TxDOT idiocy
Letter to Editor
San Antonio Express News
June 11, 2008
Mark Freeman asked, “Who could possibly be in their right minds to create a stretch of highway with so many stoplights and no overpasses?” regarding his drive on Loop 1604 between U.S. Highway 90 and Braun Road (“Traffic woes,” Your Turn, Friday).
People are now sporting bumper stickers that read, “Every village has its idiot — we have TxDOT,” and that seems to sum it up as we travel in our congested mess. Look at U.S. Highway 281 North from Loop 1604 — just another prime example of the village idiots at work. While we were busy working and taking care of our families, we all fell victim to Gov. Rick Perry’s and TxDOT’s agenda.
The goal was to make us all so miserable and exhausted from our travel we would beg them for toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor for relief. Now is the time to demand accountability and to get out the “old school” starting from the top down and put common sense back into road construction.
The Transportation Commission has made rumblings and pledged to open up TxDOT’s financial records and ban clauses that restrict improvements of existing roads as part of tolling contracts and other offenses, but it has yet to deliver. We need to hold them accountable. We need elected officials to represent the taxpayers, and on a local level we need an elected Metropolitan Planning Organization board, not appointed cronies. If we don’t do anything, I guess we are the village idiots.
B.A. Ross
San Antonio