A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
strongtowns.org
A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
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Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
#2The article seems to assume the reader knows about "strong towns". If they're trying to make an argument about overspending on roads it's very poorly worded and organized.
Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
#3Are these just county roads or does it also include State and Federal highways? I’d imagine there may be multiple sources of funding available.
Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
#4Are these just county roads or does it also include State and Federal highways? I’d imagine there may be multiple sources of funding available.
Usually just county roads. State roads and federal highways receive federal tax dollars.
That’s not to say you can’t get federal or state grants for some roadway related local projects, but these roads described would be primarily county roads built with borrowed money (or local tax dollars if they’re available, which they usually aren’t, hence the bond issue kicking the can down the road).
Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
#5Are these just county roads or does it also include State and Federal highways? I’d imagine there may be multiple sources of funding available.
Increasingly in Collin and Denton county, highways are becoming privatized. This is great for maintenance and quality, but it is definitely regressive for the poorer. However, these counties are rapidly becoming more populated by more wealthy individuals and txdot is anything but rapid.
Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
#6The premise of the argument is that Collin county needs to spend $12.6 billion on roads over the next 30 years, but no citation is provided for that number. The authors managed to have found citations for most of the other numbers. I suspect the $12.6 billion figure was not calculated using the same set of assumptions about inflation as the other numbers.
Edit:
Over 30 years, $230 million / year with a 4% annual escalator is about $12.9 billion in total spending. Lets assume that Plano's $343 million / year in spending for 30% of county residents is consistent with other cities and add in the $381 million / year spent by the county. Then the required local highway spending is about 15% of the total ~1.5 billion spent by all local governments.
Perhaps it is a large amount of money, but spending 15% of the local budget on highways does not seem like an insurmountable burden on local taxpayers.
Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
#7The article seems to assume the reader knows about "strong towns". If they're trying to make an argument about overspending on roads it's very poorly worded and organized.
People new to the topic should probably start at https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/6/14/greatest-hits-...
Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
#8The premise of the argument is that Collin county needs to spend $12.6 billion on roads over the next 30 years, but no citation is provided for that number. The authors managed to have found citations for most of the other numbers. I suspect the $12.6 billion figure was not calculated using the same set of assumptions about inflation as the other numbers. Edit: Over 30 years, $230 million / year with a 4% annual esca…
It's in the linked Dallas News article:
> County Commissioner Duncan Webb told business leaders at a forum Wednesday that the county will need $13 billion for roads over the next three or four decades. Later Wednesday, former Commissioner Mark Reid, during a presentation to the Frisco Tea Party, said the figure is $12.6 billion.
So not malicious or misleading at all. ST is using the commissioners own numbers.
Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
#9The premise of the argument is that Collin county needs to spend $12.6 billion on roads over the next 30 years, but no citation is provided for that number. The authors managed to have found citations for most of the other numbers. I suspect the $12.6 billion figure was not calculated using the same set of assumptions about inflation as the other numbers. Edit: Over 30 years, $230 million / year with a 4% annual esca…
The $12.6 billion number was stated by government officials and is cited in the Dallas News article[0] linked on that page.
"County Commissioner Duncan Webb told business leaders at a forum Wednesday that the county will need $13 billion for roads over the next three or four decades. Later Wednesday, former Commissioner Mark Reid, during a presentation to the Frisco Tea Party, said the figure is $12.6 billion."
[0] https://www.dallasnews.com/news/collin-county/2018/09/13/tra...
Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
#10The premise of the argument is that Collin county needs to spend $12.6 billion on roads over the next 30 years, but no citation is provided for that number. The authors managed to have found citations for most of the other numbers. I suspect the $12.6 billion figure was not calculated using the same set of assumptions about inflation as the other numbers. Edit: Over 30 years, $230 million / year with a 4% annual esca…
It's in the linked Dallas News article: > County Commissioner Duncan Webb told business leaders at a forum Wednesday that the county will need $13 billion for roads over the next three or four decades. Later Wednesday, former Commissioner Mark Reid, during a presentation to the Frisco Tea Party, said the figure is $12.6 billion. So not malicious or misleading at all. ST is using the commissioners own numbers.
So is it 30 or 40 years? Constant or future dollars? Capital or operational spending? Local or Federal expense?
It’s a dumb number to quote and was cherry picked to make a point.
All local governments in New York combined spent around $3B in 2009 ( https://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/research/snapshot/... ) as a comparison.