BIKE: Envision Central Texas is being killed by CTRMA scam

[rcbaker]

On 15 Apr 2004 at 18:45, Andrew Wimsatt wrote:

> In TxDOT's Fort Worth District, 8.5% of this fiscal year's letting
> amount (or approximately $17 million) is being used for bikeway
> construction, sidewalks, park and ride facility construction, and
> pedestrian access improvements.  Of the $17 million. $9.5 million is
> being funded under Category 9 (Transportation Enhancements).
> 
> I also found the following quote from Mike Clark-Madison in last
> week's Chronicle interesting:
> 
> "As Dallas and Fort Worth have now demonstrated to all but the 
> willfully obtuse, density and transit-oriented development, supported
> by both roads (including toll roads) and rail, can and do work in the
> suburbs."
> 
> Andrew

It sounds like the Fort Worth District may be more progressive than the Austin 
District on its bike and ped spending. The problem in Austin is that most of the 
land use and traffic planning projections that back up the need for the toll roads 
is not transit-friendly development, but rather suburban sprawl. SH 130 is 
actually planned to function largely as an Austin to Williamson County commuter 
travel-related toll road and not so much for cross-country traffic like trucks. 

More importantly, neither of Andrew's observations has any bearing on the fact  
that TxDOT is taking a huge gamble on deficit financing of toll roads, rather than 
attempting to live within its budget or shifting away from the status quo patterns 
of development and transportation. One reason why the TxDOT bureaucracy is 
unable to shift to alternatives is because the Texas Constitution mandates that 
the gas tax can only be used for roads and their upkeep. 

Since world oil production is likely to peak within this decade, this big shift to 
building roads on credit is likely to become an enormously costly mistake. 

TxDOT and their local right arm, the CTRMA, are using a trumped-up financial 
emergency involving the Texas Mobility Fund to try to pressure CAMPO into 
approving $2.2 billion worth of toll roads that would require many or most major 
roads in Austin to be turned into toll roads.

TxDOT is already counting this money and creating hypothetical loans and 
essentially lobbying the Austin Stateman for the toll road package based on this 
hypothetical revenue -- before they even ask the Comptroller to carefully 
estimate how much revenue is likely to be collected. This underlines how 
political the road  lobbying process has become in a state run largely by private 
real estrate interests.  Texas is a state where it it impossible to bribe a politician 
so long as you call it a campaign contribution.

Check it out for yourselves. You can find out more about the many problems with 
Rick Perry's $180 billion corridor plan at:    www.corridorwatch.org 

-- Roger Baker