drumguy8800
03 April 2004, 06:55 PM
Trying to recoup Texas' fair share
12:46 PM CST on Saturday, April 3, 2004
By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News
It's high political season for road and rail construction. To get proof, just count the number of special reports issued recently on transportation.
Congress continues to debate an overdue six-year transportation funding bill that could reach $275 billion. And interest groups continue to publish reports seeking to sway the opinion of decision-makers and the public.
One of the latest – and most interesting reports for North Texans – came from the Environmental Working Group last week. Their report shows that commuters here paid $1.1 billion more in gas taxes than they received in road and rail projects in the last six years. That ranked Dallas-Fort Worth's return the second-worst in the nation, second only to the $1.16 billion disparity in the Los Angeles area.
"You guys made the big time on this one," said the report's author, Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the interest group based in Washington, D.C. "People are being taxed to sit in traffic."
The big winners were rural areas, according to the report.
"We recognize rural counties sometimes need more funding than they generate, but not like this," Mr. Wiles said. "We think it's gone too far in this case."
The environmental group argues that metropolitan areas should get back at least 90 percent of the money they send to Washington. With the additional money, more cities across the Southern and Western United States could build more mass transit and rail lines, which would slow the growth in traffic congestion, according to the group's study.
"Sun Belt and sprawling areas get shortchanged the most," Mr. Wiles said.
The push for a 95 percent minimum funding amount to metropolitan areas mirrors a longstanding debate in Congress. Texas is known as a donor state, because it receives back only 86 to 88 percent of its gas tax revenue from the federal government. Other states receive more than they contribute.
Officials in state transportation departments, who fight for equitable contribution for their states, should recognize that the same equity issue exists for metropolitan areas, Mr. Wiles said.
The report is just the latest from transportation and environmental interest groups seeking to weigh in on a new transportation funding bill.
Six weeks ago, the American Highway Users Alliance announced its list of the worst highway bottlenecks. The group wanted to focus attention on getting more money for traffic choke points to boost safety and ease congestion.
North Texas had nine locations listed among the worst bottlenecks, but it did not have any that made the top 24.
Other organizations, including the Surface Transportation Policy Project and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, have come out with reports and position papers during the ongoing funding debate.
"This is the time that they are most relevant," said Lauren Sucher, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Working Group. "But it's not just to quickly score a political point. Our slogan is 'The Power of Information.' As the House of Representatives comes to a vote on this, let's have all the information before us."
• No tunneling: The Addison Airport Toll Tunnel will close each night this week for a federally recommended, five-year safety inspection. The tunnel will close at 12:01 a.m. Monday and reopen at 5:30 a.m. It also will close at 9 p.m. Monday night through Thursday night, and will reopen the following morning by 5:30 a.m.
Tony Hartzel can be reached at thartzel@dallasnews.com and at P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas, 75265.
*COUGH* And people wonder why I kid around with the idea of secession. Republic of Texas was once a mammoth expanse.. just go look at old maps. We lost most of our land to other states because the US charged us for Civil War dues.. a War that Texas had very little to do with, relatively. And we lost the most land. Stupid Federal Government. And now these.. Texas is gettin' jipped. Did you know that if the state of Texas becamse the Republic of Texas, we would be the 10th richest country in the world? Plus, we could make ourselves a neutral territory, keeping our money out of military ventures that we don't want to deal with. Also, as a republic, we could enforce true democracy instead of this pseudodemocracy that the feds play...
12:46 PM CST on Saturday, April 3, 2004
By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News
It's high political season for road and rail construction. To get proof, just count the number of special reports issued recently on transportation.
Congress continues to debate an overdue six-year transportation funding bill that could reach $275 billion. And interest groups continue to publish reports seeking to sway the opinion of decision-makers and the public.
One of the latest – and most interesting reports for North Texans – came from the Environmental Working Group last week. Their report shows that commuters here paid $1.1 billion more in gas taxes than they received in road and rail projects in the last six years. That ranked Dallas-Fort Worth's return the second-worst in the nation, second only to the $1.16 billion disparity in the Los Angeles area.
"You guys made the big time on this one," said the report's author, Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the interest group based in Washington, D.C. "People are being taxed to sit in traffic."
The big winners were rural areas, according to the report.
"We recognize rural counties sometimes need more funding than they generate, but not like this," Mr. Wiles said. "We think it's gone too far in this case."
The environmental group argues that metropolitan areas should get back at least 90 percent of the money they send to Washington. With the additional money, more cities across the Southern and Western United States could build more mass transit and rail lines, which would slow the growth in traffic congestion, according to the group's study.
"Sun Belt and sprawling areas get shortchanged the most," Mr. Wiles said.
The push for a 95 percent minimum funding amount to metropolitan areas mirrors a longstanding debate in Congress. Texas is known as a donor state, because it receives back only 86 to 88 percent of its gas tax revenue from the federal government. Other states receive more than they contribute.
Officials in state transportation departments, who fight for equitable contribution for their states, should recognize that the same equity issue exists for metropolitan areas, Mr. Wiles said.
The report is just the latest from transportation and environmental interest groups seeking to weigh in on a new transportation funding bill.
Six weeks ago, the American Highway Users Alliance announced its list of the worst highway bottlenecks. The group wanted to focus attention on getting more money for traffic choke points to boost safety and ease congestion.
North Texas had nine locations listed among the worst bottlenecks, but it did not have any that made the top 24.
Other organizations, including the Surface Transportation Policy Project and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, have come out with reports and position papers during the ongoing funding debate.
"This is the time that they are most relevant," said Lauren Sucher, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Working Group. "But it's not just to quickly score a political point. Our slogan is 'The Power of Information.' As the House of Representatives comes to a vote on this, let's have all the information before us."
• No tunneling: The Addison Airport Toll Tunnel will close each night this week for a federally recommended, five-year safety inspection. The tunnel will close at 12:01 a.m. Monday and reopen at 5:30 a.m. It also will close at 9 p.m. Monday night through Thursday night, and will reopen the following morning by 5:30 a.m.
Tony Hartzel can be reached at thartzel@dallasnews.com and at P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas, 75265.
*COUGH* And people wonder why I kid around with the idea of secession. Republic of Texas was once a mammoth expanse.. just go look at old maps. We lost most of our land to other states because the US charged us for Civil War dues.. a War that Texas had very little to do with, relatively. And we lost the most land. Stupid Federal Government. And now these.. Texas is gettin' jipped. Did you know that if the state of Texas becamse the Republic of Texas, we would be the 10th richest country in the world? Plus, we could make ourselves a neutral territory, keeping our money out of military ventures that we don't want to deal with. Also, as a republic, we could enforce true democracy instead of this pseudodemocracy that the feds play...