Pat Dixon is the Libertarian candidate for Travis County Commissioner, Precinct 3, running against incumbent Karen Huber.
In my campaign for Travis County Commissioner Precinct 3, I have addressed a lot of issues, but one that has been prominent throughout is the SH 45 extension project. Where do I stand?
The bottom line is that it should be built as a non-tolled road.
Traffic congestion in Travis County is obvious to anyone driving around here. One of the areas of severe congestion is in the southwest part of the county. This is where some residents in Hays county drive into Travis for work. The MoPac freeway transitions from a freeway into a road with traffic lights when it hits this part of the county and dead ends before serving traffic further south. The FM 1626 road connects traffic further south, but the only thing between Mopac and FM 1626 are neighborhood streets or busy commercial streets. This is a major bottleneck.
The SH 45 project was approved by voters 15 years ago. The goal was to provide a connection between Mopac and 1626. People in southwest Travis County, especially the Shady Hollow neighborhood, have been vocal about the delay in getting it started. When I attended the Shady Hollow candidate forum in March with myself and Republican candidates (incumbent office holder Democrat Karen Huber chose not to attend) the use of neighborhood streets as freeways was a big concern.
The Shady Hollow neighborhood feels that Karen Huber either deceived them or let them down. She supported pulling the SH 45 project from transportation plans. Because of this, people were very suspicious of her attempt to remove Shady Hollow from precinct 3 when district lines for her re-election were being redrawn this year.
Yes, Karen Huber tried to have Shady Hollow removed from precinct 3 for her re-election campaign. Rather than dealing with her constituent's concerns, she wanted it to be someone else's problem.
Some have proposed SH 45 be built as a toll road. Although I like the concept of toll roads to have the people using the road pay for it, it turns out to be an extremely expensive and ineffective alternative. The SH 130 project demonstrates that for all of the money spent, it isn’t relieving congestion because people won’t pay the toll.
By sitting idle on a project voters have approved while looking for more unapproved projects to add to the growing Travis County budget, Karen Huber is not serving the needs of Precinct 3.
The core problem is the growing budget and taxation, combined with corporate welfare. Infrastructure and capital improvements lag because growth is not paying for itself. We keep putting more cars on the road without making those who drive the growth pay for their impact.
Consider that in 12 years the population of Travis County has increases 35%. Perhaps you would expect a similar increase in spending and taxation to keep pace. However, the actual per capita budget of the Travis County commissioner’s court has TRIPLED. Property taxes to Travis County, per capita, have DOUBLED. Clearly, this is way in excess of population growth and inflation.
Free Market Sustainability is the only way for growth to pay for itself. This means ending corporate welfare so that those who drive up the demands on our roads and natural resources like water and energy pay for their impact. It also means allowing entreprenuers like John Mackey to emerge and for small business to grow organically into successful companies based in Travis County like Whole Foods.
Let’s build SH 45 as a non-tolled road to make up for past inaction to finally address traffic congestion, and let’s practice Free Market Sustainability to keep pace with growth in the future.
Pat Dixon is the Libertarian candidate for Travis County Commissioner, Precinct 3
