Latest News
- Aquifer Toll Road Update: Future of SH 45 SW to be considered in September
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Last night the CAMPO Board received recommendations from a special committee assigned to evaluate options for the proposed “aquifer toll road,” aka SH 45 Southwest. A majority of the committee recommended building the proposed road as either a tolled or non-tolled 4-lane highway with a combination of state and local funds. (If tolled, the tolls would only pay a small fraction of the $83 to $89 million estimated cost.) Currently these funds do not exist. TxDOT would have to approve the state funds and Travis County would likely have to secure voter approval for the local funds.
CAMPO did not take action on the recommendations. CAMPO will consider taking action in September. Presumably, between now and then, there will be some effort to determine if the required state and local funds have any real chance of materializing. read more here..
Committee member and SOS Alliance Board Chair Dick Kallerman filed a minority report opposing the project. Read that report HERE. Note especially TWO CHARTS of TxDOT’s own forecasts for 2015: they show that building SH 45 SW does not improve traffic on Brodie Lane (its primary purpose) but would dump an additional 12,000 to 18,000 car trips on to South Mopac every day. Building the 3.6 mile road across the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer recharge zone would also pollute the aquifer both directly from highway runoff and spills and indirectly by opening up thousands of acres to new development.
SOS Alliance will continue working with Save Barton Creek Assn., Austin Sierra Club and others to make the case that our very limited transportation funds should be directed to more affordable and sustainable projects that support development within preferred growth areas.
June 10, 2009
