Defending Our Property Rights & Freedom to Travel
ROAD SCARCITY  
San Antonio board votes to adopt road diet for US 281
Converts lane open to all cars to HOV-bus lane
The Alamo Area MPO voted unanimously to adopt a road diet for Hwy 281. They will convert an existing highway lane open to all cars into an HOV-bus lane, at Via's insistence.


Katy Bar the Door
The precedent is set. Once they do it here, they'll do it everywhere. It's why we've been working to change state law for 5 sessions to prevent the conversion of freeway lanes into toll lanes or other types of restricted (HOV-bus-bike) lanes. There's a loophole in state and federal law that allows them to convert an HOV lane into a toll lane. So this may be the first step in turning an existing lane into an HOV lane with the intent of turning it into a toll lane later when it's determined it's underutilized. They've turned HOV lanes into toll lanes in California, then Houston and Dallas - nothing will stop them from doing it in San Antonio, too.

Straus likes the plan, says you do, too
Thank you to all of you who made phone calls and contacted Speaker Joe Straus about the proposal to convert one of our existing highway lanes into an HOV-bus lane.
At one point, we had a call going in every 3 minutes for over 2 1/2 hours!

Like TxDOT, the Speaker's office has adopted the same talking points trying to convince the public they're actually driving on a frontage road today and that they'll be adding 6 new highway lanes in the middle, two of which will be HOV-bus lanes, and claim they're doubling capacity (when they're actually adding six frontage lanes not highway lanes). They're trying to change the plain meaning of words and cannot be honest about the basic definition of a highway.

Mario Medina, TxDOT District Engineer, flatly said:
 
"281 is NOT a highway."

Alamo RMA's Renee Green chimed in:

"281 is a frontage road."

It's the same ol' lie, just repeated often enough, they think you'll fall for it!

Rather than listen to you and fight for a NEW highway lane, the Speaker, TxDOT, and the MPO are on a full court press to put lipstick on a pig.

JUST THE FACTS...
They aren't adding any new highway lanes to the middle of the highway. They're converting one of our existing unrestricted highway lanes open to all cars into a restricted HOV-bus lane.

The new lanes they're adding are the frontage roads to the outside of the existing freeway. Anyone who drives on 281 knows they're on a highway.

It's clear we drive on SIX lanes of highway today (which have been impeded by the addition of stop lights at the crossovers over many years). A look on Google Earth and even US Geological Survey aerial photos show we drive on a divided highway, not frontage roads today. It shows the frontage roads end after Loop 1604 and the highway in the middle continues all the way to Canada!

US 281 needs to be upgraded with overpasses to make it a controlled access highway with the addition of frontage roads. We were promised a NEW general purpose lane (open to all cars) 20 years ago. Now they're going to convert one of our existing freeway lanes into a HOV-bus lane and count the new frontage roads as the new highway capacity. Today we have SIX general purpose main lanes and when they're done, we'll only have four.

It's the same ol' lie, just repeated often enough, they think you'll fall for it!

So they are shrinking highway capacity, adding NO new highway lanes, and attempting to create highway scarcity in order to force you to use a bus or to carpool.

Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff joined the chorus saying they're not taking any existing infrastructure away (when indeed they are) and argues that they're adding capacity (he, too, is counting the frontage roads as the new capacity, not the highway lanes). He said we should be happy and called it an anti-toll victory.

San Antonio Councilman Ray Lopez said:

"Without the pain of highway congestion, you won't get people to take the bus."

San Antonio Councilman Ron Nirenberg said:
 
"We shouldn't sacrifice good for perfect."

Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert said we should just market it better:

Call the HOV lanes 'Friends & Family lanes.'
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(They should have today's video of the meeting archived soon)

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Some good news...
While this proposal lacks an additional, unrestricted highway lane, and still converts a lane open to all traffic to a restricted HOV-bus lane (shrinking highway capacity and putting us on a road diet), the ORIGINAL toll plan would have converted ALL six lanes into toll lanes, leaving the frontage roads as the ONLY non-toll option.

Now, we will have 4 non-toll highway lanes with overpasses to the county line. So there is a small silver lining in the decade-longs fight to get tolls off 281 and get a new non-toll lane added to the existing (congested) six lanes we have now.

Don't expect a fix for another 20 years
The AAMPO board made it very clear there would be NO appetite to fix 281 (by adding the promised additional general purpose lane) anytime in the future. As far as they're concerned, they're done. So don't expect ANY new road capacity once the HOV conversion takes place. They'll just tell you to get in a carpool or on a bus if you don't like the congestion. ...just like they do in gridlocked California where they have HOV lanes everywhere and single occupancy cars stuck in congestion.
TURF releases 2015 Report Card for the 84th Legislature   
Find out how your state lawmakers voted on tolls
TURF revealed its long-awaited 2015 Report Card from the 84th Legislative Session today.

Many voters want to know how their elected leaders did in delivering on their promises to restrain toll roads.

With campaign season in full swing in many areas of the state, it's vital for voters to know how their representatives voted while in office so they can hold them accountable. Now's the time to compare notes to what was promised and what was actually delivered.

Spread the word about TURF's Report Card on social media!
SAVE THE DATE
Our next TURF gathering Sept. 24
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Be sure to mark your calendars for our next gathering. Plan to jump back in with both feet!

Next TURF Meeting 
Thursday, September 24 
Chester's Hamburgers
16609 San Pedro
San Antonio, TX
6:00 PM (for those ordering dinner)
6:30 PM (meeting begins) 
 
Get the latest scoop on toll roads, key campaigns, the federal highway bill, and latest property rights battles across Texas.  

BE IN THE KNOW... 

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Alamo city approves 'road diet' for Hwy 281

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Michael Morris: The man behind the largest toll network California-izing Texas

 READ MORE HERE. 
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HEADLINES...
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$53 million over budget & 18 months behind schedule 
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Total control of driving on the horizon
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DONATE TODAY
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With the 84th legislative session now over, our work continues educating the public about what their lawmakers did and how to hold them accountable at the ballot box. We'll also continue to help local communities fight toll roads in their backyard using the legal and political tools we've refined over a decade of advocacy. We provide vital materials like a Legislative Report Card and Voter Guide, all of which takes resources.

We'd appreciate a donation to support the work TURF does on behalf of taxpayers.

With HUNDREDS of toll projects planned in Texas, EVERYONE will be effected by these NEW taxes!

Or send in a check to:
Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (or TURF)
PO Box 29254
San Antonio, TX 78229-0254
"I...place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared... Taxation follows that, and in its turn wretchedness and oppression."
--Thomas Jefferson,
Letter to William Plumer, 1816
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