IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, August 1, 2014

CONTACT:
Terri Hall - Founder/Director
Texans Uniting for Reform & Freedom (TURF), & Texans for Toll-free Highways (TTH)
PHONE: (210) 275-0640
EMAIL: terri@texasturf.org an terri@tollfreehighways.org
WEB: www.texasturf.org and www.tollfreehighways.com

How to spend state street car funds, not Via's call

Groups object to road money funding transit projects

(San Antonio, TX) - Today, Via Metropolitan Transit announced its plans to 'defer' street car funds and said it plans to use them on other Via projects. Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF) and Texans for Toll-free Highways (TTH) called on the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the city, county, and the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (AAMPO) to permanently scrap the street car and use those funds to expand US 281 North (outside Loop 1604 to the county line) without tolls.

The Advanced Transportation District (ATD) tax is split between roads and transit with an equal portion going to Via and TxDOT. The original $92 million in ATD funds that were initially programmed for the street car came from the highway, not the transit, portion of the ATD tax. TURF and TTH objected to highway funds being used for a transit project in the first place. Via was given state money, Texas Mobility Funds, in a money swap with ATD funds for the street car. State money is not under the control of Via, so it's not Via's call on how those funds will be spent moving forward.

Both Senator Donna Campbell and Rep. Lyle Larson have called for the street car funds to be redirected to US 281. US 281 has been languishing amidst public opposition to tolled improvements for nearly a decade, and we believe US 281 should be first in line for at least the $92 million in road funds that TxDOT pledged to the project if not some of the city and county funds, too.

Nearly $200 million stolen from US 281
Improvements to US 281 were funded with $100 million in gas taxes until 2008 when the funds disappeared. AAMPO rules dictate that a project that loses funding for any reason should be the first in line to have its funding restored when funds become available. In 2011, the county took another $30 million in TMF funds away from US 281 and redirected them to building the northern ramps of the 281/1604 interchange.

In 2012, TxDOT announced $2 billion in unallocated funds had become available. Bexar County Commissioners as well as the AAMPO passed unanimous resolutions asking for Bexar County's portion of those funds to build overpasses, expand, and add frontage roads to US 281 and Loop 1604 West without tolls. Originally $100 million in ATD taxes were proposed for the US 281 project only to have $20 million re-programmed to Loop 1604 at the last minute.

In April of this year, TxDOT took another $32 million in ATD funds away from US 281 and gave it to non-toll improvements to Loop 1604 West without properly noticing the public or the AAMPO board on its April agenda, nor did it notify the AAMPO that it took the funded southern segment of US 281 and replaced it with $58 million in new debt (that would have to be repaid with tolls).

"The amount of chicanery and theft that has taken place on the US 281 project cries out for justice," implores Terri Hall, Founder and Director of TURF and TTH.

In the end, approximately 12 miles of Loop 1604 West got funded non-toll. However, the 7.8 mile project on US 281 still includes two toll lanes to Stone Oak Parkway. Then north of Stone Oak Pkwy., all six highway main lanes will be tolled, including the four freeway lanes that are non-toll today. Judge Wolff has already sent a letter to the Transportation Commission requesting that Prop 1 funds, should it pass in November, be directed to buy down some of the toll lanes north of Stone Oak Pkwy.

"With expansion plans on the desk of the Federal Highway Administration awaiting final approval, the time is now to restore non-toll funding to US 281 and get the entire corridor expanded without tolls immediately," contends Hall.

The public support isn't there for any version of the street car. Street car opponents have made it clear they want those funds to go to fix our congested roads, and US 281 has been one of the most congested highways in San Antonio for far too long.

The MPO has taken two previously planned toll projects and built them without tolls - Wurzbach Pkwy. and Loop 1604 West. Expansion projects are underway on I-10/Huebner and operational improvements on I-35 (outside Loop 1604). A segment of Loop 1604 East has also been improved in recent years. Indeed, over $1 billion in unallocated funds have come through Bexar County since the citizens began to fight the US 281 toll road. It's become clear that tolling US 281 is NOT about a lack of funding, but about politics.

Expanding US 281 without tolls should now be the top priority.

"US 281 needs to be improved without one lane of new toll taxes. Anything less is a targeted tax on the residents in the corridor. The 90,000 commuters a day stuck in gridlock deserve to take priority," Hall insists.

TURF and TTH sent a letter to Bexar County and San Antonio elected officials on the matter this afternoon.

Read the letter here.

TURF is a non-partisan, grassroots, all-volunteer group defending citizens' concerns with toll road policy, public private partnerships, and eminent domain abuse. TURF promotes pro-taxpayer, pro-freedom, & non-toll transportation solutions. For more information or to support the work of TURF, please visit www.TexasTURF.org.

Texans for Toll-free Highways is a non-partisan political action committee also working to keep our highways toll-free. For more information or to support the work of TTH, please visit www.TollfreeHighways.com.

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