"Eastern Metroplex drivers who already pay tolls would be footing the bill for a Fort Worth project."
Subsidies from private roads eyed
Mar. 16, 2006
By GORDON DICKSON
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2006
PLANO - Money collected on private toll roads could subsidize North Texas Tollway Authority projects such as Southwest Parkway in Fort Worth, a transportation official said Wednesday.
A recent study by the tollway authority reported that tolls paid on Southwest Parkway will not cover the authority's cost of building it, partly because the road will be designed for a 50-mph speed limit -- too slow for many toll-paying customers.
As a result, some officials in Dallas and Collin counties say they oppose the project because eastern Metroplex drivers who already pay tolls would be footing the bill for a Fort Worth project. All tolls in the Metroplex essentially go into the same pot.
But Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, told tollway board members Wednesday that if private companies are invited to build toll roads in the Metroplex, they might be willing to pay millions of dollars upfront, which could then help the tollway authority make ends meet.
Later, Morris clarified that he didn't know whether there is still time to change the funding arrangement on Southwest Parkway, which is scheduled to be under construction by 2008 and completed by 2010. But future projects could include a combination of tollway authority and private funds, he said.
The tollway authority, Fort Worth and the Texas Department of Transportation have agreed to divide the estimated $825 million cost of Southwest Parkway. The 8-mile road will run from near Forest Park Boulevard west of downtown to Altamesa Boulevard in southwest Fort Worth.
Morris' visit was an attempt to soothe nerves over the issue of privately funded toll roads. State officials, noting a chronic shortage of tax dollars for highways, are encouraging companies to build roads and keep the tolls in exchange for large upfront payments -- millions, or perhaps billions, of dollars that can then be used to fund other road work.
Tollway authority officials, who serve at the pleasure of county commissioners courts, say they want to be the region's lead toll road agency.
Caught in the middle is the council of governments and its sister group, the Regional Transportation Council, which are under orders from the Texas Department of Transportation to approve written guidelines by April 16 explaining what level of tolls the Metroplex will accept.
Those guidelines will help private companies decide whether to bid on a toll project in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The tollway authority has traditionally charged about 10 cents per mile on highways such as the Dallas North Tollway and President George Bush Turnpike, although that rate is expected to climb to 12 cents by 2010. However, private companies like to charge what the market will bear, and in congested areas motorists could wind up paying double or triple what they're used to.
Morris is proposing that North Texas adopt a lower threshold, perhaps no more than 18 cents per mile during peak periods of congestion and 13 cents during less crowded times.
Gordon Dickson, (817) 685-3816 gdickson@star-telegram.com
© 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram: www.dfw.com
Mar. 16, 2006
By GORDON DICKSON
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2006
PLANO - Money collected on private toll roads could subsidize North Texas Tollway Authority projects such as Southwest Parkway in Fort Worth, a transportation official said Wednesday.
A recent study by the tollway authority reported that tolls paid on Southwest Parkway will not cover the authority's cost of building it, partly because the road will be designed for a 50-mph speed limit -- too slow for many toll-paying customers.
As a result, some officials in Dallas and Collin counties say they oppose the project because eastern Metroplex drivers who already pay tolls would be footing the bill for a Fort Worth project. All tolls in the Metroplex essentially go into the same pot.
But Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, told tollway board members Wednesday that if private companies are invited to build toll roads in the Metroplex, they might be willing to pay millions of dollars upfront, which could then help the tollway authority make ends meet.
Later, Morris clarified that he didn't know whether there is still time to change the funding arrangement on Southwest Parkway, which is scheduled to be under construction by 2008 and completed by 2010. But future projects could include a combination of tollway authority and private funds, he said.
The tollway authority, Fort Worth and the Texas Department of Transportation have agreed to divide the estimated $825 million cost of Southwest Parkway. The 8-mile road will run from near Forest Park Boulevard west of downtown to Altamesa Boulevard in southwest Fort Worth.
Morris' visit was an attempt to soothe nerves over the issue of privately funded toll roads. State officials, noting a chronic shortage of tax dollars for highways, are encouraging companies to build roads and keep the tolls in exchange for large upfront payments -- millions, or perhaps billions, of dollars that can then be used to fund other road work.
Tollway authority officials, who serve at the pleasure of county commissioners courts, say they want to be the region's lead toll road agency.
Caught in the middle is the council of governments and its sister group, the Regional Transportation Council, which are under orders from the Texas Department of Transportation to approve written guidelines by April 16 explaining what level of tolls the Metroplex will accept.
Those guidelines will help private companies decide whether to bid on a toll project in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The tollway authority has traditionally charged about 10 cents per mile on highways such as the Dallas North Tollway and President George Bush Turnpike, although that rate is expected to climb to 12 cents by 2010. However, private companies like to charge what the market will bear, and in congested areas motorists could wind up paying double or triple what they're used to.
Morris is proposing that North Texas adopt a lower threshold, perhaps no more than 18 cents per mile during peak periods of congestion and 13 cents during less crowded times.
Gordon Dickson, (817) 685-3816 gdickson@star-telegram.com
© 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, March 16, 2006
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