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Follow TURFQUID PRO QUO: Pro-toll Rodriguez gets expedited, non-toll FREEway project on 1604 W
Link to WOAI-TV news story.
After repeatedly voting to toll (also see here) existing freeways on the northside as a Board member of the San Antonio MPO (SAMPO), Bexar County Commissioner Chico Rodriguez is cashing in by getting an expedited, NON-TOLL, FREEway fix to 1604 (west) in his own district. Can you say quid pro quo? This is how TxDOT controls the majority of SAMPO, by quid pro quos and goodies for those who tow the TxDOT toll road line.
Rodriguez' most recent SAMPO vote was to move ahead in a hostile takeover of the Hill Country by the MPO. He admitted prior to the vote that the purpose of engulfing the Hill Country into SAMPO was to get access to the Hill Country's gas tax allocations in order to fund needed road projects in his precinct. Also, remember that Rodriguez denied he EVER voted for toll roads when his SAMPO votes were made known to his constituents prior to his last re-election campaign in March.
So to get re-elected, he ran away from his controversial toll road votes to keep an angry public at bay. Many of his constituents drive north for work and WILL be impacted by toll taxes (hence their opposition to tolls), yet he sold them and ALL the motorists who depend on 281, 1604, and the other proposed toll projects (on existing state highways) down a river.
Big Plan to Get Traffic Moving in SA
By Leila Walsh
November 7, 2008
WOAI-TV
SAN ANTONIO - With toll roads on hold here, News 4 is breaking news about the biggest project planned to get traffic moving in one of the busiest parts of town.
People who live near Potranco and Loop 1604 say they get stuck in traffic every day on the way to and from work. Now News 4 has uncovered a plan that could make life a whole lot easier for tens of thousands of people in that area.
The county and TxDOT will meet next week to discuss the terms of a plan that would do two things: widen Potranco to four lanes from Loop 1604 to the county line and extend State Highway 211.
"We need relief and relief is coming because we're thinking ahead," said Bexar County commissioner Chico Rodriguez.
The project is not a toll road and it is not expected to involve a tax hike. If approved, work on the first phase could get started in just over a year.
For a detailed look at the plan, click here. For a map of the area, click here.