"Unnecessary delay will only increase the cost of the project and increase the frustration of motorists."
Commentary
Comment: Toll roads pave way to a better future
02/09/2006
Joseph Krier
Chairman, San Antonio Mobility Coalition
San Antonio Express-New
Recent columns by Carlos Guerra suggest the proposed toll lane system for Bexar County will fuel additional growth and degrade the environment.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
First, rapid and sustained growth is already occurring in North Bexar County and points beyond. Our metropolitan population is projected to grow to 2.4 million from 1.4 million, and the work force will double to 1.3 million by 2030.
Households are anticipated to grow from 26 percent to 50 percent along the Loop 1604 corridor. Major employers (such as Washington Mutual and the PGA Tour resort), major retail developments (such as the Shops at La Cantera, the Rim and Bass Pro Shops and Regal Hills) and major housing developments are already occurring along significant portions of U.S. 281 and Loop 1604.
Austin discovered the following dilemma during the past decade: Even if you don't build it (needed transportation projects), they still come. Austin is playing "catch up" with its transportation network, and its residents suffer painfully long commuting times. We have an opportunity to do better.
People are moving rapidly into North Bexar County. The Northside Independent School District alone is adding 11 new schools by 2008 and expects 2,500 new students per year.
Toll lanes are not fueling this growth; they are a necessary and vital response to it.
What the proposed toll lanes will do is ease traffic congestion. By providing toll express lanes, these projects can be brought on line in just a few years, rather than waiting up to two more decades for traditional funding to become available.
In addition to accelerating needed congestion relief and saving drivers' time, the toll lane network will also provide a major environmental benefit — better air quality.
Drivers stuck in traffic waste fuel (the equivalent of 3,800 tank trucks annually in the San Antonio metropolitan area) and emit more hydrocarbons.
We can ill afford an inadequate transportation system that worsens our air quality. The toll system will keep motorists moving and result in reduced air emissions and less wasted fuel.
During the coming months, as the Texas Department of Transportation revisits the environmental assessment for U.S. 281, it is essential that all critical environmental issues associated with this project be fully addressed.
Those of us who champion the proposed toll lane system are confident the environmental benefits of the network will more than offset any potential environmental costs.
The environmental and growth concerns raised by toll opponents really would apply to any expansion of the highway — tolled or non-tolled. The issue of tolling has much more to do with how the project is paid for and how soon it can be built, and much less to do with the physical structure of the facility.
The benefits — time, congestion relief, project acceleration and air quality — provide more than ample reason to proceed with construction of the proposed toll lane system. Unnecessary delay will only increase the cost of the project and increase the frustration of motorists.
Guerra suggests other options have not been considered. Other options have been considered for many years. For example, a proposed light rail system was soundly defeated by voters in May 2000 and was then taken off the table as a viable option. A commuter rail system (Austin to San Antonio) is now under development. VIA's express bus service to various points along Loop 1604 was recently expanded. Additional funding from the advanced transportation district quarter-cent sales tax is being used to further enhance the public transit system and improve arterials. The approach is multimodal, not just exclusively highways.
We suspect Guerra's proposal to "encourage less driving by raising gas taxes" would be extremely unpopular with motorists and legislators alike, as well as bad for the economy.
While a modest gas tax increase will likely be needed at some point to simply maintain our existing system, the type of punitive gas tax proposed by Guerra should be contrasted with the concept of choice and additional options that would be provided by toll lanes.
Krier is chairman of the San Antonio Mobility Coalition and president and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News: www.mysanantonio.com
Comment: Toll roads pave way to a better future
02/09/2006
Joseph Krier
Chairman, San Antonio Mobility Coalition
San Antonio Express-New
Recent columns by Carlos Guerra suggest the proposed toll lane system for Bexar County will fuel additional growth and degrade the environment.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
First, rapid and sustained growth is already occurring in North Bexar County and points beyond. Our metropolitan population is projected to grow to 2.4 million from 1.4 million, and the work force will double to 1.3 million by 2030.
Households are anticipated to grow from 26 percent to 50 percent along the Loop 1604 corridor. Major employers (such as Washington Mutual and the PGA Tour resort), major retail developments (such as the Shops at La Cantera, the Rim and Bass Pro Shops and Regal Hills) and major housing developments are already occurring along significant portions of U.S. 281 and Loop 1604.
Austin discovered the following dilemma during the past decade: Even if you don't build it (needed transportation projects), they still come. Austin is playing "catch up" with its transportation network, and its residents suffer painfully long commuting times. We have an opportunity to do better.
People are moving rapidly into North Bexar County. The Northside Independent School District alone is adding 11 new schools by 2008 and expects 2,500 new students per year.
Toll lanes are not fueling this growth; they are a necessary and vital response to it.
What the proposed toll lanes will do is ease traffic congestion. By providing toll express lanes, these projects can be brought on line in just a few years, rather than waiting up to two more decades for traditional funding to become available.
In addition to accelerating needed congestion relief and saving drivers' time, the toll lane network will also provide a major environmental benefit — better air quality.
Drivers stuck in traffic waste fuel (the equivalent of 3,800 tank trucks annually in the San Antonio metropolitan area) and emit more hydrocarbons.
We can ill afford an inadequate transportation system that worsens our air quality. The toll system will keep motorists moving and result in reduced air emissions and less wasted fuel.
During the coming months, as the Texas Department of Transportation revisits the environmental assessment for U.S. 281, it is essential that all critical environmental issues associated with this project be fully addressed.
Those of us who champion the proposed toll lane system are confident the environmental benefits of the network will more than offset any potential environmental costs.
The environmental and growth concerns raised by toll opponents really would apply to any expansion of the highway — tolled or non-tolled. The issue of tolling has much more to do with how the project is paid for and how soon it can be built, and much less to do with the physical structure of the facility.
The benefits — time, congestion relief, project acceleration and air quality — provide more than ample reason to proceed with construction of the proposed toll lane system. Unnecessary delay will only increase the cost of the project and increase the frustration of motorists.
Guerra suggests other options have not been considered. Other options have been considered for many years. For example, a proposed light rail system was soundly defeated by voters in May 2000 and was then taken off the table as a viable option. A commuter rail system (Austin to San Antonio) is now under development. VIA's express bus service to various points along Loop 1604 was recently expanded. Additional funding from the advanced transportation district quarter-cent sales tax is being used to further enhance the public transit system and improve arterials. The approach is multimodal, not just exclusively highways.
We suspect Guerra's proposal to "encourage less driving by raising gas taxes" would be extremely unpopular with motorists and legislators alike, as well as bad for the economy.
While a modest gas tax increase will likely be needed at some point to simply maintain our existing system, the type of punitive gas tax proposed by Guerra should be contrasted with the concept of choice and additional options that would be provided by toll lanes.
Krier is chairman of the San Antonio Mobility Coalition and president and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, February 09, 2006
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