"The idea of toll roads is as unpopular in El Paso today as it was two years ago."
Many in El Paso oppose toll roads
February 26, 2006
David Crowder
El Paso Times
Copyright 2006
The idea of toll roads is as unpopular in El Paso today as it was two years ago, and Mayor John Cook figures that's not likely to change.
Nor, he says, will his support for a regional mobility authority, which could use road toll revenues to provide the supplemental funding needed to get expensive and much needed highway projects started decades before they might be built by the Texas Department of Transportation.
An El Paso Times/KVIA ABC 7 Poll shows 59 percent of El Pasoans oppose toll roads as a way to pay for expensive transportation projects while 38 percent favor them -- the same percentage as in 2004.
"I'm surprised the number in favor is that high," Cook said. "Most people, if you ask them whether they are in favor of tolls, would say they'd rather hold on to their quarter.
"I'm only surprised there's not more opposition."
But Cook said that will not keep him and a majority of City Council members from pushing ahead with the creation of a regional mobility authority because they see it as crucial to the city's future.
"Yes there is opposition, but I think we have a City Council that votes its conscience and that says, 'We have to look at what's best for El Paso, not just what's best for me.' "
Two weeks ago -- after hearing residents speak for and against going forward with an El Paso mobility authority -- City Council voted 5-3 to petition the Texas Transportation Commission for the power to establish an authority.
"What is the rush? Why do we have to do this today?" said East-Central city Rep. José Alexandro Lozano, who had 20 questions he wanted answered first.
Northeast city Rep. Melina Castro and East-Valley city Rep. Eddie Holguin also opposed the petition because an authority would not be accountable enough to the public and road tolls would amount to a new tax.
Miguel Rodriguez, president of the Chihuahuita Neighborhood Association, said he had opposed an authority and the extension of the Border Highway until he saw the route plans that would take the proposed new roadway around the historical Chihuahuita district, not through it or over it as residents had feared.
"We were concerned about the fate of Chihuahuita," he said. "In my opinion, they should still do more study on this before going into tolling.
"We can look at an added fuel tax or driver's license fee or a car title fee."
Eastsider Mike Rooney, who has followed the issue closely for more than a year and participated in the process that brought the issue to the City Council, also supports the Border Highway extension but has overriding reservations about the accountability question.
"What you're seeing from people is the discomfort about the whole thing," he said. "Why do we have to go so fast?"
Rooney said he objects to including bus service in the county and bicycle paths in the list of ways that the City Council wants to spend toll money.
"If highways are the priority, why would you divert your toll money away from that to mass transit or light rail or bike paths," he said. "Why would we want to divert the funds?"
At the urging of South-West city Rep. Beto O'Rourke and Eastridge/ Mid-Valley city Rep. Steve Ortega, the council included county mass transit in the three projects mentioned in the petition for a mobility authority and included bike baths and light rail in a resolution supporting it.
Before the question goes to the Texas Transportation Department's governing body, the department will conduct at least one major public hearing on the issue and then will make its own recommendation to the transportation commission. The commission will consider the public input and the community's support and opposition to a regional mobility authority before deciding whether to grant El Paso's petition.
Chuck Berry, the El Paso district engineer for the state transportation department, said this should happen in May or June. Then, the decision to create a regional mobility authority comes back to the City Council for a final vote.
Berry said the highway project El Paso needs the most -- a five-mile raised roadway that would extend the Border Highway from Downtown to Sunland Park Drive and Interstate 10 -- would cost $300 to $400 million.
It is so expensive that the state has never put it on the list of scheduled construction projects, and without additional income from tolls, it may not be built for decades, he said.
Berry estimated that the toll for that stretch of new road would be about 60 cents per vehicle.
Tolls wouldn't be paid at traditional toll booths requiring traffic to stop or slow down, but by sensors that would read bar codes on stickers on vehicle windshields and automatically charge tolls to bank accounts, credit cards or funds that drivers would keep up.
By state law, a mobility authority cannot charge tolls for the use of pre-existing traffic lanes. It can charge only for new lanes.
The Texas Transportation Commission has never denied a community's petition.
The areas with active regional mobility authorities:
The Central Texas RMA for Austin's Travis County and neighboring Williamson County
San Antonio and Bexar County's Alamo RMA
Cameron County RMA (Brownsville)
Grayson County RMA (Sherman)
Hidalgo County RMA (McAllen)
Northeast Texas RMA (Tyler)
The issue is still being fought out in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, where opposition is strong.
Dallas and Houston have had toll road authorities for decades that are independent of the Texas Transportation Commission, said TxDoT spokesman Randall Dillard.
If the El Paso City Council creates a regional mobility authority this summer, it will be an independent government agency. The chairperson will be appointed by the governor, and the rest of the board will be named by City Council to two-year terms. Half the board will come up for reappointment or replacement every year to increase accountability.
David Crowder may be reached at dcrowder@elpasotimes.com; 546-6194.
Copyright © 2006 El Paso Times www.borderlandnews.com
February 26, 2006
David Crowder
El Paso Times
Copyright 2006
The idea of toll roads is as unpopular in El Paso today as it was two years ago, and Mayor John Cook figures that's not likely to change.
Nor, he says, will his support for a regional mobility authority, which could use road toll revenues to provide the supplemental funding needed to get expensive and much needed highway projects started decades before they might be built by the Texas Department of Transportation.
An El Paso Times/KVIA ABC 7 Poll shows 59 percent of El Pasoans oppose toll roads as a way to pay for expensive transportation projects while 38 percent favor them -- the same percentage as in 2004.
"I'm surprised the number in favor is that high," Cook said. "Most people, if you ask them whether they are in favor of tolls, would say they'd rather hold on to their quarter.
"I'm only surprised there's not more opposition."
But Cook said that will not keep him and a majority of City Council members from pushing ahead with the creation of a regional mobility authority because they see it as crucial to the city's future.
"Yes there is opposition, but I think we have a City Council that votes its conscience and that says, 'We have to look at what's best for El Paso, not just what's best for me.' "
Two weeks ago -- after hearing residents speak for and against going forward with an El Paso mobility authority -- City Council voted 5-3 to petition the Texas Transportation Commission for the power to establish an authority.
"What is the rush? Why do we have to do this today?" said East-Central city Rep. José Alexandro Lozano, who had 20 questions he wanted answered first.
Northeast city Rep. Melina Castro and East-Valley city Rep. Eddie Holguin also opposed the petition because an authority would not be accountable enough to the public and road tolls would amount to a new tax.
Miguel Rodriguez, president of the Chihuahuita Neighborhood Association, said he had opposed an authority and the extension of the Border Highway until he saw the route plans that would take the proposed new roadway around the historical Chihuahuita district, not through it or over it as residents had feared.
"We were concerned about the fate of Chihuahuita," he said. "In my opinion, they should still do more study on this before going into tolling.
"We can look at an added fuel tax or driver's license fee or a car title fee."
Eastsider Mike Rooney, who has followed the issue closely for more than a year and participated in the process that brought the issue to the City Council, also supports the Border Highway extension but has overriding reservations about the accountability question.
"What you're seeing from people is the discomfort about the whole thing," he said. "Why do we have to go so fast?"
Rooney said he objects to including bus service in the county and bicycle paths in the list of ways that the City Council wants to spend toll money.
"If highways are the priority, why would you divert your toll money away from that to mass transit or light rail or bike paths," he said. "Why would we want to divert the funds?"
At the urging of South-West city Rep. Beto O'Rourke and Eastridge/ Mid-Valley city Rep. Steve Ortega, the council included county mass transit in the three projects mentioned in the petition for a mobility authority and included bike baths and light rail in a resolution supporting it.
Before the question goes to the Texas Transportation Department's governing body, the department will conduct at least one major public hearing on the issue and then will make its own recommendation to the transportation commission. The commission will consider the public input and the community's support and opposition to a regional mobility authority before deciding whether to grant El Paso's petition.
Chuck Berry, the El Paso district engineer for the state transportation department, said this should happen in May or June. Then, the decision to create a regional mobility authority comes back to the City Council for a final vote.
Berry said the highway project El Paso needs the most -- a five-mile raised roadway that would extend the Border Highway from Downtown to Sunland Park Drive and Interstate 10 -- would cost $300 to $400 million.
It is so expensive that the state has never put it on the list of scheduled construction projects, and without additional income from tolls, it may not be built for decades, he said.
Berry estimated that the toll for that stretch of new road would be about 60 cents per vehicle.
Tolls wouldn't be paid at traditional toll booths requiring traffic to stop or slow down, but by sensors that would read bar codes on stickers on vehicle windshields and automatically charge tolls to bank accounts, credit cards or funds that drivers would keep up.
By state law, a mobility authority cannot charge tolls for the use of pre-existing traffic lanes. It can charge only for new lanes.
The Texas Transportation Commission has never denied a community's petition.
The areas with active regional mobility authorities:
The Central Texas RMA for Austin's Travis County and neighboring Williamson County
San Antonio and Bexar County's Alamo RMA
Cameron County RMA (Brownsville)
Grayson County RMA (Sherman)
Hidalgo County RMA (McAllen)
Northeast Texas RMA (Tyler)
The issue is still being fought out in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, where opposition is strong.
Dallas and Houston have had toll road authorities for decades that are independent of the Texas Transportation Commission, said TxDoT spokesman Randall Dillard.
If the El Paso City Council creates a regional mobility authority this summer, it will be an independent government agency. The chairperson will be appointed by the governor, and the rest of the board will be named by City Council to two-year terms. Half the board will come up for reappointment or replacement every year to increase accountability.
David Crowder may be reached at dcrowder@elpasotimes.com; 546-6194.
Copyright © 2006 El Paso Times
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Sunday, February 26, 2006
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