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5 Things Said about Brazos Valley Council Opposition to Texas High Speed Rail

Dallas Morning News editorial: “But the eminent domain scare tactic is getting old.”
Grimes County Judge Ben Leman: “Now we know that it will take huge amounts of eminent domain.”
Kyle Workman, Texans Against High Speed Rail: ““a strong message to the Japanese investors that one of the main target markets for this project absolutely does not want it.”
Brazos Valley Council of Governments media release: “a solid blow to [Texas Central’s] claim of strong support in the Brazos Valley because of its purported station to service the area,”
Texas Central CEO Tim Kieth: “We are surprised that the Brazos Valley Council of Government has reversed itself and does not support the billions of dollars in economic benefits to the region, especially to Grimes County, and the number of high-paying jobs it will bring.”

Dallas Morning News | Transportation Blog | Dallas-Houston bullet train company loses rural planners’ support

WFAA | Dallas-Houston high-speed rail loses Brazos Valley support

Dallas Morning News | Editorial | High-speed rail opponents are shortsighted

Navasota Examiner | BVCOG passes resolution in opposition of HSR

KHOU | Dallas-Houston high-speed rail loses Brazos Valley support

TRENDING. 5 Recommendations from a Transportation Task Force. Hint: Gas Tax not Sustainable.

Which state’s transportation system was studied? Washington State

Who sat on this task force? 16 regional civic, business and government leaders

What did the task force recommend:

Regional solutions to big traffic problems like in the puget Sound Area
The gas tax is not sustainable source of funding due to fuel efficiency
Recommend a fee on miles driven as a fair and equitable funding solution
- Compared a fee on miles driven to utilty usage.
  - ““Like utilities, like your phone bill, like your water rates — paying for what you use in transportation,”
Other alternative funding sources considered, not as highly rated, were:
- tolling
- road usage charge
- carbon tax
Identified critical gap between state wide transportaion funding and funding at the local level

Transportation Futures Task Force

Seattle Sun Times | Task force recommends new transportation authority

King 5 News | Task force recommends new transportation authority

Trending. Issue on Horizon for Texas: Self Driving Cars Meets Data Security.

Data security of self-driving cars spurs calls for uniform data security standards for self-driving cars.

Have there been a push for self driving car regulations or statutes in Texas ? Yes, why yes, there has. 84R HB 933

Did those pushes include data security issues? No.

The Hill | Lawmakers worry about cyberattacks on self-driving cars

Data Shows Managed Toll Lanes Not Lexus Lanes. Key Intel in 3, 2, 1

A developer of North Texas highway projects with managed toll lanes checked the data to see who uses managed toll lanes. Here’s what was revealed:

The most frequent car make driven- Toyota
Did luxury cars make the list? Not the top 5
Are the top 5 car makes newer or older? Newer. 37% are newer than 2013

The results: maybe Lexus lanes is an inaccurate moniker.

Dallas Morning News | Survey suggests managed toll lanes aren’t just for rich people in expensive cars

3 Points on What the Opposition to High Speed Rail Gets Wrong.

The Dallas Morning News editorial isn’t a fan of the Brazos Valley Council opposition to Texas High Speed Rail from Dallas to Houston. Let’s look at what the DMN says the BVC gets wrong:

There’s a public benefit to businesses along the train’s path and to consumers who won’t have to sit in 6 hours of traffic and can count on a 90 minute train trip
The risk will be born by the high speed rail investors- so subsidies. no special favors.
$36 billion in revenue over 25 years is estimated for the high speed rail

Dallas Morning News | Editorial | High-speed rail opponents are shortsighted

3 Ways Self-Driving Cars Spark Road Improvements. Local Governments & States Unite.

In preparing for the machines to rule the earth, or for the lass dramatic self-driving cars, states and cities are upgrading roads.

Here’s the list of improvements made for driverless cars:

better road markings
upgraded traffic technology to communicate with connected cars
- e.g. how long should a left turn arrow last?
smart phone apps to gather and report information about congestion and road conditions and foreseeably notify drivers of alerts

Governing | In Preparation for Driverless Cars, States Start Upgrading Roads

Transportation Funding via Tax the 1% on the East Coast. 3 Bits Informed Intel.

Every state needs more transportation dollars, which sparked Massachusettes to consider a ballot question of a millionaires tax
The tax would be an additional 4 percent tax on individuals’ incomes over $1 million
Tax revenues would be split between transportation and education

Boston.com | Advocates eye ‘millionaire’s tax’ for new transportation funding

TRENDING. Legal: High Speed Rail Win in West.

High speed rail enjoyed a legal victory in California when a judge threw out a case against it.

What tactic did the high speed rail opponent employ in California Courts? Opponents said that the high speed rail project did not comply with restrictions on rail by voters.

What did the court say? We don’t know if high speed rail hasn’t complied because high speed rail isn’t up and running in California. It could still comply.

What are opponents saying now? High Speed Rail will still have to prove that it complies with statutory bond requirements and that is a high bar to meet.

Governing | High-Speed Rail Wins Key Legal Victory in California