On the Texas-Sized Failure of Regional Transportation Planning

James Drew launches the story by citing some example of how little local transportation agencies have to show for millions of dollars spent in planning:

• A plan in Grayson County to extend the Dallas North Tollway to Oklahoma. "The result six years later: at least $2.2 million in state funds spent, but no toll road."
• A 2004 proposal in Tyler "to build a $248 million outer loop to absorb traffic and rake in tolls from a county of about 220,000 people." But only half the beltway has been completed, even after "the state wrote off a $55 million loan that was supposed to be repaid with toll dollars."
• A proposal in San Antonio to "build 50 miles of toll lanes stretching across the traffic-choked north side of Bexar County" has produced zero miles of road and also led to an overhaul of the local transportation agency.

Drew traces the trend to authority of regional mobility authorities (RMAs) with the power "to use bonds build transportation projects and pay them off with tolls." The agencies do not, however, have the power to levy taxes. "The theory is that the tolls stay home, boosting area economies," according to Drew's explanation of the scheme.

But here's the rub, to sum:

"But nearly 15 years after the Texas Legislature changed state law so the agencies could be created, most of the nine RMAs have struggled to live up to their ambitions while burning through about $1 billion in tax dollars, an investigation by The Dallas Morning News has found."

The article goes on to provide a great deal more in-depth discussion of the promise and disappointment of RMAs—not only in theory but by taking a close look at case studies provided by examples like those summarized above.