By Faith Chatham - DFWRCC - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008
Hugh Coleman (R) who is challenging Cynthia White (R) for Denton County Commissioner Pct 1 in the Republican Primary. In the General Election either White or Coleman will face Democratic candidate Phyllis Wolper, who is unopposed in the Democratic Primary.
Cynthia White, with Wendy Davis, led the NCTCOG RTC in developing a 2030 plan for the region calling for 675 additional miles of tolled roads or additional tolled HOV lanes in the DFW region by the year 2030. At the RTC's vote for awarding the contract for SH121 to either Cintra or NTTA, Cynthia Whilte and Wendy Davis both gave very long, pleading speeches, with tears in their eyes almost to the point of sobbing, begging members to vote for Cintra "because if we do not accept the Cintra bid, no investors will ever come to the Dallas Fort Worth area ever again."
Ms. White is a member of the Board of Directors of NASCO CORRIDOR GROUP which lobbied to get legislation passed to enable construction of the Trans Texas Corridor.
I asked Hugh Coleman specifically about his position on toll roads. He said: "I absolutely opposes tolling existing roads -- like SH121. We, the taxpayers, have already paid for it and should not be taxed again."
"Toll roads should be only as a last resort." He favors the old model --- where roads were constructed as toll roads only when other resources were not available for construction cost -- similar to the I-30 (Dallas Fort Worth Turnpike). The old model is frequently described as 'building the best road you can for the least money, maintaining it as efficiently as you can, keeping the tolls as low as possible and retiring the debt as fast as you can. When enough users had paid tolls to retire the debt, the road becomes non-tolled public road.'
Hugh Coleman does not favor tolling a road to raise revenue to use on other projects. Ms. White, a member of NASCO CORRIDOR GROUP, and former President of the NCTCOG Regional Transportation Commission, favors tolling existing highways, utilizing private partners who profit from investing their capital in the public infrastructure projects, and utilizing revenue from one project to create a revenue stream to fund other transportation projects. Under Ms. White's leadership the RTC has approved a toll rate structure which charges users higher tolls than are necessary to maintain the roads and retire the debts.
In the Republican Primary, DFW Regional Concerned Citizens urges Denton County Republican Voters to support Hugh Coleman.
See Denton Record-Chronicle Article.
