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>>Ask a Texan about Texas highways
and you'll probably get comments like these.
>>Texas roads are the best in the nation.
>>Yep, they're great.
>>Texas has as good a road system as I've seen anywhere
and I do quite a bit of traveling.
>>Texas' highways are the greatest.
>>Yes, most Texans are quick
to praise their highways.
They're proud of their modern interstate network,
their high quality primary highways,
and their superior farm to market road system.
But despite such praise, there appears to be
growing evidence Texas highways could be in trouble.
We've recently been barraged with headlines like these.
Reports that the Department of Highways and Public
Transportation now faces a severe financial crisis.
In some of these reports, transportation officials
have made some rather shocking statements.
For example, the highways which have long been a source
of pride to us Texans are in jeopardy of becoming
a source of embarrassment.
Texas roads are deteriorating 50% faster
than they're being rebuilt.
You may never see another six lane freeway in Texas.
You will see more and more congestion.
What's the problem?
Why are highway officials making statements like these?
For one thing, they say present highway revenues
are no longer adequate to pay for
the reconstruction of obsolete roads.
And the normal maintenance highways need,
and still provide funds for new construction.
Also, they claim the present method
of funding highway construction
will provide only a fraction of the revenue required
to meet future highway needs.
Charles Simons, state highway commissioner, explains.
>>From now until 1990 we have a need
for 11 billion dollars.
Now that would be used to construct projects
which the people of Texas have told
the highway commission are needed.
To meet those needs until 1990,
under the existing financial arrangements,
we will have only two billion dollars.
>>What about it?
Is the Texas highway system in trouble?
Is the situation really as serious
as highway officials and news reports would have us believe?
To find the answers to these and other questions
we went to a cross section of Texans
to get their opinion of the roads where they live.
Here's what we found in rural Atascosa County.
>>We've been working it quite a few years,
about eight to 10 years.
Haven't had too much success having these roads
improved very much.
Looks pretty bad after a good rain.
>>We've approached our commissioner
and we wrote letters to our senator
and to our representative.
>>And we we have come with
a couple of petitions, but we haven't had any results.
>>Texas has almost 120,000 miles
of unpaved county roads,
so we found the same story almost anywhere we looked.
>>There's a road going into Kyle
in the Hays County consolidated school district
that is a very bad situation.
The Blanco River cuts a portion
of the Hays consolidated school district in two.
And there's no adequate means of crossing this river.
And it's a situation that we're not able to handle
at the county level.
Unfortunately, the highway department
is not able to fund building a farm to market road
to alleviate the situation right now.
>>We asked Travis Long, district engineer in Austin,
for an explanation.
>>We're not gonna be able to do
all of the things even that we have already
sort of made commitments to do
because of not having sufficient funds to do it.
>>Bad roads can be more than a nuisance.
Often there's an economic impact as well.
>>Well we've been working to get this particular road
in here, between five and six years.
Being as tourism is one of the largest sources
of income for the state of Texas,
I think that the state is missing the boat
by letting these tourists or out of staters
come down here and have to come in
over these horrible roads in order to spend their money.
>>Good highways are vital to tourism,
but they're equally important
to all Texas business and industry.
>>The highways are the essential part
of the transportation system.
And we have to have them
because we move our goods with the highways and the trucks.
We're talking about a transportation system
that has to be maintained.
>>Every year, about 3,500 people
are killed on Texas highways.
Many of them on highways considered obsolete
and downright dangerous.
>>Well that's what's worrying us,
because just beyond this point
right down in this direction is the main entrance
to the downtown area.
It's very dangerous.
At the present there have been several trucks
have turned over because the curve is too abrupt.
I presume that the thing would have to be redesigned
and redone.
Right now I don't know how we can do it.
There's no way.
>>The trouble is, highways
are a perishable product.
They wear out.
Authorities say even the best highway
requires major reconstruction
after about 20 years of use.
But officials claim a shortage of funds
is preventing reconstruction of many worn out highways.
Authorities point to another indication
the Texas highway system may be on the decline.
About half of the 27,000 bridges
on the state's highways are below present day standards,
either in width, load capacity, or both.
City and county maintained bridges
are considered to be among the most dangerous.
The state capital has one notorious example.
>>This is the Congress Avenue Bridge,
which was built in 1904.
It's typical of other bridges that we have in the state
that are inadequate.
You can see here on this bridge
that we have barriers on one side.
Trucks are not allowed on the bridge.
It obstructs traffic, and it's simply because the fact of
decreasing funds for the highway department to work with
that it's going to be some time
before bridges like this can be repaired.
>>This bridge was built in 1933
and of course it hasn't grown with us for sure
because in 1933, this is 1976.
In fact, this bridge is only 24 feet wide,
and today's bridges, at minimum they would build a bridge
of this sort would be 48 feet in width.
It's just an antique.
>>As if substandard roads and bridges aren't enough,
transportation officials point to another
highway safety problem,
one that poses a threat to many communities.
(train honking)
Texas has over 10,000 railroad crossings
with no electronic warning signals.
This signal was installed
only after a girl was killed here
in a car train collision.
But even crossings with signals
can be a problem when they block traffic.
>>St Augustine has had a problem
ever since the railroad was built.
There's only two railroad crossings
and when we have a long train,
both of these crossings are obstructed.
We feel that an overpass would greatly benefit
our area.
The money would come from the Texas Highway Department.
But I understand there is no money available.
>>So far we've looked mostly at rural
transportation problems.
But we found that Texas cities
are having troubles as well.
One example is the daily jam up on
parts of IH-10 in San Antonio.
>>We have a two lane situation
which has to take the volume of three and four lanes,
and we've created a very severe bottle neck
here just on the outskirts of the central business district
of San Antonio.
Our city planning department has already proposed
widening IH-10 at this location,
but the fact of the matter is that the funds,
which would be necessary for this
highway department participation simply don't exist.
>>Officials say Houston's fast growing west side
is another troubled spot.
An ever growing volume of traffic
is causing increasing congestion
on Westheimer Street, one of Houston's main
easy west thoroughfares.
>>I think this Westheimer Street
illustrates the importance of
a whole integrated system of moving people,
and it illustrates the extreme need
for additional funds for the construction,
addition, and the modification of our entire highway system.
And if we can get Beltway 8 completed to the west,
it'll relieve a lot of this traffic.
>>Beltway 8 will take a great deal of traffic
off of our present Loop 16,
which is fast becoming a freeway parking lot.
We're fast approaching just a total breakdown in mobility.
This is the reason why we are faced with such a crisis
unless we begin now to build these major thoroughfares
which will continue to provide mobility.
And mobility, as we know very well in the southwest,
is what undergirds our lifestyle.
>>In Dallas, delays in the construction
of the Woodall Rodgers Freeway
have aroused similar expressions of concern.
>>What you're looking at right behind us here
is the Woodall Rodgers parking lot
that we have right now, and it's at a stand still.
And actually there's no hope that there's gonna be
anything done with it for some time in the future
because apparently we haven't any funds
in the state highway funds to build it.
You know, we're a little bit exasperated about this thing.
We've been waiting 19 years,
it'll be 20 years next year since we started talking about
Woodall Rodgers, and I don't know how many more years
it's gonna be before we get it.
>>Another victim of the Highway Department's
budget squeeze is the Mopac Freeway
on Austin's west side.
Construction of important segments of Mopac
have been delayed.
But why does the highway department
no longer have the money
to do what needs to be done?
>>The main thing is the inflation of cost.
This is both on maintenance and construction.
It's so simple that I think we know it
in our everyday life at the grocery store
or anywhere else, and the same thing applies to us.
>>Our basic fund money going into the highway department
is the gasoline sales tax.
It is a fixed five cents,
lower than any state in the nation.
>>One fourth of this five cents
goes to public schools, before the highway department
gets anything.
Highway officials say that in recent years
this revenue from gasoline taxes
and license fees has remained almost constant,
even declined slightly due to energy conservation measures.
But in the same period, construction and maintenance costs
have more than doubled.
>>I think that when we look at this overall picture
we just have to believe that
in comparison to the growth and funds
in other programs, the highway and transportation funds
have just not kept pace.
>>What's the highway department doing
to cope with the financial crunch?
For one thing, the department commissioned
McKenzie and Company, a noted management consulting firm
to study the problem and recommend possible solutions.
The results, published in this report,
are helping the highway department
get the most value for each dollar of highway revenue.
But that's not all.
>>We are making every effort in our
organization to reduce our costs
in maintenance, operation, and construction
in this department to meet the economic crisis.
>>We are tightening our belt now,
and have cut quite a number of employees
off of our payroll.
Nobody told us to do this.
We just happened to look at the balance sheet
and then work against that.
>>Directly or indirectly,
highway transportation provides almost
one out of five jobs in Texas.
So the highway department's budget crunch
could spell trouble for the state's entire economy.
>>Well the effect of this crisis in highway funding
on the Texas economy will be terrific.
The impact on local communities
and on the state as a whole
and on the loss of jobs and the revenue.
>>So, based on the evidence we've seen,
the answer to this question is yes.
The highway system Texans are so proud of is in trouble.
Highway revenues are falling far short
of present needs.
This means the future of highway transportation in Texas
is being threatened.
What's the solution?
>>It's possible that we could
have a little bit higher gasoline taxes
that the commissions would get more money,
they could improve the roads.
>>As to what we can do to increase our sources of funds,
that of course is a legislative matter
and will be determined, really, by the will of the people.
>>I'm hoping that we can find some additional funds
to go into the highway department
that will rise and fluctuate with the economy.
>>There will be a price to pay
to solve this problem,
but inaction will have its price too.
If we do nothing,
the roads we use will deteriorate.
The highway department will be unable
to replace many narrow, unsafe bridges,
or obsolete highways.
Needed expressways will not be built.
Traffic congestion will get worse.
Because of substandard roads,
we'll spend more for auto repairs.
Accidents will increase
and so will the cost of auto insurance.
And unfortunately, some will pay the ultimate price
for unsafe highways.
Yes, the facts indicate the Texas highway system
is in trouble.
It's a problem that will not disappear.
In fact, it will get worse.
The solution to the problem rests with you.
It's in your power to set the course
for the future of Texas roads and highways.
It's up to you to exercise your rights
as a citizen and a tax payer.
You must let your elected officials
know how you feel on this important issue.
It's not an easy choice,
but it's one that must be made, and soon.
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