Increasing the gas tax obvious way to make Texas' highways safer
EDITORIAL BOARD
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
A 37 mile-stretch of largely undivided highway along U.S. 290 between Houston and Austin is widely considered an unnecessarily dangerous road.
A major route between the state's capital and its largest city should be a divided highway, nearly everyone agrees. Yet the Texas Transportation Commission has taken only minor steps to correct a perilous roadway, as shown in an article Tuesday by American-Statesman staff writer Ben Wear.
Even the 12 fatal wrecks and 21 other crashes with serious injuries in a three-year span haven't been enough to grab the attention of state highway officials. Frequent appeals for help from residents living along the route between Elgin and Giddings have not been successful, either.
A proposal by transportation commissioners for a ''shadow toll'' makes little sense. That calls for Lee and Bastrop counties to borrow $54 million to divide the highway and the state to pay the counties back in increments. U.S. 290 is a major state route, and it's clearly wrong to make two counties pay for a road the state should be improving for the thousands of Texans who drive on it.
Of course, that segment of highway isn't the only dangerous road in Texas. But there is an obvious solution for the U.S. 290 gap and other similar stretches of undivided highway:
Raise the state gasoline tax.
Texas' gas tax has been stuck at 20 cents a gallon for 14 years. In that time, inflation has eaten away at the gas tax's effectiveness; highway construction costs have increased; and Texas has grown in population. So the $2 billion the gas tax generates each year hasn't kept up with this huge state's roadway needs.
A 10-cent per gallon increase in the gas tax would raise another $1 billion
for the Texas Department of Transportation, which could then close the U.S. 290 gap and make travel along that road and many others safer. That dime increase would also raise several hundred million dollars for Texas public schools, because part of the gas tax is earmarked for education.
Some legislators have been calling for the gas tax to be increased. Keeping it at 20 cents for so long has forced the state into unpleasant compromises, including the unpopular toll road option roiling the state's major cities.
Other legislators, however, oppose any increase in the gas tax, and Gov. Rick Perry has said he will veto any bill that includes a gas tax increase. That's short-sighted in the extreme. Texas needs that $1 billion to maintain and improve the highways for a growing state.
Another dime added to a gallon of gasoline would hardly be noticed by the driving public. When gas prices went up by several dimes earlier this year, people grumbled, but filled up anyway. People accepted the higher price and went about their business.
A gas tax is the ultimate user fee: Those who drive the highways pay for
them at the pump. Conservative Republicans like Perry and much of the state's legislators are supposed to embrace user fees. Why not this one?
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/12/29290gap.html
EDITORIAL BOARD
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
A 37 mile-stretch of largely undivided highway along U.S. 290 between Houston and Austin is widely considered an unnecessarily dangerous road.
A major route between the state's capital and its largest city should be a divided highway, nearly everyone agrees. Yet the Texas Transportation Commission has taken only minor steps to correct a perilous roadway, as shown in an article Tuesday by American-Statesman staff writer Ben Wear.
Even the 12 fatal wrecks and 21 other crashes with serious injuries in a three-year span haven't been enough to grab the attention of state highway officials. Frequent appeals for help from residents living along the route between Elgin and Giddings have not been successful, either.
A proposal by transportation commissioners for a ''shadow toll'' makes little sense. That calls for Lee and Bastrop counties to borrow $54 million to divide the highway and the state to pay the counties back in increments. U.S. 290 is a major state route, and it's clearly wrong to make two counties pay for a road the state should be improving for the thousands of Texans who drive on it.
Of course, that segment of highway isn't the only dangerous road in Texas. But there is an obvious solution for the U.S. 290 gap and other similar stretches of undivided highway:
Raise the state gasoline tax.
Texas' gas tax has been stuck at 20 cents a gallon for 14 years. In that time, inflation has eaten away at the gas tax's effectiveness; highway construction costs have increased; and Texas has grown in population. So the $2 billion the gas tax generates each year hasn't kept up with this huge state's roadway needs.
A 10-cent per gallon increase in the gas tax would raise another $1 billion
for the Texas Department of Transportation, which could then close the U.S. 290 gap and make travel along that road and many others safer. That dime increase would also raise several hundred million dollars for Texas public schools, because part of the gas tax is earmarked for education.
Some legislators have been calling for the gas tax to be increased. Keeping it at 20 cents for so long has forced the state into unpleasant compromises, including the unpopular toll road option roiling the state's major cities.
Other legislators, however, oppose any increase in the gas tax, and Gov. Rick Perry has said he will veto any bill that includes a gas tax increase. That's short-sighted in the extreme. Texas needs that $1 billion to maintain and improve the highways for a growing state.
Another dime added to a gallon of gasoline would hardly be noticed by the driving public. When gas prices went up by several dimes earlier this year, people grumbled, but filled up anyway. People accepted the higher price and went about their business.
A gas tax is the ultimate user fee: Those who drive the highways pay for
them at the pump. Conservative Republicans like Perry and much of the state's legislators are supposed to embrace user fees. Why not this one?
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/12/29290gap.html
