CAMPO: Let the Contracting Begin
October 8th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Seated beside me at the CAMPO meeting was a consultant for a builder, on the other side was a studious lobbyist whom I’ve seen roaming the state Capitol during legislative sessions. In front of me sat a portly lawyer who was representing a property owner hoping to get top dollar for his slice of right-of-way.
None of them so much as applauded as the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board voted for all five proposed toll roads—a patchwork of tollways that will overlay portions of U.S. 183, U.S. 290, Texas 71, the ‘Y’ in Oak Hill, and will create SH 45 in Hays County.
The three gentlemen did not react much to the approval, but they appeared to take note of the four board members that voted no—Hays County Judge Liz Sumter; Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-East Austin); Sunset Valley Mayor Pro Tempore Jeff Mills; and Travis County Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt. As I noted, the plethora of Williamson County members’ ‘Aye’ votes along with pro-business Democrats like Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin) and Austin Mayor Will Wynn were more than enough to carry the day.
Mills was particularly eloquent in explaining his vote. He said most of the congestion in Austin was on MoPac, I-35, and Loop 360.
“These projects do nothing for the main points of congestion,” he said, noting that the Texas Department of Transportation had made it clear that it was only interested in toll roads. “There are sufficient funds for non-tolled roads.”
TxDoT has been a naughty agency in the last few years. I don’t think anyone doubted Mills when he suggested TxDoT strong-armed the board.
It was nice to see Rep. Mike Krusee (R-Round Rock) at the meeting, particularly since he has sent a proxy to at least the last three board meetings.
Hell, I don’t blame the guy. It takes an ass of iron to sit through one of these meetings. It may also be that Krusee didn’t need to hear from all the disgruntled residents of Oak Hill as well as Sal Costello’s army of vocal anti-tollers. Krusee, surely, already knew how he was going to vote.
The process seemed deliberately confusing, and I would argue that only the executive director of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), Mike Heiligenstein, really knows what was approved. At one point, Watson began clarifying points disputed among board members by asking Heiligenstein, who was sitting in a front row.
Heiligenstein is a former Williamson County Commissioner and has been out front selling the toll road notion to road builders and contractors from day one. I was present back in 2004 at a swanky little get-together of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce when Heiligenstein made one of the first pitches (I went for the free food, not knowing what the subject was).
“Dallas and Houston have toll roads, and now we’re going to have them, too,” I recall he said. And across the room, there were dollar signs in the eyes of Texas contractors.
In the end, the Chamber of Commerce won. My advice for those who showed up to pressure their elected representatives into voting no? Buy a toll tag. You’re going to need it.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:12 am
Actually Eckhart voted yes on all but SH 45 and Jennifer Kim was against all of them. I know, I was falling asleep too.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:43 am
I WILL NOT BUY A TOLL TAG.
I will work as hard as humanly possible to get the looters voted out and stop the insanity of killing middle and lower class with toll roads.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:49 am
$0.40 per mile for usage of 183A is criminal. The average cost to use tollways in texas is around $0.12 per mile. So, how much are we going to have to pay to use the roads we’ve already paid for when they are converted? I’LL NEVER BUY A TOLL TAG!!!
October 9th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
This is insane! I can’t even put into words how dumb we must look to these guys. They get $$$ we get screwed and very few people seem to care!
October 9th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
The more I think of this the more I want to place the blame directly on the shoulders of TXDOT. I have attended several public hearings beginning with the proposed 183 construction from Sprindale to 71 east in 2003 (where all buildings in the right-of-way have been already demolished) to last night’s vote.
At every TXDOT participant hearing, “listening” was merrily a formality as they are going to do what they are going to do. It has become crystal clear to me that attending such meetings are a waste of time.
Better to begin a grass roots campaign to remove politicians that do not value citizen’s opinions. What happened last night could be labeled as grand theft elsewhere!
October 9th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Yup, the REAL congestion of IH-35 and Mopac will remain. Actually it will just get worse. I don’t understand why the public was not allowed to vote for this project?? WE are the ones that will be subjected to the tolls. The CAMPO board members and TXDOT will probably get a free TXTAG, paid for by OUR tax dollars!! This whole thing makes me sick beyond words. Rick Perry, Kirk Watson, Mike Heiligenstein, Ric Williamson (TXDOT), and Mike Krusee are all a bunch of crooks!!!
October 9th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
NOT buying a TrollTag is great … NOT travelling on any of those Trollways is even greater. If nobody uses them they don’t get their troll fees. I know they’re hard (if not near impossible) to avoid, because they got me at the exit gate off MoPac onto Wells Branch back in the spring. And I was forced, screaming and yelling at the top of my lungs, to fork over 50 cents to get to the intersection a mere 150 feet ahead where I have turned right onto Wells Branch for the past TWENTY YEARS pre-paid by thousands and thousands of tax dollars from gasoline and other sales taxes, registration and state inspection fees, and even additional road & bridge taxes …. ALL PAID ON DEMAND for years and years. Yet now…despite the horrific increase in gasoline prices alone, they try to convince me that they see NONE of the increases in tax revenues from those sales, and thereby HAVE to charge me to drive on roadways I’ve already paid for. AND - They need $910 million of my tax dollars on TOP of that in order to scavenge MY roads from me to convert!
JUST HOW DAMN STOOPID DO THEY REALLY THINK WE ARE !!!!!
October 10th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Didn’t Eckhardt run on an anti-tollroad platform? Didn’t she call her opponent the “Toll Queen” and distribute mailers with that opponent’s picture shown with a crown and lots of dollars laying around?
What’s up with that? Did anyone hear her explanation for this extreme reversal of position?