The US Senate on Thursday voted to renew a prohibition on the tolling of existing freeways in the state of Texas. The measure was adopted as part of a larger $123 billion transportation appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010, which passed the House in July. “None of the funds made available… by this act shall be used to approve or otherwise authorize the imposition of any toll on any segment of highway located on the federal-aid system in the state of Texas,” HR 3288 states. The ban is not complete. It includes exceptions for new construction, continued tolling on existing toll roads as well as the conversion of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes into High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. Under congressional rules, funding prohibitions placed on appropriations bills must be renewed every two years. The toll road ban was last enacted in 2007.
Because the provision was championed by Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, the issue has taken on a sharper political angle. Hutchison is looking to snatch away the Republican nomination from Governor Rick Perry, feeding on public opposition to tolling. Perry’s campaign took shots at Hutchison for attempting to thwart the governor’s plans to toll existing freeways and for inserting earmarks for state transportation projects into the bill. Hutchison’s campaign fired back.
“Once again, Rick Perry is putting political gamesmanship above the needs of Texas,” Hutchison’s campaign responded. “Hutchison voted to ban toll roads and the double taxation of Texans on federally funded roads. This vote also increases the amount of federal tax dollars that come back to Texas for transportation needs, including much needed money to relieve traffic congestion.”
Differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill must be worked out before it is sent to the president. Both chambers approved the anti-tolling measure.
Article Excerpt:
Excerpt from HR 3288
Sec. 125. (a) In General- Except as provided in subsection (b), none of the funds made available, limited, or otherwise affected by this Act shall be used to approve or otherwise authorize the imposition of any toll on any segment of highway located on the Federal-aid system in the State of Texas that–
(1) as of the date of enactment of this Act, is not tolled;
(2) is constructed with Federal assistance provided under title 23, United States Code; and
(3) is in actual operation as of the date of enactment of this Act.
(b) Exceptions-
(1) NUMBER OF TOLL LANES- Subsection (a) shall not apply to any segment of highway on the Federal-aid system described in that subsection that, as of the date on which a toll is imposed on the segment, will have the same number of non-toll lanes as were in existence prior to that date.
(2) HIGH-OCCUPANCY VEHICLE LANES- A high-occupancy vehicle lane that is converted to a toll lane shall not be subject to this section, and shall not be considered to be a non-toll lane for purposes of determining whether a highway will have fewer non-toll lanes than prior to the date of imposition of the toll, if–
(A) high-occupancy vehicles occupied by the number of passengers specified by the entity operating the toll lane may use the toll lane without paying a toll, unless otherwise specified by the appropriate county, town, municipal or other local government entity, or public toll road or transit authority; or
(B) each high-occupancy vehicle lane that was converted to a toll lane was constructed as a temporary lane to be replaced by a toll lane under a plan approved by the appropriate county, town, municipal or other local government entity, or public toll road or transit authority.
[courtesy thenewspaper.com]
As a Texan, yay. And as someone who pays $4 a day in tolls to commute, when the hell is BW8 going to be paid for?
As a Texan who’s living in Japan (Courtesy of the US Air Force), it’s nice to know they’re not going to allow new tolls on existing roads. I’d hate for the day to come when the Texas road system starts to resemble that of Oklahoma. Most of that state’s Interstate roads are tolled, with the only exception being I-40.
Dave M. : And as someone who pays $4 a day in tolls to commute, when the hell is BW8 going to be paid for?
I suspect it’ll be after the Astrodome, and before its replacement.
Well, you guys are missing an important point. You’re arguing the details when the big picture is off kilter.
You see, the United States Congress just told an individual state what it may or may not do, but it did not apply this to ALL states receiving highway money.
It’s unequal application of the law, and I believe it’s unconstitutional.
Answer me this: Why only Texas? Just because one of their US Senators decided so and/or had buddies who would write it into the bill? This is a local issue, and has no place in a NATIONAL bill!
I believe this violates the State of Texas’ right to legislatively (by way of their own STATE legislature) decide their own fiscal priories, while it does nothing to apply the same restrictions to other states.
Toll roads are a local issue, and should NEVER be discussed at the national level. Don’t let your hatred of tolls blind you to the Congress’ theft of your liberties as a person, or the unequal treatment of your entire state.
Rusty Brinkley :
September 19th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Most of that state’s Interstate roads are tolled, with the only exception being I-40.
I-35 isn’t tolled in OK.
Private toll roads are a massive leap backwards.
As to the state’s right issue. The feds didn’t say Texas couldn’t have private toll roads, it said that federal money couldn’t be used on them.
Another Texan here. Toll roads are a lobbyist’s dream come true. Most businesses get want they want through the back door at either the Legislature or the Governor’s office. This governor sold his soul to the toll lobby long ago. I wish Kay Bailey Hutchinson well.
ZoomZoom :
September 20th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Well, you guys are missing an important point. You’re arguing the details when the big picture is off kilter.
You see, the United States Congress just told an individual state what it may or may not do, but it did not apply this to ALL states receiving highway money.
It’s unequal application of the law, and I believe it’s unconstitutional.
Well, that’s for Governor Perry to argue…if he wants to lose the election.
Let’s face it: making those roads – which, by the way, the American people paid for under the premise that they were to be toll-free – into toll roads retroactively is bad for the people of Texas.
Here’s the underlying problem behind what’s happening here: anyone who’s driven in a Texas city knows they need to upgrade their highway system, and that takes…gasp…tax money.
Good luck getting Texans to approve ANY tax increase for anything.
So the state has to do it the back-door way.
The same thing happened here in Colorado. About 13 years ago, the state put up a ballot measure to increase taxes to widen and improve I-25 through Denver. The highway was a complete disaster, having been built to service a city of a half million people that had since grown five times that large. The average family would have paid something like seventy-five bucks a year extra in taxes for a few years, and then it’d be paid off. Hell, not having to endure L.A.-style traffic was worth that to me, so I had no problem with the measure.
You’d think that one was a slam dunk. WRONG!!!! The right wing went into full tea-party mode (I guess no Republicans ever drove on I-25), and the measure failed. However, voters DID approve a third of a billion dollars in sales tax money to build a new stadium for the Broncos which, ironically enough, was built right off I-25 in downtown Denver. Any opposition from the Republicans? Nope. So, I guess they not only like football, they like sitting in traffic jams on I-25 from Monday through Friday, PLUS on Sunday gamedays. But I digress.
To get the I-25 measure passed, the state had to finance it with bonds. So, instead of our taxes going up for a couple of years, we get to pay the vig on the bonds unil the year 2421, or something ridiculous like that. That’s the American way: don’t pay for something in a few years with minimal pain when you can pay for it over a lifetime with less pain.
And then we have the loop highway around Denver, 470, which was desperately needed. But once again, taxpayers refused to pay for it, so it was constructed as a toll road. So, instead of paying a slightly higher tax bill for a few years, now you have to pay $12 for a round trip to the airport. That one costs me about $100 a year. Gee, come to think of it, wouldn’t that have been about as much as the extra taxes would have cost? Except for one big difference: at some point, I’d have broken even on the higher tax bill, but the toll road is sticking around in perpetuity.
Gotta love that fiscal responsibility.
And, just to add insult to injury, the toll authority has this bad habit of accusing people who actually paid the toll of skipping it, charging them a $90 fine, and suspending the driver’s license of “offender” if they don’t pay. And you can’t take it to court. I know – they did it to me.
This, folks, is what happens when we as taxpayers are too stupidly cheap to pay for roads.
This is bad news for PA governor Rendell who wanted to slap tolls on I 80 and anywhere else he could. He sold it as an infrastructure support bill for the state until it came to light a third of the money was going to public transportation and not replacing bridges. The Toll Takers Union was on board until they unveiled their plan for automatic tolls using plate recognition. Then the parties involved were accused of buying their way into the deal worth millions.
But it was all stopped when they asked for permission to do it. They get to try again in 2 years.
GS650G :
September 20th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
This is bad news for PA governor Rendell who wanted to slap tolls on I 80 and anywhere else he could. He sold it as an infrastructure support bill for the state until it came to light a third of the money was going to public transportation and not replacing bridges.
I’d say that public transportation IS part of the infrastructure, particularly in Philadelphia.
That, or make the Schyulkill ten lanes. Good lord, how much would THAT cost?
I must have driven thru the Penna Turnpike on my way to DC and back,on business mostly, at least 50 times over the last 30 years, and most of the time the tolls in PA were so outrageous, I paid more for tolls than for fuel over that stretch of highway.
TOlls are idiotic, and tolls on bridges are even sillier, and the reason of much of the congestion in NY City during ruch hour (try the G W BRidge), and any toll can be far more intelligently adnimistered as an increase in the gas tax. In fact, I would prefer that most or all of my auto insurance would be a few extra cents on the gas tax. Makes far more sense than paying $500 a year or much more, whether you do 1,000 miles or 100,000.
Here’s the underlying problem behind what’s happening here: anyone who’s driven in a Texas city knows they need to upgrade their highway system, and that takes…gasp…tax money.
Good luck getting Texans to approve ANY tax increase for anything.
The average Texan might say, “If you don’t like gridlock, move somewhere else.”
Gridlock in TX cities is a problem at times, but they’re very spread out. Average commuting times in Texas are low.
Funding highways is always a minor political civil war. There’s minor corruption all around:
– sweetheart toll road deals
– road construction crews with state mandated UAW-style work rules.
– abysmally managed mass transit systems.
Quite frankly, a gas tax is the best place to get revenue for roads. A tax that would go completely to maintaining and expanding ROADS, complete with a website accounting for funds coming in (via gallons of gas/diesel sold), and the cost of contracts going out, may get somewhere.
“the tolls in PA were so outrageous, I paid more for tolls than for fuel over that stretch of highway”
I just checked it on Mapquest: It is a 184 mile strech each way, and currently tolls are $10+$3.50 going east and $10 going west, total $23.50.
FOr 370 miles, a Jetta Diesel would use far less than 10 gallons, most likely 8 or 9, and thus it is less than the tolls!
For my 4.4lt 98 740iL, I get 22 mpg on that highway at fairly high speeds, and thus it is a bit more than the tolls…
The act calls for no tolls on existing highways. Why not just route the cars off the existing highway onto a feeder road for the toll? voila!
(Wait…crap.)
Was at the National Championship game between Oklahoma and USC. A thousand ways to get to the stadium…but only one way to get out…through the toll booth. What a scam.
Autosavant :
September 20th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
In fact, I would prefer that most or all of my auto insurance would be a few extra cents on the gas tax.
Makes perfect sense…unfortunately, it fails wherever it’s tried. The last time was in Minnesota a couple of years back…they passed a bill raising gas taxes to pay for roads and bridges, but the governor, Tim Pawlenty, vetoed it. Called it a “victory for taxpayers,” as I recall.
A couple of months later, 12 of those taxpayers drowned in the Mississippi after the I-35 bridge collapsed under them in Minneapolis. No doubt they all died grateful for not having to pay another quarter per gallon for gas, but I once again digress.
And if they can’t get a gas tax increase done in Minnesota, which is as liberal a state as you’ll find this side of California, there’s zero chance in Texas.
And the windup…Pawlenty is actually being mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2012. Wow.
Toll roads are a local issue, and should NEVER be discussed at the national level.
Wasn’t 65% of the Interstate Highway system paid for with federal funds (coming from us, I know)? Seems Big Daddy can call the shots…..
I am quite pleased Rick Perry’s humongous cross-Texas toll road got shred to shit. Gov. Good Hair has got to go….
STOP DRIVING ON THOSE SOCIALIZED ROADS you Texans! Thems are evil.
Stop it and succeed already and see how life is without all the socialism. Rick Perry will be fighting for a scrap of meat in the road.
—-
Grew up in TX now live in NE and I have to say the cost to drive down to Boston galls me.
FreedMike :
September 20th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
(Autosavant :
September 20th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
In fact, I would prefer that most or all of my auto insurance would be a few extra cents on the gas tax.)
Makes perfect sense…unfortunately, it fails wherever it’s tried. The last time was in Minnesota a couple of years back…they passed a bill raising gas taxes to pay for roads and bridges, but the governor, Tim Pawlenty, vetoed it. Called it a “victory for taxpayers,” as I recall.”
The above has nothing to do with paying my own **auto insurance** via a few extra cents in the gas tax. I don’t think this specific proposal was ever tried. And it would not pay for all your insurance, there would still be some fixed cost, I am sure. I might have voted against building bridges with that tax, if I had no trust for the corrupt pols and their goons that administered the fund, But I sure would be happy to see my own insurance significantly reduced (as would most people who own several cars but drive only a few miles each one every year)
FreedMike
The problem isn’t with a small individual tax hike. It’s the effect of multiple small individual tax hikes. Sure $75 doesn’t seem like much, but then the government wants $50/yr for local parks, $25/yr for the library, $40/yr for new sidewalks, a raise in licensing fees, an increase in sin taxes and soon you’ve put a hurt on most people. If governments spent more wisely and not try to be everything to everyone, there would be less anger and tax increases would be less needed and would have an easier time passing.
I have to add though the thing that pisses me off the most are the taxes for police/fire protection. This is the most basic service a commuity provides, but governments don’t want to cut any of their “special” programs and government officials know that they can never get a tax increase for those programs. So they threaten to shortchange their citizens police/fire protection if the voters don’t approve a tax increase. I always vote against local politicians that support such measures.
It seems silly to include something state specific like in the bill like that, but at the same time, I’ve been sick of the governor’s push for toll roads. I’d flip out if I had to pay for an existing road that’s been free since it was built before I was born. It’s bad enough with the huge increase in toll roads we’ve had in the last decade. 80% of my commute is on toll roads.
Toll roads are a local issue, and should NEVER be discussed at the national level.
Wasn’t 65% of the Interstate Highway system paid for with federal funds (coming from us, I know)? Seems Big Daddy can call the shots…..
I am quite pleased Rick Perry’s humongous cross-Texas toll road got shred to shit. Gov. Good Hair has got to go….
Agreed but not at the cost of Ms. Do-gooder as our future governor. Fuck no! We don’t need the female reincarnation of W in Austin.