Link to article here.

Tolling Texans: Toll projects spread as state funds lag
By Aman Batheja
Texas Tribune
November 30, 2012

The first major toll road in Texas, which opened in 1957, was a 30-mile, six-lane stretch of highway between Dallas and Fort Worth. A drive from one end to the other cost 50 cents.

By 1977, tolls had generated enough revenue to recoup the cost of the road’s construction. The tollbooths were dutifully removed. Drivers know the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike today as Interstate 30.

Fast forward 35 years and I-30, while still free, is surrounded by billions of dollars in road projects featuring toll roads or lanes. It is a similar story on a smaller scale in the state’s other urban centers as well as in some communities along the border with Mexico. As public officials across fast-growing Texas look for ways to build more roads amid a lack of public financing, toll revenue or investment from private firms hoping to collect that toll revenue are repeatedly emerging as the antidote.

Read more: Tolling Texans: Toll projects spread as state funds lag

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Shuster Won’t Rule Out Raising Gasoline Tax for Roads
By Angela Greiling Keane
November 28, 2012
Businessweek

Increasing the U.S. gasoline tax and instituting a levy based on miles driven should be options to pay for highway spending as cars become more fuel efficient, said Representative Bill Shuster, who will be the top House member overseeing federal transportation policy.

“I’m not wedded to any options,” Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican, told reporters today in Washington. “We need to explore them all.”

Read more: New Chair won't rule out gas tax hike

Washington Post

Seventeen years ago, Virginia passed what was said to be one of most progressive pieces of legislation in the country. The Public-Private Transportation Act would help build road in the tax-averse state by shifting some of the cost and management to the private sector.

The result has been 14 miles of adjusted-toll HOT lanes on Interstate 495 in Northern Virginia, proposed extensions to tunnels in Hampton Roads, superhighway connectors in the Richmond area and a planned $1.4 billion road linking Suffolk to Petersburg.

But just how much oversight is there in such public-private partnerships? Hardly any, argues James J. Regimbal Jr., a transportation analyst in a new report published by the nonprofit Southern Environmental Law Center.

Read more: Time to re-think VA's public-private transportation act

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Cato scholar slams street car as obsolete 'fantasy'
By Terri Hall
November 28, 2012
Examiner.com

When 98% of Americans drive a car as their preferred mode of travel, street car advocates have a problem. Randal O’Toole, Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, gave a series of talks in San Antonio today on the downtown street car plan being touted by Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff. O’Toole pokes holes in proponents arguments in favor of the street car -- especially the big promise of economic development. But all are based on fallacies, according to his voluminous data. Indeed, he said it’d be cheaper to give everyone a free Toyota Prius every other year, than to keep running a street car system. Which do you think the public would rather have? I’d take the Prius.

Considering the San Antonio street car proposal also plans to heist $92 million in Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) road funds for construction, opposition comes from nearly every corner of the spectrum. Opponents see the plan as grossly misplaced priorities when the northside sits in gridlock while it’s told there’s no money to fix roads without drivers having to pay tolls.

Read more: Cato scholar slams street car as obsolete 'fantasy'

Government waste taking us off 'fiscal cliff'
By Terri Hall
Examiner.com

With all the talk of the ‘fiscal cliff’ that magically appeared the day after the election, let’s examine how we got here. Is it because taxpayers pay too little? Is it because some aren’t paying their ‘fair share’? When you look at the sheer volume of government waste, you’ll find the answer staring you in the face.

Senator Tom Coburn publishes a government waste book every year, and this year, it’s chalk full of transportation pork that has no relevance to the federal taxpayer, and wastes our money. Let’s take a look at some of the most absurd examples of waste in the Federal Highway Trust Fund and similar funds, like the National Scenic Byways grant to build an 18-ft Lego replica of a street in West Virginia. Considering the trust fund has required bailout after bailout in recent years, it’s a no-brainer to cut the waste since Congress continues to ask Americans to pay tolls galore for badly needed highway improvements.

Read more: Government waste taking us off fiscal cliff

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TxDOT Insists It's Not Taking the Low Road to Increase Toll Traffic
By Jason Wheeler
KEYE-TV
November 13, 2012

Many drivers are enjoying the rush of the fastest speed limit in the country; 85 miles an hour on the new stretch of the SH 130 toll road that extends down to I-10.  But just beneath the "whoosh"€™ sounds left behind by the fast passing lead foots there's a growing cacophony of criticism about the new speed limit -- not the 85, but the 55.

"The 55 speed limit is ridiculous,"€ exclaims Karen Morrison from the passenger seat of a pick-up truck.  She is talking about the new 55 mph limit on the rebuilt stretch of Hwy 183 which runs alongside the toll road.   It used to be 65; and it still is down the road on 183 where opposing traffic is separated by inches.  So why, when the lanes are separated by an entire toll road, is the speed limit lower? 

Read more: TxDOT cashes-in by slowing free routes

Link to article here.

Australia: Trading Halted on Failing Toll Road
Australian toll road project to cost investors big, while executives pocket big bonuses.
The Newspaper.com
November 14, 2012

The Australian Stock Exchange on Tuesday halted trading of BrisConnections, the long-troubled toll road firm. BrisConnections built and operates the A$4.8 billion Airport Link toll road in Brisbane that opened in July. Already the project is under water.

"Following analysis and in light of traffic levels post the introduction of tolls for all vehicles, the board has determined today to enter into formal negotiations with its lenders and other keys stakeholders regarding potential reconstruction options, taking into account that on present traffic levels and operating costs, the enterprise value may be less than the outstanding debt," BrisConnections announced in a statement Monday.

Read more: Big exec pay-outs despite Aussie's failing toll road

Link to article here.

NAFTA leaders forge path forward to deepen North American integration
By Terri Hall
Examiner
November 16, 2012

Jobs, jobs, jobs, that’s the worry when it comes to the political reality of international trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and that put proponents of NAFTA attending the NAFTA-20 Conference on defense with the public, especially in times of economic stress and sustained high unemployment.

The speakers and business leaders that converged at NAFTA-20, held in San Antonio where NAFTA was actually signed in 1992, struggled to find a path forward to deepen the integration of the three countries -- Canada, Mexico, and the United States -- amidst the political opposition and the lackluster defense of NAFTA by political leaders of each government.

“If I stopped people on the street and asked them if NAFTA has sent American jobs to Mexico, eighty-percent would answer, ‘yes,’” noted Barry Lawrence, Director of Texas A&M Supply Chain Lab.

Read more: NAFTA leaders push to deepen integration with Mexico, Canada

Link to article here.

Mexican ambassador announces inspection-free border crossings
By Terri Hall
Examiner
November 15, 2012

“Welcome to San Antonio, the NAFTA city,” declared San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro at tonight’s opening of the NAFTA 20 conference held in San Antonio to commemorate 20 years since the signing of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the Alamo city. Castro served as host for the event and spoke of NAFTA’s vision being fulfilled, and San Antonio proudly acting as the conduit. Leaders from the three North American countries had promised something akin to announcing NAFTA 2.0, and they didn’t disappoint.

Mexican Ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan determined, “If Texas is the engine behind the success of NAFTA, San Antonio is the spark plug.”

Then the Ambassador eagerly divulged that within the next 3-5 days, the Mexican government is prepared to announce pre-inspection facilities in Mexico where goods entering that country headed for the United States would be inspected at these Mexican facilities and allowed to enter the U.S. without stopping at the border. Companies would be pre-certified and vetted by the two governments in a tremendous leap toward erasing the United States border with Mexico and achieve one of NAFTA’s chief goals -- to create a common economic and security perimeter, a true North American Union.

Read more: NAFTA cargo to get inspection-free border crossings

A consumer group that has written extensively on the pros and cons of public-private partnerships wants Gov. John Kasich and his state-hired consulting firm to think long and hard before deciding to lease the Ohio Turnpike to private investors.

The national Public Interest Research Group and its Ohio affiliate have released eight questions they want to see answered before the consulting firm KPMG makes a recommendation later this year concerning the fate of the turnpike.

Read more: Public interest group cautions against Ohio turnpike lease