12/16/2005

Those who help push freeway tolls on the rest of us - get nontolled roads.

at 12/16/2005

2 comments:

Sal Costello said...

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS?

This email just in from David...
SOUND LEVELS & TOLL ROADS...

I think that there is something that has not been mentioned and could play a big role in the whole question of the toll roads, particularly if we are talking about super 12 lane roads on 281. The noise level. Obviously there will be an enormous increase in noise level from the greatly enlarged and heavier traffic on the new roads if they are built. The Texas Toll Party needs to be ready to address that problem also as it will adversely affect all those who live within a mile on either side of the road.

A baseline noise level survey should have been done at least 3 – 4 years ago to determine the decibel level the traffic at that time was creating TXDOT may have done this. They should have done it as part of their studies on how to improve the traffic conditions on 281 and the other highways. They certainly have presented plans on how they were going to resolve the problems, long before they hit us with the toll road concept. I believe the legal action presently being presented against the toll roads should formally ask for this information. If they have not conducted such a survey then they should be required to do so immediately. Why? Sound barriers!

When NW Highway and Loop 410 were being constructed through Castle Hills, TX the residents requested sound barriers be installed. Some of the residences and an elementary school are no more then a couple hundred feet from the roadway. TXDOT did not install the sound barriers contending that the increase in noise level did not justify those barriers. The data they used was based on an already increased decibel level that therefore showed only a relatively minor increase. Even in Washington DC on the “Beltway” where there are only four lanes a side there are sound barriers around most of the whole beltway. Additionally even those sound barriers are set back from the highway a good 100 to 200 ft. They are constructed in several different materials and styles. Sound barriers are a norm in areas where highways with large amounts of traffic abut residential areas throughout the U.S. They are costly though and that is why TXDOT does not care to install them and will do most anything to keep from being required to install them.

It seems to me that it would behoove the developers along the corridor to also demand that sound barriers be installed so that they may insure that their customers are satisfied and buy. This item may have been overlooked by them but a couple articles in the newspapers talking about sound barriers and how no one would like to buy a house that close (within a ½ mile?) to a highway with that many lanes might make them more anxious to support efforts to install such barriers.

I realize that to request sound barriers at this time would give the impression that we accept the toll concept. However, asking for a baseline sound survey is not out of line with any final solution that is decided for the roadway. This is an area we must be concerned with no matter what happens on the roadway. The noise has already increased noticeably in the past five years.

http://www.sha.state.md.us/ImprovingOurCommunity/OED/soundbar.asp

http://www.tamu.edu/univrel/aggiedaily/news/stories/archive/082697-5.html

http://downloads.transportation.org/highroad/HighRoad-10.pdf

11:13 PM, December 16, 2005
Sal Costello said...

Another email from Peter...POST WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS HERE...

In the race for Governor, incumbent Perry must go

Gov. Perry is finally working hard at something --- covering his tracks. To many Texans, Perry may be the worst governor the state has ever had.

During the past five years, pampering his hair and his special interests, Perry has played a massive shell game with Texas families and taxpayer dollars. His brand of politicking behind closed doors is a blatant disregard of the Public Information Act and that of Open Government. While permitting many urgent issues to lay by the wayside, the governor frequently leaped into action for his special interest campaign contributors. By using the "front" of the Governor's Business Council and the Texas Association of Business (TAB), whose top members are appointed by the governor, Perry ensured that the concerns of Texas families are on the back-burners while he "heroically" jumped to the aid of his various industry cronies: higher education (UT), health care, homeowners insurance, telecommunications, religious entities, financial institutions and toll roads --- to name just a few.

During the past five years of Perry's reign, Texas families have watched helplessly as their quality of life plummeted: fewer jobs and outsourcing, doubled home insurance costs, sky-high property taxes, inadequate financing of public education, lax legislation and poor oversight of state and business sectors, circumventing and diverting state responsibilities and pushing those more onto local governments, increased cost of health care, freezing the gasoline tax and permitting TxDOT to "sit on" millions of taxpayer dollars --- thereby creating the illusion that toll roads urgently are needed.

Now this lackluster governor is trying to save face by inventing yet another commission on public education, unconstitutionally ordering public schools on how to budget their dollars --- calling this "Education Reform", and approving some sort of "sleight of hand" legislation on Eminent Domain --- providing lots of loopholes for special interests. All three of these actions are placebo attempts by Perry to save face politically in the upcoming election.

While Perry may be able to run from the truth, he cannot hide. His ineptness in managing the state and special interest pandering is sure to hurt him during his campaign effort. Texas Republicans AND Democrats are fortunate to have another candidate more honorable and less self-involved who is running for Governor. Of the two Republican candidates for Governor, certainly Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is the more viable. Whether or not Texas families feel they need "One Tough Grandma" as Governor, we should all finally agree that we need a leadership change for the better. After five years of a Dr. Do-little governor, Perry needs to go and Texas needs to get back on-track.

Peter Stern

11:15 PM, December 16, 2005

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