TxDOT paid $1.3 Million for this crappy study!

This is simply unbelievable! TxDot had been very close-lipped about the cost of this horrible study because they knew it would cause public outrage. The figure reported is $1.3 million before the final study report has been finished. This is the single largest misappropriation of funds I have ever heard of at any level of governance!

A well-done and articulated study of this magnitude normally costs anywhere between $100,000 and $300,000. I know this because I have experience in both the public and private sectors of urban planning. However, this study is poorly done and the goals are still not well articulated and TXDot paid over 12 times the going rate!

In addition, this is what you (Texas taxpayers) did not get for your $1.3 million...
a. Any fieldwork at all. They simply solicited input about homeownership from old existing data records and public input at meetings.
b. The consultants did not listen to any progressive suggestions about the loop.
c. Coherent justification for this proposal.
d. A web site that was interactive and often updated.
e. Update letters in the mail about the study other than meeting notices.
f. Singage pointing out the proposed right-of-way corridor for public information.

This outer loop proposal is the most clear manifestation of government corruption I have ever witnessed. The persons pushing the proposal are clearly making money off of the developer driven growth. Their public communication is awful, and it is clear that the majority of persons in the community oppose this idea. It is time for New Braunfels and Comal County residents to stand up and say to Mayor Bruce Boyer and Judge Danny Scheel, "We are tired of your malign neglect of the public desires, we realize that you both are selfishly ignoring the local environment, and we are tired of you putting business interests over people's interests!"

For the public officials, it is best to write this off as a loss now rather than lose battles in the courts. Negligence throughout the process will be easy to prove AND you will never be able to push the environmental study though! Give up now before you blow more public money on this farce!

10. This will increase sprawl

A road like a loop is not an essential road and these circumfirentials have been proven ineffective thoroughfares by the planning community. It will not increase efficient movement of traffic through our region. What these roads are meant to do (nowadays) is to open up more land for development on the outer periphery of the city which creates sprawl. This haphazard form of growth is unsustainable and is not well placed in this fragile landscape (see next posting). In addition, the City of New Braunfels has the loop lined with strip commercial land uses in their Comprehensive Plan which alludes to the idea of more sprawl. The growth machine is a difficult mechanism to slow, but this loop would accelerate the growth machine and create more problems with growth issues in a shorter time span. Do we really want to be like Kyle or Cibolo and be a sprawling area with nothing unique to offer? Los Angeles decided that freeway construction was the best way to encourage growth. Look at this photo from space to see if that was a good idea or not?

9. The Hill Country as a fragile landscape

We live in a beautiful area! We are blessed by the Edwards Aquifer and the water, springs, and amenities it provides. However, the Aquifer is under attack due to haphazard growth. The aquifer is recharged by water that seeps into the ground after it rains. Much of the near Hill Country is located in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone which means this is the most fragile location for the health of the Aquifer. The recharge zone needs to be left as natural as possible for maximum drainage and minimum pollution potential. The West side of the Outer Loop will scrape up land in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, and the Outer Loop will increase building and development in this fragile area. We cannot let this proposal ruin our natural environment and destroy the lifeline of our region. As humans, we cannot survive without water-- shouldn't we then be better stewards of this resource?

8. Not another road?

Gasoline is almost to $4.00 a gallon. Autos produce significant levels of fossil fuels that add to global warming. The auto transportation network has been very useful for the 20th Century, but we are in a new era. We need to change the ways we do things and build our cities. Adding more roadways will not engender innovative thinking in how we commute and build communities. At one point in our nation's history, canals were very important as transportation corridors. Then, the railroad came and made them less important. Next, the automobile came and made railroads less important. Now, we are on the edge of the digital revolution. In the future, the information superhighway will make roads less important. Should our long range planning really include major roadway plans and strip commercial? I think not. We need to plan more mixed-use clusters that will be amenity driven but also reduce our dependency on car trips. This is called Smart Growth.

7. There is not significant justification

The only reason given for this new road is to, "be prepared" for an onslaught of growth. Will a loop around the city really help? If congestion is an issue, why don't they expand and improve roads like 46, 725, and 306 that ALREADY EXIST rather than carve up more land for an un-needed road? Make better railroad crossings, graded intersections, and do better access management on the roads that already exist! These are improvements that TX DOT has difficulty with. Secondly, New Braunfels already has a loop> Loop 337! There is no good reason to add another loop on the west side of Interstate 35!

6. The design of the study is poor

One of the reasons this proposal is so bad is that the consultants were given a nearly impossible task-- to find a path for a major road within a narrow band as defined by the City of New Braunfels. The consultants were given poorly conceived constraints to their thinking so naturally the proposed route is poorly conceived! It's like the adage-- garbage in creates garbage out or trying to make orange juice with a lime. A poorly designed study will lead to a badly designed road. By the way, can't they provide a scale for the map-- or is that too hard! Also, the consultants did not follow proper planning procedures in performing this study. They did as minimal effort as possible and did little fieldwork and fact checking. I think the citizens deserve better than this shotty work.

5. The proposed right-of-way is already congested and used

This proposal is so bad and poorly conceived that the right-of-way will criss-cross and align high-voltage power lines owned and operated by LCRA. Not only is this dangerous to potential travelers on the roadways, but it also is hazardous to utility workers who will be put in greater harm by high speed traffic in their working environment. This is simply ludicrous and as seen in this picture from Long Beach, California, it is very important to not crowd power right-of-ways and to keep utility wires away from the built environment.

4. This is a misuse of ETJ

States give municipalities the power of Extra-territorial jurisdiction so that they can better plan for and manage future growth beyond their current city limits. The City of New Braunfels should do more pregressive planning in their ETJ to manage growth not fuel growth. This area is so attractive and people and businesses want to locate in this area. This allows the government to be more proscriptive and demanding for what kind of growth takes place. The City should follow the goals of their Comprehensive Plan and do things such as:

Goal 3: Encourage innovative and flexible design patterns, such as cluster development.
Goal 13: Maintain and enhance the green appearance of New Braunfels.
Goal 25: Encourage pedestrian and bicycle transportation including provision of safe transportation facilities for pedestrians and bicycles.
Goal 30: Provide stewardship for natural water resources including the Comal Springs and River and the Guadalupe River.
Goal 52: Safeguard natural resources through acquisition, preservation, and eco-friendly planning.
Goal 58: Maintain an attractive and lively downtown area that creates a deep sense of community.

This Outer Loop directly goes against these stated goals.

3. It takes away open space and agricultural land

This proposal will significantly reduce the amount of open space and agricultural land in the area. This is one of the pleasant aspects of living in this part of Texas and it is why people find Comal County appealing. More building will exacerbate flooding which will increase in intensity as rainwater will not seep into asphalt, temperatures that will increase due to the urban heat island effect, and create less diversity of wildlife species due to habitat loss or change. I think most Texans prefer the site of a cattle pasture than another exclusive gated community named for the ranch it destroyed!

2. This will take away people's homes

Because of recent bad regional planning, local governments are rushing to preserve right-of-way that will greatly affect the lanscape. If they wanted to be proactive, this should have been done years ago. However, this is hasty reactionary, and un-wise. Many of the land in the Right-of-way has been owned by local families for over 100 years. This is not fair and at its core is un-American.

1. This is bad urban and regional planning

The second half of the 20th Century was filled with poor urban planning decisions all over the United States which ended up being detrimental to our collective quality of life. One of the major contributors to this bad planning is the notion of a road in the shape of a loop or circle. A circuitous route is not efficient in getting from point A to point B. Beltways, loops, by-passes, etc. are all ploys to develop more land in inefficient ways-- creating more congestion, traffic, and disorganized sprawl. The justification that "other cities have this" is not acceptable and is not a rational justification to alter the local landscape this way. New Braunfels does not need to follow bad examples done in Houston or Los Angeles or we will suffer unneeded decreases in quality of life.