It shouldn’t surprise anybody by now that TxDOT has lied to the public. Haven’t we all heard the oft repeated claim that when they convert existing roads into tollways we’ll have as many free lanes as exist today per state law? Well, next to one of the recently opened toll roads in Austin, motorists had one of their free lanes SWIPED by TxDOT causing greater congestion in an attempt to entice more motorists to cough up the cash to use the tollway.
Link to Letter to Editor in the Austin American Statesman here.
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We miss our lane
Before the MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) toll road extension opened, residents of Wells Branch and the surrounding North Austin subdivisions had two free lanes that directly fed into southbound MoPac. Now these residents have the choice to pay 50 cents for about a half-mile on the toll road or enter the very congested one-lane free ramp onto MoPac.
The Texas Department of Transportation has robbed these residents of one of their access lanes to southbound MoPac — a lane that was paid for with our tax dollars.
DIANE GUCCIONE
Austin