"We're going to see what our options are."
Second thoughts on tollways
Wed, Jan. 18, 2006
By ANNA M. TINSLEY
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2006
Amid concerns that Fort Worth's Southwest Parkway could siphon money from other regional road projects, Dallas County officials are calling for a meeting of local leaders to discuss whether they should consider backing out of the North Texas Tollway Authority.
Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher said commissioners met behind closed doors Tuesday with their lawyers to discuss their options, and want to meet with officials from Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties -- which, with Dallas County, make up the tollway authority -- to see where they stand.
This comes a month after the tollway authority decided to level out rates that would be paid by drivers on all its toll roads, rather than set higher toll rates for the Southwest Parkway, which some had argued would not draw enough drivers to pay its own costs.
Keliher said the tollway authority is being left with less-than-desirable projects as counties and private contractors pick off prime toll projects for themselves.
"If the NTTA is going to be a tolling authority for this region, and take on projects no one else wants, we need to assess where we are," Keliher said. "We're going to see what our options are."
On Tuesday, Tarrant, Collin and Denton county leaders said they supported keeping the tollway authority as it is.
Tarrant County Commissioner Glen Whitley said that if Dallas County breaks away it could compete with the authority for funding.
"I don't understand why it was all right for us to be a regional partner regarding air quality issues, but now when it comes to Dallas County's turn to being a regional partner in a tollway project ... Judge Keliher doesn't think they want to participate," Whitley said. "I didn't hear her complaining when they were expanding up into Collin County."
Whitley said local officials should work together in developing important projects.
"We're a region," he said. "I don't think we need to be worried about what is happening just in our own neighborhood."
Denton County Judge Mary Horn said Tuesday that she has no interest in pulling out of the tollway authority and hopes Dallas County does not drop out either.
"Surely they can't believe that only Dallas County residents drive on the George Bush Turnpike," she said. "I hope they will reconsider this option."
Collin County Judge Ron Harris said that Collin County should remain part of the tollway but that he shares Dallas County's concerns about the cost of the proposed Southwest Parkway toll road in Fort Worth.
The best way to address those concerns would be a meeting to discuss them, Harris said.
"As a team player you've got to listen to whatever's out there," he said.
The tollway authority was created in 1997 to replace the Texas Turnpike Authority and oversee the operations of toll roads in Tarrant, Dallas, Denton and Collin counties. The turnpike authority was absorbed into the state's Transportation Department.
Keliher said she's not happy about the tollway authority's recent decision to charge the same tolls on Southwest Parkway as on other roads. Some people have argued that the road will not draw enough drivers to pay its own costs.
"It's a bad business decision," Keliher said. "It is detrimental to the whole system. Even after 30 years when the bonds will be paid off, that road would never be able to pay it off."
But some tollway decisions don't come down to the bottom line, said Bill Meadows, Tarrant County's representative on the authority.
"The NTTA is the designated entity created by Metroplex leadership to provide regional transportation," said Meadows, a former Fort Worth City Council member. "If one project is looked at exclusively and totally in the vacuum of comparative financial feasibility, it doesn't take into consideration the regional approach.
"It's our obligation to consider all factors. We've got an obligation to serve regional transportation needs."
The proposed Southwest Parkway would stretch from Summit Avenue at Interstate 30 near downtown Fort Worth to Altamesa Boulevard/Dirks Road in southwest Fort Worth and eventually to Cleburne. It would include about eight miles of toll road from Summit to Dirks. The rest would extend about seven miles from Dirks to Farm Road 1187 in southern Tarrant County and on to U.S. 67 in Cleburne.
The toll authority is to design and build the main lanes; the Texas Department of Transportation will pay for the interchanges and the rights of way for them; and the city will pay for other rights of way, utilities, landscaping and arterial streets.
The most recent cost estimate for the highway is $825 million.
Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Silcox said breaking up the tollway authority would hurt the whole area, including Dallas.
"The NTTA is going to be more effective with all the partners sticking together than it is by all the partners splintering off," he said. "Dallas would then be on their own, having to fund everything by themselves. Is that good for the citizens of Dallas County? In my opinion, no."
Silcox said the Southwest Parkway may be the pattern for the future as toll roads become more prevalent.
"Some toll roads are going to cost more than other toll roads," he said. "There are going to be more tollways built to the Southwest Parkway standard than the other way."
Staff writers John Kirsch, Mike Lee and Anthony Spangler contributed to this report.
Anna M. Tinsley, (817) 390-7610 atinsley@star-telegram.com
© 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram: www.dfw.com
Wed, Jan. 18, 2006
By ANNA M. TINSLEY
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2006
Amid concerns that Fort Worth's Southwest Parkway could siphon money from other regional road projects, Dallas County officials are calling for a meeting of local leaders to discuss whether they should consider backing out of the North Texas Tollway Authority.
Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher said commissioners met behind closed doors Tuesday with their lawyers to discuss their options, and want to meet with officials from Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties -- which, with Dallas County, make up the tollway authority -- to see where they stand.
This comes a month after the tollway authority decided to level out rates that would be paid by drivers on all its toll roads, rather than set higher toll rates for the Southwest Parkway, which some had argued would not draw enough drivers to pay its own costs.
Keliher said the tollway authority is being left with less-than-desirable projects as counties and private contractors pick off prime toll projects for themselves.
"If the NTTA is going to be a tolling authority for this region, and take on projects no one else wants, we need to assess where we are," Keliher said. "We're going to see what our options are."
On Tuesday, Tarrant, Collin and Denton county leaders said they supported keeping the tollway authority as it is.
Tarrant County Commissioner Glen Whitley said that if Dallas County breaks away it could compete with the authority for funding.
"I don't understand why it was all right for us to be a regional partner regarding air quality issues, but now when it comes to Dallas County's turn to being a regional partner in a tollway project ... Judge Keliher doesn't think they want to participate," Whitley said. "I didn't hear her complaining when they were expanding up into Collin County."
Whitley said local officials should work together in developing important projects.
"We're a region," he said. "I don't think we need to be worried about what is happening just in our own neighborhood."
Denton County Judge Mary Horn said Tuesday that she has no interest in pulling out of the tollway authority and hopes Dallas County does not drop out either.
"Surely they can't believe that only Dallas County residents drive on the George Bush Turnpike," she said. "I hope they will reconsider this option."
Collin County Judge Ron Harris said that Collin County should remain part of the tollway but that he shares Dallas County's concerns about the cost of the proposed Southwest Parkway toll road in Fort Worth.
The best way to address those concerns would be a meeting to discuss them, Harris said.
"As a team player you've got to listen to whatever's out there," he said.
The tollway authority was created in 1997 to replace the Texas Turnpike Authority and oversee the operations of toll roads in Tarrant, Dallas, Denton and Collin counties. The turnpike authority was absorbed into the state's Transportation Department.
Keliher said she's not happy about the tollway authority's recent decision to charge the same tolls on Southwest Parkway as on other roads. Some people have argued that the road will not draw enough drivers to pay its own costs.
"It's a bad business decision," Keliher said. "It is detrimental to the whole system. Even after 30 years when the bonds will be paid off, that road would never be able to pay it off."
But some tollway decisions don't come down to the bottom line, said Bill Meadows, Tarrant County's representative on the authority.
"The NTTA is the designated entity created by Metroplex leadership to provide regional transportation," said Meadows, a former Fort Worth City Council member. "If one project is looked at exclusively and totally in the vacuum of comparative financial feasibility, it doesn't take into consideration the regional approach.
"It's our obligation to consider all factors. We've got an obligation to serve regional transportation needs."
The proposed Southwest Parkway would stretch from Summit Avenue at Interstate 30 near downtown Fort Worth to Altamesa Boulevard/Dirks Road in southwest Fort Worth and eventually to Cleburne. It would include about eight miles of toll road from Summit to Dirks. The rest would extend about seven miles from Dirks to Farm Road 1187 in southern Tarrant County and on to U.S. 67 in Cleburne.
The toll authority is to design and build the main lanes; the Texas Department of Transportation will pay for the interchanges and the rights of way for them; and the city will pay for other rights of way, utilities, landscaping and arterial streets.
The most recent cost estimate for the highway is $825 million.
Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Silcox said breaking up the tollway authority would hurt the whole area, including Dallas.
"The NTTA is going to be more effective with all the partners sticking together than it is by all the partners splintering off," he said. "Dallas would then be on their own, having to fund everything by themselves. Is that good for the citizens of Dallas County? In my opinion, no."
Silcox said the Southwest Parkway may be the pattern for the future as toll roads become more prevalent.
"Some toll roads are going to cost more than other toll roads," he said. "There are going to be more tollways built to the Southwest Parkway standard than the other way."
Staff writers John Kirsch, Mike Lee and Anthony Spangler contributed to this report.
Anna M. Tinsley, (817) 390-7610 atinsley@star-telegram.com
© 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Wednesday, January 18, 2006
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