"Perryman report is a house of cards built on a foundation of questionable assumptions provided to the consultant by TxDOT."
PRESS RELEASE
Report Released by TxDOT Inflates Economic Benefits of the TTC
11/1/06
CorridorWatch.org,
Fayetteville, TX 78940-5468
Copyright 2006
FAYETTEVILLE – CorridorWatch.org cautions Texans to be wary of glowing benefits predicted from construction of the Trans Texas Corridor.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) issued a press release this week together with a report it commissioned, both tout economic benefits to Texas from the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC).
"It is a bought and paid for attempt to justify a project that TxDOT has already committed to," says David Stall founder of CorridorWatch.org an organization that has been challenging the wisdom of the Trans Texas Corridor for more than two years. Stall contends that, "This report is a house of cards built on a foundation of questionable assumptions provided to the consultant by TxDOT." "It's just more lipstick on the pig," says Stall.
After reviewing much of the document Stall concludes that fact and fiction are woven together with some reasonable and other highly suspect projections. The end result is a misleading document that does what those who paid for it want it to do, it touts the TTC as a source of future prosperity. CorridorWatch.org challenges that conclusion.
Some of the basic premises for this report are in serious error. One example is the claim that, "traditional approaches and resources can only meet about 36% of significant needs." Stall contends that the dollar value of the state's transportation needs have been grossly inflated since 2003 and that despite the overstated expenditure requirement our traditional resources can indeed meet that need.
One traditional resource is fuel tax. For more than a decade the state's gasoline tax has remained at 20-cents per gallon failing to keep up with inflation and transportation infrastructure costs. A significant increase in the state's fuel tax would pale in contrast to the average $3.85 per gallon effective tax that TTC tolls will impose on Texans. (vehicle MPG multiplied by projected 15-cents per mile toll)
Another basic premise is that the TTC will stimulate business activity and investment in areas along the corridor routes. CorridorWatch.org believes that assumption is in error. Toll roads do not produce the same kind of economic stimulus as free roads.
The primary justification for the TTC is the state's projected population growth. That growth however will occur in the state’s urban centers. The result will be more traffic concentration within the urban centers, not just more traffic passing through urban areas.
As the population grows in our urban areas more trucks will depart and arrive within those areas.
The major source of urban congestion however is travel between home and work. The TTC will not provide any added capacity within those areas to address that certain impact of the state's population growth.
In promoting the TTC the report points to benefits that are particularly suspect such as greater public safety and improved environmental conditions. Neither is likely to be improved. Toll roads are among some of the nations most dangerous roads. They have higher speeds which result in higher fatality accident rates. Much of the proposed TTC route will be distant from emergency services such as hospitals. Another result of higher speeds is consumption of more fuel and production of more air pollution. Couple this with the longer travel distance of the TTC between urban centers and the adverse impact to the environment compounds.
The Perryman Group previously issued a report on the economic benefits of the TTC based on what they called described in 2002 as extensive study. Between the 2002 report and this week's report the projected economic benefits have been given quite a boost. In 2002 it was projected that TTC construction activity would result in $252.5 billion in gross state product and 4.423 million person-years of employment. The most recent projections include a broader economic stimulus associated with development and benefit estimates have ballooned the earlier numbers to $1.429 trillion in gross state product and 14.829 million person-years of employment.
In this newest report the Perryman Group takes a page from the governor's office and TxDOT's public relations division and adds to the "Myth vs. Reality" debate. In his final assessment Stall says, "Clearly this report is intended as more than a serious study on the economic impact of the TTC. The liberal addition of rhetoric and fluff demonstrates that it is also a failed attempt to come to the rescue of TxDOT to defend an ill conceived project that is in danger of being exposed for what it is, a boondoggle."
CorridorWatch.org agrees that infrastructure is essential to achieving long-term prosperity and that Texas needs to enhance its highways and other transportations systems. However, the Trans Texas Corridor is neither the only solution nor the best solution for the citizens of Texas.
© 2006 CorridorWatch: www.corridorwatch.org
Report Released by TxDOT Inflates Economic Benefits of the TTC
11/1/06
CorridorWatch.org,
Fayetteville, TX 78940-5468
Copyright 2006
FAYETTEVILLE – CorridorWatch.org cautions Texans to be wary of glowing benefits predicted from construction of the Trans Texas Corridor.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) issued a press release this week together with a report it commissioned, both tout economic benefits to Texas from the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC).
"It is a bought and paid for attempt to justify a project that TxDOT has already committed to," says David Stall founder of CorridorWatch.org an organization that has been challenging the wisdom of the Trans Texas Corridor for more than two years. Stall contends that, "This report is a house of cards built on a foundation of questionable assumptions provided to the consultant by TxDOT." "It's just more lipstick on the pig," says Stall.
After reviewing much of the document Stall concludes that fact and fiction are woven together with some reasonable and other highly suspect projections. The end result is a misleading document that does what those who paid for it want it to do, it touts the TTC as a source of future prosperity. CorridorWatch.org challenges that conclusion.
Some of the basic premises for this report are in serious error. One example is the claim that, "traditional approaches and resources can only meet about 36% of significant needs." Stall contends that the dollar value of the state's transportation needs have been grossly inflated since 2003 and that despite the overstated expenditure requirement our traditional resources can indeed meet that need.
One traditional resource is fuel tax. For more than a decade the state's gasoline tax has remained at 20-cents per gallon failing to keep up with inflation and transportation infrastructure costs. A significant increase in the state's fuel tax would pale in contrast to the average $3.85 per gallon effective tax that TTC tolls will impose on Texans. (vehicle MPG multiplied by projected 15-cents per mile toll)
Another basic premise is that the TTC will stimulate business activity and investment in areas along the corridor routes. CorridorWatch.org believes that assumption is in error. Toll roads do not produce the same kind of economic stimulus as free roads.
The primary justification for the TTC is the state's projected population growth. That growth however will occur in the state’s urban centers. The result will be more traffic concentration within the urban centers, not just more traffic passing through urban areas.
As the population grows in our urban areas more trucks will depart and arrive within those areas.
The major source of urban congestion however is travel between home and work. The TTC will not provide any added capacity within those areas to address that certain impact of the state's population growth.
In promoting the TTC the report points to benefits that are particularly suspect such as greater public safety and improved environmental conditions. Neither is likely to be improved. Toll roads are among some of the nations most dangerous roads. They have higher speeds which result in higher fatality accident rates. Much of the proposed TTC route will be distant from emergency services such as hospitals. Another result of higher speeds is consumption of more fuel and production of more air pollution. Couple this with the longer travel distance of the TTC between urban centers and the adverse impact to the environment compounds.
The Perryman Group previously issued a report on the economic benefits of the TTC based on what they called described in 2002 as extensive study. Between the 2002 report and this week's report the projected economic benefits have been given quite a boost. In 2002 it was projected that TTC construction activity would result in $252.5 billion in gross state product and 4.423 million person-years of employment. The most recent projections include a broader economic stimulus associated with development and benefit estimates have ballooned the earlier numbers to $1.429 trillion in gross state product and 14.829 million person-years of employment.
In this newest report the Perryman Group takes a page from the governor's office and TxDOT's public relations division and adds to the "Myth vs. Reality" debate. In his final assessment Stall says, "Clearly this report is intended as more than a serious study on the economic impact of the TTC. The liberal addition of rhetoric and fluff demonstrates that it is also a failed attempt to come to the rescue of TxDOT to defend an ill conceived project that is in danger of being exposed for what it is, a boondoggle."
CorridorWatch.org agrees that infrastructure is essential to achieving long-term prosperity and that Texas needs to enhance its highways and other transportations systems. However, the Trans Texas Corridor is neither the only solution nor the best solution for the citizens of Texas.
© 2006 CorridorWatch:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Wednesday, November 01, 2006
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