Link to article here.
The SH 130 toll road is the poster child for FAILED toll road policy in Texas. Taxpayers were sold the SH 130 toll road as the panacea to fix congestion on gridlocked I-35 through Austin. Politicians and planners said it would draw trucks off of I-35 and over to the toll road. [...]

The people of this community have expressed time and again in every way available to them that they DO NOT want toll roads. With tourism such a major industry and economic engine for our region and the adverse impacts of a high cost of transportation on the region’s economy, toll roads are not the right [...]

Bruce Davidson, author of the column below, heads the Editorial Board at the Express-News. He, and the paper (as evidenced by their coverage since they laid off the excellent, unbiased, and very fair transportation reporter Pat Driscoll), are sold out on tolls. This is one of many editorials that read like an RMA press release. [...]

Link to article here.
Note how Austin’s toll revenue projections are cut by more than HALF in their long-range plan. Also of note is the acknowledgment that selling our highways to foreign companies in “concession” deals has fallen out of favor with the legislature. That’s due to the grassroots’ blowback over the last 4-5 years. Stay [...]

By Terri Hall
San Antonio Express News/Houston Examiner
May 6, 2010
It doesn’t take long to size-up a gathering of transportation lobbyists hosted by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, when 99% of the feedback at a supposed “town hall” ran to the mic to ask for their industry’s piece of the taxpayer pie.
Scarcely a handful of [...]

Link to article here.
Most Texans aren’t aware that 40% of our federal gas taxes fund mass transit instead of highways. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has announced a “sea change” where our gas taxes will no longer favor “motorized transportation” but bicycle paths, sidewalks, and transit.
He says: “People are sick of being stuck in traffic, [...]

Link to article here.
Published: April 27, 2010 3:00 a.m.
Toll Road letdown
Journal Gazette

Opponents predicted this would happen.
When Gov. Mitch Daniels sold his plan to lease the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years, some opponents said the financial projections were too rosy, that the $3.8 billion proceeds and interest would not fully fund the [...]

Link to article here.
If Congress wants a smaller role in building highways, they can kindly return 100% of our gas taxes back to taxpayers and let the states build them. It’s total fraud to keep taking our road money only to spend 40% of it on transit instead of highways, and to DOUBLE TAX motorists [...]

Link to article here.
Here’s the most elitist attitude in print from transportation bureaucrats pushing this oppressive toll taxation (“managed lanes” are toll lanes):
“The managed-lane approach will give people a choice between traffic for free or a fast ride for a price.”
What about all the gas tax we’re paying? Wanna know where it’s going? [...]

Link to article here.
More waste, fraud, and abuse of our taxpayer money to report…note that 40% of our federal gas taxes go to transit. Plus, why should all taxpayers give government employees a FREE RIDE to work? Who subsidizes our commutes? No one!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Feds run off track with Pentagon transit perk
Misused [...]