Transportation...

Kay and her peeps have been going around bashing the Trans Texas Corridor, a plan which is really a great idea. I was never among that narrow group of people who vigorously fought it in 2006, and I am not against it now. I think it is shameful that politics have killed such an important part of our future. Texas needs new roads, and we need a lot of them.

I get the feeling that a lot of Kay's peeps don't even have feelings one way or another about the Trans Texas Corridor but are exploiting the issue to manipulate voters... for example, there are some peeps in twitterland who say they are from Washington, DC and Chicago or other places who have been bashing the Trans Texas Corridor like they actually know something about it or care about the future of Texas.

I know for a fact a lot of Kay's staffers had no problems with privatized new road construction until they went to work for Kay. I know because I have had candid conversations with some of them in the past, and they feel exactly the way I feel about it. They must now feel icky.

Even Kay herself never really spoke out on this issue until recently.

The fact of the matter is that it is a great idea. Texas is growing. We are going to build new roads. The question then becomes when do we build them... sooner with private construction or further away with government construction.

The question also becomes how we build them, how we fund them... Kay is on the side of the old way... higher gas taxes I presume instead of user fees which bring the costs right to the people benefiting...

Kay's peeps are passing around this video of Rick saying there is no Asphalt Fairy (although they are misspelling it "ferry" on twitter) that will magically fund roads...

How stupid are Kay's peeps on this one? What Rick is really saying here without coming out and saying it is that Kay has offered no new ideas. Rick knows that you either raise gas taxes or you let free enterprise help you out... there aren't many other good ideas especially since Texas only gets back a fraction of what it sends to Washington for transportation.

Check out Kay's lack of an answer up in Waco (link)...

So what do all the corridor critics propose? Or are we to continue relying on dwindling state and federal money for highway projects? The gas tax sure won’t address the growing highway infrastructure needs of our state. When pressed by a Trib editorial board member on Monday, Hutchison was unable to offer concrete ideas on critical funding questions.

And what of eminent domain? As slowly as lawmakers are moving on this prickly issue, we’ll soon have to resort to flying machines to get around Texas efficiently. No one really thinks the constitutional amendment on next month’s election ballot will truly solve that problem.

Failure to resolve all of these headaches means our roads will continue to crumble and that perilous stretches of highway, such as that busy portion of I-35 through Central Texas, will be slow in getting expansion and repairs.

As we grind to a halt in the traffic on our roads and highways, we’ll no doubt have lots of time to think of viable solutions that we should have embraced so many miles ago.

When I see Kay's peeps rejoicing in the death of good transportation ideas like the Trans Texas Corridor, all I really see is this scene from the Lord of the Flies...

One of the only ideas out there that made any sense... killed by a mob of nihilist fools without any plans of their own.

When will the Texas media press Kay for her own plans? You can't just stand there and criticize and belittle and then not have a plan of your own. The reality of the situation is that Kay will have to raise taxes or not build the roads... what other options can she bring to the discussion at this point?