Mays Street & Old Settlers Park
Blame TxDOT
RECEIVED Tue., Aug. 17, 2004
Dear Editor,
A week ago William Nelson noted ("Postmarks," Aug. 6) that toll roads won't solve the traffic gridlock problem and asked "Can anyone please explain it all to me?" This week Paul Silver asks ("Postmarks," Aug. 13), "Shouldn't the real focus of upset be the anti-tax ideologues among the state legislators who refuse to raise the gas tax?"
The real focus of upset (and the explanation that Mr. Nelson seeks) lies with the objectives of the Texas Department of Transportation. Roads in Texas, tolled or not, are not intended to promote efficient traffic flow. Rather, like virtually everything else in Texas, they are intended to promote economic development in general and favored industries in particular.
Texas "expressways" are by design expensive and inefficient. Their mandatory access roads ensure lucrative construction contracts and retail (and other) development, while impeding the efficient flow of traffic and maximizing the negative impact on the terrain over which they pass. Multiple stoplights at major intersections – even at the intersection of expressways – are the norm. Right turn on red is actively discouraged by the absence of adequate turn lanes. Efficient traffic flow is impeded by the virtually complete absence of adequate merge lanes, etc.
Equally telling with regard to TxDOT's objectives is the fact that they don't "do" rail.
Molly Ivins has described Texas as having the "Cadillac of highways." Perhaps that's true, if Cadillac is understood to mean big, expensive, and slow.
Texas roads are intended first to provide lucrative construction contracts, second to promote economic development, and third to promote the consumption of gasoline. Efficient traffic – well, that comes somewhere further down the list.
A week ago William Nelson noted ("Postmarks," Aug. 6) that toll roads won't solve the traffic gridlock problem and asked "Can anyone please explain it all to me?" This week Paul Silver asks ("Postmarks," Aug. 13), "Shouldn't the real focus of upset be the anti-tax ideologues among the state legislators who refuse to raise the gas tax?"
The real focus of upset (and the explanation that Mr. Nelson seeks) lies with the objectives of the Texas Department of Transportation. Roads in Texas, tolled or not, are not intended to promote efficient traffic flow. Rather, like virtually everything else in Texas, they are intended to promote economic development in general and favored industries in particular.
Texas "expressways" are by design expensive and inefficient. Their mandatory access roads ensure lucrative construction contracts and retail (and other) development, while impeding the efficient flow of traffic and maximizing the negative impact on the terrain over which they pass. Multiple stoplights at major intersections – even at the intersection of expressways – are the norm. Right turn on red is actively discouraged by the absence of adequate turn lanes. Efficient traffic flow is impeded by the virtually complete absence of adequate merge lanes, etc.
Equally telling with regard to TxDOT's objectives is the fact that they don't "do" rail.
Molly Ivins has described Texas as having the "Cadillac of highways." Perhaps that's true, if Cadillac is understood to mean big, expensive, and slow.
Texas roads are intended first to provide lucrative construction contracts, second to promote economic development, and third to promote the consumption of gasoline. Efficient traffic – well, that comes somewhere further down the list.
Steve Sigman
