In the tradition of the Boston Tea Party protesting taxation without representation, Austin area citizens are organizing the ''Austin Toll Party'' to derail the TxDOT/Rick Perry toll road plan.

Follow the 5 step strategy on this site to reclaim Austin.

www.AustinTollParty.com

Tolls just went up

Last week, I had the opportunity to use the Houston Toll road (Beltway 8) again. I was shocked that the tolls had gone up from .75 to @1.25 so quickly !!

Not only that, the toll lines were congested !?!? Who'd a thought ?

My frist handfull of coins didn't do the trick - somehow, one of the quarters didn't get counted ! Insane system, and I had prepared ahead of time with my ten dollar roll of quarters!

In the end, I paid $3.75 to drive 10 miles, which should have taken 7 minutes, took 23. My average speed on a 70 mph road worked out to 45 mph, because of the toll both stops.

Didn't Bob Daigh try to tell us that cars and busses would zoom down our new Toll Roads at 70 mph ? No likely. It turns out that EZPass doesn't work the way it's advertized. My experience in Atlanta was that it just didn't register as many as half the cars passing through it, even when they eventually force them all to slow down to 35 mph.

The technology still isn't reliable, and TxDOT just bet the farm on it !

Biscoe arrested for DWI

I have called today and asked Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe to RESIGN.

First he voted for the Double Tax Toll Plan that will toll most of our daily commute highways in Austin.

Now he gets arrested for a DWI. Both are unacceptable. I ask my neighbors to contact his office at 854-9555 or sam.biscoe@co.travis.tx.us and ask him to resign immediately.

Sal Costello

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=116429

CAMPO may rescind all or part

CAMPO members have heard from unhappy consituients for the last two months, and now, even Governor Perry's office is denying that they support hijacking existing roads.

Of course, they can argue all day long about what constitutes an ''Existing Highway'', but in Austin, they are clear as Day and Night.

Everyone supports Tolls on a new highway like 130 that skirts around Austin to the East. Few argue with the Loop 45 Toll, either. Neither road existed previously and it's clear that they will be Toll roads from the begining!

But, MOPAC, HWY 183, Loop 360, Hwy 71 and Hwy 290 of OFF LIMITS !!

If the state needs new taxes for building roads, fine - put it in the Gasoline Tax, where it belongs. Tie the useage to gas milage/consumption, and we can live with that.

Then, give Austin it's fair share of the highway funds. Holding our $161 Million dollars in highway tax dollars is not legal or ethical. In fact, I think it was all a smoke screen.

That IS OUR money. The state of Texas can't give it away or withhold it!

Raising local funds for local roads doesn't work, that's why we have state and Federal government agencies, to oversee the road system and build what is need most, with all drivers in mind.

Sure, Austin is late getting highways that have been approved and even ''funded'' (a strange term that TxDOT uses too freely and without much conviction - indeed, saying a highway is funded doesn't mean they are going to break ground any time soon...). But, we need those roads and so do other drivers from far away. We need to route that NAFTA traffic around Austin, not through the middle of Austin. We need to send the MOPAC trains around Austin, too.

Hwy 130 does both, and it will be built in a timely fashion. That's a lot more important to me, than an overpass on William Cannon Drive or a Fly-over bridge to connect MOPAC to Hwy 71. We do have priorities, even in Austin.

Anyway, some people at CAMPO did blink and recently, they have started talking about repealing their July 12th vote.

McCracken seems to think they just tried to Toll the wrong roads. He's not accepting our view, that Tolling existing highways is not something we can support at all.

If they need another Toll road to build, then build one that goes East/West over north and south Austin, connecting Bastrop to Fredricksburg, but leave Mopac alone, PLEASE !!

Be wary of Sen Krusse, too. He has said he wants to tweak his HB 3855. But, what he means is that he wants to take out the requirement for a FREE ALTERNATIVE ROUTE from the bill, FORCING drivers to use Toll Roads!
He's definately got that point backwards. His bill is more likely to get struck down in a court challenge next year, that get ammended.

Stay tuned.....