Gridlock is major source of frustration for Austin drivers, especially for those traveling on the Mopac Expressway. In 1961, when Mopac was first constructed, there were only 160,000 people living in Travis County. That number has risen to more than 1 million. Today, nearly 180,000 commuters use the highway daily. In order relieve some of the traffic congestion caused by this increase, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (RMA), Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), and the City of Austin are exploring the possibility of adding new toll lanes to Mopac.

The new toll lanes would run from Parmer Lane to Caesar Chavez Street, stretching about 11 miles. Alan Hughes, project manager for the City of Austin’s Transportation Planning Division, said, “you can use that lane and know that you can get downtown in a reasonable amount of time.”

Click here to read a KXAN article on the project and here to see what the toll lanes could look like.

Texas is adding at least 1,200 new residents per day.  We must consider all funding options to meet the transportation needs of our growing state.  Tolled lanes help motorists avoid gridlock while providing drivers with the choice to use existing free lanes.

The decision by the Central Texas RMA, TxDOT and the City of Austin to explore this option is a huge step toward improving mobility for Austin drivers.

The San Antonio Express-News recently published an editorial highlighting the themes of this year’s Texas Transportation Forum in San Antonio. The central focus of the Forum was the current lack of funding for state and federal transportation infrastructure and the need to explore all options to ensure a reliable transportation system for our future.

Federal and state governments currently lack the resources to repair, update and improve our nation’s transportation infrastructure. This comes as no surprise to former Transportation Secretaries Norman Mineta and Samuel Skinner. They led a commission that determined that an additional $134 billion to $262 billion would need to be spent each year through 2035 to effectively fund our nation’s transportation infrastructure. Currently, the two competing transportation bills in Washington would only amount to $53 billion in funds annually.

Unfortunately, Texas is facing a similar problem. TxDOT currently receives $9.9 billion in funding annually. According to a 2009 blue-ribbon panel, that number needs to be closer to $14.3 billion annually in order to “keep pace with the transportation needs of a growing state.” A number of various funding options could help close this gap, including the gas tax. Texas’ gas tax hasn’t been raised since 1991 and the federal gas tax hasn’t been raised since 1993. Inflation and improvements in fuel efficiency only add to this problem.

The Express-News says the first step is for lawmakers to end diversions from the state’s highway fund. More than $1.3 billion has been diverted for the current biennium. Ending diversions would create some relief, but would not come close to solving the state’s transportation funding issues.

All funding options need to be on the table. From ending diversions to public-private partnerships, every solution should be considered to provide the funding needed to ensure a successful and reliable transportation system for Texas.

In Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Obama called for better infrastructure development over the next years as war spending decreases. “So much of America needs to be rebuilt,” the president said. “We’ve got crumbling roads and bridges. There’s never been a better time to build, especially since the construction industry was one of the hardest-hit when the housing bubble burst.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that he is not confident in Congress’s ability to come to an agreement for a long-term funding solution to the nation’s growing infrastructure needs. The last long-term bill expired almost three years ago, and transportation spending planners have been forced to work with merely eight short-extensions since then. Read an article about it here.

The proposed two-year Senate plan does not agree with the five-year House plan, which would both greatly reform the federal transportation bureaucracy and give a significant amount of spending authority to the states. Especially in Texas where our road usage is expected to grow by 214% over the next 25 years due to population increases, it would be beneficial for states to decide for themselves when, where and how much transportation spending is needed.

Following LaHood's "gloomy appraisal" on Wednesday, a Washington Post article said on Thursday that the Senate is taking action to reach a bipartisan agreement on the transportation bill. Senator Barbara Boxer, whose public works committee approved a two-year transportation bill in November, assured that "by the end of next week all the [Senate] committees will have done their jobs." Sen. Boxer also claimed that this bill will reach the Senate floor before transportation funding ends at the end of March.

The United States Congress must  continue working diligently to develop a long-term solution for infrastructure spending to stop roads from deteriorating across the nation. Americans deserve a safe and reliable transportation system they can depend on. Texans should take advantage of opportunities to encourage lawmakers to make decisions in the state legislature to support a fully funded transportation system for its citizens.

LaHood suggests how to get both politicians and the public invested in the transportation bill in his Web series “On the Go,” which can be viewed here.  

The Heritage Foundation recently released an insightful report by William Reinhardt and Ronald Utt on how public-private partnerships can help to fill the transportation funding gap facing our nation.

The Foundation reports that the House of Representatives and Senate are each working on language to reauthorize their highway plans. Unfortunately, the funds appropriated for infrastructure and transportation needs in the current proposal are less than previous proposals and the President’s February 2011 plan. In addition, the federal gas tax used to support transportation funding needs has not been raised since 1993. Fuel efficiencies have increased since then, leaving a major gap in revenues necessary to maintain and expand our nation’s highway system.

In light of diminishing government funds available for state and federal transportation initiatives, Texas should take advantage of opportunities to incorporate public-private partnerships (P3s) in transportation construction and maintenance plans.  Pairing public tax dollars with private-sector investment provides additional funding opportunities to meet Texas’s growing infrastructure needs.  In fact, given today’s economy and the significant fiscal challenges facing our state, P3s are sometimes the only option in ensuring this much-needed infrastructure can be built.

The Heritage Foundation highlights Texas as an example of how P3s can be successfully leveraged to fund and construct transportation projects, mentioning the $8.15 billion of concessions in our state’s P3 program since 2001. It also highlights Texas’s ability to multiply the state contribution of $990 million eight times by partnering with the private sector.  

The Foundation suggests several opportunities for P3s to flourish within states, such as doing away with the current practice of using P3s as fallback options and instead encouraging state governments to consider them from the beginning of a project proposal. With our increasing population and growing number of drivers, roads will only become more congested and in need of repair.  Texas lawmakers need to take a hard look at the need for a fully-funded transportation system and the innovative funding options – such as P3s – that can help us achieve a safe and reliable transportation system for all Texans.

Click here to read the full report on how public-private partnerships can benefit Texas’s transportation infrastructure.