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Toll authority lobbies to end citizen legal challenges to unwanted toll roads PDF Print E-mail
Written by Terri Hall   
Friday, 15 January 2010
This excerpt from the story pretty well sums up our thoughts on this obvious attempt to railroad UNWANTED toll projects upon taxpayers by removing genuine legal challenges, the only method they listen to and the only method that has worked so far:

“There's a reason why they have public comment and review periods,” Hall said. “It is important to give the public a chance to review these things and scrutinize it.”

Some environmental documents are hundreds or thousands of pages long, Hall said, and can't be digested in 60 days.

“The best way to not have to worry about litigation is not about keeping things out of court — it's to do the documents right, do right by the public and get community consensus so that there isn't any opposition.”

Web Posted: 01/14/2010 6:25 CST

Proposal would sideline road-blocking lawsuits

By Josh Baugh - Express-News

Alamo Regional Mobility Authority board member Robert Thompson on Thursday called for a change in federal law that would effectively stop lawsuits that block road projects.

In San Antonio, it would mean swift action in suits filed against toll projects.

Thompson, a lawyer, said he planned to e-mail Bexar County's congressional delegation after Thursday's meeting of the agency to seek support for adding such language to federal transportation legislation that Congress is considering. Thompson called lawsuits filed to block highway construction “the bane of so many projects.”

Currently, federal law offers a 180-day window for lawsuits to be filed once an environmental study is approved by the Federal Highway Administration. Thompson's proposal would cut that to 60 days and require plaintiffs to accept binding arbitration. Resolution would be required within 180 days, Thompson said.

Read the rest of the article here.
 
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Newsflash

TxDOT releases 100 Most Congested Roads List 2010
TxDOT released its 100 Most Congested Roads in Texas list for 2010. Here's the link to the list. To find out what TxDOT plans to do to fix the congestion, click on the "Mitigation Plan" icon.

Note that virtually all the "fixes" are tolled. Yet TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration keep trying to reassure Texans that all options are being studied and evaluated for each of these projects. Yeah right! When the plan is to toll, exactly how are non-toll options being explored? Pre-determining the outcome of the environmental studies (which determine whether or not a project gets federal clearance) violates the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. Then, TxDOT and toll authorities scratch their heads and wonder why they're taken to court to stop toll projects...