BIKE: CAMPO hearing tomorrow

[Fred Meredith]

At 3:08 PM -0500 5/10/04, Bob Farr wrote:
>Nevermind that toll roads will create yet another layer of barrier 
>roads to all
>cyclists and pedestrians. Toll roads are poison to cyclists because large
>numbers of car drivers will be encouraged to seek out non-toll 
>service roads and
>side streets -- turning the places were we currently ride into something else
>entirely.

Some might also say that we need to let Austin's gridlock go on even 
longer -- until the citizenry itself concludes that options like mass 
transit are to their advantage. Cities like Philadelphia, New York 
and Chicago didn't get huge mass transit systems because someone sat 
down and decided they were good things before the whole place 
achieved gridlock. I suspect we still need to get some folks 
attention -- enough to get them to try something besides their 
single-occupant motor vehicle.

Toll roads have suddenly emerged as a "solution" about the time that 
TxDOT has found its own coffers depleted. As long as they have had 
lots of funding to throw around and the practice of working with that 
20%  off the top and things like Austin's willingness to chip in more 
than asked as "not-a-bribe" money to get bumped up the list of 
timelines ... well, it all has a definite suspicious odor about it.

I'm not as worried about tons of people avoiding toll roads by 
running surface streets as I am about replenishing TxDOT's treasury 
so more concrete boondoggling can go forward.

Just my paranoid mumblings in the morning. I've got to get back to work.

Fred
-- 
When in doubt ... ride your bike (or at least write about it).

Fred Meredith
P.O. Box 100 (12702 Lowden Ln for UPS/FedEx)
Manchaca, TX 78652
512/282-1987 (office/home)
512/282-7413 (fax)
512/636-7480 (wireless)
More than you want to know at: http://2merediths.com