Approval for loop 49 tolls comes during a turbulent time for toll road projects around the state
It’s official: Loop 49 will be tolled
2/2/2006
Tri County Leader
Copyright 2006
Completing what ever ybody else already knew, The Texas Transportation Commission has voted to designate Loop 49 as a toll road, bringing the first road of its kind to Northeast Texas.
The approval, which was the final step in opening Loop 49 as a toll road, gives TxDOT and the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority (NETRMA) the opportunity to partner on funding and design plans.
The first segment of Loop 49, between US 69 and SH 155, will open this summer. The second segment, which broke ground earlier this month, will connect US 69 and FM 756 (Paluxy Dr.) by early 2008.
Thanks to the ability to toll, TxDOT officials said they could connect the remaining western portion of the loop between SH 155 and I-20 in as little as seven years.
”This is an exciting day for us,” said Mary Owen, District Engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Tyler District. “We couldn’t have gotten this project rolling without steadfast support from our local community and its leaders.”
Loop 49 boasted a 70-percent approval rating among attendees at the project’s final public hearing in Tyler on Oct. 25 of last year, and has experienced little of the resistance plaguing similar projects. The Tyler Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPO) has pledged nearly $70 million toward the completion of the proposed highway.
Further planning, development and construction, which will be done in cooperation with the NETRMA, will focus on connecting SH 155 to the interstate, then expanding the facility from two lanes to four.
”We have a host of financial options to choose from,” said NETRMA Chairman Jeff Austin III, whose organization received $12.25 million from the commission via its approval of Item 7b on Thursday to do further research and development work on Loop 49. “And we have a long way to go.” The project’s main focus is to provide some needed relief to steadily increasing traffic on US 69, which, inside Tyler’s city limits, becomes South Broadway, and sees more than 44,000 vehicles per day on average.
Giving motorists an option to bypass South Broadway while heading north could also provide relief to Tyler’s Loop 323, which is seeing steadily increasing volumes of traffic as Tyler and the surrounding communities grow.
Tyler declared in January that it had 100,000 inhabitants, up from 84,000 in the 2000 Census.
The project’s designation and approval comes during a turbulent time for toll road projects around the state, which have met with skepticism at best, and fierce opposition at worst from politicians and citizens alike.
Toll projects in San Antonio and Austin have met with stiff resistance from local anti-tolling activist groups, including one that won a federal injunction on the US 281 tolling project in San Antonio.
© 2006 Tri County Leader www.tricountyleader.com
2/2/2006
Tri County Leader
Copyright 2006
Completing what ever ybody else already knew, The Texas Transportation Commission has voted to designate Loop 49 as a toll road, bringing the first road of its kind to Northeast Texas.
The approval, which was the final step in opening Loop 49 as a toll road, gives TxDOT and the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority (NETRMA) the opportunity to partner on funding and design plans.
The first segment of Loop 49, between US 69 and SH 155, will open this summer. The second segment, which broke ground earlier this month, will connect US 69 and FM 756 (Paluxy Dr.) by early 2008.
Thanks to the ability to toll, TxDOT officials said they could connect the remaining western portion of the loop between SH 155 and I-20 in as little as seven years.
”This is an exciting day for us,” said Mary Owen, District Engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Tyler District. “We couldn’t have gotten this project rolling without steadfast support from our local community and its leaders.”
Loop 49 boasted a 70-percent approval rating among attendees at the project’s final public hearing in Tyler on Oct. 25 of last year, and has experienced little of the resistance plaguing similar projects. The Tyler Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPO) has pledged nearly $70 million toward the completion of the proposed highway.
Further planning, development and construction, which will be done in cooperation with the NETRMA, will focus on connecting SH 155 to the interstate, then expanding the facility from two lanes to four.
”We have a host of financial options to choose from,” said NETRMA Chairman Jeff Austin III, whose organization received $12.25 million from the commission via its approval of Item 7b on Thursday to do further research and development work on Loop 49. “And we have a long way to go.” The project’s main focus is to provide some needed relief to steadily increasing traffic on US 69, which, inside Tyler’s city limits, becomes South Broadway, and sees more than 44,000 vehicles per day on average.
Giving motorists an option to bypass South Broadway while heading north could also provide relief to Tyler’s Loop 323, which is seeing steadily increasing volumes of traffic as Tyler and the surrounding communities grow.
Tyler declared in January that it had 100,000 inhabitants, up from 84,000 in the 2000 Census.
The project’s designation and approval comes during a turbulent time for toll road projects around the state, which have met with skepticism at best, and fierce opposition at worst from politicians and citizens alike.
Toll projects in San Antonio and Austin have met with stiff resistance from local anti-tolling activist groups, including one that won a federal injunction on the US 281 tolling project in San Antonio.
© 2006 Tri County Leader
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, February 02, 2006
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