High-speed toll road has first fatality

A Lockhart woman was killed on the Texas 130 toll road in what is the first fatality since the corridor's new segment opened last month.

Though the Sunday afternoon crash immediately revived questions about the road's 85 mph speed limit, the fastest in the country, investigators have not yet determined if speed was a factor.

The new Texas 130 segment, a band of asphalt cutting through the open land of Central Texas, stretches 41 miles from south Austin to Interstate 10 in Seguin, passing west of Lockhart.

About 1:45 p.m., driver Martha Melinda Harris, 60, was entering the southbound lanes from U.S. 183 when she was struck by a Chevrolet Tahoe headed south on Texas 130, said Mustang Ridge Police Chief Michael Gonzales. The wreck occurred near where the road intersects State Highway 45, another toll road.

Harris was driving on a part of U.S. 183 where the Texas Department of Transportation recently lowered the speed limit from 65 mph to 55 mph, a decision that toll opponents said was designed to force people onto the toll road. Local officials have asked the state to raise the speed limit back to 65 mph, partly out of convenience and partly out of concern that the speed limit disparity could hinder drivers as they enter the much-faster toll road.

TxDOT said it will do more speed studies on the road in the coming months.

Members of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom and Texans for Accountable Government call for a boycott of Texas toll road State Highway 130 at a news conference at Stone Oak Boulevard and U.S. 281, on Nov. 12, 2012. From left, Mike Wikman, Ron Schumacher, Richard Lindell and Sudie Sartor, hold protest signs. less Members of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom and Texans for Accountable Government call for a boycott of Texas toll road State Highway 130 at a news conference at Stone Oak Boulevard and U.S. 281, on Nov. ... more Photo: Jerry Lara, San Antonio Express-News Photo: Jerry Lara, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close High-speed toll road has first fatality 1 / 35 Back to Gallery

Officials are still trying to determine Harris' speed when she drove onto the toll road; Gonzales did not know whether Harris was wearing her seatbelt. The investigation is ongoing.

The Tahoe driver, Angela Kolb, 49, was transported to a hospital for evaluation but Gonzales said he didn't know her condition.

Kolb also lives in Lockhart, a small town that many believe will grow substantially because of Texas 130.

Until Sunday's crash, the wrecks on the road that had garnered the most attention involved vehicles colliding with feral hogs and deer in this largely rural area at night. There was no sign that an animal posed a hazard Sunday.

Gonzales said investigators believe the Tahoe may have been going in the 70 mph range or above, since it was already on the toll road.

A Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, Trooper Robbie Barrera, said evidence indicated Harris' car was perpendicular to traffic when it was T-boned by the Tahoe but investigators aren't sure why.

Even if Harris' death proves not to be speed-related, “it's really only a matter of time” before one does occur, said Jonathan Adkins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, part of a chorus of organizations that have raised concerns about the 85 mph speed limit. Roughly a third of all traffic fatalities in the country are speed-related, Adkins said.

“Our experience, based on history and research, is when speeds go up, deaths unfortunately go up,” he said.

The new road opened to traffic Oct. 24 and was free for two weeks. Sunday was the first day drivers were charged tolls.

Anti-toll objections

The new segment of Texas 130 is an extension of a toll road that connects Georgetown to south of Austin. But while the older part of the road was constructed and is operated by the state, the new portion was built by a private consortium called the SH 130 Concession Company, made up of the Spanish company Cintra and San Antonio based-Zachry American Infrastructure. Cintra has an office in Austin.

The state retains ownership of the road and collects some of the toll revenues, but Cintra and Zachry will maintain and operate it for 50 years. The companies will collect most of the toll revenues during that period, though more funds proportionally go to the state as traffic volumes increase. As part of its contract with TxDOT, the company paid the state $100 million after the Texas Transportation Commission voted to allow vehicles to drive 85 mph on Texas 130.

The project has been lauded by many elected officials as an example of leveraging private-sector investment in a time of limited transportation funding. It is the state's first such public-private partnership.

On Monday, the anti-toll road group Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, led by founder Terri Hall, held a press conference, urging drivers to boycott Texas 130 because of Cintra's connection to the project. Cintra has contracts on a number of other public-private projects in Texas and across the country.

vdavila@express-news.net