The decision to create an independent transportation review of the toll road plan lingered for hours at the City Council meeting Thursday before council members voted unanimously to approve.
City Council agreed to use city funds to hire an independent expert to review the financing of the toll plan. In a resolution sponsored by Councilman Brewster McCracken, an outside transportation consultant would be hired to review the Texas Department of Transportation and Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority.
"I don't believe that what they're looking at involves our project," said CTRMA spokesman Steve Pustelnyk. "It's somewhat irrelevant. The project has been approved and is moving forward; what they're looking at could impact future projects that we could be involved in."
McCracken, a member of the Central Authority Metropolitan Planning Organization, which oversees the toll road planning process, addressed concerns about overestimated toll charges, construction costs and completion estimates.
Within the last three weeks, they have found everything they didn't know the past 10 months, McCracken said.
He presented estimates of average toll charges per mile, which he said was 9 cents nationwide, 11 cents in Dallas and 14 cents in Houston. He said CTRMA originally said charges would be 12 cents to 15 cents, but has changed its estimates from 44 cents to 64 cents, five times higher than the national average and three-to-four-times higher than what CTRMA had given to CAMPO.
McCracken said the total estimated construction cost was $586 million, and $371 million in previously allocated funds were available. He said with a $215 million shortfall, an additional $867.6 million from additional non-toll road funding that will be provided to the region could easily make up for the difference.
He also said highways without tolls could be finished faster with available funding. He named U.S. Highway 290 as an example that could be finished by 2005 without tolling, but instead be completed by 2006 with tolls.
CAMPO Executive Director Michael Aulick opposed the resolution for a review. He said the toll package followed the state funding policy of building expressways, and that the toll costs were similar statewide. Compared to national estimates, he said places such as New Jersey and Delaware had such antiquated toll systems that the costs per mile were much lower than toll ways built in the last 10 years. Aulick said that average was 36 cents per mile.
In reference to financial costs, Aulick said TxDOT and CAMPO funding estimates varied, but with tolling, the projects would still be finished faster.
Sal Costello, founder of People for Efficient Transportation Political Action Committee, supported the resolution. He said the council would be the first political body to represent the people, who wouldn't be able to afford to pay $2 to $5 for each leg of commuting.
The toll plan, updated every five years, will soon be approved by CAMPO around May. McCracken proposed in the resolution that the expert reviewing the plan would report back to the council by April 26. Within the next seven weeks, they hope to find a consultant, said Karen Gross, McCracken's policy director.
