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By: Aaron Brand - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 06/16/2007

A toll road around Texarkana? It’s possible, given a Thursday decision by the Texas Transportation Commission to okay 80 potential toll road projects across the state. The Texarkana-area portion now considered a candidate toll road project stretches from U.S. Highway 59 near the Sulphur River and Farm to Market 2148 to an area west of Texarkana and then looping around north of Texarkana to meet up with U.S. Highway 71, said Marcus Sandifer, public information officer for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Atlanta district. Altogether, it’s about a 20-mile stretch of roadway and right now just a general corridor under consideration, said Sandifer. As envisioned, it would be a four-lane highway built at a total cost of $340.5 million.

Sandifer said the Northeast Texas Mobility Authority would have the first chance at building the road and finding the financing to build it, and then TxDOT would open it up to finance and construct. Private financing could pay for the construction and planning, and then private firms building the roads would collect tolls to recoup the costs, he said. He said other financing tools are also available, such as pass-through financing with a local government selling bonds to finance construction and then the state paying them back over time or vice versa, depending on such factors as the level of road use and project importance. Bowie County Judge James Carlow said the county is in the process of joining the Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority, having passed a resolution to that effect, and is now awaiting TxDOT’s approval for that.

“It’s toll viable and it’s something that’s worthy of a lot of work, something that’s worth pursuing,” said Carlow about the potential for a toll road here. He said a toll authority or a regional mobility authority can find the financing. “We need a western route, we need a north route, and I think the only way it will ever be funded is private investment,” said Carlow. He said TxDOT must use most of its funds to pay for existing roads.

“The funding is just not there and is just not going to be there for many years to come,” said Carlow, noting the gas tax won’t go far enough. He said in the future this toll road would be a leg of the Trans Texas Corridor and Interstate 69. Sandifer said the Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority is an organization composed of Northeast Texas cities and counties that would consider toll roads.

“Mostly because state legislatures are reluctant to increase the gas taxes,” he added about the push for toll roads. He said the gas tax wasn’t raised in the recent legislative session and there’s barely enough money to maintain the highways now. Sandifer said if this loop was completed, it would ultimately create a sort of spiral loop around Texarkana given the current partial loop that rings the cities. He said the western part of this new loop would be out around Leary, Texas, and meet up at the point Arkansas Highway Loop 245 connects to Highway 71 north of town.

I would like to see Perry not run for re-election. As a matter of fact I would like for him to step down. I could care less at this point who takes his place. I’ve worked along the border towns and even in Mexico. The Maquilladora’s are moving to China and the TTC isn’t needed as far as I’m concerned.

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