The big news is the last four of paragraphs in the story, courtesy of Dallas’ Only Daily Newspaper:
The price of the road, though still uncertain, appears to keep getting higher. Meanwhile, NTTA’s ability to fund projects like the Trinity is getting smaller.
Last April, Mr. Figueredo said NTTA’s current revenues would support some $3.5 billion or so in additional financing for new projects. A month ago, he said, that number had sunk below $3 billion as the credit market tightened.
In addition, he said, revenues for the toll roads already open are falling, thanks to a nationwide trend of Americans — in a historic shift — choosing to drive less.
“So with everything else going on, our revenues are flat,” Mr. Figueredo said. “Now, our experts say that’s just temporary and they will come back. But we don’t really know if that is the case.”
In the old days, we called it burying the lede; that is, putting the most important stuff at the end of the story. And yes, there is some interesting information in the first couple of dozen paragraphs. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Highway Administation may not be able to approve the project to make Mayor Park Cities' "Dallas is a vision and you must support it" goal of building the road by 2013.
Which is all made irrelevant by the last four paragraphs. There may not be enough money to build it, not only because of the credit crunch, but because the road is designed to be self-financing. If not enough people use it, it won't pay for itself. And Americans, thanks to high gas prices, are driving less.
Could someone explain to me, again, why we're building this thing?
Comments