Texas Conservative Lobbyist News: Texas Opens 85 mph Toll Road
The following is a digest of an article originally published at the Wall Street Journal. The Texas Lobby Group is posting this summary as a public service for other Lobbyists and lobby firms in our state, for Texas politicians, Texas government consultants, and other interested parties.
The final leg of Texas’s 85 mile-per-hour #130 toll road has just been completed. This will now be the fastest highway in America. It stretches 50 miles and provides a faster alternative route to Interstate 35. Traffic is known to be sizely and constant on I35, and it is hoped that the new toll road will take some of the area’s tension off. Governor Perry cut the red ribbon, (literally), last Wednesday and opened the “Texas 130” toll road. The road’s developer bought the right to set the speed limit for 100$ million dollars from the Texas Transportation Commission. However, there are some problems at hand.
“Truckers will pay more than $24, but the American Trucking Association has called the road unsafe for truck traffic. Last month, the Arlington, Va.-based organization urged the Texas Transportation Commission to reverse its decision to allow an 85 mph speed limit and cautioned other states not to follow the example. Truck driver Mike Wilson told KVUE-TV of Austin his truck won’t even go 85. ‘It’s governed out at 75,’ he said. Another trucker, James Regenauer, told the station, ‘Anytime you got two different speeds set for two different vehicles on the same road — you know what I mean? It’s going to cause a problem.’”
Driving on Toll Road 130 will be free until November 11th. There are many who feel that the speed limit is set too high, and will increase accidents and fatalities. The issue with trucks is a very real danger, with many trucks not physically able to go 85 miles per hour. 24$ is also a high expense for truckers, so it may not be used by them often. Perhaps the limit will change if there are continuing issues, or maybe people will eventually lose their apprehensions about having such a fast speed limit. With time, something will give. Toll 130 has been highly anticipated for the last few months, and is now here to stay. We’ll see how Texans adapt to having another large highway stretching from Austin to Seguin, and at such a high speed limit.