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Harvard Kennedy School Fellow: Texas Wrong Path on Transportation Funding

After buttering Texas up by flattering its innovated use of public private partnerships in transportation, a Harvard Kennedy School fellow. He praises this method because roads are paid for by those who directly benefit from those roads.

Pivoting from flattery, he posits that opposition to tollroads and prublic private partnerships will:

reduce overall transportation funding over time
will harm public transit
harm transit funding in fast growing cit…

A P3 Solution for Transportation?

Miami-Dade is proposing a Public Private Partnership , P3, solution to help address its roadway congestion.

Currently the area uses P3 solutions for recapitalizing Miami’s infrastructure, expanding options for mass transit, and incorporating modern design and innovative operational techniques.

P3 for transportation congestion differs from normal contracting by:

involving more stakeholders
creating a secure, long-term revenue stream
the P3 mu…

AG Opinion: 6 Things to Know about Transportation Reinvestment Zones

Attorney General Opinion, KP-004, tells us without a constitutional amendment, a county probably cannot:

Create a County Energy Transportation Reinvestment Zone
Create a County Transportation Reinvestment Zone
Create a County Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone

The AG rational is that:

Article VIII, Section 1(a) doesn’t permit counties to c…

4 Transportation Reform Ideas via Empower Texas

Empower Texas has a litany of transportation reform ideas:

Before more funds, restrict the impact of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) to undermine sound policy
- The problems with MPOs:
  - MPOs are federally mandated
  - Federal government is allowed to indirectly control transportation
  - They are composed of “bureaucrats from transit agencies, toll authorities and TxDOT”
  - MPOs “can hold TxDOT funds hostage”

Lege Trend: More Transportation Funds Without Raising the Gas Tax

California is working on a 3 tiered approach to transportation funding:

Tier One: The State The state portion of transportation funding will be based in a $52 vehicle user fee.

Tier Two: Cities Cities are turning to financing models to improve transportation funding.

Tier Three: Regional Regional local governments are putting a 1/2 cent “quality of life tax” for transportation projects. it will require a…

Collin County & City Leaders: Toll Lanes Are Our Current Solution to Transportation Funding

Explosive growth in North Texas has meant more strain on limited transportation funding.

Collin County transportation funding solutions are:

Toll HOV lanes or new lanes on existing roadways
Local residents oppose it, but it’s the only way to get additional funding until more state transportation funding happens

Collin County Officials Point to the Followign Transportation Funding Problems:

“state budget dedicated to road funding h…