State lawmaker gauging public opinion on divisive Trinity toll road
State Rep. Rafael Anchia wants to know what you think of plans for the Trinity River toll road. The Dallas Democrat is circulating a survey gauging people’s opinions about the long-running and ever-controversial project. I’m awaiting word on what prompted the questionnaire — and what Anchia plans to do with it.
The move comes on the heels of the North Central Texas Council of Governments backing off of plans to involve the state transportation department in financing the divisive road. NCTCOG transportation director Michael Morris has said the Texas Department of Transportation could be a part of the solution to find money for the road. But top state transportation officials said they want no part of it. As such, NCTCOG officials said this week they are stripping from their legislative agenda an item that would have sought legislative approval for TxDOT to find a private developer for the project.
That doesn’t mean the road is dead. Far from. The city and the North Texas Tollway Authority have a years-old contract to build the road. And NTTA already has the legal ability to find a private developer to help finance the $1.5 billion project. And NCTCOG’s transportation council last month agreed to put the road on a federal list of projects in need of private partners.
Meanwhile, a city attorney has said the contract between Dallas and NTTA is likely no longer enforceable. NTTA hasn’t sought a different opinion and says its inappropriate to comment on the project while federal authorities are deciding whether or not to approve it. But a majority of City Council members, including Mayor Mike Rawlings, support the project.
City and civic leaders on both sides of the issue spoke last month at a meeting of the Stemmons Corridor Business Association about the road. Supporters say its needs have long been spelled out in the city’s Balanced Vision Plan.
But an author of that plan said earlier this year that the toll road as planned today is a far cry from the quaint parkway envisioned in the BVP. Opponents have called it a boondoggle and question the need for the road since it’s not expected to dramatically improve traffic in the area around it. (A report that supporters initially didn’t comment on before they came back and said the congestion it would quell would help drivers while the congestion it would create would create economic development).
City leaders say the road could again become an election issue since several council supporters are terming out in May and every other council seat will also be on next year’s ballot.