Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty vowed about six months ago to drive along all the roads in his western precinct that would be affected by toll roads. He said that while he drives he takes note of cliffs, steep hills and habitat property to assess the practicality of a proposed long-range toll plan.
"What I'm not willing to do is just raise my hand and sign off on this plan," Daugherty said.
The regional toll road planning board also decided it was not ready to vote on the outline of the proposed toll roads and highway financing for the year 2030 Monday night. The 23 state and local representatives from Hays, Travis and Williamson counties faced unexpected changes in the plan from the board staff and postponed the vote to June.
"We need to take a time-out here and keep working in the meantime to get a consensus built," said Precinct 2 Travis County Commissioner Karen Sonleitner.
The 2030 changes, presented by toll board Executive Director Michael Aulick, included misspellings, typos, how the town of Elgin would now be incorporated in the plan and a formerly unmentioned 1-cent increase in a 3.5-cent gas tax. Board Chairman and state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, said staff should have been more prepared to provide available information.
The total cost of the plan will be $22 billion, according to Aulick at the March 14 meeting. Construction costs are estimated at $13 billion and operation and maintenance at $9 billion. Funding has been proposed from gas taxes, federal grants and state sources such as the Texas Department of Transportation.
The toll board staff said Monday's meeting was the first available time to approve the plan after holding its public hearings. The federal deadline to adopt the plan is June 12; and, if the 2030 plan is not approved by then, funding and authorization would be harder to obtain, according to Deputy Director Maureen McCoy Daniel.
The 10 state legislators serving on the board would also be finishing their legislative session near the end of May, which was one reason for an early vote, but a rescheduled meeting in early June would still give the board time to decide before the federal deadline.
Austin City Councilman Daryl Slusher announced last week his intent to ask the board to delay voting. Slusher said unanswered questions about the increasing road congestion made him skeptical about voting so soon.
Slusher also proposed to the board an initiative to purchase land over the Barton Springs recharge zone to secure environmental protection for it and improve water quality controls.
"It would eventually save TxDOT and local jurisdictions money," Slusher said. "It would help solve the very critical issue of protecting Hill Country."
Councilman Brewster McCracken opposed the plan because not enough money would help relieve the congestion of Interstate 35, which he said was the central traffic issue in the region.
McCracken said the 2030 plan contradicted the Envision Central Texas regional developing survey of residents, which advocated steering growth away from scenic and environmentally sensitive areas.
Daugherty said he still had about a dozen more roads to gauge in his precinct but saw the need to physically drive on the roads on which he would be making decisions.
"I don't know why every board member hasn't taken it on," he said.
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