Better than nothing, but not by much.
The campaign to steer state reserve funds to road projects is not being waged with yard signs and televised debates but, rather, with chamber of commerce lunches and a smattering of direct mailings.
Though largely a quiet campaign, supporters of Prop. 1 said they are optimistic the proposal will pass muster with voters, and, they hope, set up subsequent efforts to shore up Texas’ teetering highway system.
“There is a basic underlying support among longtime Texas voters to funding highways,” said Lawrence Olsen, executive vice president of Texas Good Roads, one of the groups backing Prop. 1.
The measure, if passed by voters Nov. 4, would take half of the money from oil and gas production taxes now filling the state’s economic stabilization fund – also known as the rainy day fund – and redirect it to transportation. Texas Department of Transportation officials would use the money to maintain and expand state roads, many of which are choking because of population growth and rapid expansion of oil and gas production in Texas.
Based on current estimates by the state comptroller, splitting the money between the rainy day fund and transportation projects would mean about $1.7 billion for each in the first year. That figure, however, is dependent upon oil and gas production, which could be affected by recent drops in oil prices.
The money is not nearly enough to meet all of the state’s highway needs, making Prop. 1 more of a first step than a long-term solution, supporters said.
“Everybody is optimistic that the winds are at our back when we head into what will be a challenging legislative session,” said Brandon Janes, chairman of Transportation Advocates of Texas. “It would be nice to say we have a healthy margin on Prop. 1 to show the support to get legislators moving on this.”
To adequately maintain roads and improve those stressed by population and economic growth, TxDOT estimates the state should be spending $5 billion more a year, leaving a $3.3 billion gap even if Prop. 1 passes.
This is the problem with Prop 1 in a nutshell. It’s a painless little band-aid that will alleviate some of the immediate problems but doesn’t really do a damn thing to solve anything. We’re still not ready or willing to have a frank discussion about what our state’s transportation needs are – remember, TxDOT has been throwing around giant numbers for years that represent wish list items and other pie-in-the-sky ventures in addition to genuinely needed projects – or what the best solutions going forward will be – surely I’m not the only one who recognizes that investing gazillions of dollars on road building is kind of a 20th century approach, but it’s all there is from TxDOT and the Lege – never mind how to pay for them. Just about everybody has endorsed Prop 1 – their campaign website is here – and I suppose I’ll be a good soldier and vote for it as well, but I’m not enthusiastic about it. If I thought for a minute that defeating this would send a message of “We want you to work on solving the underlying problems!” and not “We don’t want you to spend any money on anything ever again!”, I’d vote No and feel good about it. As I know full well that’s not how the world works, I’ll vote Yes and bitch about it afterwards, then console myself with the thought that maybe now that the easy answers have been applied, we might be able to gingerly approach the somewhat harder answers. That won’t happen either, but I can tell myself it will. Burka, who is on the same page as I am, has more.