Conservation Action: Stop the Aquifer Toll Road! As many of you probably know, the Travis County Commissioners Court (TCCC) recently voted 4 to 1 to approve setting aside funds to build State Highway 45 Southwest (SH45SW). While this is a setback, during the debate, Bill Bunch of the SOS Alliance was able to force a change in the agreement that might help stop the project at some point in the future. The work to protect Barton Springs is not yet done. The Transportation Policy Board (TPB) of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) is meeting Monday, 4/14/14, at 6:00 p.m. in room 3.102, Joe C. Thompson Center, University of Texas Campus (Red River and Dean Keeton Streets) in Austin, Texas. In order to build SH45SW as quickly as possible, CAMPO needs to rearrange funding to avoid using Federal transportation dollars for the project. This is because using Federal dollars would require a Federal environmental impact statement (EIS), which is far more rigorous than a State of Texas EIS. The Federal EIS would cause the project to take longer to complete and might raise the price of the project. The result is also likely to pollute Barton Springs less. A Federal EIS might even prevent the project from being built at all. Not using Federal dollars is also likely to leave less money available to Travis County for other projects. These questions will be explored at the meeting. What you can do: Email your feelings about the TCCC decision to Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe, and Travis County Commissioners Bruce Todd and Gerald Daugherty, as these politicians are also members of the TPB of CAMPO. In addition, you should demand from the entire TPB that, should SH45SW be built, at the very least it should use Federal money and have a Federal EIS completed before the money is set aside. The members of the TPB are: Will Conley, Chair, Hays County Commissioner: [email protected] Lee Leffingwell, Vice-Chair, City of Austin Mayor: [email protected] Joe Bain, Travis County Appointed Representative: [email protected] Clara Beckett, Bastrop County Com.: [email protected] Sam Biscoe, Travis County Judge: [email protected] Sheryl Cole, City of Austin Mayor Pro-Tem: [email protected] Jeff Coleman, City of Pflugerville Mayor: [email protected] John Cryier, Caldwell County Appointed Rep.: john@johncryier Gerald Daugherty, Travis County Com.: [email protected] Joe Don Dockery, Burnet County Com.: [email protected] George Garver, City of Georgetown Mayor: [email protected] Daniel Guerrero, City of San Marcos Mayor: [email protected] Cynthia Long, Williamson County Com.: [email protected] Greg Malatek, TxDOT District Engineer: [email protected] Craig Morgan, Round Rock City Council Member: [email protected] Matt Powell, City of Cedar Park Mayor: [email protected] Chris Riley, Austin City Council Mem.: [email protected] David Siebold, Capital Metro Rep.: [email protected] William Spelman, Austin City Council Mem.: [email protected] Bruce Todd, Travis County Com.: [email protected] As currently proposed, SH45SW will be 3.6 miles long, it could cost $100 million dollars, and it will be a toll road. It will decrease the commuter time of a small percentage of Travis County residents by two to five minutes, but dump thousands more cars onto MoPac every day. According to the most recent scientific information emerging about the impacts of impervious cover (cement roads) on water quality, this road and the ensuing development it will enable are very likely to further degrade water quality in Barton Springs. For more information about this ongoing battle and Barton Springs: Visit the SOS Alliance website: sosalliance.org/ Visit the Austin Sierra Club website: texas2.sierraclub.org/austin/ Visit this excellent Barton Springs historical/educational website: livingspringsaustin.org/ Spread the word - and thanks for caring! Craig Nazor [email protected]
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 08:31:22 +0000
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