03/26/07  Trinity River Toll Road

Herman Goebells, propaganda minister for the Nazi party, used to to say that if you repeat a lie often enough people would think it is the truth.   I feel the same way every time Ron Kirk or other politicians talk about the Trinity River project and toll road.

The project today is vastly more expensive and different than the plan that was barely approved by the citizens of Dallas ten years ago.   The limited access parkway is now a toll road, and the cost is nearly $100 million dollars a mile -- almost double the cost of rebuilding Central Expressway. 

Now, that the Army Corps of Engineers wants to move the toll road away from the levees, it increases the chance of the road being under water when the Trinity River floods, which happens with less and less rain due to excessive development north of the city of Dallas.   The only way to prevent the closing of the toll road will be to elevate the road which will increase the cost even further.

The route the toll road takes is a route used by less than 5% of the cars and trucks which go through the Mixmaster daily per a TXDOT study.  I cannot imagine the people who drive I-35 from south of I-20 to Irving and points north on a daily basis will want to drive all the way to Seagoville and pay extra to save a few minutes of time going through the Mixmaster. 

The 2000 Environmental Impact Study (EIS) stated that building the toll road would save 6 to 9 minutes vs the current travel time.

Since the 1995 election, there are less expensive alternatives to move people and more important reasons to kill this project.   

One of those alternatives is the construction of DART's Orange and Green lines, which will be completed in 2010 before the Trinity Toll Road construction is completed.    The beauty of light rail is you can easily increase the capacity of this mode of transportation by adding more rail cars or running the trains more frequently.  Diverting funding from the Toll road to add additional light rail lines beyond these two rail lines could help move more people at less cost.   Also, with the rising cost of gasoline which was a $1 a gallon when this election was held vs the $2.35 now and potentially $4 or $5 when the toll road is completed, there may not be enough traffic to fill the toll road.  Of course, there has not been a new study since gasoline has gotten so much more expensive.   

As for the parks that were in the original bond program, they are not fully funded and will require additional bond funds at a future date.   This in a city which does not have adequate funding to maintain existing parks. 

The citizens of Dallas should demand an opportunity to vote on this project one more time.

Stan Aten