BIKE: The "road lobby"

[Patrick Goetz]

Mike Dahmus wrote:
> 
> - I DO believe that if the tolling of these roads is overturned, that 
> the local politicians in Travis County and Austin will do what they did 
> in 1998 and 2000 and put forward a bond package to sweeten the deal to 
> TXDOT to get the roads built quicker, just as Round Rock and Williamson 
> County recently did. This will exceed the old "we're just contributing 
> for our share of right-of-way costs" gambit, as Round Rock and 
> Williamson County already have done. Those bonds will then be repaid 
> over 30 years by local property and sales taxes, as all such bonds are.
> 

Quick Comment:  Even with 1000 miles of additional toll road lanes in 
the 2030 transportation plan, The CAMPO 2030 budget relies heavily on 
local bond initiatives in order to appear solvent -- something on the 
order of 20 billion dollars per 4 year bond cycle (Roger has the exact 
numbers -- I'm quoting from memory).  In other words, they have toll 
roads and are STILL asking for a maximal amout of bond sweetener in 
order to make the numbers work out, so this could NOT be invoked as an 
alternative to toll roads.

You can be sure that the pols already considered this option (do it all 
with bonds) before calling for a toll road plan that has already exposed 
the rather nasty underbelly of corruption, land speculation, and 
cronyism to an extent never before seen in these parts.

So, why do they need tolls AND bonds AND maximal federal funds in order 
to make their plan solvent?  Because it's the stupidest, most resource 
intensive, environment-destroying approach to solving the transportation 
problem that anyone could come up with, of course. The issue is not "to 
toll or not to toll" but rather integrating our thinking about land use 
and transportation and coming up with a more efficient solution to cope 
with potential regional population increases.  Since highways promote 
sprawl, and (high speed/capacity/frequency) rail promotes density, it is 
very obvious where our attention (and, say, at least 20-30% of our 
money) should be focused.

I simply can't understand why we're debating whether it makes more sense 
to spray lighter fluid or kerosene on our house while it is in the 
process of burning to the ground, an apt analogy for the toll road 
debate in progress.  Simple answer:  don't buy or spray either:  go get 
a water hose or two and pray that you didn't start too late to prevent 
disaster.  The water hose in this case is a fast, convenient 
transportation system that promotes density and good land use (and 
consequently walking and biking).  (And no, the Leander Zephyr is not 
going to get the job done.)