Lawmakers seek to keep freeways toll-free

Sen. Donna Campbell is behind a more detailed SB 1029. Sen. Donna Campbell is behind a more detailed SB 1029. Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Lawmakers seek to keep freeways toll-free 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Texas' boom of toll roads has made the “free” part of freeway mean something different lately.

As toll lanes become the preferred choice for adding capacity to Texas roads, a growing number of state lawmakers and toll critics are looking for assurances that state-built freeways will stay open to everyone. Coming up with a precise set of rules, however, is proving trickier than expected.

“I believe free roads should remain free,” Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, told the Senate Transportation Committee last week.

Campbell is working with Texas Department of Transportation officials to craft a more detailed version of SB 1029, her bill to prohibit existing state roads from conversion to toll lanes. A similar bill by Rep. George Lavender, R-Texarkana, is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday before the House Transportation Committee.

Last week, TxDOT officials expressed concern that Campbell's bill could have unintended consequences and curtail upcoming toll lane construction.

The bill, if it includes a prohibition on the use of existing state rights of way, could impact projects across the state, notably in Houston and San Antonio, TxDOT and local toll agency officials said.

Toll lanes long planned along Texas 249 between Tomball and Navasota will run in the center of the freeway, said James Hernandez, a private Houston lawyer who represents the Harris County Toll Road Authority. HCTRA and Montgomery County partnered with TxDOT on the project.

Bexar County and San Antonio transportation planning officials have agreed to expand U.S. 281 between Loop 1604 and Stone Oak Parkway with a mix of free and toll lanes. On the outside would be two free lanes in either direction. Sandwiched between the free lanes would be managed lanes, free for public transit and car poolers; all other drivers would pay a toll.

The proposal to widen the highway using some toll lanes has drawn criticism from toll road opponents.

Without an outright ban, critics worry TxDOT will take roads away from motorists, said Terri Hall, founder of San Antonio-based Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, an anti-tax and anti-toll group. She called efforts to toll U.S. 281 north of the metro area “truly highway robbery.”

TxDOT officials stressed that none of their plans include converting free lanes to tolls. Major projects TxDOT has tackled in the past five years mostly were funded by borrowing, state officials said.

Using the paths already carved by freeways makes sense, toll proponents said, especially in places already suffering from heavy congestion.

“The most effective means of addressing that congestion is to add capacity within those corridors,” said C. Brian Cassidy, a lawyer with Locke Lord LLP in Austin, who focuses on transportation and infrastructure law.

“Tolls are not taxes,” Cassidy said. “Tolls present a choice and, more importantly, they present an option to fund and deliver projects.”

Besides Campbell, other lawmakers have filed toll-related legislation aimed at ensuring fairness between free and pay lanes. Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, filed a bill to prohibit TxDOT from taking actions, without engineering justification, that encourage use of a toll road rather than a free road.

The issue was prompted by concerns by Lockhart-area drivers south of Austin when officials dropped the speed limit on a segment of U.S. 183 that became the frontage road for Texas 130, a toll road.

dug.begley@chron.com

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