Tolling Authority votes to increase cost of 281 by 3 times!

Terri Hall, (photo)

Founder of Texans Uniting for Reform & Freedom (TURF)
EMAIL: terri@texasturf.org
WEB: http://www.TexasTURF.org

The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (ARMA), voted to pay a consortium headed by Fluor Corporation, over $300 million to bulldoze US 281 and rebuild it as a toll road. The losing bidder, Zachry Construction, will get paid $399,000 simply for losing the bid!

The original Freeway plan to build overpasses and expand the highway as promised in public hearings in 2001 (and funded with gas taxes in 2003) came to $100 million and would have taken 18 months to complete. (versus 3 1/2 years to build the toll road)

Now the ARMA is saying a 5-year delay is somehow speeding things up. The ARMA also says there will be non-toll lanes, but fails to tell commuters their only non-toll option will be access roads with slower speed limits and permanent stop lights.

That’s not a choice, it’s highway robbery,” notes Terri Hall, Founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF) whose organization teamed up with Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas (AGUA) in filing a lawsuit to stop the US 281 toll road and force TxDOT to install the funded Freeway improvements.

http://satollparty.com/

Every single lane motorists drive on today will be converted to toll lanes, and the New lanes will be frontage roads with non-highway speed limits and permanent stop lights.

The US 281 toll project will also include a non-compete agreement where the ARMA agrees not to expand or improve Any roads surrounding the toll road, which means Blanco Rd., Stone Oak Pkwy., Redland Rd., and Bulverde Rd to name a few.

The ARMA says a non-compete would not prevent TxDOT, the City, or County from expanding roads, but none of those entities would dare put the toll bonds in jeopardy by expanding nearby roads and violating a non-compete investors demand. The ARMA is also declining to insure the bonds for this project putting the taxpayers on the hook if the road goes belly-up.

The RMA is also relying on it’s a risky traffic projection adding 25% to the already aggressive growth projections the SAMPO uses. Considering the soaring price of gas and the trend toward moving inside Loop 1604 and 410 to shorten commutes, the failure of the US 281 toll road is likely.

Express-News columnist Ken Allard seemed to agree in his column last week (read it here: http://texasturf.org. “This is fast becoming a risky boondoggle in a time of economic crisis. There will not be enough political cover for the politicians when this hits the fan,” Hall finished.

Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson fired off a letter of concern about the financial viability of toll roads in this economic climate with high gas prices forcing people to change their behavior to reduce costs. Adkisson and ARMA Executive Director Terry Brechtel met today, but neither changed the other’s mind.