Perry reiterates toll road support

Governor tells builders the need for road funds will overcome critics
By RAD SALLEE - Houston Chronicle - July 19, 2007


AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry told road builders at the Texas Transportation Forum here Thursday that he stands firm in his support for toll roads and public-private partnerships despite some setbacks in the past legislative session.

"When you have big dreams," he said, people tell you, "You can't get there from here. But I assure you we can get there from here, and we're going to get there together."

Perry said traditional sources of road funding — "a trickle of federal funds and a gas tax that few legislators would even think of raising" — aren't nearly enough to meet the state's needs.

"There isn't even enough money to maintain our current system," he said.

And the fuel tax "has problems on its face," he said. Unlike toll roads, which typically have a free alternative, fuel taxes are paid by all drivers, and hit rural residents hardest.

"The boys out in Lubbock, Odessa and Marfa really don't see the benefit
in it for them," he said.

"If we don't build roads with innovative financing and tolls, roads are not going to be built in our state," he said.

Driving the private sector

Perry said even the prospect of the state contracting with the private sector to build and operate toll roads is paying off.

"Projects that local toll road authorities would not have bid on a few years ago are now attracting very strong interest because private companies are now competing to build those same projects," he said.

This was an apparent reference to the North Texas Tollway Authority's offer to pay the state $3.3 billion to build and operate for profit in a 50-year lease, a segment of Texas 121 in the Dallas area. The offer topped a previous $2.8 billion bid from the Spanish firm Cintra.

"They may never say it," Perry said of lawmakers opposed to such long-term public-private toll partnerships, "but the Legislature admitted we were on the right track.

"While they were calling for a moratorium on toll roads, on one hand, they were insisting on toll road projects in their own districts because their constituents wanted to see things moving. They wanted to see those roads built."
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Alternative funding to be considered for Ports-to-Plains Corridor

Private investment, partnerships to be studied
TxDOT - October 16, 2006


AUSTIN ─ With funding scarce for the long-sought Ports-to-Plains corridor, state transportation officials are looking at opportunities for private investment and partnerships to pay for moving freight and utilities along this trade corridor.

The Texas Department of Transportation will consider Ports-to-Plains funding alternatives in a study that should be completed early next year.

The research will look at how local governments and regional entities can partner with the private sector to finance needed infrastructure. The potential for utility transmission along the corridor will be assessed, as will the role of rail, and the multifaceted trade relationship among the nation’s Plains States.

Ports-to-Plains is a proposed divided highway corridor stretching from Laredo through West Texas to Denver, Colorado. Designated as a High Priority Corridor by Congress in 1998, Ports-to-Plains corridor is intended to expand economic opportunity and serve international trade from Mexico to Canada.

Despite the congressional designation, adequate federal funding has not been provided to cover the cost of the project.

Using Ports-to-Plains as a case study, TxDOT will research the best potential applications of the Trans-Texas Corridor concept for routes that may not attract tolling as a primary revenue source.
“The utilities industries have found a home in West Texas, and we want to study what potential opportunities are available for attracting private sector investment for utility transmission to other parts of the state,” said Mike Behrens, TxDOT executive director. “In turn, that investment can help pay for road improvements needed to make Ports-to-Plains a reality.”

Innovative transportation funding options are being implemented around Texas to help close an $86 billion funding gap between what the state can pay for and what needs to be done to meet mobility needs by 2030.

“Using all financial options is one of our strategies to meet our five goals,” said Behrens, “which are to reduce congestion, enhance safety, expand economic opportunity, improve air quality and increase the value of our transportation assets.”

“Ports to Plains is very excited to work with TxDOT to find new solutions to meet Texas growing transportation needs. The old way of doing business is not able to meet the transportation demands that keep our economy moving,” said Michael Reeves, president of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor Coalition. “TxDOT should be commended for seeking out creative solutions to the transportation funding crisis we are facing throughout the country. TxDOT has also realized that what works in metropolitan areas may not work in rural parts of the state.

“This effort should expedite the completion of the Ports to Plains Corridor, which will create new jobs and economic opportunity for West Texas,” said Reeves. “Ports to Plains will be a catalyst for economic development and job creation for West Texas.”

Other TxDOT strategies to close the funding gap are to empower local leaders to solve local transportation problems, increase competition to drive down costs and demand consumer-driven decisions.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is one of the proposals to meet the state’s transportation needs over the next 50 years and more.

80-Plus Toll Road Projects OK'd

By JIM VERTUNO - Associated Press Writer - © 2007 The Associated Press - June 14, 2007

AUSTIN — Transportation officials on Thursday approved more than 80 toll road projects across the state, many of which probably would use some private financing.

State lawmakers recently passed a two-year moratorium on some private toll road contracts. The law still allows local and state planners to move on the new toll projects _ with a price range of more than $50 billion _ although the rules have changed.
...
"The message we got was toll roads are OK, but we don't want privately owned roads," said Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, which approved the projects.

The projects touch most of the state's largest cities. Williamson said they need to be built as toll roads because traditional state funding won't cover the cost.

"They will be almost 100 percent private sector financing," Williamson predicted.

According to state officials, the agency's $16.6 billion budget the next two years is only a 2 percent increase that won't cover the double-digit inflation in recent years of road costs. Gas tax collections will not even cover road maintenance, let alone support building new roads.
"These are projects local officials have said are needed to reduce congestion but are waiting in line for funding," Williamson said.

Toll roads and the state's aggressive policies regarding the controversial Trans Texas Corridor were among the major issues of the recently completed legislative session.

Legislators from rural areas were concerned about private property rights. Those from urban districts complained of toll roads financed and owned by foreign companies.

"We were moving faster than most government agencies move and it spooked some people," Williamson said.

Lawmakers originally considered a two-year ban on private toll road contracts. Gov. Rick Perry said it would kill jobs, shut down road construction and prevent access to federal highway money.

The compromise bill signed into law by Perry last week freezes some of the kinds of private funding contracts the state had been using, but also carved out about a dozen exemptions for those projects that were far into the planning stages.

It also created new rules for projects like those approved Thursday, giving local governments more authority to build toll roads.

The compromise bill also imposes limits on comprehensive development agreements, used in contracts for private-public road building. It also set up a process to determine a road's market value.

Comprehensive development agreements, or CDAs, are a relatively new tool meant to let the Texas Department of Transportation complete road-building projects more quickly and cheaply by using a single contract for design and construction.
Those agreements have attracted the attention of multinational consortiums willing to pay large sums up front for the right to operate roads and pocket the tolls for decades to come.

That startled some residents and lawmakers who said drivers will become hostages to the private companies, forced to pay increasingly hefty tolls.

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