In response to various articles on toll projects in Austin:TX

 

 

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is an agency in which decisions by the few rule the many.

The State agency let's foreign companies purchase 50-year contracts to build and maintain toll roadways and Texans now have a lost, runaway agency.

Toll roads are a last resort, not a first option.  They encourage long-term debt.  And usually property values decline in the adjacent areas.

A case in point why toll roads are not the solution to every problem:  Hwy 130 was built without study or awareness of who would use it.  The 85 mph speed  was the carrot dangling above our heads, but it didn't work.  Very few cars and trucks are using the tollway and it is hurting the state.  Taxpayers are reeling from that poor decision and are losing millions of tax dollars.

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Currently, TxDOT is building 2 toll lanes on MoPac… another poor idea.  Instead of widening the entire roadway to facilitate more cars and thereby easing traffic congestion, TxDOT's 2-lane dysfunctional approach adds significant long-term costs and won’t relieve traffic.

TxDOT and toll road enthusiasts are stuck in a desert of decision-making.  They seem to see only quick dollars, but it’s merely a mirage.  We need intelligent decisions to fix traffic congestion, not toll roads!

Austin, Texas pushing toll roads again...whether we need them or not

In response to public statements by Precinct 3 Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty regarding his gung-ho push for toll roads whenever possible because he tells us that toll roads are the only way to get roads we need built quickly.  What Daugherty does NOT tell us is that building toll roads makes those roads cost much more than roads built with other tax dollars from gasoline and other allotted taxes that were approved and passed for TxDOT’s use to build and maintain our roadways.

Commissioner Daugherty also does NOT tell us that up to 80 percent of the tolls collected go immediately off the top to the companies that maintain the toll collection.  Now that’s a lot of money that adds years to the cost of paying for that roadway.

 

In addition, toll roads make certain that the public will pay toll taxes [after all, what are tolls if not new taxes] for 50 years because that’s what the contracts usually are with toll road companies.  What we look at with each new toll road is long-term debt and Daugherty never acknowledges how much more toll roads cost all of us in the long term.  He wants roads built quickly, as we all do, but at what cost with tolls?

 

We need to build toll roads only as a last resort and NOT the first knee-jerk reaction that Daugherty and other pro-toll road enthusiasts want.  Toll roads are NOT in the communities best interests.  Toll roads are in the best interests of the toll road companies who spend huge amounts of campaign contributions to make sure they continue to buy lucrative contract from our state and representatives.

 

We need to stop building toll roads as though they are the best invention since sliced bread.  We need to get smarter about how we spend our tax dollars and maybe we need to put a lid on officials like Daugherty who just want to spend our tax dollar without looking at the long term implications and huge costs.

Democrats and Republicans...

“A big difference between Democrats and Republicans is that the Democrats blatantly tax and spend and don't try to hide it, while the Republicans tax and spend but they call it fees, penalties and toll roads.”

                                                                                  --- Peter Stern

re: Central Texas Roadways: the bottleneck grows...

 

Central Texas roadways need to be dealt with more intelligently. Bottlenecks on main roads are horrific and could be resolved easily if Austin, TxDOT and Department of Public Safety really wanted to.

MOPAC at known points needs to be widened, enabling a more even and consistent flow. The coming 2 toll lanes in the center of MoPac will do little to resolve many of the issues. It is merely a special interest toll road project placebo.

An underpass or overpass is needed on MoPac at Slaughter Lane [like the one at MoPac and William Cannon Rd].

Capital of Texas Hwy., a.k.a., 360, needs side roads to be closed and traffic lights removed so that it becomes a true highway. Locals don't like the idea, but tough. It would create a consistent flow as a highway should have, instead of stop and go traffic jams.

Many local traffic issues could be resolved simply by re-timing traffic lights. It should be done post-haste, e.g., William Cannon Rd., Slaughter Lane, West Hwy 290 where there are lights, Hwy. 71, Hwy. 620, Brodie Lane and the list goes on and on.

Peter Stern, PO Box 316, Driftwood TX 78619, 512-426-4802

Still Building Unnecessary Toll Roads

Texas Pushing Through Special Interest 130 and MoPac Toll Roads and More

Toll roads in general are simply ridiculous. They create long term debt and 80 percent off the top of toll collections go to the company that builds and operates the road. They usually create other unforeseen issues, e.g., on 130 motorists are hitting feral hogs at 85 mph.

The 130 toll way is almost as absurd as the proposed MoPac (LOOP 1) "managed care lanes" that are being pushed upon motorists. The problems inherent on MoPac are not being resolved. Instead, TxDOT and toll authorities continue to push for toll roads to make revenue instead of figuring out what will really move traffic along congested areas.

Private road companies like CINTRA will pay states $1 or $2 million or even more up front to ensure that it is considered to build and operate future toll roads. Then, where does that money go to? We don't see a paper trail. Where do TxDOT and legislators put those big dollars? TxDOT "found" $130 MILLION to put into the MoPac managed care lanes while still crying that it has no money to repair roadways, build new ones or build an overpass, say for MoPac and Slaughter Lane or to resolve the decade-long congestion crisis at the Oak Hill ‘Y’ intersection and many other road area issues throughout Texas.

Texans are being scammed all the time and they should be plenty angry at officials. Tweaking lights at intersections at different times of the day would help the flow of traffic, but TxDOT and/or the Department of Safety don't do that. Capital of Texas Highway (360) needs authorities to close the side roads at various lengths of the highway to permit the reasonable flow of traffic; however, they won’t. Instead, they opt to make drivers more angry and frustrated so that they will go along with endless toll road projects Governor Perry and his special interests want.