Chris Elam points to this story on Fort Bend County’s Grand Parkway that says TxDOT has decided not to build tolled overpasses, due to the negative reaction from Katy residents:
Pressure from Katy-area residents led transportation officials to scrap plans to add tolled overpasses on the Grand Parkway in north Fort Bend County.
The Texas Department of Transportation canceled a public hearing for Wednesday evening, and will be going back to the drawing board to decide on a plan to fund additional lanes to the existing portion of the Grand Parkway.
[snip]
Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers said he prefers a free road, but has supported the idea of tolling new lanes to speed up the construction process.
Meyers said some residents in Cinco Ranch and Katy opposed the plan, equating the tolled lanes to “double taxation.”
Later, Commissioner Andy Meyers commented about this on Chris’ blog:
About 5 years ago TxDOT began mentioning the Grand Parkway in terms of it being a toll road. I met with Highway Commissioners Johnson and Nichols and they confirmed that any new construction on the Grand Parkway would be tolled, including any overpasses.
Three years ago when I was elected Chairman of H-GAC I formed a Committee to look at the possibility of the seven counties through which the Grand Parkway is to run jointly building the Grand Parkway as a toll road.
Shortly thereafter Harris County proposed that it build the entire Grand Parkway as a toll road.
[snip]
My proposal for Fort Bend County to build the overpasses and segment C was becasue I believed that the county could build the Grand Parkway quicker and for less money. In addition, the county would allow more access to and from the Grand Parkway than would TxDOT to accomodate more commercial development along the Grand Parkway.
The problem here is that toll road authorities CAN build much quicker and no doubt for less money, but they can also run roughshod over local citizens and municipalities, as state Sen. Jon Lindsay and Harris County are trying to do up in Spring.
And Commissioner Meyers says this:
TxDOT did decide not to toll the overpasses and it now appears that new additional construction of the Grand Parkway is stalled because of the lack of funds and resistance to tolling by state officials. Several bills have been introduced in the legislature to prevent TxDOT from tolling “existing” roads with the definition of “existing” being rather broad to include all roads on which some type of work had already begun and that would include much of the Grand Parkway. The bills actually becomming law is still up in the air as the legistature is still in session.
Yeah, well, there is also at least one bill that would allow a state road to be transferred to a toll road authority for completion whereupon it would be transferred back to the state. That is Sen. Lindsay’s way of getting the Grand Parkway built through Spring while circumventing the local citizenry’s efforts to get it moved. Unfortunately, Sen. Lindsay’s bill would have a much greater impact than just on little ol’ Spring.
If tolled overpasses are the best idea for the Fort Bend County section of the Grand Parkway, then so be it. But there are plenty of us who are not in favor of legislation or precedents that would make it easier for Fort Bend County to get what it wants, if it would also make it easier for Harris County to do what Sen. Lindsay wants to do in Spring.
