Senator Burton: Please look at the "bigger picture" of transportation
February 6th, 2016
February 6, 2016
While we were disappointed with Texas Senator Konni Burton's comments in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week concerning the TEXRail project between downtown Fort Worth and DFW International Airport, we understand her frustration with the realities of transportation funding.
Yes, building and maintaining rail is expensive - there is no argument there. But let's look past this initial agreement.
Newly elected Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a former Texas State Representative, had it right last week when he said that just widening highways and building more roads will not solve our congestion problems. It only exacerbates them. We need a multi-modal approach. The infamous Katy Freeway in Houston was rebuilt to 23 lanes in some sections and is a triumph of transportation engineering. Only one problem: congestion has gotten so bad that commute times have increased by over 20 minutes in peak periods. That's not a solution. You can't keep pouring concrete and asphalt forever and expect better results.
With 1,000 new Texans arriving every day we will find ourselves mired in future highway traffic that is a productivity killer, slows down our economic growth and wastes the time and money of our citizens.
We know that full TEXRail funding is still off somewhere in the murky future. But if all we do is widen highways and take additional private property to build more roads then we all will be condemned to a future of "carmegeddon" just like other major metro cities in the U.S. like Los Angeles.
What many people don't understand is that the TEXRail project is only one segment of a web of regional rail lines we will need to connect middle-income workers and travelers if North Texas is to be economically competitive in the future. The proposed DART Cotton Belt regional line to connect eastern Dallas cities will meet with TEXRail at DFW International Airport to bridge three counties together. Corporations want to locate and do business where their employees have good transportation options and that includes rail.
Let's put rail costs in perspective with other transportation modes. User fees (like the gas tax you pay at the pump) only cover about 1/2 of the true cost of building and maintaining highways. The dirty little secret is that the balance of highway funding comes out of state and federal general funds (i.e. your wallet). In Texas we will now be using sales tax receipts to build, widen and maintain road projects. That puts a large burden on the average Texan. We will roll 100% of it into road projects - no rail.
Texans want trains. A study for the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee by TxDOT showed that a majority of 1,000 citizens polled want more intercity, regional and urban rail options and are willing to pay for it. That survey is posted on the Texas Rail Advocates website.
DART light rail and the Trinity Railway Express are two examples that help keep Texans moving. Without them we place tens of thousands of more cars on our streets. DART rail has been so successful with riders that plans are in work to expand station platforms to handle longer trains. This is certainly not a failed option for growing cities as described by the senator.
A fully built-out regional rail system, of which TEXRail is one component, will be needed in the future. It's time for our state leaders to take a transportation reality check and make rail part of a long term transportation plan. The longer we delay the more expensive it becomes. In time caught in traffic. In lost productivity. In lost economic opportunities.
Senator Burton's column:
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/other-voices/article56914108.html#storylink=cpy
While we were disappointed with Texas Senator Konni Burton's comments in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week concerning the TEXRail project between downtown Fort Worth and DFW International Airport, we understand her frustration with the realities of transportation funding.
Yes, building and maintaining rail is expensive - there is no argument there. But let's look past this initial agreement.
Newly elected Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a former Texas State Representative, had it right last week when he said that just widening highways and building more roads will not solve our congestion problems. It only exacerbates them. We need a multi-modal approach. The infamous Katy Freeway in Houston was rebuilt to 23 lanes in some sections and is a triumph of transportation engineering. Only one problem: congestion has gotten so bad that commute times have increased by over 20 minutes in peak periods. That's not a solution. You can't keep pouring concrete and asphalt forever and expect better results.
With 1,000 new Texans arriving every day we will find ourselves mired in future highway traffic that is a productivity killer, slows down our economic growth and wastes the time and money of our citizens.
We know that full TEXRail funding is still off somewhere in the murky future. But if all we do is widen highways and take additional private property to build more roads then we all will be condemned to a future of "carmegeddon" just like other major metro cities in the U.S. like Los Angeles.
What many people don't understand is that the TEXRail project is only one segment of a web of regional rail lines we will need to connect middle-income workers and travelers if North Texas is to be economically competitive in the future. The proposed DART Cotton Belt regional line to connect eastern Dallas cities will meet with TEXRail at DFW International Airport to bridge three counties together. Corporations want to locate and do business where their employees have good transportation options and that includes rail.
Let's put rail costs in perspective with other transportation modes. User fees (like the gas tax you pay at the pump) only cover about 1/2 of the true cost of building and maintaining highways. The dirty little secret is that the balance of highway funding comes out of state and federal general funds (i.e. your wallet). In Texas we will now be using sales tax receipts to build, widen and maintain road projects. That puts a large burden on the average Texan. We will roll 100% of it into road projects - no rail.
Texans want trains. A study for the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee by TxDOT showed that a majority of 1,000 citizens polled want more intercity, regional and urban rail options and are willing to pay for it. That survey is posted on the Texas Rail Advocates website.
DART light rail and the Trinity Railway Express are two examples that help keep Texans moving. Without them we place tens of thousands of more cars on our streets. DART rail has been so successful with riders that plans are in work to expand station platforms to handle longer trains. This is certainly not a failed option for growing cities as described by the senator.
A fully built-out regional rail system, of which TEXRail is one component, will be needed in the future. It's time for our state leaders to take a transportation reality check and make rail part of a long term transportation plan. The longer we delay the more expensive it becomes. In time caught in traffic. In lost productivity. In lost economic opportunities.
Senator Burton's column:
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/other-voices/article56914108.html#storylink=cpy