10/11/2005

"TxDOT has sponsored legislation in the state assembly that would give it veto powers over regional tollroad projects"

at 10/11/2005

1 comment:

Sal Costello said...

Hi Sal,

I agree fully with what the Texas Toll Party is trying to do. It’s much more than just economics, it is the very type of attitude that caused the Boston Tea Party.

I moved to San Antonio in 1985, just after the BIG snowstorm (13 inches!). One of the first things that struck me about the local highway system was the lack of an interchange at US 281 and IH- 410, at the airport. Obviously, bad planning! I was told that was already in the plans and it would be done within 10 years (from 1985). They just started working on it this year, 20 years later.

I live in Encino Park, just north of Loop 1604 and US 281. Then, 1985, I was working at Randolph AFB, so I traveled Loop 1604, 15 miles each way, back & forth. Then they turned that two-lane road (then called “The Death Loop”) into an expressway. That didn’t happen overnight. It took about 2 years. But the wait and mess and aggravation was well worth it.

Then they also converted US 281 North into an expressway and opened that segment in 1990. Again, a lengthy process and well worth the wait. But, once again, they (TxDOT) failed to put a proper interchange between US 281 and Loop 1604. Apparently no one learned anything from the 281-410 fiasco. Now they want to build toll interchange at that 1604 location. More construction mess, more frustration, and more money (building & tolls) from the taxpayers and the drivers – ALL to pay for an obvious mistake TxDOT made 15 years ago. I knew then that it was obvious that the northern corridor of San Antonio was going to be a big growth area – that’s why we bought a home there.

Now those bandits want to convert the segment of US 281 that I and thousands of my fellow homeowners use everyday into a toll road. With yet more years of construction mess and frustration, and then the added costs of tolls for a road that already exists. That’s insane and that’s highway robbery.

Instead, I would like to see ALL of TxDOT’s parking lots, rural and urban, converted into pay lots. Rural areas, they could pay like a nominal $4 a day. In the urban centers, use the prevailing rates. Here in S.A., that would be $8 - $10 per day. Then use that money to fund the TxDOT mistakes they made. The very badly designed interchange at I-10 and IH-410 – 3 years under construction, with another 1-2 years more to go. The missing IH-410 and US 281 interchange. The negligent US 281 and Loop 1604 interchange. And let’s see how TxDOT employees like paying for parking that already exists, pavement that was already paid for and that was previously free to them. THEN, they will understand what we taxpayers and homeowners are saying. THEY screwed up – THEY can help pay to fix THEIR mistakes.

Oooppsss. Looking back over just the list of mistakes here in S.A., that is going to take a LOT of money to fix those mistakes. We’ll need to raise their parking rates. This year. And next year too!!

Thanks for your efforts,
TQ

1:46 PM, October 11, 2005

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