"Anyone traveling between Lewisville and Frisco must pay."
Letters
February 9, 2006
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006
The road less-traveled
I congratulate Dallas and Collin counties for not standing idly by while Tarrant, Denton and Johnson counties and the North Texas Tollway Authority attempt to fleece their citizens.
Toll roads were envisioned as a user fee: You drive, you pay. The philosophy is based on the understanding that a project is warranted only if it will generate enough traffic and tolls to pay for it. If a project cannot generate enough revenue, by definition it is unneeded.
The recent NTTA decision to pay for the impractical Southwest Parkway in Fort Worth violates the spirit of tolling because it asks non-users to pay for a project that will never generate enough users to pay for itself.
I encourage Dallas and Collin counties to dissolve the NTTA and take control of our projects that are paid for by our drivers. Southwest Parkway is not a regional road; therefore, the region should not pay it for. Let Fort Worth build it, and let us keep our ever-increasing tolls for our roads.
--E. Kyle Steinhauser, Frisco
It's a tax. Period.
Making State Highway 121 a toll road is a tax. There is no alternate route from Lewisville to Frisco. The next major route is the Bush Turnpike, and that is a toll road, as well. That means anyone traveling between those two cities must pay. How is it not considered a tax?
--Jeff Miller, Flower Mound
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co www.dallasnews.com
February 9, 2006
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006
The road less-traveled
I congratulate Dallas and Collin counties for not standing idly by while Tarrant, Denton and Johnson counties and the North Texas Tollway Authority attempt to fleece their citizens.
Toll roads were envisioned as a user fee: You drive, you pay. The philosophy is based on the understanding that a project is warranted only if it will generate enough traffic and tolls to pay for it. If a project cannot generate enough revenue, by definition it is unneeded.
The recent NTTA decision to pay for the impractical Southwest Parkway in Fort Worth violates the spirit of tolling because it asks non-users to pay for a project that will never generate enough users to pay for itself.
I encourage Dallas and Collin counties to dissolve the NTTA and take control of our projects that are paid for by our drivers. Southwest Parkway is not a regional road; therefore, the region should not pay it for. Let Fort Worth build it, and let us keep our ever-increasing tolls for our roads.
--E. Kyle Steinhauser, Frisco
It's a tax. Period.
Making State Highway 121 a toll road is a tax. There is no alternate route from Lewisville to Frisco. The next major route is the Bush Turnpike, and that is a toll road, as well. That means anyone traveling between those two cities must pay. How is it not considered a tax?
--Jeff Miller, Flower Mound
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, February 09, 2006
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