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County toll road study a duplication of effort, cost
By Mike Bass
Guest Columnist
June 4, 2013
Montgomery County Courier
Tuesday’s Courier reported that Commissioners Court is considering spending $550,000 to update a study for the development of a Montgomery County Parkway – more toll roads.
I am generally opposed to toll roads as they are often just one more way to “tax” us all. But in this case, I also wonder whether the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. The proposed toll road study would duplicate what already has been started in South Montgomery County. Why don’t commissioners recognize the need to work within our regional transportation planning and funding framework so they can leverage our local dollars with available state and federal transportation funding dollars?
Commissioners seem to have already latched onto toll roads as “the solution.” There is already a joint effort with H-GAC and several South County entities to develop a “South County Mobility Plan.” The scope of this study includes looking at all alternatives for improving our north-south and east-west connectivity, including the new Exxon-Mobil development. It includes evaluating the alternative of using toll roads but only as one alternative to improving mobility.
There may be better solutions. The estimated cost of the South County Mobility Plan is $500,000, with H-GAC providing $300,000 and the rest coming from a local match from Precinct 3, The Woodland Township, the Woodlands Road Utility District 1 and the cities of Shenandoah and Oak Ridge North. We are all working together on this very important issue.
The South County Mobility Planning effort is an excellent example of how we can think smarter, collaborate better and stretch our local tax dollars by using state and federal funds. These funds all come from the gas tax dollars we pay and we should strive to get some of our money back. The South County study will refresh all the land use and population demographics for the area. This same information will be needed for the proposed toll road study. Are the toll road consultants going to spend our money to duplicate this effort?
By partnering with H-GAC in developing the South County Mobility Plan, we position ourselves to incorporate our transportation needs into the Regional Transportation Plan, which is a prerequisite for competing for future federal and state transportation funding. No regional endorsed plan; no state or federal funds. And, if we do not win at competing for these funds, I can assure you some other entity within the region will gladly take the funds we leave on the table.
The county does not need to embark on a duplicate planning effort. If Commissioners Court wants to get serious about improving our mobility, then it should recognize the South County Mobility Planning effort as a good model and one that should be extended to the rest of the county. We need a countywide mobility plan, not a toll road plan. Such a plan would be a better use of our money.
Mike Bass serves of The Woodland’s Township Board of Directors.