Removing toll roads?

Members of the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA) voted Wednesday to send a formal request to the Texas Department of Transportation to investigate what it would take to remove the toll lanes off El Paso’s Cesar Chavez Border Highway.

State Representative Joe Pickett, who serves as chairman of the House’s Committee on Transportation, has led the effort to increase TXDOT’s funding by championing changes in the state agency’s funding formula. With the passage of two recent state constitutional amendments, Pickett, says, tolls are not necessary to fund the maintenance of roads.

Pickett asked the CRRMA, which builds and manages roads in our area, to ask TXDOT to study the feasibility of removing the tolls from the Cesar Chavez Border Highway. He said San Antonio already got rid of its toll roads and El Paso should, too.

“We’re crazy not to ask because it’s being done all over the state of Texas. (They) are re-looking at their plans and if the second largest city in the state of Texas doesn’t have a toll road, why can’t we?” Pickett told CRRMA members. “But we gotta ask.”

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, who attended the meeting, said he would support the proposal as long as the city gets assurances from TXDOT that the state will take over the highway’s maintenance.

In a unanimous vote, the CRRMA board voted to ask TXDOT to look into the possibility of removing the tolls.

This decision would also impact El Paso’s other designated tolled road, the Border Highway West project now under construction.
Members of the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA) voted Wednesday to send a formal request to the Texas Department of Transportation to investigate what it would take to remove the toll lanes off El Paso’s Cesar Chavez Border Highway.

State Representative Joe Pickett, who serves as chairman of the House’s Committee on Transportation, has led the effort to increase TXDOT’s funding by championing changes in the state agency’s funding formula. With the passage of two recent state constitutional amendments, Pickett, says, tolls are not necessary to fund the maintenance of roads.

Pickett asked the CRRMA, which builds and manages roads in our area, to ask TXDOT to study the feasibility of removing the tolls from the Cesar Chavez Border Highway. He said San Antonio already got rid of its toll roads and El Paso should, too.

“We’re crazy not to ask because it’s being done all over the state of Texas. (They) are re-looking at their plans and if the second largest city in the state of Texas doesn’t have a toll road, why can’t we?” Pickett told CRRMA members. “But we gotta ask.”

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, who attended the meeting, said he would support the proposal as long as the city gets assurances from TXDOT that the state will take over the highway’s maintenance.

In a unanimous vote, the CRRMA board voted to ask TXDOT to look into the possibility of removing the tolls.

This decision would also impact El Paso’s other designated tolled road, the Border Highway West project now under construction.