TxDOT pushes 121 toll road plan
TxDOT road show touts 121 toll plans
Frisco Enterprise
By Mike Raye, Staff Writer
Copyright 2005
Engineers and representatives from the Texas Department of Transportation's Dallas District (TxDOT) made their fifth stop on a month-long tour of Collin County cities in Frisco Thursday night, to present results of the recently completed State Highway 121 feasibility study.
The study, commissioned by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), came to three basic conclusions:
* S.H. 121 in Collin County is at a crossroads.
* There is not enough money to build it.
* They have to find a way to get more money.
According to NCTCOG and TxDOT, building a six-lane road (with six lanes of service roads alongside) from the Dallas North Tollway in Frisco to U.S. Highway 75 (Central Expressway) in McKinney will cost $107.46 million. Building an interchange at S.H. 121 and the Tollway will cost another $105.3 million, and an interchange at S.H. 121 and Central $112.7 million, for a total of $325.46 million.
The problem is, there is only $30 million in TxDOT's piggybank to pay for the highway, coming from revenue raised from the state tax on gasoline. There is the possibility of Uncle Sam kicking in another $16 million from federal House Transportation Bill funds. That is enough to build the "main lanes" from the Tollway to Hillcrest Road, but that's all. Money to build the rest has to come from tolling the road, in order for the construction to be completed by the target date of 2010, TxDOT argues.
Plans for collecting tolls electronically by Toll Tags - much less the concept of tolls themselves - have been met with great resistance in Frisco, from the mayor to John Q. Public. TxDOT said adding electronic tollbooths along the 11.2-mile route would cost an additional $2 million. After the highway is finished in 2010, it will cost $4.75 million per year to operate and maintain, TxDOT said.
Options were presented to toll the entire 11.2 miles, from the Tollway to Central, or only from Hillcrest Road to Central, a distance of 9 miles. Based on a toll of 15 cents per mile, it would cost $1.70 each way on a Tollway-to-Central toll road, or $1.35 if only Hillcrest-to-Central was a pay-to-drive route.
Prosperity is behind the need for the construction, and a by-product of current and projected growth of the region over the next 25 years, the feasibility study showed. According to demographic data, Collin County's population will grow by an astonishing 90-percent from 2004 to 2030, rising from 615,200 residents to almost 1.2 million in 2030. Frisco will undergo a 243-percent population boom, from 66,400 in 2004 to 227,900 in 2030. McKinney is expected to grow by 143 percent and Allen by 59 percent in the same period. Plano, already near build-out, will grow by another 6 percent, the study predicts.
Growing populations put more vehicles on the road, ergo the need for greater highway capacity - an insight held by regional planners for decades.
S.H. 121's importance as a regional artery in Denton and Collin Counties - and the prospect of population outgrowing the road - have been known since 1986, the feasibility study reported. The Regional Transportation Council's "Mobility 2000" report identified S.H. 121 as a vital route, and as early as 1989 TxDOT had blueprints for a six main lane and six access lane highway. The prospect of building S.H. 121 as a toll road was first broached in October 2004.
©Star Community Newspapers 2005: www.zwire.com
Frisco Enterprise
By Mike Raye, Staff Writer
Copyright 2005
Engineers and representatives from the Texas Department of Transportation's Dallas District (TxDOT) made their fifth stop on a month-long tour of Collin County cities in Frisco Thursday night, to present results of the recently completed State Highway 121 feasibility study.
The study, commissioned by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), came to three basic conclusions:
* S.H. 121 in Collin County is at a crossroads.
* There is not enough money to build it.
* They have to find a way to get more money.
According to NCTCOG and TxDOT, building a six-lane road (with six lanes of service roads alongside) from the Dallas North Tollway in Frisco to U.S. Highway 75 (Central Expressway) in McKinney will cost $107.46 million. Building an interchange at S.H. 121 and the Tollway will cost another $105.3 million, and an interchange at S.H. 121 and Central $112.7 million, for a total of $325.46 million.
The problem is, there is only $30 million in TxDOT's piggybank to pay for the highway, coming from revenue raised from the state tax on gasoline. There is the possibility of Uncle Sam kicking in another $16 million from federal House Transportation Bill funds. That is enough to build the "main lanes" from the Tollway to Hillcrest Road, but that's all. Money to build the rest has to come from tolling the road, in order for the construction to be completed by the target date of 2010, TxDOT argues.
Plans for collecting tolls electronically by Toll Tags - much less the concept of tolls themselves - have been met with great resistance in Frisco, from the mayor to John Q. Public. TxDOT said adding electronic tollbooths along the 11.2-mile route would cost an additional $2 million. After the highway is finished in 2010, it will cost $4.75 million per year to operate and maintain, TxDOT said.
Options were presented to toll the entire 11.2 miles, from the Tollway to Central, or only from Hillcrest Road to Central, a distance of 9 miles. Based on a toll of 15 cents per mile, it would cost $1.70 each way on a Tollway-to-Central toll road, or $1.35 if only Hillcrest-to-Central was a pay-to-drive route.
Prosperity is behind the need for the construction, and a by-product of current and projected growth of the region over the next 25 years, the feasibility study showed. According to demographic data, Collin County's population will grow by an astonishing 90-percent from 2004 to 2030, rising from 615,200 residents to almost 1.2 million in 2030. Frisco will undergo a 243-percent population boom, from 66,400 in 2004 to 227,900 in 2030. McKinney is expected to grow by 143 percent and Allen by 59 percent in the same period. Plano, already near build-out, will grow by another 6 percent, the study predicts.
Growing populations put more vehicles on the road, ergo the need for greater highway capacity - an insight held by regional planners for decades.
S.H. 121's importance as a regional artery in Denton and Collin Counties - and the prospect of population outgrowing the road - have been known since 1986, the feasibility study reported. The Regional Transportation Council's "Mobility 2000" report identified S.H. 121 as a vital route, and as early as 1989 TxDOT had blueprints for a six main lane and six access lane highway. The prospect of building S.H. 121 as a toll road was first broached in October 2004.
©Star Community Newspapers 2005:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Friday, July 01, 2005
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