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Challenging the Wisdom of the Trans Texas Corridor.
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Some Needed
Attention: August 29, 2007 EDITORIAL - Dallas Morning News Let the fracas continue over Texas transportation policy. It's important to keep people alert to the Legislature's failure to address the state's glaring highway needs, and a new dustup is one way to accomplish that. The latest is over the Department of Transportation's developing "outreach" campaign to advocate for the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor and other proposed toll projects. The price tag could reach $9 million, and some lawmakers have badmouthed the idea. Good. Along with their complaints, maybe we'll see a rare thing come out of the Capitol – realistic solutions for meeting demand for new roadways in the face of dwindling cash. To confront the problem, TxDOT is mapping out a novel strategy to use advertising and public meetings to publicize the agency's solutions. With lawmakers refusing to budge on fuel taxes, transportation officials have been turning to the remaining, yet controversial, revenue options of tolls and private investment. And that would include the granddaddy of all toll controversies – the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor reliever turnpike for I-35. It would be nice to be able to kill the ad campaign, save the $9 million and trust that lawmakers will come up with their own ways to meet the highway-funding gap. (That shortfall has been estimated at $56 billion to $86 billion by 2030.) But at this point, the Legislature looks like a poor bet. This year, the two transportation chairmen – including Sen. John Carona of Dallas – were virtually the only lawmakers arguing that a boost in the gas tax was long overdue. That was far from the only "no" from Austin on transportation initiatives. Lawmakers got worked into a lather over the corridor and put a freeze on it. They said "no" to new urban toll projects because of the hot-button issue of private investment. And we heard "no" to a proposal to let North Texans vote on raising money for expanding rail for commuters. If TxDOT's provocative ad campaign will break the wearisome string of nos and produce solutions, it will be money well spent.
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This Page Last Updated: Tuesday September 04, 2007