A classmate of mine believes that building more toll roads is the solution to the increasingly compact traffic in Texas, even if foreign investments are unavoidable. The article can be found in this webpage. However, I believe that improving public transport, including civil aviation and railroad, is a better alternative to toll roads.
As an engineer, I am always concerned with the technical perspective of a proposal prior to whether foreign companies are involved. An issue is how much traffic can new toll roads diverge? Not many. Currently the interstate highways generally have three to five lanes on each side in downtown areas and two or three lanes in the suburb. I have seen some toll expressways in Dallas and Houston. They are single lane highways. Practically, it is not possible to build 8-lane toll roads in addition to the existing highways. Therefore, I don't see how single lane (or dual lanes) expressways can alleviate the traffic flow. Secondly, I note that these toll roads have fewer ramps than regular interstate and Texas expressways. An important reason behind building highways is to spur economic growth. Hence bypassing many blocks is not helpful to local economy. Thirdly, building toll roads is against the Texan value of small government. Charging to use toll roads means charging tax payers another time after using their taxes to build the toll roads.
But what are the alternatives? I would recommend the employment and refinement of RNAV approach procedures in major airports. RNAV combines GPS, on-board inertial navigation and radio navigation to guide airplanes through a precise path to approach the airport. With this technology, we can optimize air traffic flow, enhance safety in malicious weather conditions,thereby increasing the number of flights. Another way to solve the needs of transportation of the growing population would be reviving railroads.
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