Regional panel says road needed to ease traffic, pollution

Friday, September 14, 2007
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News mlindenberger@dallasnews.com

The Regional Transportation Council voted unanimously Thursday to urge Dallas voters to defeat a November ballot issue that would block plans to build a high-speed toll road along the Trinity River.

"The toll road is the most important project in Dallas County, along with maybe the LBJ," RTC director Michael Morris told members of the panel.

But the proposed 10-mile, six-lane toll road could be scrapped if a majority of voters approve a Nov. 6 ballot initiative. If they do, any road that is part of the Trinity River Project will be capped at four lanes with a speed limit of 35 mph. A 'no' vote would maintain more ambitious plans for the toll road.

Mr. Morris said the toll road is badly needed to ease congestion on increasingly crowded highways and cut air pollution caused by cars stuck in traffic jams.

Dallas City Council member Ron Natinsky reminded fellow RTC members that all but one member of the Dallas City Council support the toll road and oppose the ballot initiative.

"This is not a city of Dallas initiative," Mr. Natinsky said of the referendum election. "If the city of Dallas had had its way, believe me, this would not be on the ballot."

Most of the 40 members who serve on the RTC are from cities other than Dallas.

Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt led the petition drive that put the issue on the ballot. She has argued that the high-speed highway would unnecessarily distract from the parklike setting of the larger Trinity River Project.

After Thursday's vote, Mr. Morris said he and his staff would begin efforts to urge voters to keep the high-speed highway as part of the Trinity project.

Dallas City Council member Linda Koop, another RTC member, said Ms. Hunt's initiative would result in a "transportation nightmare" for the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

In part, the new highway is designed as a reliever road for portions of Interstate 30 south of downtown Dallas.

Building a new reliever road somewhere other than in the Trinity River corridor would cost as much as $900 million more, she said. "That additional money is just not available."

In an interview Wednesday, Texas' top transportation official said the state would not take sides in a local debate over whether to build a particular road. But Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson said Dallas voters should know that rejecting the road would carry significant consequences.

For years, he said, Dallas-area efforts to relieve congestion as part of a strategy to improve air quality has assumed that the high-speed highway would be part of the Trinity River Project. If it isn't, efforts to improve the air quality will be set back substantially, he said.

"No matter how nice the park is going to be, how pleasant the trees and other features there will be, if you can't breathe the air, that will be beside the point," Mr. Williamson said.

In other business, the RTC also heard the latest on efforts by the North Texas Tollway Authority to reach a final agreement with the state to build State Highway 121. Mr. Morris told members that as soon as the project receives environmental clearance from the federal government, the state will sign a contract with NTTA. He said the clearance – which has been awaited for months – is expected before the end of October.

Courtesy of the Dallas Morning News, Friday, September 14th 2007 Edition
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