The man who gets it
(Note: Sorry about the dearth of posts last week– I was sick most of the week.)
Late last week, state Senator John Carona (R-Dallas), who chairs the Senate’s Transportation and Homeland Security committee, proposed a 10 cent increase in the state’s gas tax to bolster dwindling funding for roads. (Express-News story)
This, my friends, shows real courage and a real understanding of the transportation funding crisis that has lead to the plethora of toll road projects around the state.
Last Ford Model T cruise of 2009
Model Ts at Guadalupe River State Park
I was able, among other pressing projects, to squeeze in one last Model T drive yesterday, Saturday November 14. Accompanied by three other Ts, we drove from the Texas Transportation Museum on Wetmore Road twenty seven miles to the Guadalupe River State Park. Our small convoy represented the gamut of Ts well. There was an open tourer, a closed sedan, a light duty pick-up and the “Diva,” the museum’s heavy duty truck. I began calling it the Diva due to its unfortunate habit of running perfectly well at the museum and local roads but acting up horribly at any public event while, often, being the center of attention, for reasons that both bemuse and confuse me.
New TransGuide website coming down the pike
New TransGuide website
System repairs and upgrades also coming
In addition to the website improvement, TxDOT also has awarded contracts for long-overdue maintenance of TransGuide’s field equipment. I can’t tell you how many lane control signals and dynamic message signs are out of order, so news of these contracts is welcome. Once the initial repair backlog is cleared, which is expected by the end of the year, the contractors will focus on preventive maintenance, upgrades to older and obsolete equipment, and maintaining a 95% uptime for all equipment. TxDOT has budgeted $1.5 million annually for maintenance, although that amount will vary depending on needs and funding availability.
Links:
Car repair – be careful of what you are not paying for
Nobody enjoys having to get their automobile repaired. If you are lucky you get to drive to the shop of your choice. Finding yourself on the side of the road or even your driveway in a dead car is just about the worst feeling in this modern world of ours. You may never have a clearer understanding how much you rely on your vehicle than at this moment.
Beating a dead horse (toll road genesis Part Deux)
In my last post, I discussed how toll roads came to be the funding option of choice in recent years for big road projects. The question I closed with was whether or not they’re the best solution, and if not, how to fund roadbuilding without them. As I alluded to, it’s really a chicken-and-egg scenario: do toll roads perpetuate the status quo, or does the status quo perpetuate toll roads?
My wife and I have had this conversation several times. She understands the problem, but is of the mind that tolls should be the option of absolute last resort—they need to fix the gas tax problems first. In essence, she thinks that the current toll paradigm is getting the cart before the horse.
Hey, what happened to all the talk about commuter rail?
Anybody remember the Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Rail District? No? Yes? If so, forget about it.
I mean, forget about the name, which was sort of long and obtuse anyway. The six-year-old district, authorized by a 12-year-old state law, has shed the name and dumped its old web site in exchange for a punchy, fresh re-branding.
On Monday, regional leaders will announce the name change to Lone Star Rail District as well as the reborn web presence at LoneStarRail.com. You don’t have to wait to see the site — it’s already live.
The genesis of the toll road problem
One issue that many toll road opponents can’t seem to wrap their heads around is the underlying reason why toll roads are being pushed. It’s not some get-rich scheme by Rick Perry or TxDOT. The problem is the dearth of funding that has plagued transportation for more than a decade now. And it’s not just Texas—many other states, as well as the federal government, are having the same problem.
A Texas shibboleth
One of the first things that astute visitors and new arrivals to Texas notice is the ubiquity of frontage roads along our freeways. Indeed, Texas has more frontage roads than any other place on the face of the planet. The reason for this phenomenon is because, unlike most other states, Texas frequently upgrades existing roadways to freeways instead of building them on entirely new right-of-way, especially in urban areas. For instance, most of I-35 through Texas was built along what used to be US 81. Because adjacent property owners already had access to the existing highway, the state would either have had to purchase those access rights when the road was upgraded (freeways are controlled-access), which in many cases might actually have resulted in a full-blown taking of the property, or they would have had to devise a way to maintain access to those properties. Texas chose the latter.
Oil and gas prices Roads Travel: economy
by Patrick
Comments Off on Rising gas prices for a growing economy
Rising gas prices for a growing economy
Rising gas prices, along with a renewed American appetite to drive, offer yet more signs that the recession has lifted.
The U.S. economy, much of it fed by federal stimulus injections, grew 3-1/2 percent last quarter despite unemployment climbing to a two-and-a-half-decade high.
Growing also are gas prices, according to Energy Information Administration data. Regular unleaded swelled 26 cents a gallon since last month, and today settled at a yearly high of $2.69 a gallon.
San Antonio prices average $2.53, up nearly 20 cents from a month ago, AAA reports.