Austinites Speak Out On TxDOT's Mopac Expansion Plan

Here's a summary:

Construction on managed lanes could begin late next year

$110 million plan

One managed lane in each direction, on the inside

All current lane widths reduced from 12ft to 11ft

Shoulder would be converted to a lane

Sound barriers could be added

"You're going to pay an increased fee to get on this lane", said Marcus Cooper of TxDOT

Fees have not been decided



KXAN.com Feedback Forum

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James 04-09-2007 22:54:04
Any time they want to improve something that has been around for 30 years they want us to pay again. What about all the money being returned to federal government for highway expenditures? Why not do away with TxDot or should we say TxEur.

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Paolo 04-10-2007 00:05:34
Why should I have to pay taxes at the gas pump for the roads and then pay for a road that is already there. Some pavement and some striping does not give TXDOT the authority to tax us twice. If you build a NEW road then yes tolls may be appropriate, but on an existing roadway, no way.

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DJ 04-10-2007 01:24:51
I don't think they should make the lanes 11 feet instead of 12 to fit in 2 extra lanes and then make us pay to use the 2 new lanes that were made virtually by the old lanes. I could see building an upper deck (brand new roads ) and then tolling them but not using existing roads and revamping them to fit in 2 new lanes...I also think it will open Mopac up for more accidents by making us drive closer to eachother. Not a good plan at all ! I think TXDOT is confused about what New verses Old means.

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thanks for screwing us!! 04-10-2007 04:35:42
Liberal swine at their finest once again, make it sound appealing to you then you realize you are getting bent over. Wolves in sheeps clothing.

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dp 04-10-2007 06:35:59
Any elected official thinks that tolling existing roads is a good idea, needs to be impeached. We have the money to build roads, but it is used to build courthouses and other garbage. We have spoken as voters we do not want tolls.

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JES 04-10-2007 08:13:59
On Mopac the road is so conjested at morning and evening travel, and now you want another left lane plus make it a toll , well how will you get to that toll lane from many of the on ramps and exits. The crossing into and the exit from these lanes will make the traffic more dangerous. Sounds like if another lane will help Mopac, there should be no fee to use it. Simple math.

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http://salcostello.blogspot.com/ 04-10-2007 08:49:33
1) TxDOT wants to use our tax dollars and publicly owned MoPAC right of way (our existing freeway) to create a toll tax (managed lanes) - THAT�s A DOUBLE TAX! I SAY NO TOLLS ON ROADS WE�VE ALREADY PAID FOR!

2) Narrowing lanes will increase accidents and deaths.

3) The managed lanes will create more gridlock as people try to cross over 3 lanes to enter and exit the center managed lanes! Look at freeway 91 managed lanes ($1.00 a mile!) in California.

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dw 04-10-2007 10:01:00
It's a terrible idea! What you are proposing is just a SHORT TERM PATCH. A short term patch is a waste of money. I'm all for toll roads if you can build the upper deck along MoPac with FEWER EXIT ramps. I would think that those of us who live out far North or Northwest or South would be happy to pay a toll for new roads that will enable us to avoid the traffic "parking lots" and scurry past the "central" part of Austin over MoPac... (which is basically from Far West to 15th/Enfield). We can not stop growth...Austin already tried that and look at the mess we're in! Build with the future in mind!

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austin native 04-10-2007 10:02:27
The additional lanes created should be free to the public. No double taxes. Crossing back and forth over three lanes of traffic to ride less than five miles in a managed lane is insane!

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txbighair 04-10-2007 10:32:44
I think we need to go for it! The traffic is HORRIBLE in south Austin! South Austin needs to deal with change. It takes longer to get anywhere in South Austin. We are a big city now- even though we dont want to admit it. The transporation options need to grow with it as well.

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mojorider 04-10-2007 10:46:25
I agree with txbighair. I have seen both sides of the toll road coin and originally opposed the plans all together. Coming from Taylor into Round Rock once took 45 minutes. That trip now takes 25 and the cost is negligable against my time. I now live southwest of Austin and am gridlocked to 'past the river' everyday from 290. Growth is happening. Like it or not. TXDot expects more than 100,000 vehicles to pass through the Y at Oak Hill in the near future. All options need to be explored to keep Austin moving. I am certain that those in opposition would be even further enraged by 2+ hour commutes. What good are wide lanes on MoPac if you are going 5 miles per hour?

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DBP 04-10-2007 10:55:51
I'm new to Austin, from Houston, has anyone thought of using elevated HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes. They are restricted topeople who live in outlying areas and can carpool. It's really helped Houston. Txdot what about it??

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I Carpool... 04-10-2007 11:55:51
...and I hate this idea. It will just take two lanes away and make the remaining lanes more hazardous. Ever seen the size of some of the trucks, trailers and SUVs around here? They barely fit in the lanes as they are now, and will become a real menace in narrower lanes. Think people have trouble staying in their lanes now? What happened when parking lot designers narrowed the slots? That's right, now people take up two... STUPID IDEA. Double deck the thing like I-35, or live with it as is. I vote for the latter.

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gbizz 04-10-2007 13:45:07
What we need to do is rethink the whole project yet again. Instead of another lane overhead for cars, an overhead, enclosed skylift that follows Mopac and dumps into downtown. These "pods" would carry up to 6 people and you could have a LOT of them travelling around town. This seems to be the cleanest and least impacting idea, but I haven't seen anyone else come up with a better plan.

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yee haw! 04-10-2007 15:17:46
The Springfield MonoRail! MONORAIL!!!

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bikebob 04-10-2007 22:10:07
Ride a bike through the neighborhoods; enjoy the birds, trees, and quiet. Arrive relaxed at work. I ditched my car eight years ago and have never loved Austin so much.

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Dale Johnson 04-10-2007 22:12:29
This Mopac expansion proposal seems like a lame bandaid fix for a real problem that needs a real answer. Living in NW Round Rock I've seen the traffic hazzards of bottle-necking caused by the I-35, Toll Road interchange. The Mopac bottle-neck would be much more severe in my opinion. Thank You KXAN for giving me a voice.

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Marie G. 04-10-2007 22:13:49
You can wrap it with a bow or a ribbon I still am not on board. I want real solutions without smaller lanes or higher costs to counter act overpaid politicans trying to figure it out.

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John H. Gray, Jr. 04-10-2007 22:14:18
Anything to improve traffic flow. Will gladly pay. City officials push the money wasting Cap Metro at the expense of more/better roads. Doesn't anyone have a functioning brain. People (in any significant numbers) will not give up the freedom and flexibility of their vehicle for an inefficient and ineffective bus system or an even less effective rail pretense which could not move enough people to even make a dent.

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Erin T 04-10-2007 22:24:02
No one is asking the big questions: "We've already paid for roads with our tax dollars, so where did that money go? Where is the accountability for our sky high property tax dollars? Why is the Austin area disproportionately financing the roads for the entire state of Texas for perpetuity? Compared to Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, our population is lower, our wages are lower, our housing is higher and now we're facing 2 - 4 times the road taxes! Why is it taking so long to get the commuter train (which we've also already paid for)up and running? Could it be that CTRMA wants to delay it to "encourage" us to use/pay for the toll roads?

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Louis 04-10-2007 22:27:20
I work for TXDoT. The Federal Government gives TXDot our money, over three million a year for building and improving roadways. Sometime in the near future the money will be cut back. I like my job, but there are too many indian chiefs that make too much money and they treat the people like me like ".. hit". They steal work time and hide it. They cover up and make up their policies. I was physically abused by a manager, I reported it and with manipulation changed the whole story to cover it up. So, with that out, We the people are getting *******ered into paying out more and more so we can line the pockets of those who are greedy. Let those who want to say , Yeah , I'll be glad to pay so I can get where I want to go ..faster. Then you pay for managed roads//toll roads. Or move out of Austin. By the way, there are many roads that are being tolled throughout Texas. GREED!

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Marie G. 04-10-2007 22:40:01
Why are we who dispute this not more organized? We must and are allowed to organize!!!!!

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JJ 04-10-2007 22:53:43
I'm an ex Californian. Down near San Diego they had a SINGLE CAR POOL LANE. In the morning, it opened going South, and closed after rush hour. In the evening, it opened going North and again closed after rush hour. It was the perfect idea for heading off the rush hour congestion (2-3+ hour commutes!!!) It takes up less space, opens in the direction needed, and you don't have to try and carve two extra lanes out of the already compacted MOPAC. Before you know it, the CITY will invoke it's EMINANT DOMAIN and start shaving more acreage off of MOPAC residents, who already are getting the raw end of the deal!

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JJ 04-10-2007 23:00:06
I like that JJ.

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The Dude 04-11-2007 00:26:58
I'm with the Monorail guy. Monorail! Monorail! Monorail! I think we should just rename Mopac to be the Matlock Expressway. That would be just as helpful.

Actually, I live next to the Cedar Park tollway. If my wife and I want to drive the four miles from our house to the existing free 183 using the new Toll Road, I'm going to have to pay $240/mo for the privilege. Let them toll the existing road and they'll be using your tax dollars to screw you even more.

4 miles = $240/mo. I'm very happy to sit in traffic for ten minutes longer. I can use the money I'm not spending on tolls to buy a better car and enjoy the ride. If the state is so keen on erecting toll roads everywhere and using our already paid roads to do it, I want a refund on gasoline taxes. I have a feeling I'll be waiting a while for that.

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Larry 04-11-2007 06:31:31
As anyone who's ever lived in Houston will tell you, HOV lanes (which is what this is) are completely ineffective, they don't help at all. Just make it a regular lane. Why does there always have to be some complicated hocus-pocus idea? Simply adding one more lane would help, for a while, but even that is not going to be enough in a couple more years. The toll thing is getting out of hand, and somehow we need to reign these dolts in and prevent another fiasco, which is what this is shaping up to be. Speak up, y'all. One thing I can tell you, I will not pay a single toll, period. I and everybody I know, will go out of our way to avoid it. So how effective does that make your toll system now? I already pay taxes nine ways from Sunday, and I am NOT going to pay again. It's just one too may layers, too many times paying for the same thing.

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haha 04-11-2007 07:40:14
If you don't like it, THEN DON'T USE IT!!!!!!!!

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Concerned Citizen 04-11-2007 07:49:52
What you don't know about state agencies - Many higher-ups in state agencies are "Double Dipping", including TxDot. What this means is that they have reached retirement age, are receiving pension, but are still working and receiving a salary as well. It is legal, but unethical, in my opinion. There is where a lot of your tax money goes. Plus, these agencies are so over-staffed, it is time to take the ax to them. I'm also VERY afraid of Perry's plan of the Trans-Texas Corridor. Why didn't we get a vote on this???

The new toll roads on Loop 1 also plugged up traffice even more. I come in from Parmer and it used to get backed up around 183 before the tolls opened. Now it is a parking lot starting at Parmer. People are paying for that???

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JJ 04-11-2007 08:03:45
Did I mention that the SINGLE CAR POOL lane in San Diego is FREE with taxpayers dollars at work? Of course, here in Texas the make you pay for everything. (Everything IS BIGGER in Texas, especially TAXES)

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Debbie 04-11-2007 08:16:20
Just the facts that a stalled car will completely stop traffic in one lane, or that entering or exiting the tolled lanes requires multiple lane changes---I see more accidents and, therefore, more traffic congestion, not to mention more fatalities.

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S 04-11-2007 09:38:17
I don't see why tax payer dollars are being used to build sound proof barriers along Mopac. It's not like Mopac just sprang up overnight. Those people bought those houses knowing it was there and I would guess they heard the noise when visiting the house before buying it. It's just another example of whiny people thinking they are owed something because of the decisions they make. Let them build there own walls or move!

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Sally 04-11-2007 09:39:41
Why aren't they putting a sound barrier in front of TxDOT? Those that live close to Camp Ben Hubbard will get a great deal of increased noise and pollution. The TxDot buildings don't provide much of a sound barrier.

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Terri 04-11-2007 09:44:07
It doesn't matter how much we complain.They will do what ever they want to fill their pockets anyway!

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DJ 04-11-2007 09:55:47
OK I'm just wondering why they have the money to build this and yet The flyovers for Mopac and Ben White are still sitting unfinished . The ramps are there and have been there for 10 years or so but no fly over to connect them . Whats up with that ? it would be nice to just exit a ramp on mopac to head east on ben white.

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Smart Government? A small, low-cost computer on board every vehicle

I am just amazed at the ideas people have to use roads to steal from the public. Like this CEO of Meadow Networks, a "consultant" company for wireless technologies. Why not put a chip in our arms and charge us for walking on the side walks too?

Here's what I'm referring too.

"But can we do better in this century than a patchwork of road funding and repair fixes? Robin Chase, CEO of Massachusetts-based Meadow Networks, advocates a big leap forward. She recommends abandoning all gas taxes and shifting to wireless technology. A small, low-cost computer on board every vehicle would report (in real time) miles actually traveled, allowing a realistic government user charge. Fees could be adjusted for roadway congestion pricing (premiums to travel on peak roads at peak times), by wear and tear related to vehicle weight and footprint, and by the vehicle's emissions (a carbon tax to encourage vehicles with reduced greenhouse gas emissions).

Indeed, says Chase, there could be a local government bonus — a percentage of road user fees returned to the county, city or neighborhood through which the vehicle traveled, compensating for the burden of emissions, noise and congestion.

FULL ARTICLE

Jere Thompson Jr.: We would forfeit billions with private partnership on 121

This is an informative read printed in today's Dallas Morning News

Over the past few weeks a drama has played out in Austin over the future of State Highway 121, a huge roadway that will soon be the equivalent of a 26-mile-long "LBJ Freeway" between Central Expressway and Interstate 35.

The story began over a year ago when the decision was made to obtain badly needed transportation funds by converting Highway 121 to a toll road and then selling a 50-year concession on it.

At the insistence of the Texas Department of Transportation, the North Texas Turnpike Authority – the region's only experienced toll road agency – was ultimately excluded as a bidder.

Last month, Gov. Rick Perry announced with some fanfare that a Spanish company, Cintra, had the winning bid of $2.8 billion for the rights to the toll road. That's when things got interesting.

At the request of state Sen. John Carona, the NTTA responded that it could likely "offer" $6.3 billion using the same general assumptions employed by Cintra.

How can the NTTA produce so much more than Cintra? Because of its lower cost of funds.

The NTTA requires no equity returns and has access to low-interest municipal bonds. This capital structure is significantly less expensive than Cintra's combination of taxable bonds and equity.

Therefore, with the same revenue assumptions, the NTTA can return $3.5 billion more to the region than Cintra. This amount is more than TxDOT spent on new road construction in Dallas, Collin and Denton counties during the past five years.

The contract with Cintra has not yet been signed. By selecting the NTTA, an additional $3.5 billion would become available to the region. By selecting Cintra, that same $3.5 billion would become profits for Cintra and interest income for Cintra's banks.

Which would you pick?

Welcome to the new world of comprehensive development agreements, commonly referred to as CDAs. They involve the sale of a toll road's revenue stream to a private entity in return for huge upfront signing fees and future revenue sharing.

CDAs can sometimes be good. Examples are ventures that the public sector is unwilling or unable to construct, very expensive urban projects with uncertain traffic estimates, and projects in rural areas with no history of toll roads.

The private sector's willingness to accept the construction, financing, traffic and revenue risks in these examples justifies their economic rewards.

On the other hand, a perfect example of a bad CDA is Highway 121. The NTTA is willing and able to finance and construct the project, right-of-way costs are known, construction cost increases are not being assumed by Cintra, noncompete penalties are provided, traffic can be reasonably forecasted, and area commuters have already demonstrated their receptiveness to toll roads. Cintra would capture very high rewards for very little risk.

Because of the controversy over Highway 121 and other projects around the state, a two-year moratorium on CDAs has been proposed in Austin.

Local opponents to the moratorium claim that critical projects will not get built and congestion will strangle our region.

But the proposed moratorium applies only to selling to the private sector the rights to public assets. The NTTA is a public agency and would be exempted from this moratorium. It could build and, with legislative permission, allocate funds to nontoll projects.

If the moratorium halts a flawed selection process, results in more transportation dollars for this region, and permits construction of critical projects without delay, how can it be viewed as anything but good?

How should the Legislature address the use of CDAs and solve the funding crisis?

First, regional toll road authorities should obtain the first right to build new toll projects and should not have to pay TxDOT for this right to build.

Second, toll road authorities should obtain the ability to allocate funds to nontoll transportation projects.

Third, funding raised from tolls should not reduce funding from gas taxes, and all gas tax dollars due this region should be promptly returned here and not spent elsewhere.

Finally, the only serious long-term solution to this crisis is to index gas taxes. When the pain of the status quo exceeds the pain of change, change happens.

The Legislature needs to increase and index the gas tax to fund new transportation construction.

Jere Thompson Jr. is a former chairman of the North Texas Turnpike Authority and its predecessor, the Texas Turnpike Authority. He now serves as the Transportation Chairman for the Dallas Citizens Council and the Trinity Commons Foundation. His e-mail address is jwt@ambitenergy.com.

Krusee is having to play defense

Nice little read........

March madness over tolls grips Legislature

Vexed by private tollway deals, affronted by TxDOT's attitudes, Legislature looks to rein in Perry's turnpike push

By Ben Wear
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, March 19, 2007

Mike Krusee looked tired.

The Republican state representative from Williamson County, interviewed at his Capitol office last week, for 10 days or so had been fighting what some people call the creeping crud, a debilitating mixture of cold, flu and allergy symptoms hitting many Central Texans this spring.

But Krusee, for much longer than 10 days, has also been fighting the creeping realization among legislators that over the past two sessions, they might have granted Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation too much power to create toll roads. For the first time in his three sessions as chairman of the House Transportation Committee and the leading legislative architect of toll road policy, Krusee is having to play defense.

For a number of reasons — campaign trail grumbling last year, disputes with Dallas and Houston toll road agencies, lack of deference to legislators by Texas transportation commissioners, turf battles over huge pots of money suddenly coming Texas' way — the Legislature has been gripped by a sort of March madness over tollways, particularly those that would be in private hands for a half-century.

What remains to be seen is what the madness will lead to by the end of the session May 28. As transportation chairman, Krusee can, in theory, block most legislation seeking to roll back tollway powers. And Perry could veto whatever makes it to his desk.

But more than two-thirds of the Legislature has signed on to legislation that would put a two-year moratorium on concessions, contracts with private companies to build and run toll roads. Dozens of other bills limiting tollway powers have been filed. And powerful legislators, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, are talking about using the power of the purse to curb the Transportation Department.

Perry and Krusee may have no choice but to make concessions on concessions and on other prongs of their toll road agenda.

"Watch the budget," Ogden said. "At the end of the day, TxDOT can't spend a dime without our permission. So, watch the budget."

Ogden has a unique role in the situation.

In 2003, when he was chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, Ogden sponsored House Bill 3588, a humongous bill that, among other things, authorized Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor plan and allowed the state to enter into concession agreements with private companies. That bill, conceived and carried by Krusee in the House, basically made possible everything that Ogden and most of the Legislature are now stewing over.

Ogden has filed bills that would prohibit the granting of long-term road leases and require that toll roads become free roads when money borrowed by government for construction is paid off. He says tolls should be a mechanism to get a specific road built, not a profit center. Those two short and simple measures would gut the Transportation Department's toll road policy.

Ogden was asked for his take on why he and so many other lawmakers have had second thoughts about their 2003 handiwork.

"What's going on? We had an election, that's what," Ogden said. "All we're doing is reflecting what we heard on the campaign trail."

Others paint a more complicated picture. Repercussions from HB 3588 were already being felt when the Legislature met in 2005. There was grass-roots toll opposition in Austin and San Antonio and widespread unhappiness among farmers and ranchers about the corridor plan to build 4,000 miles of tollways, railroads and utility easements. But although the Legislature made some tweaks in 2005, mostly to appease the rural concerns, nothing like this session's Category 5 blowback occurred.

It's one thing to upset residents of Austin or Fayetteville and quite another to get crosswise with toll road agencies in Dallas and Houston.

The Transportation Department, in its zeal to award long-term toll road leases to private companies and thus reap multibillion-dollar upfront payments from them, has managed to alienate the North Texas Tollway Authority and the Harris County Toll Road Authority.

The local authorities want first shot at operating toll roads in their areas and feel that the state agency has shouldered them out of the way.

On Feb. 27, the Transportation Department awarded a contract for Texas 121, a road in suburban Collin County north of Dallas, to a partnership headed by Cintra, a Spanish toll road company that earlier won a bid to build 41 miles of the Texas 130 tollway southeast of Austin with Texas partner Zachry Construction. Cintra said it could give the state $2.1 billion upfront and $750 million more over 50 years for Texas 121.

The North Texas Tollway Authority declined to bid on that contract, a choice that, depending on who is telling the tale, may or may not have been made under pressure from Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson and his department.

In Houston, the Transportation Department said in April that it wanted more than $1.2 billion to sell some right of way to the Harris County authority for three more toll roads. That huge price reflected not the real estate value, but what the state could get from a private tollway operator.

Those kinds of huge upfront payments from private road operators excite Williamson and other tollanistas. But they come with a probable consequence to consumers — higher tolls — and stoke fear that the state is underselling the farm to tollway companies.

And legislators are made nervous by the Transportation Department's newfound ability to generate towering wads of cash independent of the state budget.

The Dallas and Houston episodes, along with Williamson's sometimes off-putting certitude about toll roads, have earned the Transportation Department some vigorous enemies in the statehouse, most prominently state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas. Carona, chairman of the Senate transportation committee, has used that pulpit to bash Williamson and the agency. He also has a thick packet of tollway rollback legislation pending.

Then there is freshman Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, a former transportation commissioner and Williamson ally who is unhappy about language in the pending Texas 130 contract that he says would either tie the state's hands from building free roads near Cintra's section of Texas 130 or force the state to pay Cintra-Zachry tens of millions of dollars in the future. He has filed a Senate bill, with 24 co-sponsors, for a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts.

State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, has a House twin that has 97 co-sponsors.

Those freeze bills, and most of the other toll road bills, may never move, however. This month, Carona has met in private at least three times with Krusee, Williamson and Perry transportation aide Kris Heckmann with the intention of creating an omnibus transportation bill to include elements from the pending bills as well as policy changes sought by the Transportation Department.

"It's important that we take these ideas now and wrap them into some piece of policy that is balanced and makes the most long-term sense," Carona said. "In all fairness, the Legislature has not left the commission with many options other than the pursuit of toll roads."

Which brings up the gas tax. At 20 cents a gallon and holding since 1991, the tax is falling far short of meeting the state's need for new pavement. Carona and Krusee have separate bills to make automatic annual increases to the tax, based on different measures of inflation. Initially, Carona's bill might increase the tax 3 cents a year and raise about $300 million more a year. Krusee's bill might generate a sixth of Carona's.

Neither will come close to eliminating the need for new toll roads.

Perry spokesman Robert Black said the governor, who has steadily opposed gas taxes, "is not going to close the door" on a gas tax indexing bill. Black suggested that if lawmakers take away some powers, "they need to replace them with something. . . . If the Legislature wants to make changes, additions, amendments, that's fine. But let's make sure it pushes forward."

bwear@statesman.com; 445-3698

Watson files bills for Special Austin district in the Texas 130 corridor:

To follow up on yesterday's news, Sen. Kirk Watson files the 3 bills today.

SB1688 Relating to the creation, powers, and duties of a transportation infrastructure services district created by a municipality; imposing taxes and authorizing bonds.

SB1689 Relating to the municipalities that may annex an area for limited purposes.

SB1690 Relating to the authority of a county to zone, apply building standards, and impose impact fees in an area near certain toll projects; providing a penalty.

Watson to propose bills for Special Austin district in the Texas 130 corridor:

New taxes coming for those who live around Texas 130 Toll Road

By Kate Miller Morton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 08, 2007

Article Excerts:

Watson plans to file three bills Friday. The most ambitious would allow Austin to create a special district around the toll road (Texas 130) where it could impose its development rules and collect sales and property taxes to pay for roads, streets and utility improvements in the district without being required to provide city services for years.

Watson is also proposing that counties along Texas 130 be granted zoning authority and the ability to levy impact fees and that cities near the toll road be allowed limited-purpose annexations regardless of their size.

The bill has the support of Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Williamson County, who said he supports the idea of creating a special district because otherwise it will be impossible for Austin to keep up with the infrastructure that is needed to plan for growth around the toll road.

Krusee said he knows of no other transportation service districts in the state but also knows of no other case in which so much road has been built in so little time.

Read Full Article

El Paso Mayor John Cook wants RMA and Toll Roads

"There is going to be three types of roads built in Texas, 'Toll roads, slow roads, and no roads.' So you pick which kind you want," said El Paso Mayor John Cook.

John Cook supports creating a Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) in El Paso to oversee road projects that cross state lines into Mexico and New Mexico.

"Under state law, the only vehicle that we have that can do projects in Mexico and New Mexico is a Regional Mobility Authority," said Cook.

Source: KFOX-TV

183A now open - $1.80 for the 11.6 mile trip

Sunday morning is the first in which commuters can take advantage of a new toll road.

Highway 183A stretches north of 620 at 183 to Liberty Hill. The entire 11.6 miles will cost you $1.80.

Until May 1, everyone who uses this toll road will drive for free. TxTag drivers have until June 1 to drive without paying. Supporters say it will alleviate traffic on 183 from Cedar Park to Liberty Hill along with encouraging growth in the area.

Something to be aware of: the toll plaza near Lakeline Mall Drive will only accept electronic payments. That means you will have to have a TxTag, or you will get a violation notice in the mail.

Source: KXAN.com

HB998 to stop any toll road in TX until 2009

State Rep. Garnett Coleman, D-Houston, files HB998 to put a moratorium on any toll road in Texas that hasn’t been built. The bill is currently in the Transportation House Commitee.

80R4389 JTS-D

By: Coleman H.B. No. 998

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a moratorium on tolls by the Texas Department of Transportation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. MORATORIUM ON TOLLS BY TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION. The Texas Department of Transportation may not impose a toll for the use of any portion of a highway or roadway in the state highway system that did not have a toll in effect on or before the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 2. EXPIRATION. This Act expires September 1, 2009.

SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2007.

Live Webcast of Toll/TTC Hearing tomorrow in Austin, TX

If you are unable to attend, tomorrow's hearing will be available live via the web at:
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/

Public Hearing and Rally details

Georgia Law Markers Crack Down on Toll Violators

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY? Not in Georgia or Texas-

This month the Georgia House voted to allow the state to collect unpaid tolls from the vehicles owner regardless of who was driving the car on the toll road.

Apparently, toll violators have racked up a bill of over $900,000 due to a loop-hole that prevented the state from collecting if they could not prove who was driving the car when the violation occurred. The change gives the state power to go after the Registered Owner of the vehicle regardless of who was driving the car.

The Registered Owner will also be fined $70 per violation, regardless of whether he or she was driving. The owner's registration would be revoked if they do not pay.

Source: www.georgiatolls.com, 02/22/06 - view source



Texas also fines the Registered Owner of a vehicle if they cannot prove who was driving. Read the CTRMA Toll Collection Policy here.