Honkin' Mad

Texas House votes to allow at least 14 more privatized roads

In a surprise move, the Texas House agreed Friday to allow private developers to take over at least 14 more road projects that are considered crucial for traffic relief, despite passionate opposition from those who who feel the state is giving up control of its roads to corporate – often foreign-owned – interests.

The list of projects includes the expansion of Interstate 35W from Interstate 30 near downtown Fort Worth to Texas 114 near Texas Motor Speedway. Fort Worth officials have said that getting new lanes built on that road by 2017 or so – even if they’re toll lanes – is crucial to the continued growth of the region.

The projects that will be built with so-called comprehensive development agreements were added as amendments to a sunset review bill for the Texas Department of Transportation, an agency that is often rebuked for its handling of public funds and aggressive pursuit of toll roads. Despite those lingering concerns, the House approved a bill that will make only minor changes to the agency during the next four years. The bill now goes to the Senate, which will be asked to concur with the changes.

The House’s approval of possibly 14 projects for privatizations – the precise number was still being analyzed Friday night -- was considered a major hurdle for supporters. Several lawmakers added projects in their districts at the last minute, in apparent compromises to win support. And it was a major defeat for those who feel the state, despite its cash-strapped status, needs to find another way to build the roads.

“Right now, this looks pretty shabby,” said state Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, who opposed the amendment allowing road development agreements, which passed 109-27. “We know what we’ve done to our transportation system. I think it’s a fragmented approach to how we deal with our needs in the state.”

In Fort Worth, the proposed I-35W expansion could be included in the North Tarrant Express project, which is already underway and includes the widening of Northeast Loop 820 and Texas 121/183. The bill that passed Friday would extend that project to include Texas 183 from Texas 121 in Bedford to Texas 161 in Irving, and East Loop 820 from Texas 183 to Randol Mill Road.

Other projects that will be ripe for privatization:

• Texas 183, managed lanes from Texas 161 to I-35E in Irving.
• Texas 249 in the Houston area.
• I-35E from U.S. 380 to I-635 in Denton County.
• Grand Parkway, Houston.
• MoPac in Austin.
• Outer Parkway project in Cameron County.
• South Padre Causeway access.
• Hidalgo County Loop.
• Highway 288 project in Brazoria and Harris counties.
• I-69 from I-30 to Sulphur River Bridge in Bowie County.
• U.S. 290/I-610 in Houston.
• U.S. 183 in Austin.
• Dallas North Tollway extension in Grayson County.

 

Gordon Dickson, gdickson@star-telegram.com

Twitter: @gdickson 

 

 

 

Texas lawmakers opt not to create an elected transportation czar

The Texas House has just opted not to get rid of the five-member Texas Transportation Commission, and replace it with a single, statewide elected transportation commissioner.

The effort by state Rep. Ruth McClendon, D-San Antonio, was tabled by a vote of 108-18. Her effort was an amendment to the bill that came out of the Texas Department of Transportation sunset review process.

The House is about an hour into what promises to be a long debate over the sunset bill for the oft-criticized Texas Department of Transportation. The sunset committee recommended only minor changes and gave the agency a four-year repreive before the next sunset review, but state lawmakers are turning the debate over the bill into an omnibus transportation discussion including everything from toll roads to comprehensive development agreements to -- ugh! -- the Trans Texas Corridor.

-- Gordon Dickson, gdickson@star-telegram.com

Twitter: @gdickson

Phone apps aim to help drivers find parking in Fort Worth, other cities

Fort Worth is a testing ground for a couple of new smartphone applications that help motorists find parking. Safety officials worry that this could be yet another distraction.

Tollway authority ready to open its books, answer criticisms about hefty toll late fees, cozy relationship with contractors

PLANO – The North Texas Tollway Authority is opening its books to officials from the four largest counties in Dallas-Fort Worth, in response to months of criticism about its practice of spending millions of dollars each year on just a small number of consulting firms, and charging hefty fees to motorists who are late paying their tolls. The Plano-based authority, which is planning, building and operating toll roads in Tarrant, Collin, Dallas and Denton counties, plans to hire an outside reviewer by the end of May, tollway authority chairman Victor Vandergriff of Arlington said.

“It’s going to be a stem to stern, top to bottom review,” said Vandergriff, who has long advocated a thorough review of tollway authority operations. “The interview process is yet to be defined, but we’ll pick one and get started toward the end of May.”

Three county judges are to meet at 3:30 p.m. Thursday with the tollway authority board – only Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley couldn’t make it, because he is out of town on official business – and talk about what they want to see in the audit-style review.

The tollway authority makes its money on tolls collected throughout the region – and soon to be Southwest Parkway/Chisholm Trail Parkway in Fort Worth – but does little of its own engineering, legal and other services in-house. Instead, a small group of companies make millions of dollars per year performing these services. Critics have said the tollway authority needs to end those cozy relationships, and give other professionals a chance to bid on toll road work.

Also, the tollway authority has been under fire for hiring relatively few minority-owned contractors.

For motorists, a hot issue has been the hundreds of dollars in late fees many people have been billed for not paying their electronic tolls on time. State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, has filed a bill that would subject the tollway authority to the state’s sunset review process, in which state agencies are scrutinized to ensure they’re still relevant – and, if not, in rare cases they can be shut down.

Tollway authority officials oppose being subjected to an audit or sunset review by state officials, saying they prefer instead to be scrutinized by the officials in their four home counties.

-- Gordon Dickson, gdickson@star-telegram.com

Twitter: @gdickson

Could Texas someday track drivers electronically, charge a vehicle-mile-traveled tax instead of a gas tax?

Here's a question for you: Would you rather pay the current state gas tax of 20 cents a gallon (on top of the federal tax of 18.4 cents a gallon) or instead pay a tax based on how much you actually drive?

A lot of people who are trying to solving the state's funding crisis are quietly talking about the feasibility of someday tracking Texas drivers and charging people only on the amount of road they actually use. As many cars become more fuel efficient, and cars that run on electricity or other fuels become more popular, states are eventually going to have to find an alternative to levying a gasoline or diesel tax. Taxing drivers on vehicle miles traveled is something that theoretically can be done with today's technology.

But others think there's no way Texans will go along with such a system, which smacks of electronic surveillance and Big Brotherism ...

In any case, today the Texas Transportation Commission is getting a briefing about a pilot program that's about to launch in Minnesota. In the program, a group of Minnesota drivers will carry special mobile phones that track their movements beginning in July, and pay a per-mile fee based on how many miles they travel. The beauty of this science is, motorists can also be charged a higher fee for traveling during peak times of day, when space on the roads is at a premium, and they can travel at a much lower rate when the roads are clear.

The Texas commissioners are very interested in this subject, and are asking a lot of questions of the Minnesota representative, whose name is Ben Pierce of the high-tech firm Battelle.

Commission chairwoman Deirdre Delisi of Austin noted the recent controversy that has brewed worldwide after it became known that Apple can readily track its iPhone users with technology that's already in the phone. Delisi asked a question to the effect of, if the state promises the pilot project participants that they're not being tracked for ulterior reasons -- i.e. spying -- will the citizens believe it?

Pierce noted that participation would be voluntary, and that those who didn't want to carry a phone to track their vehicle miles could simply go back to paying a flat rate for their tax.

He said that while some would object to being tracked, the attitude of others is "I'm carrying the phone anyway, so it's not much difference. It's a discount system. If you don't want to use the phone in your car, don't. Just pay the flat rate."

Commissioner Ned Holmes of Houston thanked Pierce for his briefing. "We look forward to hearing from you," Holmes said. "When are you coming back."

Pierce said he could provide the Texas panel on how the Minnesota program is working as soon as October or November.

-- Gordon Dickson, gdickson@star-telegram.com

Twitter: @gdickson

Deal reached for roads to new Deloitte U. in Westlake

Westlake town officials have agreed to let developer Hillwood improve existing roads around the new Deloitte University rather than build a new road, Susan McFarland reports.

Why so much dang litter and junk on the Fort Worth highways?

Motorists in south Tarrant County may have noticed a bit more trash than usual on Interstate 20 and other highways during the past few weeks – and a recent rash of windy storms isn’t the only culprit.

“There’s literally lumber, firewood, blown tires and car parts everywhere, along with the regular litter,” Heather Lowe, who lives near the Handley area of east Fort Worth, said in an email. She described the area of I-20 between Interstate 35W and the Loop 820/U.S. 287 split as “disgusting and dangerous,” and last week she called the city to complain.

It turns out that the problem lies not with the city, but a contractor hired by the Texas Department of Transportation to pick up old tires, wrappers and whatever else blows onto the roadside. The company, Wilson Contracting, has defaulted on its contract, transportation department spokeswoman Jodi Hodges said. “They haven’t performed the requirements of the contract, which includes sweeping and debris removal,” Hodges said. “We’ll issue an emergency contract this week. In the mean time, our crews are going out and picking up whatever they can.”

The Wichita Falls-based Wilson Contracting was to be paid $622,000 a year for debris removal along state highways in roughly the southern half of Tarrant County. A company official did not return a message left Monday to comment.

Other companies are responsible for highway cleanup elsewhere in North Texas. The job usually involves crews of about six people making the rounds on highways, in a caravan that can include a dump truck, a street sweeper and a chase vehicle with crash cushions and flashing orange lights to prevent rear-end collisions with oncoming traffic. The crews pick up junk that could become a safety hazard – everything from household trash to lumber that has fallen out of a pickup to old bumpers and other stuff left on the roadsides after accidents and breakdowns.

-- Gordon Dickson, gdickson@star-telegram.com

Twitter: @gdickson

Texas likely to lease out more highway/toll projects to developers

Many Texans oppose leasing road projects to developers -- often foreign corporations -- for up to 52 years, but cash-strapped lawmakers say they'll likely allow a small number of those projects in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Houston. MORE

-- Gordon Dickson, gdickson@star-telegram.com

Twitter: @gdickson

Cities with red light cameras won't be forced to get voter permission

A bill that would require Texas cities to get permission from voters to put up red light cameras won’t be pursued because of a lack of support, and because the final weeks of the session likely will be spent on other matters, the author said.

“I still think it’s a great idea, but I talked to several other members and I don’t think we have enough time,” said state Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson. “It got late in the session, and we still have the budget and redistricting.”

Orr had invited constituents to travel to Austin and testify for the bill during a committee meeting Wednesday, but after learning they couldn’t make the trip pulled the bill off the agenda. “That’s disappointing. Everybody I know hates those cameras,” said Randy James, who owns a Burleson flooring company, James became an outspoken critic of the cameras after getting a ticket in 2008 – a violation he later had thrown out on a technicality – but he said he couldn’t make the trip on short notice.

Late last year, red-light cameras were shut off at 50 Houston intersections after residents voted to cancel the city's program, even though four years remained on a service contract. Some motorists say the cameras are nothing more than a money generator for cities. Others, including Burleson Mayor Ken Shetter, say the cameras help improve safety at intersections.

-- Gordon Dickson, gdickson@star-telegram.com

Twitter: @gdickson

Cotton Belt line: How to pay for rail-oriented development

A proposal to develop walkable communities along the old Cotton Belt rail line in places such as Fort Worth, North Richland Hills, Coppell and Carrollton got a boost on Wednesday. A bill that would expand the authority of cities and counties to create special tax districts to raise money for such projects saw no opposition during a hearing in a Senate transportation committee. The bill by state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, is supported by many agencies, including the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. The T wants to develop its TEX line, a proposed commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to Grapevine and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Others in the region want to extend that line further to the north and east, to cities such as Dallas and Plano. The idea would be to build neighborhoods where many basic needs such as groceries could be met within walking distance, and residents could use the rail line to gain access to jobs and other needs further out in the region.

-- Gordon Dickson, gdickson@star-telegram.com

Twitter: @gdickson