Texas: Proposition 7 easily passes, Houston-area bonds pass

[MaxConcrete]

With 83% of the vote counted, proposition 7 has 83.5% in favor.

This is a very strong result. When proposition 1 passed last year with around 80% approval, lawmakers viewed it as a public mandate to increase highway funding, and followed with this year's proposition 7. Lawmakers realize more funding is still needed, so this result will potentially justify more progress in the next legislative session in 2017.

For comparison, another proposition on the ballot for property tax relief (prop 1) has 87.6% with 83% counted.

Proposition 7 allocates $2.5 billion per year from sales tax revenue starting in September 2017, and additional funds from motor vehicle sales tax estimated to be around $500 million starting in September 2019.

The only downside to prop 7 is the delay in the start of the funds.

Funds are for non-toll projects only. I am already seeing a possible unintended effect of the prohibition on use for toll facilities. Since nearly all freeway expansions are planned with tolled managed lanes, those projects are ineligible, so the preliminary project lists in Houston and North Texas mostly include non-freeway highways in outlying areas. However, North Texas has a tentative list of freeway projects to be de-tolled, and it includes SH 170 and the Collin County outer loop.

In Houston, $700 million in Harris County road bonds were approved, and Montgomery County approved $280 million for roads (after defeating a bond issue this past May).


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