All about Texas Toll Roads

[amidala_satx]

my understanding was that the ARMA couldn't build competing roads, not TxDOT.

[sgholt]

If the overpasses on 281 were put in as promised (and already paid for) there would not be this traffic problem....but TxDot now says there is no money left...because our legislators put it into the "General Fund" and spent it on other things.(This is the real problem, Rick Perry & Co. raping Texas for kickbacks)

A good time to pull this Toll Road BS, is when 2/3 of out highway system is under construction...finish all the construction and build the overpasses ...then do a traffic evaluation that would make more sense.
Take roads we already own to use a Toll Roads? sorry that is unacceptable...build the promised overpasses first. The only thing that makes the Toll road better than the existing highways is the overpass it will have over the intersections. Think about it would there be a need for Toll roads if the existing lanes had overpasses? So if the money was already collected for the overpasses, yet they are not built yet, don't you think that there is something fishy going on? Someone doesn't want the overpasses to be built because it will make the toll road unnecessary.

Our Governor has been playing this game for quite a while (do a little research)
look at:
* Re-consolidation of the Health and Human Services (contractors are getting rich and still haven't got it working for over 3 years now).
*Texas Building Procurement Commission is not taking the best bids for state buildings, it is taking the bids from Gov. Perry's friends.
*Perry's cervical cancer vacination plan was yet another way he could fill his war chest with kickbacks.
*Toll roads are his latest ploy to get more funds in his political warchest.
*TheTxDot head was appointed by and is a friend of Gov Perry.


NOW before everyone thinks I am a raving liberal...STOP, I voted for Perry and I deeply regret it now. I think he is a crook of the worst kind. I don't want you to vote Democratic (especially if all they can offer is Chris Bell)...but we have to get someone who is going to stop this crap...*pant pant* rant over.

[mastercone]

The source for my remarks came from multiple posts that you made from two separate threads regarding toll roads and they are appended below. Additionally, I am reposting in this forum what I posted in the other thread since the topic matter is informative and germaine to what is being discussed here..

The NEW TOLL ROADS will be a means of INSTANT and DIRECT TAXATION to a segment of the public. If they can succeed implementing this tax then they can certainly explore other new taxing technologies. A new era of government taxation is afoot. In the last ten years alone, we have seen the government begin to tax human movement, water, and increasing instances where human necessity is involved. They will not stop with these tolls. The $40 or $50 bucks you pay for your license plates per year or the $0.20 cents a gallon you pay for the state fuel tax(Federal tax is an additional 18.4 cents a gallon) are no longer enough for those money mongers that you have allowed to remain in power over you at the state bureaucracy.

The State of Texas has billions of dollars in surplus which they will not touch. This is the taxpayer's money. The state has deliberately squandered the gasoline tax revenues and will continue to do so because they know that there is no vanguard to stop them. The state has known for years about the impending and festering congestion and they have manipulated many of the unsophisticated rank and file taxpayers into swallowing the toll road solution because they have consultants not only telling them they can do it but how far they can go before it backfires.

To agree to the toll roads because one believes it will provide instant relief from all of their traffic ills overlooks the very fact that the government allowed the problem to become prominent enough so it could move in and dangle the pre-planned toll road carrot which has been years in the making. These so-called toll road plans mislead the citizenry into believing that the government can fix the problem when, in reality, the government was the originator and now the ultimate benefactor of the problem and its revenue generating solution respectively.

Originally Posted by 01Snake

Well, I happen to live in Stone Oak and will be part of that "segment" of the population that will be paying the tolls. And I can tell you straight up, I'm more then willing to pay the tolls. Why would I resist being given an option other than sitting in traffic rediculous traffic EVERYDAY?? It's really not backward logic at all IMHO.

Not sure what point you were trying to make with the whole "increasing burden for its property owners" so I can't really answer that. Nor do I see what it has to do with agreeing that tolls are a good idea in the 1604/281 area.

Originally Posted by mastercone

I've never seen more backwards logic in my life. You didn't provide the least bit of resistance to the government's desires for toll roads and a new unchecked stream of revenue from a segment of its citizens.

If they can do this to those citizens then they will eventually find a way to do it to you. There's no doubt in my mind that if the state asked you to vote FOR a state income tax to alleviate the onerously increasing burden for its property owners, that you would vote "yes."

Originally Posted by 01Snake

The toll roads would be up and running if it wasn't for the Texas Toll Party putting a halt to the process a few years ago.

Thanks Terry!

Originally Posted by 01Snake

.....Same with increasing gas taxes. Do you think people on the southside want to pay higher gas prices in order for the state to fund more road projects on the northside?? I wouldn't.

[mastercone]

The euphoria over the toll road vote approval is not surprising in this increasingly socialistic society. What's troubling is that this "pro-government has the solution" environment was intolerable in Texas as recently as the nineties. The Toll Party protest was more about blocking yet another means of unchecked taxation on the citizens(i.e., involuntary revenue generation).

The deliberate ease in which some readily accept and submit to the will of the government's decision is incredible. It coincidentally falls on deaf ears that the traffic congestion in Bexar county is, on the most part, contrived by the government's own DELIBERATE apathy and years of willful neglect which has led to precisely the solution that the state and money-grubbing government politicos wanted all along: TOLL ROADS

For the pro-toll road advocates, you just got successfully played by your own government. County Commissioner Lyle Larson echoed what many in this county have been saying all along, "Why not just build overpasses to provide the same identical arterial relief from congestion that tolls would bring?" The state tells you that they don't have the money and you believed them?

The answer is that toll roads generate a lot of nice cash for all kinds of things and the citizens don't get to vote on it. Not one person in this forum has asked if the tolls will end once the roads are paid for in full. The toll authorities make no promise on this either. They suggest it but there is no further detail in this regard.

Is it any surprise that the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority is chaired by the less than desirable former San Antonio Mayor Bill Thornton? And his chief sidekick is the since-fired San Antonio city manager Terry Brechtel? This is tantamount to the recycling of bad and fired coaches through the NFL and college ranks, only the expected quality is lower and salaries are higher. Almost 2 million people in our local population and this is the best we can do for personnel leadership? No citizen oversight committee other than more politicos who will or would actually outnumber the token citizens that might be on such a panel?

I've seen some gloating over the idea that many will not have to pay the tolls since they don't drive on these roads. Once these toll roads are in place, costs of doing business in this city will go up for everyone living in this locale. Eventually, these toll roads will expand. They have their eyes on 35N from downtown, Hwy 151, and if this continues, they could have tolls all over the city.

The state will continue to collect the gasoline tax and waste that on its political desires. The tolls will be added bonus money to spend on all kinds of political pork. The best part is that much of the toll road hype is fostered by the federal government. One link below will give you an idea of how the federal government is helping pump new ideas into state bureaucracies of how to suck more money out of the traveling citizens.

Sooner rather than later on this forum, the only guy that will be laughing is the one that takes the bus or just stays home.

How the FEDS helps states suck more money out of travelers wallets:

What is Congestion Pricing? - Congestion Pricing: A Primer - FHWA Office of Operations

What is Congestion Pricing? - Congestion Pricing: A Primer - FHWA Office of Operations

[mastercone]

I couldn't help but provide this additional information on toll roads so that we can all follow the gameplan of the future. Below is the Federal Highway Administration's idea of getting states to suck more money out of your wallets for tolls. The San Diego HOT lane toll was the most exciting! I have highlighted it.

This is why you always protest the government's desires for more of your money. The new tolls planned for Bexar county and this 17 cents a mile stuff is just the tip of the iceberg.

Brief Description of Urban Partnerships Program and Congestion Pricing
>>http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tolling_pricing/value_pricing/resources/documents/upa.htm

Value Pricing Pilot Program
>>http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tolling_pricing/value_pricing/projtypes/pricednewlanes.htm

TEXAS: Express Toll Lanes on I-35 in San Antonio
The San Antonio district of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is evaluating managed lane options for a 15-mile section of the Northeast Corridor (I-35). Public involvement has been a key in developing the I-35 project to date. Pre-project studies have provided some guidance in developing managed lanes, including incorporation of value pricing. Although TxDOT is an existing partner with value pricing projects in Dallas and Houston, this is San Antonio's first VPPP grant.

The purpose of the project is to evaluate potential operating strategies, including value pricing, which could be used as tools to manage travel demand on I-35. Alternative pricing scenarios can be utilized to allow certain user groups into the managed lanes at different stages over the facility's life. The I-35 Managed Lanes study is expected to show congestion-reducing benefits on a 15-mile stretch of the Northeast Corridor.

Implementation of managed lanes is highly likely, as it is already part of the planned freeway expansion project. Plans for additional public input (via public meetings and individual stakeholder meetings) are planned.

>>http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tolling_pricing/value_pricing/tools/index.htm

>>http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tolling_pricing/value_pricing/quarterlyreport/qtr2rpt07/index.htm#tocd


CONVERTING HIGH-OCCUPANCY VEHICLE (HOV) LANES TO HIGH-OCCUPANCY TOLL (HOT) LANES
>>http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tolling_pricing/value_pricing/quarterlyreport/qtr2rpt07/index.htm#toca
CALIFORNIA: HOT Lanes on I-15 in San Diego
San Diego's HOT Lanes were originally approved as part of the FHWA'S Congestion Pricing Pilot Program in ISTEA-1991. The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) celebrated 10 years of road pricing on Interstate 15 this past December. The first road pricing implementation effort consisted of collecting tolls via monthly permits with a decal in the window (December 1996); subsequently, the FasTrak® electronic toll collection system in use today was implemented in April 1998. Under this program, customers in single-occupant vehicles (SOVs) pay a toll each time they use the Interstate 15 HOV lanes. The unique feature of this program is that tolls vary dynamically with the level of congestion on the HOV lanes. Fees can vary in 25-cent increments as often as every six minutes to help maintain free-flow traffic conditions on the HOV lanes. Motorists are informed of the toll rate changes through variable message signs located in advance of the entry points. The normal toll varies between $0.50 and $4.00. During very congested periods, the toll can be as high as $8.00. Pricing is based on maintaining a LOS "C" for the HOT facility.

On average, approximately 75 percent of the weekday traffic using the priced HOV lanes goes for free (vehicles with two or more occupants qualify as carpools). The remaining drive-alone commuters are FasTrak® customers who pay the toll. FasTrak revenue from tolls on I-15 ranges between $1.2 to $2.2 million per fiscal year (July 1st to June 30th) and net income from the program is used to subsidize Commuter Express Bus service in the corridor. Other expenditures include HOV enforcement, provided by the California Highway Patrol (CHP); and maintenance and operation of the electronic toll collection (ETC) system and Customer Service Center. The current I-15 FasTrak® operation is managed under contract by a private sector partner, TransCore, L.P.

[Hoosier]

I merged the toll road threads into this one thread. We do not want to have duplicate threads in the forum as it can get confusing. Thanks for your understanding.

[jams33]

Originally Posted by NEsananto

Hopefully the toll roads will act as a catalyst and create more demand for downtown living or at least create somewhat of a revival for neighborhoods inside 410.

Dallas is seeing that effect for sure. Many people are coming back inside the 635 loop d/t tollways, construction, travel time, etc. Really seeing it revive the portions inside the loop...I'd say if that's the case here, now would be a good time to buy some property inside the loop...that's where we're going!!

[Berlin1980]

MasterCone:

I am not sure why you are so adamantly opposed to toll roads. The only people who hate toll roads are socialists.

The goal of socialists is to have all items like roads etc, paid for out of general taxation. That way the true cost can be hidden. Then we can call them freeways' where really they are 'paidforbyothers - ways! There is no such thing as free!

We should have ALL of our roads tolled - and use congestion pricing. This is the free market approach (how the USA was founded!) since it is the most efficent use of a scare resource. For example I am willing to pay large amounts of money to move rapidly, therefore I should pay a lot more for that privelige. This idea of course is hated by socialists - who would like us all to move in the slow lane - or want it paid for out of general revenue so that we get a shoddy second rate socalist road network.

[maluminse]

Was it here? Oh yes it was. On 281 north citizens busted ? for tinkering with the lights to make it more congested so as to justify new construction.

Someone name all the taxes we pay.

income tax
gas tax (isnt this what pays for the roads)
sales tax
boat tax
luxury tax
... theres like ten more ive seen listed.
nonetheless its up to us to write our senators/congressman/city council