Unpopular Toll Road Idea We Said Was Dead Might Not Be Dead
North Texas' regional transportation officials recently announced that they would no longer recommend forcing people out of their homes in the countryside northeast of Dallas to build another toll road, because it turned out that people didn't like the idea. "We thought we had consensus that we should proceed in this direction, and obviously we were wrong," said Michael Morris, transportation director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, when we talked last week.Mark Haslett Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, is no longer recommending Texas Turnpike Corp.'s private toll road project. But the state still sort-of is.
But does a regional transportation official's recommendation even mean anything anymore? In this fast-paced world of Texas transportation officials and unpopular toll road projects, the state is sending mixed messages about whether the toll road is really dead.