Why are we still paying for the Dallas North Tollway?

By David Schetcher - WFAA-TV - Tuesday, April 15, 2008
DALLAS — Believe it or not, the Dallas North Tollway was supposed to be free by now. That obviously didn't happen, and it never will.

With a drastic funding shortfall for new roads in North Texas, local leaders rely on toll roads to keep paying for what the state cannot afford.

Take State Highway 121 across Collin County. The North Texas Tollway Authority recently won the right to build what will be a concrete cash cow.

"It's the lure of money," said David Stall, a transportation watchdog with CorridorWatch.org. "It's the lure of big money."

In less than ten years, SH 121 is expected to bring in $223 million a year in tolls. One can also add $202 million for the Dallas North Tollway and $179 million on the President George W. Bush Turnpike.



DALLAS — Believe it or not, the Dallas North Tollway was supposed to be free by now. That obviously didn't happen, and it never will.

With a drastic funding shortfall for new roads in North Texas, local leaders rely on toll roads to keep paying for what the state cannot afford.

Take State Highway 121 across Collin County. The North Texas Tollway Authority recently won the right to build what will be a concrete cash cow.

"It's the lure of money," said David Stall, a transportation watchdog with CorridorWatch.org. "It's the lure of big money."

In less than ten years, SH 121 is expected to bring in $223 million a year in tolls. One can also add $202 million for the Dallas North Tollway and $179 million on the President George W. Bush Turnpike.


"It's important for the NTTA to be able to continue to provide transportation choices for drivers and alternative funding sources for the region," said Sherita Coffelt, a NTTA spokesperson, on why all that money is needed.

On SH 121, the NTTA has the authority to collect tolls for 52 years. In exchange, the NTTA wrote the region a check for $3.2 billion. The money will fund construction of non-tolled road projects the region needs, but that the state of Texas cannot afford.

"There is very little pressure to turn that money back, or lower the tolls or turn that road into a free road," Stall said. "There's a tremendous pressure to find more things to spend the money and grow your organization and your empire."

Originally, the idea behind toll roads in North Texas wasn't to generate revenue, but instead to build roads, pay them off and then eventually make them free.

In fact, the Dallas-Forth Worth Turnpike is a good example of just that. In 1977 it was paid off, became a free road and was renamed Interstate 30.

At the time, there were proposals to keep the tolls on and use them to pay for more roads.

Opponents lined up, including the city of Fort Worth, which complained about the "unlawful, illegal, immoral and fattening activities" of the toll authority. The opponents won and toll booths came off.

The Dallas North Tollway was built with the same promise: When it was "paid off" it would be "free," too.

That never happened.

"Before it was paid off, the decision was made to extend it," Coffelt explained.

To pay the bill, the NTTA used the revenue from the existing portion as collateral for the new loans. Since then, every time the NTTA builds a new road it uses existing toll revenue as collateral.

"Well, with the tremendous amount of money that comes in on a regular basis, you institutionalize it," Stall said. "You build an organization and a structure that is dependent on that revenue and constantly looking for new projects and new ways to spend that."

The NTTA has grown into an agency with more than 700 employees and a payroll of almost $27 million. And while the NTTA said it's an accountable and transparent organization, critics point out its board members are appointed, not elected by voters.

"You're not invited to the decision-making process," Stall said. "Those making the decisions know they're not accountable to you."

The NTTA is currently negotiating to build another new toll road that would lead to the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington: State Highway 161.

Transportation sources said during those negotiations, the NTTA asked for permanent tolling authority and has also asked to rewrite its 52-year deal for SH 121. It now wants permanent tolls there, too.

"As you know, there's a huge need in North Texas for additional transportation choices and additional funding sources," Coffelt said when asked if toll roads will ever be free. "And as long as that need exists, the NTTA will, too."
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NTTA Board to consider toll projects and subcontractors at July 25th meeting

By Faith Chatham - July 23, 2007http://dfwregionalconcernedcitizens.blogspot.com/
The North Texas Tollway Authority Board of Directors will hold their regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, July 25 at 8:00 a.m. in the Board Room of the NTTA Administrative Offices located at 5900 W. Plano Parkway, Suite 200 in Plano.

The Meeting Agenda includes items which impact transportation in the Dallas TxDOT region and the Ft. Worth TxDOT region and the public can comments on items not listed on the agenda: (TxDOT; RTC/NCTCOG; or other items)

The Consent agenda includes consideration of award of contract to Rebcon, Inc. in the amount of $617,252.00 for construction of a sand stockpile for Dallas North Tollway Phase 3 and of a contract to Rebcon, Inc. in the amount of $737,195.10 for construction of a sand stockpile under the PGBT at Alma Road . The board will also consider approval of work authorization 02283-DNT-00-PS-PD with HNTB Corporation to provide corridor-management services for Dallas North Tollway Extension, Phase 4 and Phase 5.

The board will consider approval of a Project Agreement or Term Sheet setting forth the basic elements of the Project Agreement between TxDOT and the NTTA for the NTTA’s delivery and operation of SH 121 and authorizing the negotiation and execution of work authorization MA-WA12 with HNTB Corporation in the amount of $1,300,000 for landscape architectural design services for SH 121 in Collin, Dallas and Denton counties.

Other business includes consideration of an interlocal agreement among the NTTA, TxDOT (Texas Turnpike Authority Division), Harris County (Harris County Toll Road Authority), and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority regarding statewide interoperability for transponder-based electronic tolling on the parties’ respective toll facilities and for a consulting services agreement with Tamer Partners, Inc., for the development, implementation, and management of NTTA customer-relations services and customer-experience initiatives.

Updates will include briefing on migration plan for conversion to all-electronic toll collection (“ETC”) on NTTA facilities and Planning Updates on SH 170, SH 360 and Trinity Parkway and Project updates/discussion on the Dallas North Tollway projects, PGBT (President George Bush Turnpike) projects, Mountain Creek Lake Bridge, Addison Airport Toll Tunnel, Lewisville Lake Toll Bridge, Southwest Parkway – northern section
The Committee will report on the Regional Transportation Council and the Executive Director will update the board on program management and his participation with the City of Carrollton on market-valuation study for Thirty five Riverside property and TxDOT’s request regarding IH 635 project.

Mr. Wageman will brief on the market-valuation process for SH 161.

Persons with disabilities who plan to attend this meeting and who may need auxiliary aids or services such as interpreters for persons who are deaf or hearing impaired, readers, large print or Braille, are requested to contact Robert Andrews at (214) 461-2000 two (2) work days prior to the meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

For more information contact Sam Lopez, North Texas Tollway Authority Public Information Officer - (214) 461-2065.

TX Dome - What is so bad about applying market valuation? (+)

Crossposted on DAILY KOS - TEXAS KOS and GRASSROOTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
What is so bad about the "apply market valuation" clause in SB 792?
Q. Does this clause give landowners a better price for land confiscated by eminent domain?A. No, in this bill, they are referring to market valuation for the ENTIRE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT rather than for getting an appraisal on the real estate before they pay the land owner. There are rules that apply to acquisition of land by eminent domain which will not be changed by this phrase in this bill.
Q. What is Market Valuation as used in HB 792?A. What they are referring to is HOW THEY VALUE the land years after it is acquired, how they VALUE the entire infrastructure throughout the life of the contract.
Q. Is it a common practice?
A. Applying Market Valuation to state highway projects is a new concept. Market Valuation is a private sector practice where an owner of an asset values that asset over time as the value of the real estate escalates. As demand for adjacent property rises, rental and usage fees rise to reflect what the private company would have to pay for that house or business or real estate on the day they lease it to a user. For example, a friend of mine rents a house she purchased for $20, 000.00 but which appraises on today's market for $45,000.00. Years ago she charged $150.00 a month for rent but today she charges $750.00 a month for a tenant to rent the house.
This is a common practice in the public sector because she used her personal funds or credit to acquire the property. She is not a public housing authority which uses public funds.
Q. Why is it a such "big deal" in this particular bill?
A. Until a few years ago, only public toll authorities were legally allowed to build toll roads in Texas. With changes in the law, we now allow private companies to partner with the state to build toll roads. We also have public toll authorities which build toll roads in Texas. Public and private toll companies are in competition for bids on lucrative projects. Public toll companies (like NTTA) have an advantage in the bidding process because they operate on different rules than private companies like Cintra. A private company is supposed to invest private investor capital into the project and the private investors, wherever they live in the world, get a return on their investment and they can spend or invest that money anywhere in the world in any kind of project they choose. A public authority uses taxpayers money as an agent of the people and the return or user fees goes back into the public coffers, not to private investors. The return must remain in the region for use on public works projects for the public good. READ MORE