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By Joni Simon
Contributing Writer Anti-toll road activists are vowing to pursue criminal indictments against transportation planners, and ambitious dreams of a wide network of toll roads across Bexar County are in shambles following last week’s decision by the Texas Department of Transportation to pull its approval for new toll lanes on U.S. Highway 281. The approval for the $328 million project was yanked after TxDOT uncovered possible irregularities in the procurement of a scientific services contract that was utilized in the preparation of the environmental assessment. Apparently, the scientific study which led officials to determine that the project would not damage the environment and Edwards Aquifer was flawed, and the result could be that no toll lanes will ever be allowed in that area. “Our reaction is that we are absolutely pleased,” said Terri Hall of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, a long-time toll-road opponent. “The grassroots have been waiting for this for a long time.” Henry Munoz III of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority said officials had no choice but to put a halt to the project. “The project is dead for now, and as appointed officials, our job has been and continues to be to safeguard the interests of the citizens of Bexar County,” Munoz said. “Today that means we have to place a project on hold that we still believe is incredibly important to the future of our community.” Hall said anti-toll groups will now push officials to move forward with a proposal to build overpasses on U.S. 281 at Encino Rio, Evans Road, and Stone Oak Parkway. Hall said the project would cost far less and would have the same effect, to eliminate the rush-hour congestion on U.S. 281, which her group says is caused by the poorly calibrated traffic lights at the three intersections. “The citizens from day one have been asking them to put in the freeway overpasses which have been funded and paid for with our gas taxes since 2003,” Hall said. At one point, RMA leaders had bold plans for a network of toll roads which would radiate out from U.S. 281 to include toll lanes on Loop 1604, and Interstates 10 and 35 across the length and width of Bexar County. “Even if this thing can move forward, it clearly is not a process which will be able to proceed any time soon,” Munoz said. Munoz said the losers in the stunning decision are the motorists of north Bexar county. “Congestion remains a serious problem,” he said. “This decision does not eliminate any of that congestion, and the congestion will continue to grow.” Hall said she will continue lobbying for the construction of overpasses on U.S. 281 and to try to abolish the RMA. “We don’t think we need a tolling authority,” she said. “We have never thought that toll roads were the best thing for San Antonio. And they have never given the citizens any kind of vote or even a say in this process.” Hall has long claimed that the drive to build toll roads in Bexar County has been “fast tracked” by the RMA, the Metropolitan Planning Organ-ization and other unelected groups, which have have been determined from the beginning to “shove toll roads down the throats of the people.” Hall said she would also call on the Texas Attorney General and other prosecutors to investigate the officials who pushed forward with the toll plans. “This was not a technicality,” she said. “They got caught breaking the law. And the word they used, ‘irregularity,’ is a spin for having submitted a fraudulent study to the federal highway department.” |
