A couple of articles in Tuesday's Observer leaves little room for misinterpretation that all three local mayors have been working against the will of the people when it come to implementing HOT lanes.
Not that there ever was really much doubt. We've covered there antics over the past few years in pieces like this, this, and this.
Today, first there is this piece recounting outgoing Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain's unequivacle support for the HOT Lanes project saying to the Observer...
“What we need to do now is we need to move forward. We need to let this happen.”
During the campaign all we ever heard was that saying Swain supported tolls was somehow spreading misinformation. It appears those who defended her on this point were the ones being less than truthful.
In the second article in the Observer, it was revealed North Meck Mayors Travis and Woods have apparently been planning a boondoggle to Texas for "months" now to see Cintra's tolling operation.
“This is a fact-finding mission for information sharing and forecasting that we can report back to our community."
They better hurry.
Somewhat ironically, on the same day that story hit the news, this one out of Texas also broke. It looks like the legislative tide has turned in the Lone Star State against managed lanes projects like the I77 HOT lanes.
In Texas...
"House Transportation Committee Chair Joe Pickett signaled he’s on a war path to end toll managed lanes at a hearing of the Select Committee on Transportation Planning last week."
Those are the current facts on the ground in Texas.
How much do you want to bet we don't hear anything about that from the Travis-Woods fact finding tour?
Bonus Observation: The Observer made a big point of saying Travis and Woods are paying their own way to Texas and Cintra/NCDOT aren't covering the bill.
That being the case, paying their own way is the only way they could go. After last week's pasting at the polls in Huntersville, does anyone see the Cornelius or Huntersville Boards paying for it?
Texas just the latest state to force another Cintra subsidiary to bite the dust and go into bankruptcy. The Huntersville voters voted in the right direction to put people out of office who trying to force this issue. Now it is time to throw the gang out in Raleigh who have been doing nothing but support this. Why is it Pat McCrory and company had money to put 4 lanes on most of 85 and 485 but can't find it in the budget to pay for one extra lane on 77 from Huntersville to Mooresville?
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