Transportation Solutions for Texas In The News

Re: "Perry pulling in big bucks from Austin political interests," dallasnews.com Trail Blazers blog.

Texans have reason to worry that the big checks Gov. Rick Perry collects from private toll-road interests will dictate his future transportation policies.

Despite claims that the Trans Texas Corridor scheme is "dead," private toll roads advance across the state. For example, TxDOT continues to "keep Texas moving" with a 52-year deal with Cintra Zachry to build the North Tarrant Express that the agency touted this week. The private investors will create a nonprofit shell company to gain tax subsidies. These deals are fraught with problems and characterized by the same leveraging of debt, reckless shifting of risk, and conflicts of interest that triggered the recent financial crisis.

If the governor continues to wheel and deal with the biggest names in the bustling business of road privatization, taxpayers and Texas' transportation policy will suffer for decades to come.