FINAL SAMPO VOTE: 281/1604 left in toll plan'Bad Guy' voting list from Monday's meeting... |
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WHAT GIVES?Because TxDOT colluded to break federal law in how they did the environmental work for the 281 & 1604 toll roads (they hid documents from the Federal Highway Administration - FHWA - that showed potential "severe" impact to the Edwards Aquifer, a TxDOT employee hired her own husband's company to rig part of the study, etc.), the FHWA yanked their environmental clearance. The EARLIEST the MEGA toll road option could be built (20 lanes wide, $1.4 billion price tag) is 7-9 years from now (3-5 years for new environmental study, 3.8 years to build it). So the toll road is clearly NOT an option! The residents, commuters, and businesses cannot and WILL NOT wait nearly a decade to get relief when all we need are overpasses! Ditto for 1604! (Go to www.281OverpassesNOW.com for more info on the already FUNDED, less expensive, less invasive overpass plan. Here are details on what the toll roads would cost you!). Even worse, the toll contracts guarantee congestion by prohibiting expansion of the parallel free routes (like Stone Oak, Blanco, Bulverde, Bandera, Braun, and Shaenfield from being widened)! Read more about 'non-compete clauses' in toll contracts here. There are provisions in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) law that would restore the environmental clearance if TxDOT and the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (ARMA) would work with the community on a scaled back, non-toll solution (like the overpass expansion plan, only 10 lanes wide at a cost of $170 million). There is NO opposition to the overpass FREEway plan. Let's get it done NOW! |
OPERATION: MELTDOWN the PHONESStuck in traffic? Instead of stewing while you're sitting at the stoplights on 281 or 1604, program your cell phone with the phone numbers of your State Representative and State Senator and call them EVERY morning and EVERY evening and INSIST they give us the non-toll overpass plan on 281 NOW! Unless we meltdown their phone lines EVERY DAY, we'll be stuck in limbo indefinitely. Start today and continue until it is fixed! The Legislative session ended in June with no change. We can END the wrangling over 281/1604 once and for all with enough public pressure or a law to keep TxDOT/ARMA from stealing our FREEways and replacing them with frontage roads. The current law is rife with loopholes . . . accept NO MORE EXCUSES and let's get the overpasses on 281/1604 NOW! >> Call Your Reps | 281 area | 1604 area |
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FIND YOUR POLITICIANS>> Find your representatives here While the Legislature is in session (until the end of May), it's best to call your legislators at their Austin offices. 281 area politicians -Hill Country - Bexar County - 1604 area politicians -West 1604 - North Central 1604 - East 1604 - |
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