U.S. 281 upgrade proceeding as toll route

EDINBURG -The new U.S. 281 upgrades promise a quicker route out of the Rio Grande Valley - but it won't come without a cost.

The Texas Department of Transportation plans to toll a series of overpasses through Falfurrias that are part of a $114 million upgrade to the highway to bring it to expressway standards.

The Falfurrias project has been stalled since a TxDOT financial error eliminated the funds the agency thought it had for the project, but the federal economic stimulus package reversed that error.

Using a portion of the agency's $2 billion share of stimulus package funds, TxDOT approved plans in March to remove bottlenecks along the trade corridor by adding overpasses and bypasses in Falfurrias, George West and Ben Bolt.

But a previous plan to pay for part of the project using tolls didn't die when TxDOT found a new funding source.

TxDOT expects to build the Falfurrias overpasses with federal dollars and toll the improvements as a way to pay for maintenance costs and raise money for other projects, said Mario Jorge, the local district engineer for TxDOT.

The Falfurrias tolls were approved in 2004 during the public involvement phase by TxDOT, which initially saw it as a way to help fund the project, and business owners who want tolls to drive some traffic to their businesses along the existing route.

The toll - expected to be about $1 for the six-mile route - is only for drivers who take the expressway-style overpasses, Jorge said. The existing route won't be tolled, giving drivers a choice to pay for convenience as they make the trek north.

"I know the word has got some bad connotations," Jorge said. "But the key to tolls is that it always provides an option to the users. You can either stay on the road or you can get off it."

 Drivers entering Falfurrias once the overpasses are done can get on U.S. 281's main lanes and pay to drive 70 mph through the city or take the existing route for free that continues as a frontage road beside the businesses.

Since stopping to pay at a toll booth negates any gains drivers get from taking the new route, TxDOT plans to use video tolling that sends drivers a bill in the mail.

By tolling that portion of U.S. 281, TxDOT raises funds to pay for road maintenance and make improvements to the route, Jorge said. Since cities don't have to help with right of way costs for toll roads, Falfurrias benefits by not paying for the new route and by the business traffic that's generated by drivers who avoid the tolls.

TxDOT doesn't plan to toll overpasses in Ben Bolt and George West because the routes are not toll viable.

Improvements to add a relief route or new freeway lanes through Premont - expected to cost up to $104 million - will be tolled once planning and funding for the work is finalized.

Direct connectors onto Interstate 37 in George West are also not yet funded but may be tolled when built.

Similar work to bring U.S. 77 to interstate standards is also expected to be tolled, including a $36 million connector to the Port of Brownsville that was also funded by stimulus dollars.

Chris Lippincott, a spokesman for TxDOT, said tolls are an option the state can use to pay for projects and road maintenance in the midst of a massive statewide shortfall for highway funding.