A recent poll shows that it is not just lawmakers who need to be convinced of the transportation funding problem facing our state. Texas citizens do as well.

According to the poll, forty-one percent of Texas voters would choose to cut highway funding to make up for the projected state budget shortfall of $16 billion. 

About one in five surveyed in the poll said they would raise taxes or fees to reduce the deficit. Fewer participants said they would cut spending on education or health care for the poor.

“It's not so much an indicator that people are willing to tolerate the traffic as much as it is recognition about the cost of fixing it,” said Dale Craymer, president of the Texas Taxpayer and Research Association, a nonpartisan research group. Craymer says in times of budget constraints, projects that are concrete, take years to complete and cost a lot of money will be the first to go.

When given five debated options on where to get money for roads, voters ranked toll roads the highest with 21 percent. Seventeen  percent chose the option to borrow money using state bonds and 16 percent said they would support an increase in the state gas tax. Other options included taking money from other programs or allowing local-option gas taxes in metro areas.

The dismal economy and lack of  jobs were a prevalent worry for many of those interviewed, especially considering the alarming state deficit. Most voters said they believed offering incentives for businesses to move to Texas was the best way to create jobs.

The Feb. 2-10 telephone poll of 1,508 registered voters was conducted by Blum and Weprin Associates Inc. for the Austin-American Statesman, the Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News.