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I find it startling that no one seems to have connected this story about how the state desperately needs more transportation money with this one, talking about he EPA's stricter smog controls. If Gov. Hair keeps refusing to enact measures to reduce smog in the state, we stand to lose federal transportation dollars.
And it continues to baffle me why state lawmakers continue to ignore the obvious solution to both problems -- a more widespread rail network. Here's what Vice President Joe Biden said on the subject just two days ago:
“With delays at our airports and congestion on our roads becoming increasingly ubiquitous, volatile fuel prices, increased environmental awareness, and a need for transportation links between growing communities, rail travel is more important to America than ever before."
There is one non-profit group, The Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation, that is trying to promote a system connecting cities in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. That's all well and good, but bullet trains, while necessary, are only part of the solution. The state should be examining heavy rail as an alternative to all highway construction. I was dismayed that Dallas leaders were so short sighted that they never considered rail as an option to the Trinity River tollroad.
This is not, as the Morning News stories cited above might suggest, a city-by-city, region-by-region issue. Systematic change in the way this problem is addressed must come from the top levels of state government. If I were running things, one of the first steps I would take would be to name someone head of the Texas Department of Transportation who realizes (1) the state's environmental and transportation issues are irretrievably linked and (2) more highways are the least feasible solution to the state's transportation and environmental problems.
Another shift that needs to be made is changing the priority from how to get more transportation money to what this money should be spent on. A Texas Transportation Forum concludes today in Austin and from what I've read and heard, not one forward-thinking idea of any sense has come out of it. One idea that doesn't is a plan to tax drivers on the amount of miles they drive. That's an absolutely ridiculous idea. Why? First of all, drivers are already taxed that way -- the more miles you drive, the more gasoline you have to buy and the more gasoline you buy, the more transportation tax you pay along with that gasoline. But even more important it unfairly penalizes those who have tried to help the environment by purchasing fuel efficient or alternative fuel-vehicles. We should be providing more incentives to purchase these vehicles, not strip them away.
Wake up, Texas! Start thinking smart. It's later than you think.
And it continues to baffle me why state lawmakers continue to ignore the obvious solution to both problems -- a more widespread rail network. Here's what Vice President Joe Biden said on the subject just two days ago:
“With delays at our airports and congestion on our roads becoming increasingly ubiquitous, volatile fuel prices, increased environmental awareness, and a need for transportation links between growing communities, rail travel is more important to America than ever before."
There is one non-profit group, The Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation, that is trying to promote a system connecting cities in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. That's all well and good, but bullet trains, while necessary, are only part of the solution. The state should be examining heavy rail as an alternative to all highway construction. I was dismayed that Dallas leaders were so short sighted that they never considered rail as an option to the Trinity River tollroad.
This is not, as the Morning News stories cited above might suggest, a city-by-city, region-by-region issue. Systematic change in the way this problem is addressed must come from the top levels of state government. If I were running things, one of the first steps I would take would be to name someone head of the Texas Department of Transportation who realizes (1) the state's environmental and transportation issues are irretrievably linked and (2) more highways are the least feasible solution to the state's transportation and environmental problems.
Another shift that needs to be made is changing the priority from how to get more transportation money to what this money should be spent on. A Texas Transportation Forum concludes today in Austin and from what I've read and heard, not one forward-thinking idea of any sense has come out of it. One idea that doesn't is a plan to tax drivers on the amount of miles they drive. That's an absolutely ridiculous idea. Why? First of all, drivers are already taxed that way -- the more miles you drive, the more gasoline you have to buy and the more gasoline you buy, the more transportation tax you pay along with that gasoline. But even more important it unfairly penalizes those who have tried to help the environment by purchasing fuel efficient or alternative fuel-vehicles. We should be providing more incentives to purchase these vehicles, not strip them away.
Wake up, Texas! Start thinking smart. It's later than you think.
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