Like TURF
Follow TURFProof there's plans to toll existing I-35
The proposal is to toll an existing lane on I-35 from Georgetown (north of Austin) to Buda (south of Austin) and turn the tollway, SH 130 (25-35 miles out the way), into non-toll I-35. So if you need to go to Austin from San Antonio or from Waco into Austin, you'll have to drive 30 miles OUT OF YOUR WAY, in order to use free lanes. The non-toll lanes that would remain on I-35 will have even worse gridlock than we have today since it'll have one less non-toll lane. So, just like it is today, I-35 will receive no meaningful congestion relief unless you have the bucks to pay a toll.
FYI, these "advisory" committees and corridor segment committees are stacked with government bureaucrats and Chamber of Commerce types who have a vested interest in toll road slush funds. If any ordinary taxpayer sits on one, they're a lamb vastly outnumbered by wolves whose ideas are kicked to the curb. So it shouldn't be any wonder why tolling schemes litter these "recommendations." This is TxDOT's version of "citizen driven" transportation planning. Yeah right, and I'm the Queen of England...
Committee members sharing plans for area around SH 130
Bob Thaxton | Posted: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 12:00 am
Seguin Gazette
SEGUIN - A committee formed to study transportation needs in the region has recommended that part of State Highway 130 be redesignated as Interstate 35 and that I-35 between State Highway 195 north of Georgetown and Buda south of Austin be converted to a state highway with a tolled lane and two non-tolled lanes in each direction.
The I-35 Corridor Segment 3 Committee also recommended that State Highway 130 between Mustang Ridge and Interstate 10 east of Seguin be widened to six lanes without tolls and that Interstate 10 between I-35 in downtown San Antonio and the SH 130 interchange east of Seguin, a distance of 42 miles, be widened to six lanes.
Local members of the Segment 3 Committee are Atlee Fritz representing the city of Seguin and Greg Webb representing Guadalupe County.
Other members of the 20-person committee include representatives of other cities and counties within I-35 Segment 3 which stretches from the Williamson/Bell County line to I-10 in San Antonio.
Fritz, who also is a member of the Seguin Planning and Zoning Commission, brought copies of the committee's recently published booklet outlining its recommendations to the Planning and Zoning Commission's meeting Jan. 11.
Fritz said that most of the committee's recommendations probably won't become reality during the lifetime of members of the planning commission.
The Texas Transportation Commission in March 2009 established four I-35 Corridor Segment Committees to assist the Corridor Advisory Committee.
The committee, along with a representative from each corridor segment committee, will use the four segment committees' recommendations to create the MY35 Plan for the I-35 corridor.
The Segment 3 Committee held organizational meetings in 2009 and started working on its recommendations during monthly meetings that began in January 2010.
To get public input on its recommendations, the committee held planning workshops in September 2010 at eight locations including a workshop at the Seguin-Guadalupe County Coliseum.
After receiving 370 completed questionnaires in the planning workshops, the Segment 3 Committee met in October 2010 to finalize its recommendations. The committee prioritized its recommendations into near-term (5-10 years), mid-term (10-20 years) or long-term (20 plus years).
"The entire section of the I-35 corridor in Segment 3, which extends from Austin to San Antonio, is urbanized and is functionally growing into one continuous urban area," the committee says in its booklet. "The committee ... recognized early on that the best they could hope for is to manage congestion on I-35."
Besides the projects mentioned earlier, the committee developed recommendations for operational improvements in the corridor.
Among those recommendations are:
• Reduce tolls on alternative routes to I-35 during times when I-35 is the most congested.
• Incentivize the use of SH 130 for all truck trips that are not destined for the cities between Georgetown and Seguin. For example, encourage truck drivers to use SH 130 to travel around congested areas by providing discounted toll fees.
The committee's highest priority among near-term projects was assigned to the project titled "I-35/SH 45SE/SH 130 Alternative." This project entails several actions:
• Converting one general purpose lane on I-35 in each direction to a minimum one dynamically priced managed lane and two non-tolled lanes in each direction from U.S. 195 to State Highway 45SE and redesignating the highway from an interstate to Business Route I-35.
• Widening State Highway 130 to six lanes from U.S. 195 north of Georgetown to State Highway 45SE in Mustang Ridge, removing the tolls and redesignating this portion of State Highway 130 as Interstate 35.
• Widening State Highway 45SE to six lanes from Mustang Ridge to northeast of Buda to I-35, removing the tolls and resignating SH 45SE as I-35.
• Widening State Highway 130 to six lanes from Mustang Ridge to I-10 in Seguin and removing the tolls; this portion would remain designated as SH 130.
The committee points out that any redesignation as an interstate highway (such as SH 130 from north of Georgetown to Mustang Ridge) will require approval by the Federal Highway Administration.
Another of the committee's recommendations calls for construction of a new four-lane controlled access highway from I-35 in New Braunfels to SH 130 north of Kingsbury.
Although no specific route is designated, a map in the committee's booklet shows this highway running north of Lake Dunlap, Clear Springs and Geronimo to connect with SH 130 northwest of Kingsbury. This project is listed as mid-term which puts it in the 10- to 20-year timeframe.
Only two projects are listed as long-term (more than 20 years) in the committee's booklet. Both are outer loops, one around New Braunfels and the other around San Marcos.