Keep TxDoT: El Paso needs its road money
June 15, 2009
Texas legislators would be wise to back off sunsetting the Texas Department of Transportation until they can unsnarl what is a bureaucratic traffic jam in how best to fund our roadways.
Written by Staff , El Paso Times
Texas legislators would be wise to back off sunsetting the Texas Department of Transportation until they can unsnarl what is a bureaucratic traffic jam in how best to fund our roadways. El Pasoans have been led to believe there is nearly $1 billion coming this way to finish off the much-needed Loop 375 and to get a good start on re-routing truck traffic through a planned Northeast Parkway. TxDoT, by state law, is set to dissolve before the next regular legislative session in January 2011. Lawmakers could not agree on how to continue its operation when this session ended early this month. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has said he will call a special session, at a time he'll announce later, to address the TxDoT and other issues left unresolved during this session. TxDoT has been a major bureaucracy throughout the years, some say a power unto itself. There are many questions regarding how much money TxDoT has to divvy around the state, and how long money will last. El Paso state Rep. Joe Pickett, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, has fought TxDoT for years, and this legislative session turned into a road-financing mumbo-jumbo that few people understand. We agree Texans should look at creative ways to fund roads. But when legislators argue, as they did since January, we get confused. At the special session, keep TxDoT in commission and then let's solve our road problems in time for the 2011 session.
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