3/17/2007

TxDOT Beat the Clock to sell Dallas Freeway (121) to Cintra

City of Frisco Mayor Pro Tem, Maher Maso, has been fighting the SH 121 double tax toll deal months before Cintra got the contract.

You can tell by TxDOT's rushed timeline that they were trying to beat the clock on the March 1st Senate hearing. This is unbelievable even for TxDOT.

February 26, 2007 - Public hearing.
February 27, 2007 - Press release.
February 28, 2007 - Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) was awarded to Cintras by the Texas Transportation Commission.

Maher Maso stated:

“Of course, you also saw what was wrong with that picture, asking the public for their opinion while, at the same time, having the press announcement and then awarding the CDA all in two days!”
The City of Frisco also sent a letter in response to the SH 121 “Environmental Reevaluation” analysis produced by contractor HNTB. HNTB has the contract for 183A toll in Central Texas, and others. Frisco found a whopping total of 130 issues with HNTB's work! Here are only the first 2 of the 130...

#1 says that a rushed public hearing took place, with notice given only 3 weeks in advance - instead of the legally required 30 day notice.

CONTRACTOR HNTB PLAGIARIZED WORK!

It also appears the contractor, HNTB plagiarized past work (and will most probably bill TxDOT an exorbitant amount for the theft). As stated in the PDF:
"2. This entire document is in many cases an exact word for word copy of the SH 121 Denton County Environmental Assessment which accounts for many of the errors in the document. There is little to distinguish it as an individual project separate from the Denton County project. Many of the references are more accurate to the Denton County project than the Collin County project for the majority of the document. Shouldn’t each Environmental Assessment be unique to the corridor and not a boiler plate document?"
Click here to download the whole PDF. Recent 121 toll news HERE.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am glad to see some city official fighting for the rights of us that cannot afford the luxury of these tollroads. I will vote for Mr. Maso if he ever runs for statewide office.

In his fight against the tollway, he can also buttress his argument by the increased cost to the city of Frisco for increased delivery/shipping/and handling costs.

I do business with the City of Frisco, and they are not easily able to be travelled to without using the new tollway.

I wonder what would be an appropriate surcharge for businesses to add to their invoices for deliveries to these tollway cities?

The price of the tolls plus an Administrative Fee for processing the TexasTollway Invoice.

Greg