Link to article here.
This was the compromise hatched in a backroom deal with Governor Perry, Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick,and Lt Governor David Dewhurst. Read the letter here. Perry gets access to public pension funds to build toll roads that even the private sector now deems risky, and Legislators get their $1 billion in projects [...]

Link to article here. Link to Express-News blog with more here.
TxDOT error costs S.A. area $71.5 million
By Janet Elliott
Houston Chronicle
08/29/2008
AUSTIN — Poor internal communication and complicated procedures caused a $1.1 billion blunder that forced Texas transportation officials to pull back on construction projects earlier this year, according to an audit released Thursday.
Texas Department of [...]

Link to article here.
This traffic and revenue study conducted by the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (ARMA, the tolling authority), was withheld from the public, MPO Board members and legislators until our lawsuit to stop the 281 toll road. Now this information is being made public because a Judge ordered it. This same study was also [...]

Link to article here.
For anyone who still thinks there’s no merit to the North American Union and the deep economic integration of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada through trade agreements like NAFTA, here’s your proof. This massive influx of Chinese goods is the “congestion” the USDOT and TxDOT are trying to solve with the Trans [...]

Link to article here.
Roads to hell paved with debt
By Ian Verrender
Sydney Morning Herald
August 28, 2008
There will come a time in the not-too-distant future when ordinary people will look back on this era, shake their heads in wonder and ask: how on earth did anyone ever think toll roads were sexy?
From the tulip bubble in [...]

Link to article here.
Macquarie along with its partner, Cintra, bought the rights to the Indiana Toll Road and Chicago Skyway. Macquarie has been a bidder on several Texas toll road projects. A Macquarie subsidiary also bought dozens of Texas newspapers in the path of the Trans Texas Corridor. A Wall Street analyst who sounded the [...]

Link to article here.
Leasing of Landmark Turnpike Puts State at Policy Crossroads
By CRAIG KARMIN
Wall Street Journal
August 26, 2008
(See Corrections and Amplifications item below.)
DONEGAL, Pa. — Hobbled by the credit crisis, Wall Street firms and many state governments are hoping that a pockmarked strip of Pennsylvania highway could provide a road out.
Next month, the Pennsylvania [...]

Link to article here.
More doubts loom over the risks of Public Private Partnership toll roads. With the increased cost of transportation causing our economy to spiral downward, now is not the time for massive leveraged debt that requires lots of driving and motorists with money to burn.
Cities Debate Privatizing Public Infrastructure
By JENNY ANDERSON
New York [...]

Link to article here.
Ever wonder why the tolling authority, TxDOT, and politicos are so tone-deaf to the public opposition to toll roads? They’re PAID not to listen. So the tolling authority salaries have exceeded $1 million a year, yet they have NOTHING to show for it but a trail of deception and conflicts of [...]

Link to article here.
Even toll road industry insiders must now acknowledge what the rest of us have been observing for years: toll roads are no longer financially viable with high fuel prices! It is obvious that toll roads are purely speculative risky deals that the prudent must shun. These deals depend on low fuel prices, [...]