Property Values Harmed by High Speed Rail?

Landowners are voicing concern about the impact of high speed rail on property values. Varied landowner comments on high speed rail include:  

  • noise nuisance
  • transportation benefit
  • unknown impact on property values

​The selected routes impact the fewest land owners. Houston Business Journal    

Previous citizen meetings have focused on the effect of using eminent domain to build high speed rail. Information Intelligence

High Speed Rail Needs Land. Your Land.

Building high speed rail takes land. Acquiring land is challenging,  it’s like trying to take a dog bone away from a possessive dog. The dog wants its bone. A landowner wants to keep his land in tact. 

Texas High Speed Rail has been meeting with citizens to discuss plans and address issues land owners may have.  Kudos to them for addressing the growing pains head on with Texans.

In California, high speed rail is in the building phase. In the building phase, they have been using eminent domain. Here’s the eminent domina breakdown:

  • Latest eminent domain authorization is for 28 parcels
  • In total, 120 parcels have been authorized for eminent domain.  

Fresno Bee

Lege Trend: Self Driving Car Bill Moves in ND

Technology moves faster than laws are enacted. Every state wants to be the one to pass laws that would allow testing of driverless cars.   So far 4 states plus D.C. have done so.

Jumping on this band wagon is North Dakota, because you could drive for miles without seeing another human, which makes it a very safe place to test driverless cars or big rigs.  Grand Forks Herald 

 

TPPF: Transportation Recommendations for 2015

TPPF’s recommendations for transportation in 2015:

  • Remove governmental restrictions on the development of innovative practices in the financing, design, building, and private ownership/operation of Texas’ transportation infrastructure.

  • Extend and expand design-build contracting after it expires in August 2015. 

  • Rising federal aid funding for transportation and other state-level projects suggest legislators should consider ways to return more state dollars to fund projects without strings attached.  ​TPPF

 

Sen. Hancock: Slower Phase In of Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Dedication to TXDOT

In an interview with Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Business, Senator-Elect Burton and Senator Hancock talk transportation funding:

  • Senator-Elect Burton wants to dedicate the $4Billion motor vehcile sales tax to road projects.
  • Senator Hancock points out that $4Billion is a lot of revenue to limit and will have broad implications on the budget. It will require a slow phase-in. 

Star Telegram

Transportation Funding: A 400% Return on Investment

A select joint committee in Georgia studied increasing transportation funding. The committee’s report proposes a transportation funding plan that combines tax cuts and tax increases.  

Most interesting about the report is that for every $1 invested in transportation funding, between $4- $7.80 is returned in economic benefits generated.

Atlanta Curbed       Marietta Daily Journal       Atlanta Business Chronicle 

 

Regulating Driverless Cars: Technology Moves Fast. Regulations Do Not.

7 Companies are testing driverless cars in California. As a result, California is trying to get ahead of regulations before the cars hit the consumer market. 2 Questions arise:

1. How do you regulate?

  • Do self driving cars obey all traffic laws?
  • What if their computers freeze?
  • Can they smoothly hand control back to human drivers?​

2. How do you verify the safety standards of the cars?  3 options:

  • Follow the current U.S. system, in which manufacturers self-certify their vehicles;
  • Opt for a European system, in which independent companies verify safety; or
  • States could get into the testing business.

Detroit News