Critics abound, but experts say Texas is addressing a problem certain to worsen nationally in coming decades: the price of gasoline may be rising but revenue from gasoline taxes is not, and with the rise of more fuel-efficient vehicles, less money is being raised for highway projects, even as traffic grows. So transportation planners are increasingly looking to the private sector to put up construction money for toll roads in return for revenue from motorists. “We’re relying on 1993 income for 2008 output,” said Robert Harrison, deputy director of the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas in Austin. “It’s unsustainable.”
The New York Times
Proposal in Texas for a Public-Private Toll Road System Raises an Outcry
(Feb. 10)
