Category Archives: tollroad

TX Attorney General Opinion. THE LOOPHOLE on Tollroads. Administrative Fee Cap. The Legislative Fix.

LOOPHOLES in the Attorney General Cap on administrative fees: toll roads that are operated by non-TXDOT entities, or that have contracts awarded for operation by non-TXDOT entities.

What’s an example of a non-TXDOT tollroad? Tollraods operated by Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority

What’s the legislative fix? Adding the administrative cap to Texas Transportation Code, Section 370 which govrns tollroads operated by regional mobility authorities.

Statesman | Wear: Why toll fees remain…

Attorney General Opinion. 3 Key Points Toll Road Operators Opinion. Bluebonnet State.

Texas Attorney General Opinion KP-0184 establishes that 2017’s SB 312 caps administrative fees of private toll operators too.

Yes, yes it does and here is why:

  • Operators get to operate a toll lane only by order of TXDOT
  • TEX. TRANSP. CODE § 228.007(a)  says the toll operation agreements charge a toll “under this section”
  • “This section 228.007(b)(2) gives the toll operator the same duties as TXDOT which means the limits on administrative fees applies

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New Kid on the Texas Block. Transportation Group to Ease Traffic Jams & Fight Tea Party. 3 Bits Informed Intel

The new group: Texans for Traffic Relief

Who is in the new group: Business groups, local elected officials & highway industry interests

3 key points to know about :

  • The group is focused on the 4  largest metro areas
  • The group formed in response to frustration from anti-toll activists
  • Transportation funding is inadequate and Texas needs “Common-sense solutions that add to available road money and embrace innovation are crucial to easing congestion”

Texas State Senator Hall response to…

TX Attorney General Opinion Request. Toll Roads+ Constitutional Propositions + Comingling Funds

Texas Attorney General Opinion request RQ-0192-KP asks whether Propositions 1 and 2, that prohibited the use of dedicated funds for toll projects, can provide funding for toll road projects.

Update:

Texas Tribune | TxDOT eyeing accounting trick to get around toll road prohibition

TXDOT’s point of view:

  • fund the tolled lanes with federal loans backed by toll revenues
  • fund added non-tolled main lanes with tax dollars
  • win-win: TxDOT has more building capacity with limited funds.

TEXAS INTERIM CHARGES. 10 Transportation Charges. Energy. Trade. Tech.

House Committee on International Trade & Intergovernmental Affairs 

#2 Transportation Barriers to Trade.  Review the current state of infrastructure at Texas’ international shipping ports and border ports of entry in Texas. Identify transportation-related impediments to international trade and estimate the impact of those challenges, including border wait times, on the state’s economy. Make recommendations for improvements to facilitate international trade and economic growth. (Joint charge…

5 Bipartisan Texas State Reps. Interim Study Request on Toll Roads

Texas State Representatives Minajarez, Pickett, Dale, Oliverson & Goldman

are requesting the following interim charges:

  • Study how toll road operators, or authorities calculate toll rates in Texas, and ensure there is transparency in the process.
  • Study the Minajarez amendment to S.B. 312 85(R) to see if it applies to all toll roads in the state, or to just the TxDOT operated toll roads and toll lanes.
  • Study the possibility of the consolidation of Texas Toll Pay by Mail into a single back…

Upcoming Texas Attorney General Question: Private Toll Companies & Fees.

Chairman Joe Pickett wants the Texas Attorney General to clarify to what extent are the limitations of fee assessments placed upon TXDOT also placed upon private entities that operate tolls.

Pickett’s exact question: 

To what extent are the provisions (?(Section 228.0547(b), Transportation Code, as added by S.B. 312, Acts of tne 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017, ”powers and duties” o f the Texas Department o f Transportation that apply under Section 228. 059, Transportation Code,…

LOCAL TREND. An Ordinance to Create Designated Lanes for Ride Share? Oui.

Miami, FL is considering allowing ride share cars to be able to use the left shoulder on busy freeways.

Ride share could share the left shoulder with buses.

Creative approach for transportation seeks to solve these policy issues:

  • how to avoid adding more toll lanes
  • to reduce traffic by encouraging people to leave their cars ar home and use a ride share service

AP | Forget Lexus Lanes, Miami Could Open Shoulders to Uber, Lyft

State Senate Unanimously Votes Against Mileage Tax

State: Connecticut

Is the opposition uniform and bipartisan? yes

What triggered it? A federal subsidy to study a switch to mileage based taxation

What warning are some legislators offering? If there isn’t a transportation funding solution soon, the state moves closer to more tolls on highways

Connecticut Post | Senate votes to prohibit ‘mileage’ tax