American Dream

The New York Times reviews a debate over a proposed toll road in Colorado. Opponents can't argue that it will be subsidized as the tolls will pay for it. So they resort to more esoteric arguments.

"The worst thing we can do is widen the highway," says state Representative Gary Lindstrom. "We need to keep the congestion so people will be interested in the transit." The upcoming election will reveal if Coloradans agree that congestion is a good thing, as Lindstrom is running for governor.

Lane County, Oregon (home of left-leaning Eugene) is running out of money. So naturally county commissioners authorized the expenditure of a quarter of a million dollars to "educate" voters about the need to vote for a tax increase this November. Under Oregon law, local governments are not allowed to "lobby" voters to vote for ballot measures, but the county thinks it can get away with this under the guise of "education." Since transit agencies in Austin, Denver, Salt Lake City, and elsewhere have used this same ploy to pass rail tax increases, it would behoove rail skeptics to support legislation tightening up the rules for how governments can lobby their voters.

NPR's Weekend Edition interview on public transit with yours truly played this morning (January 28) and can be downloaded from NPR's web site at the above link. The interview is based on my Cato Institute report of that title.

A home builder in England was breaking ground for a new development when a neighbor came running over yelling, "Don't move that rock. You'll kill the fairies!" Apparently, a rock in the center of the planned development was believed locally to be home to fairies. The developer had planned to move the large rock to the entrance of the development and "brand it with the name of his neighborhood."

But it was not to be. Local planners stated that "Planning guidance states that local customs and beliefs must be taken into account when a developer applies for planning permission." Fortunately, the developer was able to completely redesign the development, passing the costs onto the homebuyers of course. The rock will be left undisturbed in a park in the center of the subdivision.

This is an excellent lesson for developers here. I wonder what the New Urbanist policy is toward fairies?

Los Angeles builds an exclusive busway that frequently crosses existing streets. The giant buses that use the busway cost twice as much as regular buses. The big problem is that those buses frequently hit cars when crossing those streets.

What's the response? Blame the auto drivers. "Los Angeles drivers are stupid," says a bus driver. Hey -- the cars were doing just fine until your clunky buses got in their way.

The same thng, of course, happened with light rail in Houston. Los Angeles's busway is fast becoming known as the bus version of Houston's wham-bam tram, which has now been involved in 126 accidents in just over two years, including three in the first four days of 2006. Of course, the transit agency blames most of them on the auto drivers.

A Spanish company named Cintra-Macquarie has offered the state of Indiana $3.85 billion for a seventy-five year lease to operate the Indiana Toll Road. Also known as Interstate 80/90, the toll road extends from East Chicago across the northern tier of the state to the Ohio border.

The state had put the toll road up for bid with a minimum price of $2 billion. Four bidders submitted sealed bids above that amount, but Cintra-Macquarie's bid won at nearly double the minimum price. Cintra-Macquarie operates more than thirty toll roads around the world and had previously won a 99-year lease for the Chicago Skyway, offering more than double what Chicago thought they could get for it.

Indiana plans to use the money to improve infrastructure in various parts of the state. Final approval must be granted by the state assembly, but the state expects to close on the deal by June 30.