NBC 5 is partnering with The Dallas Morning News, KERA and Telemundo 39 to produce in-depth reports about the race for Texas governor. We asked our viewers, readers and listeners to vote on the topics most important to them. For five days, we will report in-depth on each of those topics: education, immigration, health care, economy and infrastructure.
The fifth report is on infrastructure. Click here to see our report on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Living in North Texas, State Sen. Wendy Davis says she understands drivers' frustration at the growing presence of toll roads.
In fact, almost every major Dallas-Fort Worth highway project includes plans for new tolls, oftentimes replacing what had been free carpool lanes.
"I believe that it's been a poor solution for Texans to have to pay twice. They pay at the gasoline pump and they're paying again to drive on toll roads," she said during the Dallas debate.
Davis argues what's happening on North Texas highways is a failure of Republican leadership.
"In fact, right now we are paying more for debt on the cost of our road maintenance than we're paying on actual new roads. There is something terribly broken when that happens," Davis said.
Davis helped write a bill, that Texans will vote on next month, called Proposition 1. It will allow rainy day funds from oil and gas taxes to go toward road construction.
Davis also wants to make sure gas tax money is only going toward road projects and not side projects.
"I have a plan to gradually end diversions that are coming from our gasoline tax. I submitted that plan in a bill last session. That plan would allow us to capture an additional four to five billion dollars," she said in Dallas.
Davis says she does not support debt financing for road repairs, and believes it’s time to return to a pay-as-you-go system.
"We need to get out of the heavy debt load that our state is carrying for transportation costs," she said in the Dallas debate.
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The Texas Department of Transportation says it needs about $5 billion every year just to maintain what they're expected to do with road repairs and construction. Davis doesn't support raising taxes, telling NBC 5 transportation funding can be funded within "existing resources" and by ending gas tax diversions.
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