Official: Falfurrias bypass likely won't be tolled

The bypass offering U.S. 281 drivers a quicker route through Falfurrias likely won’t be tolled after all.

A Texas Department of Transportation official said this month that a combination of low revenue projections and local complaints about the economic impact will deter an initial plan to toll the five overpasses through the Brooks County city.

Slated for completion in late 2012, the overpasses are part of $114 million in spending from the American Recovery Act dedicated to removing major U.S. 281 bottlenecks in Falfurrias, Ben Bolt and George West.

Only the Falfurrias bypasses were thought to be a viable tolling option until projections showed meager revenues that failed to offset costs to maintain the toll route.

“The preliminary financial numbers do indicate that (toll revenues) won’t be able to generate enough to pay for operations and maintenance,” said Mario Jorge, the TxDOT district engineer who oversees operations in the Rio Grande Valley and surrounding counties. “If we were going to toll it, the benefits wouldn’t be there, and it was (Brooks County officials’) preference for us not to toll it.”

Changing the plan for tolls in Falfurrias will take official action from the Texas Transportation Commission, a decision that could come at its next meeting.

TxDOT dedicated $87.5 million from federal stimulus package funds in early 2009 to build five overpasses in a 6-mile stretch of highway through Falfurrias. At the same time, TxDOT also approved $13 million for an overpass near the Ben Bolt school district that is already completed, and another $21 million to build a railroad overpass and a right turn lane in George West.

Hidalgo County officials – including former county judge J.D. Salinas – were initially caught off guard when TxDOT announced it planned to charge drivers about $1 each to avoid delays in Falfurrias, but opposition among Brooks County residents has gained steam as the project has neared completion.

Only the new overpasses were slated for tolls, with the existing surface streets kept free.

Brooks County residents initially assumed tolling the route would encourage drivers who wanted to avoid the costs on the surface streets where they could patronize local business, Brooks County Judge Raul Ramirez said. But opposition grew once they learned their section would be the only one tolled and decided it could actually deter drivers just passing through from stopping in the city’s business district.

He said sales tax revenues in Brooks County are on an upward trajectory that could be negated if drivers refuse to pay the tolls to get on and off the surface streets surrounding the bypass.

“There’s no other tollway anywhere else, so you would basically be creating a reason for them not to stop,” he said. “We’ve got new businesses going out there by the bypass, and they wouldn’t be looking at investing in Brooks County if the tolls keep people away.”

McAllen Economic Development Corp. president Keith Patridge said tolling the overpasses likely wouldn’t have stopped truck drivers from using them since the cost would be offset by the time savings. A larger factor for TxDOT was the realization that toll revenues were offset by the cost of placing toll booths after each of the overpasses.

But Patridge said the completion of the overpasses should be a boon for economic development efforts in the Rio Grande Valley amid a continued push to bring U.S. 281 up to interstate standards. With bottlenecks in George West, Falfurrias and Ben Bolt removed, the attention has turned toward Premont.

Premont officials have indicated that they prefer TxDOT to build a relief route around the city, a project estimated to cost about $40 million.

No funding has been identified for Premont yet.