CAMPO delays toll road plan two more months
Naked City
7/14/06
Austin Chronicle
Copyright 2006
A vote to add additional toll roads to the region's short-term transportation plan – known as the Transportation Improvement Plan – was delayed at least one – and possibly two – more months as CAMPO hashes out questions on the financial viability of toll roads.
Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, had asked some pointed questions about the cost of the region's transportation plan, with and without toll roads, but those won't be answered until the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority sees the full traffic-and-revenue estimates on the proposed toll road plan, due at the end of the month.
Those same numbers will be used for the independent Charles River Associates' study of the plan's feasibility and other mobility alternatives, as requested by a committee spearheaded by Council Member Brewster McCracken.
Those who support the studies consider the questions critical to a final vote on the toll roads.
Others on the board say it simply delays a vote on the inevitable, which is to acknowledge a need for a bunch of new roads under the state's serious long-term funding constraints.
The latest projection under the Texas Metropolitan Mobility Plan predicts a need for another $26.7 billion in road and rail projects to fully address current congestion needs in the three-county region. The gap between funded and unfunded road projects – funded projects would include the proposed toll road system – is about $10 billion. – K.R.
© 2006 Austin Chronicle Corp. All rights reserved. : www.austinchronicle.com
7/14/06
Austin Chronicle
Copyright 2006
A vote to add additional toll roads to the region's short-term transportation plan – known as the Transportation Improvement Plan – was delayed at least one – and possibly two – more months as CAMPO hashes out questions on the financial viability of toll roads.
Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, had asked some pointed questions about the cost of the region's transportation plan, with and without toll roads, but those won't be answered until the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority sees the full traffic-and-revenue estimates on the proposed toll road plan, due at the end of the month.
Those same numbers will be used for the independent Charles River Associates' study of the plan's feasibility and other mobility alternatives, as requested by a committee spearheaded by Council Member Brewster McCracken.
Those who support the studies consider the questions critical to a final vote on the toll roads.
Others on the board say it simply delays a vote on the inevitable, which is to acknowledge a need for a bunch of new roads under the state's serious long-term funding constraints.
The latest projection under the Texas Metropolitan Mobility Plan predicts a need for another $26.7 billion in road and rail projects to fully address current congestion needs in the three-county region. The gap between funded and unfunded road projects – funded projects would include the proposed toll road system – is about $10 billion. – K.R.
© 2006 Austin Chronicle Corp. All rights reserved. :
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Friday, July 14, 2006
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