Opposition is mounting against a plan by the Texas Department of Transportation to purchase a Houston-area toll road from a private developer while maintaining tolls for Texans.
The plan involves terminating an existing agreement this October, spending $1.7 billion to acquire the already-built toll lanes on Highway 288, and assuming management and operations.
These toll lanes were originally part of a public-private partnership with Blueridge Transportation Group, set to last 50 years. However, last month, the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees TxDOT, voted to move forward with a buyout of the toll road. Although TxDOT has stated that tolling practices will not change in the short term, they anticipate that “future toll rates will be significantly less than what is allowed under the current concession agreement.”
State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) and State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) are among those raising concerns about the proposal. Now, nine incoming members of the Texas House are also speaking out against the arrangement.
In a letter to TxDOT Chairman J. Bruce Bugg Jr., the group said they are “extremely concerned by the action the Texas Transportation Commission took recently to spend over $1.7 billion of public money to seize control of a toll road (State Highway 288) with absolutely no commitment to end the tolls.”
The Republican Party of Texas platform, approved in May, calls for the Texas Legislature to “abolish existing toll roads and prohibit future construction, returning responsibility for road construction and maintenance to the appropriate jurisdiction.”
The letter continues:
“We recognize that in many instances the state cannot abolish existing toll roads without the use of public money, but your decision to do so without a clear commitment to end the tolls is the worst of all worlds for taxpayers and amounts to nothing less than double taxation. Furthermore, it is our understanding that the state may secure the purchase of this existing, fully operational road by issuing nearly $2 billion in new debt, which will assuredly be repaid by the tolls you are refusing to remove. The key difference is that at the end of the current agreement with the private operator, the tolls come off. With this new arrangement, no such end date exists. Again, the worst of all worlds.”
The group also committed to passing legislation in the next session to “protect taxpayers from similar abuses.”
“The actions by TxDOT are out of step with the Republican Party of Texas’s Platform, and we are committed to changing that as soon as practicable.”
The letter was signed by Shelley Luther, Mike Olcott, Trey Wharton, AJ Louderback, Wes Virdell, Andy Hopper, Katrina Pierson, Helen Kerwin, and David Lowe.