Texas Transit Association

City staff believes alternatives need to be implemented in light of the fact that 70 street lane miles need to be built annually simply to maintain current mobility.
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AUSTIN - The Texas Department of Transportation under a proposed rule would be able to create toll lanes on any part of the state highway system if the lanes reduce congestion. The policy is likely only to be applied to new construction.
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ARLINGTON - Local leaders who believe that a special tax should be collected in North Texas to pay for transportation needs shouldn’t give up on the idea, even though it faces a lot of statewide opposition.

Many of the 65 local elected leaders who gathered in Arlington said they support asking voters’ permission to raise sales taxes or gasoline taxes in Tarrant, Denton, Dallas and Collin counties to pay for trains.

But even before such a question could be put to area voters, the state Legislature would have to agree to raise its tax ceiling. The maximum sales tax in Texas is 8.25 cents, and the state gasoline tax is 20 cents per gallon.
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A money fight is apparently looming in Congress over the transportation reauthorization bill, the President wanting to control spending and perhaps choosing this major infrastructure bill as the target to “hold the line.” All this after passing other discretionary spending bills that have significantly increased overall spending against the backdrop of rising and dramatic federal deficits. If this is the case, then it is the wrong case: Highways and Public Transit need a dramatic rise in funding levels if congestion and air quaility issues are to be addressed. Read on…
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The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reports that President Bush signed the omnibus appropriations bill for FY2004 on last Friday. The measure provides a record $7.266 billion for the federal transit program. Next week the Administration is expected to release its Fiscal Year 2005 budget, with hearings in the House and Senate Budget Committees scheduled for Tuesday. This is the first step in setting the funding level for the federal transit program for the next fiscal year. Contact Rob Healy for more information.

TEA-21 reauthorization efforts continue in Congress. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee cancelled a mark-up of TEA LU scheduled for Tuesday as the Committee announced it needed additional time to allow for the completion of the revenue proposals for the six-year bill. Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee continues to explore financing mechanisms for the Senate highway and transit bills, and while there is talk that the committee may mark-up a bill as early as next week, that too seems likely to slip.

The Texas Department of Transportation, under a proposed rule issued January 29, will be able to create toll lanes on any portion of the state highway system if they reduce traffic congestion. The policy is likely to only be applied to new construction.
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