Refreshing honesty from TxDOT. I’ll have to remember this link the next time somebody blasts me for supporting transit and its “endless subsidies” over roads that “pay for themselves” with gas taxes:
Applying this methodology, revealed that no road pays for itself in gas taxes and fees. For example, in Houston, the 15 miles of SH 99 from I-10 to US 290 will cost $1 billion to build and maintain over its lifetime, while only generating $162 million in gas taxes. That gives a tax gap ratio of .16, which means that the real gas tax rate people would need to pay on this segment of road to completely pay for it would be $2.22 per gallon. This is just one example, but there is not one road in Texas that pays for itself based on the tax system of today.
In other words, highways require those dreaded endless subsidies, mile after mile, year after year. I hope we can look forward to more of this “truth in transportation” around these parts in the future.
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