non-commercial, non-profit, effort to advance the understanding of government accountability, civil liberties, citizen rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. CorridorWatch.org does not express or imply that CorridorWatch.org holds any claim of copyright on such material as may appear on this page. |
This Page Last Updated: Wednesday April 04, 2007