"Making it a toll road wouldn't make us very popular."
A toll road whose time hasn't come
October 18, 2004
Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2004
It's come to this: They're talking about toll roads in Rockdale.
The city limit signs in Rockdale, if you haven't had an excuse to go through Milam County in a while, say the town has 5,439 people.
U.S. 79, one of the two main routes to Bryan-College Station from greater Austin, cuts through town for about 3 miles. There are five stoplights.
Last year, according to the state, just under 7,000 vehicles a day used that part of U.S. 79, which has a yawning five lanes as it approaches Rockdale from the west. In other words, its pretty darned roomy.
Nonetheless, the state Transportation Department, as it has in most small-but-not-tiny Texas towns on the way to someplace bigger, plans to put a 9-mile loop around Rockdale. In this case, the $34 million two-lane divided expressway would diverge from U.S. 79 a few miles west, skirt Rockdale in the hills north of town and then reconnect to the east.
The loop, likely to be expanded to four lanes eventually, would be a "limited access" road, that is, no driveways for businesses and only two or three direct connections to intersecting roads.
The state already has set aside the money for the road and plans to get it built within about six years. So lack of money or a need for rapid construction, the typical toll road justifications, are not in play here.
Even so, state Rep. Dan Gattis, a Georgetown Republican whose district includes all of Milam County, and Bryan Wood, a Texas Transportation Department district engineer whose area includes Rockdale, last month paid a visit to Milam County Commissioners Burke Bauerschlag and Dale Jaecks.
Gattis and Wood proposed building the loop as planned, without borrowing money, then forming a Milam County regional mobility authority to put a toll on the road. The figure of $1 for the 9 miles came up.
The meeting was supposed to be on the q.t. But Milam County is a small place. Word gets around.
So why create a toll road at Rockdale? If it isn't exactly the middle of nowhere, you don't have to drive far to get there.
Gattis, who says he was just raising the idea, not pushing it, has two justifications. The loop, first of all, is unpopular with some Rockdale Main Streeters who fear losing business.
It's happened in many another small Texas place, when the blacktop was routed around the town. Putting a toll on the loop, Gattis said, might keep some of that highway traffic in town.
Beyond that, Gattis said, the excess money after paying for maintaining the loop and adding two more lanes could be used to pave some of the 700 miles of gravel county roads in Milam County. It has only about 100 miles of paved county road.
The commissioners, though intrigued by the potential county windfall, said no thanks to the toll idea. County Judge Frank Summers followed up with a letter to Gattis saying as much.
"Making it a toll road wouldn't make us very popular," was County Commissioner Jaecks' understated explanation.
Gattis, although he said it's up to the locals, said he wants to continue the conversation.
Getting There appears Mondays. For questions, tips or story ideas, contact Getting There at (512) 445-3698 or bwear@statesman.com.
© 2004 Austin American-Statesman: www.statesman.com
October 18, 2004
Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2004
It's come to this: They're talking about toll roads in Rockdale.
The city limit signs in Rockdale, if you haven't had an excuse to go through Milam County in a while, say the town has 5,439 people.
U.S. 79, one of the two main routes to Bryan-College Station from greater Austin, cuts through town for about 3 miles. There are five stoplights.
Last year, according to the state, just under 7,000 vehicles a day used that part of U.S. 79, which has a yawning five lanes as it approaches Rockdale from the west. In other words, its pretty darned roomy.
Nonetheless, the state Transportation Department, as it has in most small-but-not-tiny Texas towns on the way to someplace bigger, plans to put a 9-mile loop around Rockdale. In this case, the $34 million two-lane divided expressway would diverge from U.S. 79 a few miles west, skirt Rockdale in the hills north of town and then reconnect to the east.
The loop, likely to be expanded to four lanes eventually, would be a "limited access" road, that is, no driveways for businesses and only two or three direct connections to intersecting roads.
The state already has set aside the money for the road and plans to get it built within about six years. So lack of money or a need for rapid construction, the typical toll road justifications, are not in play here.
Even so, state Rep. Dan Gattis, a Georgetown Republican whose district includes all of Milam County, and Bryan Wood, a Texas Transportation Department district engineer whose area includes Rockdale, last month paid a visit to Milam County Commissioners Burke Bauerschlag and Dale Jaecks.
Gattis and Wood proposed building the loop as planned, without borrowing money, then forming a Milam County regional mobility authority to put a toll on the road. The figure of $1 for the 9 miles came up.
The meeting was supposed to be on the q.t. But Milam County is a small place. Word gets around.
So why create a toll road at Rockdale? If it isn't exactly the middle of nowhere, you don't have to drive far to get there.
Gattis, who says he was just raising the idea, not pushing it, has two justifications. The loop, first of all, is unpopular with some Rockdale Main Streeters who fear losing business.
It's happened in many another small Texas place, when the blacktop was routed around the town. Putting a toll on the loop, Gattis said, might keep some of that highway traffic in town.
Beyond that, Gattis said, the excess money after paying for maintaining the loop and adding two more lanes could be used to pave some of the 700 miles of gravel county roads in Milam County. It has only about 100 miles of paved county road.
The commissioners, though intrigued by the potential county windfall, said no thanks to the toll idea. County Judge Frank Summers followed up with a letter to Gattis saying as much.
"Making it a toll road wouldn't make us very popular," was County Commissioner Jaecks' understated explanation.
Gattis, although he said it's up to the locals, said he wants to continue the conversation.
Getting There appears Mondays. For questions, tips or story ideas, contact Getting There at (512) 445-3698 or bwear@statesman.com.
© 2004 Austin American-Statesman:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Tuesday, October 19, 2004
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