Well, I said it over two years ago, "We don't need tolls and the toll plans are just a money grab by corrupt politicians." It is nice that the Texas A&M’s Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) has now released a report that backs up my claims and ends up with the same 'bottom line' I did then. It's also most humours that the TTI is sometimes called Perry's lapdog. So, Gov. Perry, your dog bite you in the ass? You not feeding it enough pork?

Happy Corruption Ya'll,

MJ Taylor

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Terri Hall, Regional Director, San Antonio Toll Party

PHONE: (210) 275-0640 EMAIL:terri@satoll[don't like that spammy feeling]party.com

WEB: http://www.satollparty.com

A&M Report: Don’t need to raise gas tax; don’t need tolls

Texas Dept. of Transportation overinflated “needs” by $30 billion;

Pulls rug out from under pro-toll arguments

Austin, TX, December 13, 2006– In a stunning admission that  
increasing the gas tax and tolls are NOT NEEDED for future  
transportation projects, a Texas Transportation Institute report  
called “Shaping the Competitive Advantage of Texas Metropolitan  
Regions: The role of Transportation, Housing & Aesthetics” affirms  
what San Antonio Toll Party.com and citizens groups across the state  
have been saying. The report discussed in testimony before the House  
Transportation Committee also revealed that the Texas Department of  
Transportation (TxDOT) over-inflated their “funding gap” figures by  
$30 billion.

“This is proof positive that we DO NOT NEED TO TOLL ROADS or raise  
the gas tax AT ALL much less $1.09 a gallon (as TxDOT claims) in  
order to fix our roads and keep people moving. It’s TxDOT who lacks  
credibility, not the folks who have questioned TxDOT’s figures and  
brought their misstatements to light,” says an elated Terri Hall,  
Regional Director of San Antonio Toll Party.com.

The report further bolsters the grassroots movement taking hold  
throughout Texas which are working to promote non-toll transportation  
solutions and rid the state of the controversial and detested Trans  
Texas Corridor.

“The second most important thing to take away from this report is  
that TxDOT and the road lobby have been doing fuzzy math and  
prosecuting a propaganda campaign to mislead the public into thinking  
there’s a transportation funding crisis that can only be solved  
through tolls under the control of foreign companies. The Texas  
Transportation Institute (TTI) is like the right arm of TxDOT and for  
them to come out with this information further shreds TxDOT’s  
credibility and puts a nail in the coffin of TxDOT’s shift to tolls,”  
explains Hall.

“Our Legislature cannot ignore the TRUTH and FACTS this report  
reveals and we believe they’ll finally take action to rein in this  
out of control agency that has purposely inflated their figures to  
push an agenda against the public’s best interest,” Hall contends.

With several toll roads set to go to contract in early 2007, this  
report certainly gives citizens the ammunition they’ll need to keep  
TxDOT’s version of tolls from coming to San Antonio and elsewhere  
around the state.

Related Sites / Stories:

• Texas Monthly: NOT NECESSARY TO TOLL, A&M EXPERT SAYS


• A&M Report says we don't need to raise gas tax or toll financing

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List of Texas Toll Projects (partial):
Trans-Texas Corridor, Addison Airport Toll Tunnel, Dallas North Tollway, Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road, Hardy Toll Road, International Parkway, Loop 1 (MoPac Extension), Mountain Creek Lake Bridge, President George Bush Turnpike, Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Tollway), State Highway 45, State Highway 130, Westpark Tollway