Maybe this will help you understand the facts, and I mean this in a friendly way: http://www.austintollparty.com/TxDOT_Revenue_Plan.pdf Most people are familiar with the current Dallas and Houston Tollway Systems. To illustrate one problem with the Austin Plan, compare Toll Road Miles per million people: Houston has 17, the city of Dallas has 13, and Austin will have more than 113! If you look at the Dallas and Houston maps, you'll notice those cities, (as other cities with toll roads throughout the United States) have a simple loop or E/W and N/S tollways as additional "new" road options. The toll plans we all know in the past are built with investor dollars, and they complement the existing highways. The toll plans we all know in the past are built with investor dollars, are new roads, took years to carefully plan and they complement the existing highways. The Austin toll plan is built with our tax dollars and the toll roads become our existing highways. The Austin plan was rushed and approved within 3 months. If this doesn't look like a boondoggle, what does? The Austin Toll Plan - (See map) http://www.austintollparty.com _Shifts allmost every local Highway to Toll Roads. _Uses Billions of our tax dollars to finance the Toll Roads. In the past Toll Roads were built with 80% bonds...these toll roads are built with 80% of our tax dollars. _Seizes over $100 Million of our tax financed roads/projects in Austin and converts them to Toll Roads. (See .pdf) It's not a transportation solution, it's a "Revenue Generator", a Boondoggle for special interests.
First, "do no harm". The plan as-is does much harm, but we can stop it before it is too late. If by next year you do not see a better plan, I would be really surprised. Our activism will make a lot more people think about the issue. The result will be a more informed and active populace. That's a good thing!