Westpark tolls won’t be doubled: Officials listen to irate public but warn congestion will continue
Top county officials announced Thursday that they will rescind a decision to double fees during peak hours on the Westpark Tollway but warned drivers that traffic backups likely will continue without “congestion pricing.”…. “The realistic answer is ‘yes,’ ” Commissioner Steve Radack said. “There will be congestion on the Westpark Tollway.”…. Commissioners Court voted unanimously Tuesday to double fees during peak hours as a way to reduce congestion, but agreed two days later to rescind that decision after it was assailed by many tollway drivers and area residents.
A couple of days ago, I wrote about the Harris County Commissioners Court decision to more than double tolls on the Westpark Tollway. As you might imagine the “let them eat cake attitude” of some members of the court didn’t sit well with that who use the Westpark Tollway on a regular basis. Facing something resembling an open revolt, Commissioners did the right thing and rescinded their decision.
To call the original decision your basic PR nightmare would be something of an understatement. Coming out and telling your constituents/customers the moral equivalent of “go (&^% yourself” is seldom a sound strategy for prolonging your political career. Trying to force working class folks to bear the responsibility for your own lack of adequate planning and foresight is an equally poor career move.
“Congestion pricing” may be an effective way to reduce congestion on the Tollway, but what it says to those impacted is that the Westpark Tollway is really of, by, and for those who can afford it. Your tax dollars may have helped to build it, but if you can’t afford to use it…well, you’re just S.O.L., aren’t you?
Nice try, eh? Here’s an idea: the next time you try to solve a problem, try not doing it on the backs of working men and women already being squeezed. People want solutions, and they expect results, but they won’t tolerate solutions that require them to suffer for it. “Congestion pricing” may be an idea with some merit to do it, but sending a “go (&^% yourself” message along with a proposed plan is hardly a recipe for universal love and acceptance.
I just want to meet the blond holding the sign.
Well, she is prettier than the the Bush twins, but keep in mind that her sign was photoshopped. It is not a solicitation.
There are people who drive the "Lexus Lanes" on the Westpark toll road who would pay TRIPLE to get the effective speed limit back up to 75mph from 55mph. But if the commissioners' plan to raise prices to reduce traffic backfires (ie., everybody ponies up the increase) ... oh well!
I'd construct an analogy with the city's parks, but Houston managed to raise the zoo rate this week to $20 for an adult and two kids from the three bucks or so it cost not long ago.
And read the fine print -- this ultimate Liberatarian wet dream of toll roads everywhere is anathema to their mantra in the Harris County implementation: up here in 77095 for the upcoming Hempstead Highway tollroad, they are first using the proceeds from this latest hike to pay for that future expansion.
So instead of their promises that a new tollway project will pay for itself after-the-fact, this ponzi scheme requires ever increasing burdens on those who support it the most already. Couple that with the inevitiable privatization of an already purchased future project, and you've got the perfect formula for Commissioners to reward their buddies with Day1 cash cows (or reward themselves with upon retirement and civilian life when they "return to the private sector")
But the people with the power who help elect these leaders want a return to 75mph tollroads no matter how many people they run over to accomplish it. These "Lexus Lanes" folks almost bled from the ears to repeal the 70mph speed limits on I-10 ... an affliction, like gout, that mostly affects middle aged white guys.