$600 Million For Ineffective Rail, But SH130 Must Be A Toll Road!

Last year CAMPO announced that the Feds have $600 million for a new passenger rail system between Austin and San Antonio. The system would be called the Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District and would only move 4 to 5% the traffic that I-35 moves on a daily basis. The SH 130 project is approximately 80 miles long and using a per lane mile cost of $2 million works out to approximately $640 million for a 4 lane highway. Why don't our Texas representatives at every level insist on the rail money being put to better use by building SH130 as a FREEway. SH130 as a FREEway would finally bring much needed relief to the Austin area, but as a toll road will probably be of little help to Austin. Hmm, there IS money for rail but NOT for roads.
Also, note what the following report says about cost over-runs which could likely put the price tag of the rail system over (say it out loud) $1 BILLION!!
http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-crinam.pdf