Funding proposal approved; no tolls — for now

Toll road foes cheered on an ecstatic Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson on Monday, as he lauded a funding proposal to expand parts of U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 without tolls.

“If you are persistent, you can get it done,” said Terri Hall, founder of the toll road opposition group Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, and an activist known to have Adkisson's ear. He invited Hall to speak at a press conference on the issue following remarks by several elected officials, including County Commissioner Kevin Wolff, who came up with the proposal to fund 16 miles of expressways.

As approved by the San Antonio Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization later Monday, Loop 1604 from Bandera Road to U.S. 90, and U.S. 281 from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Parkway would be expanded without tolls.

But that does not permanently remove tolls from the table: They still could be used on future Bexar County road projects, including other parts of Loop 1604 and U.S. 281. It's also possible that the two sections to be widened eventually could also be tolled if even more capacity is needed, said Terry Brechtel, executive director of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority, which has tolling powers.

The RMA supports nontoll highway projects if the money is available to build them, Brechtel said. But congestion issues will continue along other parts of both corridors. A combination of funding resources, including tolls, likely will be needed to ease those traffic tangles, she said.

“We don't have a silver bullet here,” Brechtel said. “We have a solution for sections of 281 and 1604. We're creating parity in terms of building this full expressway section.”

Under Wolff's plan, the MPO would use an unexpected windfall of state transportation dollars plus some local funds to widen the two sections, though the local source of money has yet to be identified. “I'm at least 90 percent sure we can do what we're saying here,” Wolff said Monday.

Hall called the plan “progress,” but she took issue with parts of the resolution approved by the MPO that said toll bonds and public-private partnerships are possible means of funding the U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 expansions, calling the wording “a Pandora's box.”

Other questions about the proposed projects — cost estimates, timelines — remain unanswered.

A committee, which will likely include members of an existing MPO technical group, will determine the local funding plan, due no later than May.

San Antonio expects to receive roughly $146 million from the Texas Department of Transportation's extra revenue of $2 billion. San Antonio's piece won't be finalized until the April 26 meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission in Austin.

It is still unclear how much of San Antonio's TxDOT money might come with federal constraints. Federal money funneled through the state TxDOT office must be allocated to shovel-ready projects by Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year.

U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 are undergoing federal environmental studies, which won't be complete by that time, making them ineligible. But MPO and San Antonio TxDOT officials have said they could swap out funding with other MPOs and TxDOT districts around the state if the federal money can't be spent here by the fiscal year deadline.

That comes with some risks, said MPO Director Sid Martinez, who knew of one such swap in which one of the entities ultimately lost out on its share of funding.

Despite the questions, several elected officials say they support the plan, including state Rep. Lyle Larson, whose district encompasses the affected portions of U.S. 281, and state Rep. José Menéndez, whose district includes the area inside Loop 1604 between Braun Road and U.S. 90.

Menéndez, who spoke at the press conference and addressed the MPO board Monday, said he's already told state TxDOT officials that his constituents have been overlooked too long.

“Those folks deserve to have finished highways,” he said.

Adkisson reiterated his belief that TxDOT has traditionally short-changed San Antonio, and now it's the city's turn for funding.

vdavila@express-news.net

Twitter: @viannadavila