Link to article here. Counties are following in TxDOT’s footsteps using taxpayer money to lobby, and now to push road bond packages on voters. Who’s going to hold them accountable? The taxpayers at the ballot box. TURF’s lawsuit to stop TxDOT’s illegal lobbying is pending appeal. It’s clear the establishment, the Legislature, the courts, and [...]

Link to article here. Never doubt that corporations will get their money, even in the midst of a natural disaster. Yet again, the taxpayers are on the hook for something they have absolutely no control over…hurricanes! So much for corporate benevolence!
State must pay waived toll road fees
The Associated Press
September 22, 2008
MUNSTER, Ind. — Indiana will [...]

Link to article below here. See related story here. See article warning of limited financing and limited profits for toll roads here.
The bailout of private industry by the U.S. taxpayer has stirred-up unparalleled outrage among the grassroots. By hook or by crook, the federal government is aiding and abetting corporate greed that repeatedly runs away [...]

Link to article here.
When you read Cintra’s reaction to this news, that the North Texas Toll Authority is overextended financially and may not be able to meet its obligations, it’s not hard to predict where the wind is blowing on toll roads. Despite the near total collapse of the financial markets and subsequent government takeover, [...]

It must be election season and the signs show incumbents are feeling the heat. Senate Finance Committee Chair, Steve Ogden, makes it plain that he plans to vote to toll urban areas as long as the Trans Texas Corridor doesn’t come through his district. Can you say, backroom deal? He’s voted for every major piece [...]

Link to article here. It seems the bad news just keeps comin’ for toll roads and toll operators. We’ve been warning for years that increasing the cost of transportation hurts the economy and the evidence is now EVERYWHERE. There’s only so much money in the family budget to devote to transportation before it takes away [...]

You would think the sky is falling by returning funds Congress stole from the Highway Fund by listening to Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters. Below, you can contrast her press release to that of the facts laid out by the American Highway Users Alliance.
Congress raided the highway fund in 1998 to the tune of $8 [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TURF launches campaign demanding overpasses for 281 NOW

San Antonio, TX, Wednesday, September 10, 2008 – Citizens fed-up with delays to the fix on 281 have launched a new campaign to demand the gas tax funded fix to 281 be installed immediately, not a toll road. A new web site www.281OverpassesNow.com is chalk-full of documentation, [...]

Link to article here.
Unemployment climbs to 5-year high of 6.1 percent
Friday September 5, 2008
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s unemployment rate bolted above the psychologically important 6 percent level last month for the first time in five years — and it’s likely to go even higher in the months ahead, [...]

Link to article here. Once again, with driving going down to the increased expense, toll road usage also continues to drop. Now is NOT the time for toll roads using leveraged debt that likely will not be repaid. We’re setting ourselves up for another financial “bubble’ not unlike the mortgage crisis if our politicians don’t [...]