Toll road report says speed limit may affect funds
Trinity study urges 55 mph or more
The Dallas Morning News
September 17, 1998
Author: Robert Ingrassia


A proposed toll road along the Trinity River faces a sizable funding gap unless motorists are allowed to drive at least 55 mph, a traffic study outlined to the Dallas City Council on Wednesday concluded.

The report also determined that the shortfall would top $250 million if the Trinity Parkway had exits leading directly to proposed parks and lakes along the river.

With a 55-mph limit and no direct access to the river parks, the shortfall would be about $160 million - a deficit that city officials say could be overcome with state help.

The study dampens some city leaders' hopes that the project would be feasible as a 45-mph road with easy access to the lakes, features they expect would make the Trinity Parkway more of a boulevard than a freeway.

"This means we still have tough decisions to make," Mayor Ron Kirk said. "We'll see how we can get the road done with as little impact as we can to the neighborhoods and recreation amenities."

Council member Lois Finkelman said she wants to keep the 45-mph option alive. "One of the ways the public bought off on this was on the hope that it would be more of a parkway than a freeway," she said.

Connecticut-based Wilbur Smith Associates conducted the study for the North Texas Tollway Authority. Tollway officials did not give the city a copy of the report but issued a letter highlighting its findings.

The toll road, which would run for 10 miles on both sides of the Trinity from State Highway 183 to U.S. Highway 175, is intended to help relieve downtown traffic jams. It is a key part of a massive river-development project that includes flood-control levees, a lake and parks within the river corridor.

State planners and community leaders originally envisioned the Trinity Parkway as a free-access roadway with a 45-mph speed limit. But the City Council has endorsed a plan to make the Trinity Parkway a toll road, which would enable the project to get quicker funding and to be completed in eight years rather than 13.

The traffic study was conducted to determine how much money the tollway authority will contribute toward the $394 million project.

The report determined that a 55-mph road with little park access would draw enough toll-paying motorists for the agency to borrow up to $150 million for the project. A road with a 45-mph limit and park exits would generate enough income for the tollway authority to borrow less than $70 million.

Traffic experts said speed is the difference. They said that motorists who pay to drive on a road want to go as fast as possible. Thus, anything that slows traffic - such as low speed limits and exit ramps - would reduce use of the road.

The city's contribution was set May 2 when voters approved $84 million for the Trinity Parkway as part of a $246 million Trinity River bond referendum.

The city and the tollway authority are looking to the state Department of Transportation to make up the difference. With the lower speed limit, the state would have to kick in $230 million - a contribution city leaders say is unlikely.

Even the $160 million the state would have to contribute with the 55-mph limit would be "quite a chunk," said Jay Nelson, Dallas district engineer for the state transportation department.

But, Mr. Nelson said, "It's in the state's interest to get the project done because we have such a problem with congestion in the mixmaster-canyon area [center of downtown's traffic snarl] right now."

Political adviser Lorlee Bartos, who helped lead a campaign against the river-bond referendum, said the tollway study means the Trinity Parkway will become what opponents feared: a freeway that divides the city and makes the river parks too noisy to enjoy.

"This is an ill-conceived idea," she said. "It's not economically feasible. It's not feasible for flood control, and it's not feasible for air quality."

Dallas County Judge Lee Jackson, who serves on the tollway authority board, said he believes that even with a 45-mph limit on the Trinity Parkway, cars would travel much faster.

"Given the right design and right sound mitigation, there wouldn't be a significant impact - visual, sound or otherwise - on the recreational amenities," said Judge Jackson. He has said for more than a year that a road with a lower speed limit would not be economically feasible.

The study didn't address one potentially contentious issue: whether trucks should be allowed on the Trinity Parkway. Truck traffic could increase noise and trigger state rules requiring costly sound barriers.

City officials assured the council Wednesday that the toll road will have entrance-exit ramps at major intersections on both sides of the river. But motorists may have to rely on local streets for access to the river parks, officials said.