October 11, 2007
Tolls : New lights making for some happy voters
Gotta say, this comes as one hell of a surprise...
That's also when new traffic lights on Texas 71 at Texas 130 were turned on. Before then, there was no light on Texas 71 between Ross Road east of Onion Creek and FM 973 near the airport, a stretch of about a mile and a half.The new luminous obstruction, according to some of the e-mails and calls I've been getting, initially added at least 15 minutes to some people's morning commute. One Bastrop resident says her commute ballooned from 30 minutes to 80 minutes or more. One person wrote, perhaps engaging in hyperbole, that the backup extended as far as 10 miles.
What about the 'no new lights' promise from TXDoT's Bob Daigh and our representatives on CAMPO? Turns out, not so much...
A couple of things stand out here. Wear, in his typically pedestrian way, wends around to it at the end. The light has to be there because there are no flyways from 71 to 130 and vice versa. As for why, I'm thinking it's probably too expensive and as we all know, TXDoT's hardly been a good steward of the public's funds... remember those flyways at 45/35? Same thing here. I guess TXDoT's retards think if they don't budget for it, we don't need it. As always, they are Johnny On-The-Spot with the most incomplete solution.
Given all that, you have to put in lights because God knows they aren't going to spend money creating an express pass through for folks on TX 71 who've NEVER had to stop at this intersection before. Now, traffic on 71 is what some would call pretty heavy due to commuters. Traffic on 130 is non-existent for the most part. So what kind of sense does it make to have the lights going green on both roads for roughly the same amount of time? TXDoT never heard of a simple optical sensor? I have one in my garage they can use if they need it. It can trip the light and go green on 130 when a car shows up that needs to go east on 71. That makes much more sense than timing a light for nonexistent traffic.
TXDoT is not only giving us an expensive solution, it's not even a complete solution. Great work, y'all! Thanks for angering people in Bastrop County and Eastern Travis County!
Just for fun, in the wake of CAMPO's decision on Monday, comes a News 8 poll that doesn't bode well for those seeking re-election. I told you people were 'upset'
Posted by mcblogger at October 11, 2007 12:18 PM
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