"Perry said his priority is to get legislation passed to restore the state's authority to seek private investors for toll concessions."
Electoral fallout on toll biz
"Tollroads in Texas have aroused passionate feelings, and not only among people who think of themselves as 'liberals.' Some of the tea-partiers share that antagonism. Attitudes to tolling in Texas don't follow any Republican/Democrat or even conservative/liberal divide. "
11/4/10
Peter Samuel
TOLLROADSnews
Copyright 2010
Gov Rick Perry (Repub) easily won re-election in Texas against the Democrat Bill White, former mayor of Houston. Perry wants to press ahead vigorously building new roads, and said he'd try and involve investor owned toll companies. Interestingly White criticized Perry for an overcentralized approach, for not allowing counties and cities to take the initiative on toll financing.
The Democrat said decisions on toll versus tax financing of roads should be left to local leaders to decide.
And White said that under Perry the state (TxDOT) had taken on far too much debt for roadbuilding:
"They failed to plan ahead with a plan for the future, they failed to plan ahead on how the debt would be repaid without cannibalizing the operations and maintenance of Texas roads, and failed to establish trust and confidence."
To that extent White the Democrat was criticizing Perry from a conservative perspective.
But the two clashed over the role of private investors in road financing, White taking the position that it's undesirable and that tollroads should generally be built by local public toll authorities. Perry on the other hand said his priority is to get legislation passed to restore the state's authority to seek private investors for toll concessions. Earlier legislation lapsed in 2009 after the big fight between NTTA and TxDOT over who would own Tx121 - now NTTA's Sam Rayburn Tollway.
TxDOT's growing debt load, and NTTA's too, will probably limit the extent to which they can finance new tollroads, so the logic of Perry's call for enabling legislation for P3s may grow more compelling.
But tollroads in Texas have aroused passionate feelings, and not only among people who think of themselves as 'liberals.' Some of the tea-partiers share that antagonism. Attitudes to tolling in Texas don't follow any Republican/Democrat or even conservative/liberal divide.
© 2010 TOLLROADSnews: www.tollroadsnews.com
To search TTC News Archives clickHERE
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog clickHERE
"Tollroads in Texas have aroused passionate feelings, and not only among people who think of themselves as 'liberals.' Some of the tea-partiers share that antagonism. Attitudes to tolling in Texas don't follow any Republican/Democrat or even conservative/liberal divide. "
11/4/10
Peter Samuel
TOLLROADSnews
Copyright 2010
Gov Rick Perry (Repub) easily won re-election in Texas against the Democrat Bill White, former mayor of Houston. Perry wants to press ahead vigorously building new roads, and said he'd try and involve investor owned toll companies. Interestingly White criticized Perry for an overcentralized approach, for not allowing counties and cities to take the initiative on toll financing.
The Democrat said decisions on toll versus tax financing of roads should be left to local leaders to decide.
And White said that under Perry the state (TxDOT) had taken on far too much debt for roadbuilding:
"They failed to plan ahead with a plan for the future, they failed to plan ahead on how the debt would be repaid without cannibalizing the operations and maintenance of Texas roads, and failed to establish trust and confidence."
To that extent White the Democrat was criticizing Perry from a conservative perspective.
But the two clashed over the role of private investors in road financing, White taking the position that it's undesirable and that tollroads should generally be built by local public toll authorities. Perry on the other hand said his priority is to get legislation passed to restore the state's authority to seek private investors for toll concessions. Earlier legislation lapsed in 2009 after the big fight between NTTA and TxDOT over who would own Tx121 - now NTTA's Sam Rayburn Tollway.
TxDOT's growing debt load, and NTTA's too, will probably limit the extent to which they can finance new tollroads, so the logic of Perry's call for enabling legislation for P3s may grow more compelling.
But tollroads in Texas have aroused passionate feelings, and not only among people who think of themselves as 'liberals.' Some of the tea-partiers share that antagonism. Attitudes to tolling in Texas don't follow any Republican/Democrat or even conservative/liberal divide.
© 2010 TOLLROADSnews: www.tollroadsnews.com
To search TTC News Archives click
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog click
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, November 04, 2010
