By State Representative Vicki Truitt
The D/FW Metroplex is home to more than 6.1 million people. In a brief 20 years we anticipate having 9 million people 5 million of whom will be trying to get to and from work. The Texas Department of Transportation reports by the first quarter of 2012 without additional funding there will be no money for new construction. Considering D/FWs existing gridlock in some areas something must be done to alleviate our traffic congestion.
During the 81st Regular Session Sen.
John Carona and I carried legislation that would have given people living in the Metroplex the right to vote on whether to fund specific transportation infrastructure projects with defined fees and/or a five cent or ten cent increase in our local gas tax or not fund these local projects and continue to experience the everincreasing stifling traffic.
Called Texas Local Option Transportation Act (TLOTA) would have allowed each county to spend 100 of the money on projects within that county. TLOTA passed in the Senate but fell victim to delays parliamentary and otherwise in the House and to misrepresentation by certain conservative groups.
Anti-tax groups opposed
TLOTA saying we should stop diversions (state fuel tax money being spent on items other than roads). Im all for that but stopping all diversions would
address only about half our road funding shortfall and thats just for roads and does not take into account mass transit. Do these groups not know that if major metropolitan
areas do not have coordinated mass transit in place we are subject to lose even more federal transportation dollars? Make cities commit their local sales tax to pay for transportation some say and I agree. Cities need to have skin in the game but for most cities in traffic laden areas sales tax is committed for years into the future to pay for bonding
obligations. Until that money is freed up is it wise to wait up to 20 years before doing anything about our traffic? It takes up to ten years to build a major road.
Some allege that TLOTA would be harmful to low-income families. Calculations showed this method of finance is less regressive and less burdensome on low-income families than sales tax.
Although a true and transparent user fee many dont like toll roads. There is no such thing as a free road. Building transportation infrastructure requires funding.
Some say this is not the time to ask the voters to make such a decision. Is there ever a good time to pay even for a necessity? The earliest a voter-approved fee could have been collected under TLOTA was 2012.
Some allege that TLOTA did not offer protections for the voters. Ballot language would be far more specific than that offered on a school bond election. What is more transparent and accountable than an elected body of county commissioners calling an election to give the voters the opportunity to vote yes or no on a ballot which specifically describes a project showing a finite cost for capital outlay what it would cost for ongoing maintenance and how long it would take to pay for it?
I dont like taxes fees or tolls but pretending we dont have a transportation infrastructure problem in urban areas is irresponsible and the people of Texas expect the legislature to address such problems.
North Texas and other traffic-choked areas of the state are desperate for relief. Neither the state nor federal government has a remedy for our traffic congestion. We need the right of self-determination. We need the right to pick our poison ─ stifling traffic or a few more bucks a year out of our pocket to move people and goods clear our air of pollution from
stalled traffic and improve our quality of life.
Anti-everything group rhetoric does not solve problems. And since when did these conservative groups stop believing that the individual voter is the one most suitable to determine what is best for him or her?
Texas must tackle this real problem in a realistic way before our traffic problems kill our economy and jobs. Short of a special session with TLOTA on the governors agenda we can look forward to at least two more years of increasing traffic ─ and no solution in sight.
address only about half our road funding shortfall and thats just for roads and does not take into account mass transit. Do these groups not know that if major metropolitan
areas do not have coordinated mass transit in place we are subject to lose even more federal transportation dollars? Make cities commit their local sales tax to pay for transportation some say and I agree. Cities need to have skin in the game but for most cities in traffic laden areas sales tax is committed for years into the future to pay for bonding
obligations. Until that money is freed up is it wise to wait up to 20 years before doing anything about our traffic? It takes up to ten years to build a major road.
Some allege that TLOTA would be harmful to low-income families. Calculations showed this method of finance is less regressive and less burdensome on low-income families than sales tax.
Although a true and transparent user fee many dont like toll roads. There is no such thing as a free road. Building transportation infrastructure requires funding.
Some say this is not the time to ask the voters to make such a decision. Is there ever a good time to pay even for a necessity? The earliest a voter-approved fee could have been collected under TLOTA was 2012.
Some allege that TLOTA did not offer protections for the voters. Ballot language would be far more specific than that offered on a school bond election. What is more transparent and accountable than an elected body of county commissioners calling an election to give the voters the opportunity to vote yes or no on a ballot which specifically describes a project showing a finite cost for capital outlay what it would cost for ongoing maintenance and how long it would take to pay for it?
I dont like taxes fees or tolls but pretending we dont have a transportation infrastructure problem in urban areas is irresponsible and the people of Texas expect the legislature to address such problems.
North Texas and other traffic-choked areas of the state are desperate for relief. Neither the state nor federal government has a remedy for our traffic congestion. We need the right of self-determination. We need the right to pick our poison ─ stifling traffic or a few more bucks a year out of our pocket to move people and goods clear our air of pollution from
stalled traffic and improve our quality of life.
Anti-everything group rhetoric does not solve problems. And since when did these conservative groups stop believing that the individual voter is the one most suitable to determine what is best for him or her?
Texas must tackle this real problem in a realistic way before our traffic problems kill our economy and jobs. Short of a special session with TLOTA on the governors agenda we can look forward to at least two more years of increasing traffic ─ and no solution in sight.
