On January 30, 1997, the Texas Transportation Commission passed
Minute Order 107059 approving a private toll road to be financed,
constructed, and maintained by Camino Colombia, Inc. in Webb County
near Laredo, Texas.
The Camino Colombia Toll Road
was constructed and opened to traffic in October 2000. The
road begins near the Colombia-Solidarity International Bridge and
stretches just 22-miles east where it connects with Interstate 35.
The Colombia-Solidarity Bridge processed 56
percent of the northbound loaded trucks in January 1998.
— Laredo Development
Foundation
Development of this $90
million dollar toll road was supported by local officials including
Webb County Commissioner Rick Reyes and State Representative Henry
Cuellar.
Similar to what has been
proposed for the Trans Texas Corridor, the Camino Colombia Toll Road
also offered ten landowners a shareholder position in the project.
By August of 2001 several of those landowners had become unhappy
with their agreements and brought suit against the toll road
company.
"Less than one year after the Camino Columbia
Toll Road opened, several landowners who joined the project have
filed lawsuits claiming the venture has not been what they
expected." —
Laredo Morning Times (August 24, 2001)
Every early projection
indicated that this toll road by-pass was very much needed to
provide Laredo relief from its severe traffic congestion. On its
opening day the Camino Colombia Toll Road could accommodate up to
7,000 trucks per day.
"A top Raytheon engineering official briefing
the Laredo Rotary Club Wednesday on the Camino Colombia Toll Road
project estimated the road would handle initial volumes of 1,500 to
1,800 vehicles per day."
— Laredo Morning Times (February 26, 1998)
"Given projected 10 to 12 percent annual
growth, this is a conservative estimate, Robert Chesshir, manager of
engineering/transportation for Raytheon Engineering and
Constructors, added."
—
Laredo Morning Times (February 26, 1998)
The toll road was foreseen by
promoters as, "a generator of regional economic activity."
"Camino Colombia representatives expect their
toll road, built entirely with private funds, to help alleviate
truck congestion around the city."
— Laredo Morning Times (October
19, 1999)
While not a Texas Department
of Transportation project, the TxDOT director of transportation
planning & programming Al Luedecke praised the Camino Colombia as a
very good alternative.
"Luedecke said
TxDOT officials are happy to see another road to help get some
traffic off the highways closer to downtown Laredo."
— Laredo Morning Times (October
19, 1999)
The Camino Colombia had every
thing in its favor. The volume of truck traffic through Laredo was
staggering.
"About 14,000 trucks rumble over Laredo's
three commercial-traffic bridges each day."
— Houston Chronicle (October 18,
2000)
"Nowhere is the chronic congestion worse than
in Laredo - the busiest inland port in North America. More than 40
percent of all goods entering the US come through this city."
— Christian Science Monitor
(November 20, 2000)
Expectations were high.
"Officials expect daily traffic to include
1,500 semitrailers and 300 passenger vehicles."
— Houston Chronicle (October 18,
2000)
Not everyone was a fan of the
Camino Colombia Toll Road. At least one detractor attended a
Transportation Commission meeting in Austin on May 30, 2002 where
flyers were distributed.
"I also couldn't help but notice somebody passing out flyers, and I see some
of them scattered up and down here. I thought it was kind of funny, first of
all, they forgot to sign it so it's an anonymous flyer, and secondly, it says
"Toll Road to Hell" and I couldn't help but notice, I've been at each end of the
proposed toll road and it looked beautiful to me, and the regions and the
elected officials and the people of the area seem to strongly support it."
—
Commissioner
Robert L. Nichols, Texas Transportation Commission Meeting (May 30, 2002)
[citation]
"Let's see here, it
says: "Politics as usual. The current basis for funding toll roads
seems to be based on politics. The example of Camino Colombia --
ooh, I like this -- promoted by switch-hitter Tony Sanchez,
appears to be a case study of political maneuvering." Uh-oh, wait
a minute, it's bad for my guys. "After a Laredo banker backed Ann
Richards and failed to get approval, he switched allegiance to
George W. Bush." What the hell is this? Guys got nothing better to
do than to do that stuff?"
— Commissioner Ric
Williamson, Texas Transportation Commission Meeting (May 30,
2002) [citation]
"'Is building toll
roads with borrowed money a prudent business decision?' was a big
question on the thing. I felt like a reasonable answer should be
presented, and the answer is yes, very much so."
— Commissioner
Robert L. Nichols, Texas Transportation Commission Meeting (May 30, 2002)
[citation]
Perhaps the Commission should
have paid more attention?
After three years of waiting,
the expected traffic never arrived. Drivers in large numbers refused
to pay the $3 per car and $16 per 18-wheeler truck toll. The road
only carried 13-percent of the traffic that had been projected to
use it.
The Camino
Colombia Toll Road failed and the bondholders foreclosed on their
$75 million note.
The toll road was sold auction
style on the steps of the Webb County Courthouse Annex on January
6, 2004. John Hancock Financial Services Inc. bought back its
investment for $12.1 million. TxDOT had bid $11.1 million to
purchase the toll road. Today the future of the road is uncertain.
The Camino Colombia Toll Road
was a far, far less ambitious project than the Trans Texas Corridor.
With the advantage of severe congestion through Laredo and a 73-cent
per mile toll for trucks and 14-cent per mile toll for cars they
could not even reach break even.
An
equivalent one-way toll on the Trans Texas Corridor between
San
Antonio and El Paso would be $70 per car and $365 per 18-wheel
truck.
UPDATE:
On April 29, 2004 the Texas Transportation
Commission issued a Minute Order authorizing the Executive Director
or his designee to enter into necessary agreements to acquire the
Camino Colombia toll road at a cost not to exceed $20 million
dollars. [transcript]
OBJECTION RAISED:
CorridorWatch.org
strenuously objects to the Texas Transportation Commission
conducting any portion of its debate or discussion of business
before the Commission in a foreign language that cannot be
immediately translated into English. The only witness that appeared
before the Commission to testify about the Camino Columbia Toll Road
on April 29, 2004, was Mr. Marco Antonio Garza of FIDENOR, the State
agency for the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Mr. Garza made his
remarks to the commission (in English) which was followed by
questions from Commissioners Nichols and Andrade. The entire
conversation between Commissioner Andrade and Mr. Garza, as
reflected in the Official Transcript, was conducted in Spanish. The
content of that discussion was not recorded in the Official
Transcript (in English nor Spanish) and the public (including the
Spanish speaking public) does not now have the benefit of knowing
what testimony was given to the Commission. That testimony preceded
the Minute Order vote and is certainly of potential significant
public interest and the kind of discussion intended to be conducted
subject to the Open Meetings Act.
[transcript
reference]
UPDATE:
On June 25, 2004 Texas Transportation
Commission Chairman Ric Williamson responded to
CorridorWatch.org
by letter. Commissioner Williamson gives
his assurance that, "Anything pertinent to the purchase of the
Camino Colombia facility is set out, in English, in the transcript
of the proceedings." It is his assertion that the portion of the
meeting described in the transcript as, "Ms. Andrade and Mr. Garza
conversed in Spanish," consisted of, "... some brief and cordial
words of thanks ..." and Mr. Garza's appreciation of the opportunity
to address the commission.
