Category: MPO

Adkisson elected Chair, declares war on toll roads

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Grassroots hail new Chair of MPO
Adkisson retains power to set agenda, declares war on toll roads

San Antonio, TX, Tuesday, July 28, 2009 – Commissioner Tommy Adkisson officially became Chair of the San Antonio-Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Monday, but not without the usual powerplays and controversy that have surrounded toll roads in San Antonio.  A proposal to change its bylaws to strip the Chair of the power to set the MPO agenda and give it to the Executive Committee, was thwarted, after an intense debate, due to the failure to properly place it on the agenda. But the media left believing all the fireworks had gone off only to MISS the flame that ignited later in the meeting over keeping 281 and 1604 in the toll plans.

Read Terri Hall’s article in the Examiner for details on the VICTORY, the players, and the betrayals here

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Power grab at MPO…AGAIN! Plot to neuter toll opponent, Adkisson

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07/25/2009

Toll-road opponent set to lead MPO

By Josh Baugh – Express-News
Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, a toll-road critic and environmentalist, is poised to lead San Antonio’s Metropolitan Planning Organization, the agency that oversees how $200 million in federal transportation funds are spent in Bexar County.Whether Adkisson’s leadership will change the MPO’s bearings, however, remains an open question. He didn’t lay out an agenda for his term as chairman, but he made clear that mass transit is one of his priorities.“I think one of the things that’s painfully evident to me is that our mass transit, especially light rail, needs to be fast-forwarded,” he said.On Monday, the MPO board is expected to elect Adkisson. His two-year term likely will get under way with the toll-road debate on low heat. That wasn’t the case in 2007, when Adkisson was expected to be elected chairman but ultimately lost to then-Councilwoman Sheila McNeil.Though it’s not written in MPO policy, there’s been a gentlemen’s agreement that chairmanship of the board rotates between Bexar County and the city. But that’s not how it played out two years ago, after then-City Councilman Richard Perez left the board, which has 19 voting members that include elected and appointed officials and government staffers.

Back then, council members argued that Perez, a strong toll advocate, would have maintained the chairmanship if it weren’t for the City Council’s term limits. The council members on the MPO stacked the nominating committee and then chose one of their own to serve as chairwoman. They blocked Adkisson reportedly because of his opposition to toll roads.

Before Perez, the county and city had each had four-year stints in the chairman’s seat.

The MPO chairman doesn’t just run meetings. The chair traditionally has set the MPO’s meeting agendas, a powerful tool in deciding what does — and doesn’t — get done.

But that power is likely to be diluted at the same time Adkisson is nominated for the chairmanship.

County Commissioner Kevin Wolff, who serves on the MPO’s nominating committee, said he assumed the organization’s executive committee set the agenda.

“It turns out I was wrong,” he said. “A lot of it’s set by what’s actually required under state law, but the rest was just kind of arbitrary on behalf of the chair. Well, I see that as a huge problem, regardless of who’s the chair.”

Wolff said the nominating committee’s recommendation on Monday would be to elect Adkisson chairman and City Councilman John Clamp vice chairman, and leave agenda-setting to the four-member executive committee. Representatives from the Texas Department of Transportation and VIA Metropolitan Transit make up half the committee.

Toll critic Terri Hall, who balked at handing that much authority to non-elected officials, said she believes Adkisson’s would-be power is being slashed because of his toll opposition.

“That’s what they want — they want to dilute Tommy’s power,” she said. “They only think that having all the power in one person is suitable when they’re in charge. But when they’re not in charge, well, by golly, ‘We better diffuse that power because we don’t want someone like that running the board.’”

Clamp shrugged off the contention that Adkisson’s authority would be diluted because of his politics. “I just think the body should really help set the agenda — not just one person.”

Find this article at:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/traffic/Toll-road_opponent_set_to_lead_MPO.html

Superstreet gets green light at MPO

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Link to article here.

03/24/2009

Stimulus may bring some relief to U.S. 281

By Scott Huddleston – Express-News
Leaders with the Metropolitan Planning Organization agreed Monday to direct nearly $23 million in federal stimulus money to street projects aimed at reducing congestion on U.S. 281 North and creating new jobs on the Southwest Side.

The plan approved by the group’s policy board also includes nearly $2.5 million to upgrade low-water crossings and close funding gaps for three street and drainage projects.

The largest amount is $14.74 million to extend and realign 36th Street, from U.S. 90 to Billy Mitchell Boulevard, a project that Port San Antonio officials said could generate more than 4,500 jobs by enhancing airfield access and the flow of cargo at the 1,900-acre aerospace, industrial and international logistics complex.

“It’s really a great project that will open up a lot of opportunities for the port,” said Sid Martinez, director of the MPO.

The other major project on the list for stimulus funding is a $7.8 million upgrade to a roughly four-mile stretch of U.S. 281, extending north from Loop 1604 to Marshall Road. Under a “super street” concept that’s been used in other states, the road would be reconfigured to eliminate cross traffic, increasing flows by an estimated 30 percent, officials said.

“It should provide some temporary congestion relief until a permanent solution is found,” Martinez said.

The 281 project would be funded with $5.7 million in stimulus money, $1.6 million from the Advanced Transportation District and $500,000 from the city. Councilman Louis Rowe said residents in his North Side district have urged him to do anything he could to relieve the logjam there.

People could be driving on the improved stretch within a year, Rowe said.

Also approved is $750,000 to improve Eagleland Drive south of downtown; $500,000 to complete an upgrade to Jones Maltsberger Road on the North Side; $660,000 for two drainage projects on Salado Creek; and $550,000 for low-water crossings.

The Texas Transportation Commission earlier this month decided to allocate $60 million in stimulus money for part of the interchange at U.S. 281 North and Loop 1604. Combined with $60 million in state bond funds and $20 million in local funds, the money is to finance ramps on the south side of the loop.

In addition to a lawsuit filed last year by Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas and Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom that could delay the interchange, the other stimulus projects could face design, legal or right-of-way issues that could endanger San Antonio stimulus funds. Any money that isn’t obligated by March 2010 will have to be returned to the federal government, Martinez said.

For that reason, the MPO has a list of 62 backup projects totaling more than $148.5 million that could get stimulus money. The largest are $40 million to widen and improve Interstate 10 from Huebner Road to Loop 1604; $33 million to build Wurzbach Parkway from Jones Maltsberger Road to Wetmore Road; $32 million for Wurzbach Parkway from Blanco Road to West Avenue; and $28.8 million for bus rapid transit improvements on Fredericksburg Road.

RMA comes unhinged at concerned citizens over interchange

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Link to article here. There is NO new lawsuit or a threat of one. All that AGUA/TURF did was send a letter to the Federal Highway Administration questioning the “clearance” the RMA claims to have for this 5 level interchange. The interchange is a red herring and an excuse NOT to fix 281 north. Read more here.

Suit might block use of stimulus money
By Patrick Driscoll
Express-News
03/13/2009

The $140 million in federal and state funds allocated for the building of long-awaited ramps linking North Loop 1604 and U.S. 281 could end up being sent back if two sides in a lawsuit can’t find common ground.The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority hopes to use $80 million in federal stimulus funds and $60 million from state bonds — dubbed “money from heaven” by one local official — to start construction on the four ramps within a year. The ramps on the loop’s south side wouldn’t be tolled, according to plans.

But lawyers for Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas and Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom are poised to challenge federal environmental clearance for the five-level interchange, saying there likely would be significant changes in traffic, suburban growth and Edwards Aquifer water quality.

The groups filed a lawsuit last year to demand a detailed environmental study of planned toll lanes on 47 miles of U.S. 281 and Loop 1604, and the Alamo RMA later decided to do so. The interchange should be part of that study, plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Bunch said Thursday.

“We certainly don’t think you should sacrifice San Antonio’s sole source of drinking water to do that,” he said. “We still have a lawsuit pending. It would probably be raised in that context.”

If the Alamo RMA were forced to probe the interchange’s impacts, work could be held up three or more years, and that means the federal stimulus funds could go unused.

“It’s not a lawsuit yet, but there’s a general concern,” RMA spokesman Leroy Alloway said. “What’s going to happen next, that’s the big question.”

Bunch said he asked the Alamo RMA to discuss less invasive improvements to the two roads but hasn’t heard back.

“We want to avoid the litigation as much as anybody,” he said. “But there’s been no response to that.”

Alloway said he hasn’t heard of such a request, but negotiations aren’t likely anyway.

“We’re not willing to negotiate out the environmental protections necessary for our community,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Alamo RMA on Wednesday launched an effort — called 4-1-1 on 281 — to engage residents along U.S. 281 in dialogue. Officials also mentioned AGUA and TURF skepticism as a potential bogeyman to the non-toll interchange.

“We knew we needed a fresh approach,” Chairman Bill Thornton said in a statement. “The public is frustrated by the delay in construction and they want answers.”

Go to www.411on281.com for more about 4-1-1 on 281.

281/1604 Interchange to get stimulus funds

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03/06/2009

Ramps linking 281, 1604 get funding

By Patrick Driscoll and Peggy Fikac
– Express-News
AUSTIN — A spurt of federal stimulus dollars soon will help douse one of San Antonio’s worst daily traffic flare-ups.Four ramps directly linking North Loop 1604 to U.S. 281 on the south side of the loop could be open within four years, thanks to the Texas Transportation Commission’s decision Thursday to pour in $60 million in stimulus money from Congress.

The commission also threw in $60 million in state bond funds for the $140 million project. San Antonio’s Metropolitan Planning Organization is putting up $20 million of its local share of federal stimulus handouts.

“It is just new money from heaven,” said Bill Thornton, chairman of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority, which had intended to charge tolls at all eight ramps envisioned at the interchange.

The four new ramps wouldn’t charge a toll, but they could connect to future toll lanes along with freeway lanes.

In all, the commission Thursday allocated $1.2 billion in federal stimulus funds — including $783.2 million on toll or toll-related projects — despite calls for delay from tollway foes and other critics.

Toll opponents in general object to the large share of the projects that are toll-related, saying it amounts to paying twice for the same road — with the taxpayer-financed stimulus funds and with tolls.

Texas Department of Transportation officials said the use of several sources of funds allows more construction to be done and that such leveraging meets federal requirements. The $1.2 billion in stimulus funds approved Thursday will be part of $2.6 billion in overall construction, the agency’s John Barton said.

The commission, which once before had delayed action on the $1.2 billion in projects, declined calls for another postponement from toll critics, environmentalists, some lawmakers and officials whose projects didn’t get funded.

“The opinion of this commission, and certainly my opinion, was the more we delayed, the more we were delaying putting Texans to work,” said Deirdre Delisi, the commission chairwoman. “If today’s action means that we prevented one Texan from being laid off or we’re helping contractors to hire more Texans, I’m very pleased with that action.”

Although the commission didn’t slow up, it did make some changes in its proposed allocation of the stimulus funds for predominantly new construction projects Thursday and in $505 million in stimulus spending for road and bridge maintenance that it approved last week.

The changes came after state Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, who heads the House committee overseeing the spending of stimulus funds in Texas, voiced concern over whether the commission had directed enough of the money toward economically distressed areas, as required by the federal government.

The commission added projects in some counties classified as economically distressed after getting further guidance from the federal government. Also in Bexar County, the commission allocated $10 million in stimulus dollars, which the local planning board will match with $4 million from another fund, to widen several miles of Loop 1604 near Randolph AFB to four lanes.

The wider road will help handle growing traffic from jobs being added to the base, said Clay Smith, a Texas Department of Transportation planner. Not long after the current interchange was built about two decades ago, it routinely became an amalgam of crawling cars and sizzling tempers as drivers negotiated access roads and traffic signals to get from one freeway to the other.

Stirring the pot were plans crafted about five years ago to fund the direct connecting ramps by charging a toll on them. Thornton, blistered for years over the toll push, often said the agency would build nontoll roads if there were money.

Now the agency has enough money for half the ramps, and cautious toll critics intend to hold Thornton to his promise.

“If it stays nontoll, that would be fantastic,” said Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom.

Construction could start in a year and finish by 2013, when an estimated 50,000 motorists a day would soar into blue sky to get through a five-level interchange. Overall, Texas’ share of stimulus funding for roads and bridges is $2.25 billion, including $1.7 billion under the commission’s purview and $500 million overseen by metropolitan planning organizations.

That stimulus money will be part of $3.4 billion in total construction, creating an estimated 90,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to TxDOT. Staff Writer Peggy Fikac reported from Austin.

 
 
 

Find this article at:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Stimulus_to_fund_linking_281_to_1604.html

Slanted survey says we want higher transportation taxes….what?

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This is the exact opposite of what a scientific poll conducted by Texas Lyceum said. Texans don’t want tolls or higher gas taxes! Read more here.

Survey Regarding Taxes and Infrastructure
SAMPO Fasttrack Newsletter
March 2009

A new survey suggests that Americans realize infrastructure is in bad shape and 68 percent would pay more taxes to help fund highway and bridge maintenance and new construction. About 1,000 Americans were polled earlier this month for the survey commissioned by HNTB Corp.

More than four in five (81 percent) respondents say making sacrifices to pay for infrastructure improvements now will make the difference between a more prosperous or a more difficult future for the next generation.

The average American would pay $22 a month to cut down on the time they spend in traffic by 20 percent, says the survey.

Other findings include:

• When asked about infrastructure spending in the economic stimulus package, 60 percent said highway and bridge maintenance and new construction was most important to them
• 81 percent think the expansion of high-speed rail and light rail transit systems can transform U.S. travel and commerce like the Interstate Highway System did during the 20th century
• 50 percent believe spending on highway projects should equal spending on public transportation
• 66 percent think freight and passenger traffic should be separated on the roads and rails

Credit: Washington Business Journal

Tolls still on table for interchange at 281/1604

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Link to Express-News article here. Link to WOAI news story here.

Trying to have it both ways…

“It is not going to be a toll project,” RMA Chair Bill Thornton told the Express-News. On the SAME day, Thornton told WOAI radio, “One of the contingencies that TxDOT has tied to that money, though, is that it be done as a toll project.”

It’s no wonder the public can’t get a straight answer from these agencies…perhaps the old adage fits here: if their lips are moving, they’re lying!

THEN, in the same Express News article…

“…the ramps would link to both the existing freeway lanes and eventually the toll lanes.” – Clay Smith, TxDOT

So which is it, fellas? You can’t both be right! A skeptical public knows better, you will toll these roads even if they’re paid for unless lawmakers rein it in!

02/24/2009
Crammed 1604 point might not need tolls
By Patrick Driscoll
Express-News

Within four years, motorists could be whooshing over long-awaited interchange ramps at U.S. 281 and North Loop 1604, past what today is one of San Antonio’s worst traffic snarls.

And thanks to a federal jolt of money coming this way, the ramps would not be tolled, as recent plans have called for.

“Shock of shocks. It is not going to be a toll project,” said Bill Thornton, chairman of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority, an agency initially created five years ago to build toll road projects. “We look for all methods of financing that we can find.”

The Metropolitan Planning Organization, which oversees how federal transportation dollars are spent in Bexar County, voted unanimously Monday to use local and state funds from the $787 billion stimulus package to build four of the eight planned interchange connectors.

The $140 million project tops a list of seven recommendations being forwarded to the state, including an $8 million plan to reconfigure U.S. 281 intersections north of Loop 1604 to temporarily loosen traffic knots until a better fix is found.

The four interchange ramps at Loop 1604 target the junction’s heaviest traffic, connecting northbound U.S. 281 to both directions of the loop and  linking both directions of the loop to southbound U.S. 281. Construction could start within a year and finish by the end of 2012, with the improvements carrying an estimated 50,000 vehicles a day after opening.

Drivers would get to skip over the notorious traffic signals and frontage roads that tie up traffic today.

“It’s horrible,” said Rick Garza, who sometimes fights the traffic while delivering meals. “I know we can’t work miracles, but something can help.”

Critics of plans to toll 47 miles of U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 on the North Side remain leery despite the funding twist.

“While we welcome any nontoll funding to finally complete these projects, we have to ask, what will this interchange connect with? Toll lanes or nontoll lanes?” said Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom.

Texas Department of Transportation planner Clay Smith said the ramps would link to both the existing freeway lanes and eventually the toll lanes.

The MPO will get only $43 million in stimulus money for roads but expects to get some of the state’s $1.5 billion share. The Texas Transportation Commission will hand out its goodies Thursday.

“We don’t know what they’re going to do,” MPO Director Sid Martinez said.

Based on past funding, San Antonio could see about $80 million of the commission’s stimulus dollars. The MPO is hoping to get at least $130 million from the state and match it with $20 million, enough to pay for the interchange ramps and to widen Loop 1604 at Randolph AFB to four lanes from FM 78 to Graytown Road.

That would leave $22 million in local stimulus funds to be allocated later.

The local planning board also submitted a best-case scenario, in case the state gives $237 million to San Antonio. The MPO would then put up all its $43 million, and the to-do list would grow to add, from highest priority to least:

36th Street: Add lanes from U.S. 90 to Billy Mitchell Road — $16.5 million.

Interstate 10: Add four lanes from North Loop 1604 to Huebner Road — $40 million.

Wurzbach Parkway: Build four lanes from Blanco Road to West Avenue — $32 million.

Wurzbach Parkway: Build four lanes from Jones Maltsberger Road to Wetmore Road — $33 million.

U.S. 281: Reconfigure intersections north of Loop 1604 — $8 million.

Though a suggested redesign of U.S. 281, to eliminate cross traffic and rely on added U-turns to ease traffic, came in last on the MPO’s list, the idea has ardent champions.

“The super street must be funded somehow,” said City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian, who sits on the MPO board and is running for mayor.

_________________________________________________________

Thornton: TxDOT Demands Toll on 1604-281 Project

Even if federal stimulus tax dollars build it
By Jim Forsyth
WOAI Newsradio

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Texas Department of Transportation may have thrown a monkey wrench into a local proposal to have money from the stimulus bill signed last week pay for long debated improvements to the 281/1604 interchange on the far north side, 1200 WOAI’s Bud Little reports.

“One of the contingencies that TxDOT has tied to that money, though, is that it be done as a toll project,” said former mayor Bill Thornton, who chairs the local Regional Mobility Authority.

When the RMA voted last month to place the 281 improvements up for consideration for stimulus money, Thornton and other RMA officials said because the money would be provided by the federal government, tolls would not be needed.

Thornton, who is a long time supporter of toll projects, says if the state agrees to place the project on the list for stimulus funded projects, local officials will have a decision to make.

“One of the proposals that is before us, is that TxDOT would send the money to our region, primarily to do the 281/160-4 interchange,” Thornton said.  “Clearly, that is an area that needs to be addressed.”

Thornton said the question is whether the community is ready to move ahead with construction of that interchange, or ‘do we want to pass this opportunity and leave things as they area, and hope and wait until the next opportunity.’

“These are difficult times, our government is already spending money it doesn’t have.  If you can place that money into a fixed, firm asset which can bring value to San Antonio for many decades to come, that might be a great place to put those investments.”

Thornton says the question is, ‘are we going to fish or cut bait.’

“Are we going to build an interchange, or are we going to let this opportunity pass and hope for some other funding source in the future,” Thornton says.

TxDOT will have the final say on where more than $2 billion in infrastructure projects earmarked for Texas will be spent.

Overpass to nowhere, a stimulus bill fiasco

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AGUA/TURF question status of 281/1604 interchange, stimulus funds

San Antonio, TX, February 23, 2009 – AGUA and TURF have concerns about the status of the 281/1604 interchange in light of the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) vote today to submit it as a “shovel ready” project for stimulus funds.

“While we welcome ANY non-toll funding to FINALLY complete these projects, we have to ask…what will this interchange connect with? Toll lanes or non-toll lanes? Will it only connect with what’s there now or what? How can they build an interchange without knowing what sort of lanes it’ll connect with?” Terri Hall, Founder of TURF, asks.

Enrique Valdivia, President of the Board of Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas (AGUA) wondered, ”We’re concerned that stimulus money is being used to fund projects within the scope of the issues we’ve raised in our lawsuit.”

Hall says the non-toll fix to 281 and1604 and the interchange should all be on the table. While the toll road clearance has been pulled, there are provisions in the law that would allow all these improvements to move forward as scaled down non-toll projects if the politicians would demand that TxDOT work with community groups to agree on a less invasive, more affordable plan.

“Until now, TxDOT and the RMA have REFUSED to negotiate. They want a massive toll road that steals our freeway and raids our wallets,” Hall said.

Citizens have been clamoring to get the original, non-toll freeway plan built on 281 for 4 years, and they have recently launched a campaign to pressure politicians in the area to get the job done. View it here. The freeway fix was promised in public hearings in 2001, had environmental clearance, no opposition, and it was funded with gas taxes in 2003. Then the Texas Legislature, including State Rep. Frank Corte and Sen. Jeff Wentworth, voted for Governor Rick Perry’s toll road plans. That’s when 281 FREEway improvements were turned into a toll plan instead.

“It’s all about the money. Our politicians want to tap the vein and charge 281 commuters an extra tax to get to work in order to fund their pet projects elsewhere. It’s highway robbery and citizens, rightly, went nuclear to stop it,” Hall declared.

Though the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (ARMA) and TxDOT stubbornly claim there is no money or environmental clearance to fix 281, [the money is still there in Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) documents], $425 million total, which is more than enough for the less invasive original plan AND the interchange at 281/1604 and the most congested areas of 1604.

“The stalemate over 281 isn’t about lack of money or lack of clearance, it’s about a lack of political will. It’s about rogue bureaucrats and unresponsive politicians who can magically produce $20 million for an overpass for wealthy campaign donors in the Dominion, yet they’d have us believe the same ‘can’t’ be done on 281. The pathway to a solution the taxpayers and environmental groups are happy with is ripe for the picking, but our politicians refuse to choose it. They want our money, and they don’t care about the environment or whose lives’ they’re wrecking to do it,” Hall noted.

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TURF, Toll Party endorse Pape Dawson's 281 plan

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Grassroots hail Pape Dawson’s interim fix for 281

San Antonio, TX, February 5, 2009 – Gene Dawson, President of Pape Dawson Engineers, saw a problem, unbelievable gridlock on 281 North of 1604, and he was just the guy who knew how to fix it. Pape Dawson has been briefing neighborhood groups on what many see as a workable interim solution to help get weary commuters on 281 N moving again.

What’s the best part about it? The fix is only $7.2 million, can clear environmental hurdles, boost traffic flow by 40%, and be done by the end of the year. See the schematic of the proposed J-turn intersections here. It’s called a superstreet, and they’ve been successfully implemented in North Carolina, Michigan, and Ohio and could be an affordable solution applied to other parts of Bexar County, like 1604 and Braun Rd. area and on Bandera Rd.

Super Street Concept
Click to view demo

“The grassroots are thrilled at the truly innovative solution Pape Dawson has brought to the table. It shows how we don’t need a 20 lane toll road plan to get traffic moving again. It also shows that there’s plenty of talent in this community to get the long-term fix on 281 when we all work together toward a sensible, speedy solution. While we believe the long-term solution to the county line can commence in months not years if the politicians would insist TxDOT work with community groups to agree on a less invasive, more affordable plan, this superstreet will at least stop the bleeding,” Terri Hall, Founder of TURF and the Toll Party, relates.

Citizens have been clamoring to get the original, non-toll freeway plan built on 281 for 4 years, and they have recently launched a campaign to pressure politicians in the area to get the job done. View it here. The freeway fix was promised in public hearings in 2001, had environmental clearance, no opposition, and it was funded with gas taxes in 2003. Then the Texas Legislature, including State Rep. Frank Corte and Sen. Jeff Wentworth, voted for Governor Rick Perry’s toll road plans. That’s when 281 FREEway improvements were turned into a toll plan instead.

“It’s all about the money. Our politicians want to tap the vein and charge 281 commuters an extra tax to get to work in order to fund their pet projects elsewhere. It’s highway robbery and citizens, rightly, went nuclear to stop it,” Hall declared.

Though the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (ARMA) and TxDOT stubbornly claim there is no money or environmental clearance to fix 281, the money is still there in Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) documents, $425 million total, which is more than enough for the less invasive original plan AND the interchange at 281/1604.

“There are provisions in the law that would allow the project to commence with environmental clearance, and these agencies know it. They vehemently deny it because their jobs depend on it.

“The stalemate over 281 isn’t about lack of money or lack of clearance, it’s about a lack of political will. It’s about rogue bureaucrats and unresponsive politicians who can magically produce $20 million for an overpass for wealthy campaign donors in the Dominion, yet they’d have us believe the same ‘can’t’ be done on 281. The pathway to a solution the taxpayers and environmental groups are happy with is ripe for the picking, but our politicians refuse to choose it. They want our money, and they don’t care about the environment or whose lives’ they’re wrecking to do it,” Hall noted.

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Capital Area MPO steals money from 183A toll road to fund 290 toll road

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Link to article here.

Vote frees NE Austin tollway project to move ahead in 2009
Transportation officials approve financial pairing of U.S. 290, 183-A
By Ben Wear
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Transportation officials decided to create a financial marriage between two toll roads Monday, a move that could allow the U.S. 290 East tollway project to break ground sometime next year.

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board voted 15-3 to create a tollway system made up of the existing, and profitable, 183-A toll road in Cedar Park and U.S. 290 East, which based on projections will not have sufficient revenue to persuade investors to lend more than a half billion dollars to build it. The existing tollway, which opened in March 2007 and is making a profit of about $5 million a year, will in effect act as a co-signer for the new project.

The U.S. 290 East project would cost $623.5 million, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority says. It involves expanding 6.2 miles of the existing four-lane, divided highway between U.S. 183 in Northeast Austin and Parmer Lane just west of Manor. It would have six toll lanes and six free-to-drive frontage road lanes alongside.

Some CAMPO members objected to the financial partnership Monday, saying it violates the intent of policies adopted in October 2007, when the board approved the U.S. 290 East project and four other potential toll roads. At that time, the board agreed that excess toll revenue from the five roads would be spent first in the general area of each road rather than being used for improvements far afield.

That will still be the case, according to the mobility authority, which operates 183-A and will build and operate U.S. 290 East. Given 183-A’s profitable status, they say, no money would need to go from U.S. 290 East to 183-A.

In fact, mobility authority Executive Director Mike Heiligenstein said no money is likely to go either direction. The authority says that preliminary traffic and revenue studies show that U.S. 290 East will be able to meet its debt payments and operating costs without any transfer of money from 183-A.

However, investors normally require that toll road revenues be well beyond projected costs. A summary of the traffic analysis released Monday shows that, based on charging 20 cents a mile for U.S. 290 East, the road would make about a 30 percent profit — which Heiligenstein said was not high enough for the mobility authority to borrow the full amount needed to build U.S. 290 East without riding on the back of 183-A.

Voting against the plan were Travis County Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt, Sunset Valley Mayor Jeff Mills and state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez.

Heiligenstein said Monday’s vote was necessary to sustain engineering work and keep the project on schedule. Officials expect to get federal environmental clearance for the road in the first half of 2009, borrow the money on the bond market later in the year and begin construction soon after that.