Don't use the 'T' word
TxDOT officials slap a muzzle on toll road talk at public meet
6/23/2006
Patrick Driscoll
San Antonio Express-News
Copyright 2006
State officials say tolls are important to fund new highway lanes, but when it comes to non-toll projects, they apparently don't want to hear about it.
In fact, they banned mention of the word at a public meeting this week.
At the meeting, held Tuesday to get input on plans to widen Texas 46, Terri Hall of San Antonio Toll Party was told to wrap up her comments because her three minutes were running out, said Laura Lopez, spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Transportation.
But then Hall began talking about tolls, so she was stopped.
"It was mentioned at the beginning of the meeting that this was not a meeting to discuss tolls because it's not part of the project," Lopez said. "And if there was any comments about us tolling, we would stop that person from ... you know ... we're not tolling."
Another speaker who brought up tolls was asked to drop the subject, but when he replied that TxDOT works for him, law enforcement officers approached to cut him off, Lopez said.
"Where will this suppression stop?" said Hall, a vocal critic of tolls. "I thought this was America, where protecting and defending our First Amendment constitutional rights are sacred."
About 200 people attended the meeting at New Braunfels High School and about 20 spoke.
The crux of the friction between Hall and TxDOT over Texas 46 has to do with whether the state is eying tolls for the highway.
Fueled by a study to determine the feasibility of tolling new lanes on Texas 46, and a financing agreement that says county officials and TxDOT would have to agree to any future tolls, Hall says she suspects that TxDOT intends to eventually put toll lanes there.
TxDOT flatly says there are no plans to toll Texas 46, and that the study showed tolls are not feasible.
The $47.7 million project will widen the highway to seven lanes near Bulverde and New Braunfels and three lanes between the cities, with construction possibly starting in 2008. Later, the whole road could be seven lanes.
pdriscoll@express-news.net
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News: www.mysanantonio.com
6/23/2006
Patrick Driscoll
San Antonio Express-News
Copyright 2006
State officials say tolls are important to fund new highway lanes, but when it comes to non-toll projects, they apparently don't want to hear about it.
In fact, they banned mention of the word at a public meeting this week.
At the meeting, held Tuesday to get input on plans to widen Texas 46, Terri Hall of San Antonio Toll Party was told to wrap up her comments because her three minutes were running out, said Laura Lopez, spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Transportation.
But then Hall began talking about tolls, so she was stopped.
"It was mentioned at the beginning of the meeting that this was not a meeting to discuss tolls because it's not part of the project," Lopez said. "And if there was any comments about us tolling, we would stop that person from ... you know ... we're not tolling."
Another speaker who brought up tolls was asked to drop the subject, but when he replied that TxDOT works for him, law enforcement officers approached to cut him off, Lopez said.
"Where will this suppression stop?" said Hall, a vocal critic of tolls. "I thought this was America, where protecting and defending our First Amendment constitutional rights are sacred."
About 200 people attended the meeting at New Braunfels High School and about 20 spoke.
The crux of the friction between Hall and TxDOT over Texas 46 has to do with whether the state is eying tolls for the highway.
Fueled by a study to determine the feasibility of tolling new lanes on Texas 46, and a financing agreement that says county officials and TxDOT would have to agree to any future tolls, Hall says she suspects that TxDOT intends to eventually put toll lanes there.
TxDOT flatly says there are no plans to toll Texas 46, and that the study showed tolls are not feasible.
The $47.7 million project will widen the highway to seven lanes near Bulverde and New Braunfels and three lanes between the cities, with construction possibly starting in 2008. Later, the whole road could be seven lanes.
pdriscoll@express-news.net
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Friday, June 23, 2006
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