Your Ideas
Your Ideas
- "It seems that the short fall in transportation funding is due to the increased population. The more people the more need for roads and maintenance. One possible solution would be for counties to access a roadway impact fee for each new home or commercial project that is constructed. This would allow for the payment of new infrastructure by those who are causing the demand. The counties could collect the fees, keep a portion of it for their maintenance and construction and send the rest to a special state fund that would be used solely for new highway construction and maintenance. A simple example is that if 1 million new homes and businesses are built in a 10 year period and each paid an impact fee of $2000 that would generate an additional 2 billion in funds. However, a uniform fee would not be fair. There would need to be a fee scale for different types of construction that impact our roads and infrastructure needs more. The more impact the higher the fee."
- "Stop the privatization of our public transportation assets in their tracks now, lest up-front payments sate the political calls for the miracle cure to our transportation needs this year and saddle us for 49 or more years and burden generations to come with a deal that served the private sector not the public sector. Such a transportation privatization policy is recklessly leveraging our future."
- "Here is a new idea for generating revenue for the maintenance of our current system: Add a percentage to the state sales tax that goes into the State Highway Fund. I don't know what percentage would be needed, .5 maybe. But those funds would only go to costs associated with maintaining the current system. Reason why: Since both goods and customers need to travel on the system throughout its distribution process and purchasing process causing wear and tear to our roads. This revenue would help give back to what was used."
- "Seek a menu of options for funding and finance. Standardize procedures for project development and implementation. Adopt CDA rules that everybody is clear and continue so the private sector can begin to help on a whole different level. Public buy-in for why, how and what our system should be in the future."
- "The legislature needs to enact a .10 cent per year increase in the fuel tax until current projects are sufficiently funded and then index the fuel tax to the highway construction cost index. With regard to high-speed rail, what about “No!” doesn’t the Texas State government understand? TxDOT catches all sorts of criticism for the Trans-Texas Corridor process, transparency, dividing property owner’s land – and here is a Senator proposing high speed rail."
- "Elected officials, community leaders and the public need to understand the importance of transportation in our lives and society. There is a direct connection and strong relationship to economic growth, prosperity, job creation and general quality of life. To accomplish this task, materials, information and tools should be developed to educate our officials, leaders and the public. Through education, accountability and integrity, we will be successful."
- "High-speed rail (200+ MPH) is a solution to the movement of people in Texas between major metropolitan areas that will address a number of the goals in the strategic plan. A plan to have the HSR serve the airports as multi-modal transportation hubs will address the issue of congestion, connectivity, safety, air quality and economic development in a way that can be virtually self supporting."
- "Embrace every single funding option; none to excess. Demand that metropolitan planning organizations select projects that meet important regional goals and TxDOT holds them accountable for the outcomes. Change state and federal law to allow funds to be blended into solutions."
- "The only outcome possible given TxDOT’s current thinking is that the same problems addressed now will merely perpetuate themselves. I can foresee this exact discussion occurring at a similar forum ten years or more from now. The State would be better served if TxDOT would spend some time coming up with ways to disburse population and create the transportation infrastructure to serve that disbursed population. In this – more transportation infrastructure in minor areas and rural areas is key to accomplish this. The existing leadership structure and organic culture at TxDOT needs to be replaced."
C. E. T.
- "Collect transportation revenue through VMT/GIS mechanism. Tie rate to gross vehicle weight and disburse revenue to owners of roadways traveled. Funds to cities when on city streets, counties for county roads and state for state roads. Tie to PPP systems that allow local flexibility. Reduce federal involvement in developing projects to levels more appropriate to size of federal system and federal funding participation. "
- "Restructure or eliminate all TxDOT field offices; Contract out all field office services. Move TxDOT Aviation Department to a stand-alone agency. Make TxDOT employees responsive – let them use their good judgment without too much oversight. "
- "‘Regional’ - council of governments approach would prove useful."
- "More local board planning utilizing the COGs. Better than a top-
down approach. Get rural input in a better way."
- "Please make sure that some form of financing that functions similar to pass-through financing continues to exist. Local governments need a vehicle to help accelerate construction of projects critical to local needs."
- "The DOT should be held accountable for producing lower commute times and less congestion for Texas drivers. Provide free local access to toll roads; provide lower toll rates for commuters; keep individual citizen needs in mind for all negotiations. "
- "I would like to see a discussion about I-35 N/S pertaining to 18 wheelers being able to travel in the LEFT lanes of traffic. My thought is to prohibit them from traveling in the left lanes just like you do on I-30 going West in Fort Worth, TX. For business people heading to work at the 8:00am (ish) times and they get in that lane and go so slow and put such a long headway between the cars and then at the 5-6pm (ish) times they will get in all 4 lanes and block you in where the other cars can not change lanes or get to your exit because of those truckers. They of course, act like they own the interstate."
Kay B.
- "The solution starts at the community level, with greatly improved auto, shuttle & pedestrian accessibility to transit stations. A few high-density urban centers have hybrid car kiosks set up whereby commuters rent by the hour on a pre-arranged account (ex. - Chicago). In addition to expanding the service area of up & coming urban transit stations, here, bi-directional rail cars can run concurrently on the same rail envelope in two directions (.. and adjust to travel demand). When more people leave their cars in the garage during the work week, the system can scale through improvements in mobility (traffic flow) on the track, itself... then dynamic interoperability between communities in separate cities comes into the picture."
J.P.
- "WE NEED TO COPY EUROPEAN UNION TRANSPORTATION TO BE EFFICIENT"
- "Improving public transportation is the only sustainable solution in the long term. Tolling, HOV's and other options can only take us so far. Tolling and increased gas tax can be used as tool to influence traveler behavior (in shifting from cars to public transport). Prior to influencing a mode shift, it is important to provide a good public transport connectivity at low fares for transit riders (initially funded by gas tax or tolls until transit has sufficient users to break-even or self sustain). Initiatives or policies directed towards this vision will be tough to start and certain to face opposition from the people but it will unfold itself in the long term as sustainable transportation in terms of equity, environmental, economical & financial stability at large. But certainly it calls for a visionary (who can plan beyond their term in office), selfless (who can work beyond their term in office) and strong-headed politician/public servant."
- S.K.
- "The idea of temporarily tolling a corridor to fund a specific added capacity project seems to be a viable option. While it does not address the increased maintenance costs of the expanded capacity, it does present the direct accountability that people appreciate."
- "Invest in interchange improvements and ramp transitions to minimize weaving, where ever it occurs. Separation of transitional flow instead of commingling flow improves safety and LOS. Lengthen all substandard on-ramp transition areas (many in Austin area) to provide adequate merge preparation."
- "Many people in Texas are starting to use bicycling as a serious mode of transportation to and from work. Commuter Bicycling in Texas has not seen serious support for the development of bicycle only roadways, separate from automotive lanes. It would be a good thing for the Texas Legislature to require Commuter Bike roadways, adjacent and parallel to freeways and parkways, including over or under passes for bikes at congested intersections. Picture the HOV lane concept, but for Commuter Bikes only. The infrastructure costs would be significantly less than any other mode of transportation."
- "Designate one or more High volume roadways in the Metroplex as revenue generators (IH 20 or IH 30 or IH35) and convert them to toll facilities. Net funds generated by these/this facility could be used to maintain,expand or create surface transportation infrastructure for the region. I think this would be much more acceptable to the citizens in the area than property taxes, higher vehicle registrations fees or some of the other revenue sources being discussed. This would also spread the cost of this effort to all users of the toll facilities not just the local citizens. Admittedly the first politician who proposed this would probably be shot but I think the people in the area would warm up to the idea when they consider the other options."
- "Use money intended for added capacity projects and CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) to enhance mass transit capabilities in metropolitan areas."
- "The state fuel tax should be indexed at an annual rate of 3% per year. Future freight transportation plans should focus on expanding current rail capabilities. Commuter light rail should be considered for growing urban centers, with various drop-off and pick up points along its path."
- "The steady increase in gas prices and resulting cut back in the average miles driven have revealed an Achilles heel in transportation funding - the gas tax. It has not been raised since 1991 and is not indexed so it was already falling behind in providing necessary funding. Assigning fiscal responsibility for roads to the folks that use them is at the heart of the gas tax and is an idea worth maintaining. However, we must find a better way. I believe there is no political will or consumer tolerance for increasing the gas tax."
— Don W.
- "We need high speed commuter rail between San Antonio to Dallas (with a stop in Austin). And from San Antonio to Houston."
— Lisa T.