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| Opportunities & Exposures: Transportation |
Road Rage
David K. Stall
08/01/2005
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With traffic congestion and gridlock afflicting ever-greater stretches of
roadways, state transportation planners are at a loss to fund the massive
infrastructure improvements needed to keep America moving. Texas Governor Rick
Perry believes he has a solution: a sprawling public/private network of
supersize toll roads, rail, pipelines, telecommunications lines and utilities
known as the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), a 50-year project that will cost Texas
taxpayers a staggering $184 billion.
The TTC creates state-sponsored
monopolies for the infrastructure, utilities and economic development
initiatives that lie in its path, reducing private property rights and
government accountability to the status of roadkill. Perry thinks this project
will be a transportation cash cow. Others believe his plans are just bull.
Either way, across the country, transportation officials, desperate for options,
are keeping a close eye on its progress.
Once built, the TTC network will
divide the state north to south like a giant river. It will feature 4,000 miles
of 1,200-foot-wide right-of-way with at-grade, controlled-access toll roads.
There will be 10 lanes for cars and trucks; six rail tracks, including
high-speed passenger and freight rail; and space dedicated to underground and
aboveground utilities. In an effort to avoid high-priced urban land and to
reduce urban congestion, the TTC bypasses every city, large and small. Every
crossing will require an overpass more than a quarter-mile long. Project
economics will dictate the number and location of crossings, and many feel the
adverse impact on rural mobility will be tremendous.
Channeling Robert Moses
Upon submitting its plan for the TTC three years
ago, the governor’s Transportation Commission realized that sweeping changes to
state law would be needed to bring the mammoth project to fruition. A year
later, lawmakers granted every requested statutory change. The new laws
authorize various leases, fees and franchises, almost without limit. Additional
land can be purchased or taken by eminent domain along the entire 4,000 miles
for any commercial, industrial or agricultural purpose that generates revenue.
Through 50-year concession agreements that will be negotiated and signed in
secret, appointed state officials can create public obligations to secure
financial benefits that might otherwise look like a commercial bribe. In a
public-private partnership that smells of a monopoly, Texas has already
attracted a Spanish partner to develop the first 600-mile element. Furthermore,
officials concede that certain noncompete clauses may be included in
concessionaire agreements. The private partners will effectively use the power
of the state to gain an unfair competitive advantage.
By delegating authority
to borrow, tax (toll) and spend to the five gubernatorial appointees who will
oversee the TTC, the governor has eliminated accountability to the electorate.
The risk of runaway spending looms large with both costs and revenues off-budget
and free of legislative approval or oversight. Government transparency has been
scuttled under the guise of protecting the concessionaire’s proprietary
interests.
Unlike the present-day interstate highway system, the project can
deny abutting property owners along the closed corridor access, which is
reserved exclusively for the state and its partners. Development can only be
accomplished on state-owned land under long-term lease agreements. It is a
lose-lose proposition for private landowners who could be forced to sell much of
their property and then find themselves unable to develop the remaining
frontage.
While the state reaps the benefit of participating in
concessionaire revenues, local communities stand to suffer huge financial
losses. Counties, school districts and other local taxing entities will lose
real property tax as each mile of the TTC consumes 146 acres of private land.
Others will suffer losses that result from the change in traffic patterns that
draw cars and trucks away from existing highways and the businesses and
communities they serve.
Whether cash cow or bull, the TTC raises many
unanswered questions. Texas is testing the limits of state power, putting the
state’s interests above those of property owners, the private sector and local
government. The consequences of this, good or bad, will impact generations of
Texans and may establish a dangerous standard for highway development
nationwide.David K. Stall is a local government management professional and cofounder of CorridorWatch.org.
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