R.O.A.D. (Reclaiming Our Allocated Dollars), an organization formed several years ago with the intent of curbing the powers of Capital Metro, has been revived to combat light rail which will on the ballot in November.

Gerald Daugherty, organizer of the original group, is again the force behind R.O.A.D., but the post of chairman is held by Jim Skaggs, retired chairman of Tracor.

According to Skaggs, Austin probably has the worst road system of any U.S. city of comparable size with the possible exception of Seattle, "which has water on two sides and has some real problems. Austin, he said, is "12 to 15 years behind" in building an adequate road system and will have to spend between 50 and 60 million dollars a year for 10 years—plus Federal matching funds—to catch up.

Austin’s road building needs include a loop around the city, they said, adding there are very few cities the size of Austin without such a loop. In addition, they contend, SH-130 and SH-45 are vital, Mopac should be upgraded and we need an East-West thoroughfare across the city.

The city, Daugherty said, needs an effective bus system and cannot afford $750 million for light rail which will not meet our real needs. Instead, he said, half of the penny sales tax collected by Cap Metro should be redirected to expanding our road system. Cap Metro, Skaggs said, can operate a bus system on the remaining half cent as does San Antonio. In fact, he said, Cap Metro is already operating on about a half-penny and banking the rest in anticipation of light rail.

Daugherty and Skaggs noted the experience of other cities in arguing that light rail will not end Austin’s traffic problems. In Portland, Ore., often cited as a model for Austin, the Oregon Transportation Institute found that during the morning peak period the Banfield Freeway carried more than 10 times the volume of the light rail line.

In St. Louis, according to data from the Missouri Dept. of Transportation, light rail ridership during the inbound peak hours is approximately 60 percent less than the capacity of a single freeway lane. The department reported that when a damaged bridge was closed for a period of weeks causing a 100 percent increase in travel time by auto, rail passenger volume was still 40 percent below that of one freeway lane.

Light rail, Daugherty said, is being promoted as way to ease traffic congestion, and reduce air pollution but, "That absolutely is not the case." Across the U.S., national and state data compiled by the Texas Public Policy Foundation indicate that, "In no case has light rail attracted enough drivers out of their cars to materially reduce traffic congestion." "If it doesn’t help traffic, it won’t do anything for air." Daugherty said.

Skaggs said light rail will make the bus system less useful for those who must use public transit. Their commutes will be longer, he predicted, because the bus system will be curtailed to support the rail system. Additionally, he said, every city that put in light rail over the last 20 years converted its bus routes into feeder lines to the train and reduced bus service where the rail runs. As a result, he said, someone who used to catch a bus directly to his destination now must take a bus to the rail stop, and transfer to the rail. The cost of building and operating light rail, he said, can also cause a deterioration of bus service. According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the degradation of the bus system in Los Angeles lead to a lawsuit by advocates of persons dependent on public transit resulting in a moratorium on expansion of the rail system and redirection of transit funds to the bus system.

Daugherty said flexibility is the biggest factor in gaining public support for a transit system and light rail is a "fixed guideway system" with no flexibility. "The best system you can have," he said, "is a very good bus system" which ROAD supports. Austin has problems, he added, because a lot of people don’t think Capital Metro has provided a good bus system.

Light rail, Daugherty said, is being sold as a way to promote economic development. But, he noted, the proposed route of the light rail line starts at Fourth Street and Congress Avenue, comes up Congress Avenue then over to Lavaca Street, up Lavaca Street and over to Guadalupe Street, and up Guadalupe Street until it intersects Lamar then to Airport Boulevard.

No part of that route, he said, is blighted and needing a boost to its economic development. He also noted that light rail supporters do not say what kind of economic development they expect, whether it is factories, office space, retail outlets. They just throw the word out hoping it will at-tract support for light rail, he said.

Since light rail has failed to improve transportation, ROAD contends, supporters have turned to other ways to sell it including what they claim is a superior "urban form." So-called "New Urbanism" and Smart Growth enthusiasts are

hostile to single family suburban homes and prefer high-density, multi-family housing. This is the type of population distribution needed to make light rail appear practical. In Portland, Ore., they said, legal boundaries have been placed around the city to prevent suburban growth. As a result, green space within the city is disappearing and housing prices are rising dramatically.

Skaggs and Daugherty emphasize that the November ballot question has no dollar amount—it only asks whe-ther Capital Metro shall be permitted to build a complete rail system. It is a blank check, they said.

They are urging Austinites to contact ROAD at (512)462-3700 for more information.