You’re the North Texas Tollway Authority, so I get that you’re unlikely to walk a lot to clear your head. But as a minimal driver, I get plenty of walk/think time in.

I was re-reminded recently of your debacle in trying to put a useless tollway down the Trinity River – an automotive Schlitterbahn if you will. As I recall, no one seemed to want it except those who were building it and raking a profit from its operation. Not your finest hour.

But the other shoe no one really talks about is the fact that you were planning to mortgage your soul of tollways and their future revenue generation to secure the funds to pay for it (the part state and fed wouldn’t cough-up).  As I recall hearing, NTTA uses existing tollways and future tolls as “collateral” for more toll roads.  Fine, nothing unusual there.

But that “soul” seems to still be mortgageable. I have a better idea than sending it down a river.

When I think of the petroleum industry, I see them scrambling to ditch “oil” for the less burn-y “energy” just like another greasy business woke up one day as KFC. Both realized they were too narrowly defining themselves in unsustainable language. It’s time for NTTA to broaden its horizons too by replacing “tollway” with “transportation”.

Transportation is Mode Agnostic

Your mission states:

“The NTTA is an organization sanctioned by the State of Texas to develop and maintain high-quality roadways in North Texas.  NTTA tollways are designed to relieve traffic congestion and get North Texans around the region quickly, easily and safely.

“Our deeper purpose is to enhance the quality of life for area residents. With board members from all around North Texas, including Collin, Denton, Dallas, Tarrant and other surrounding counties, the NTTA represents North Texas as a whole in our mission to provide a safe and reliable toll road system, increase value and mobility options for our customers, operate the Authority in a businesslike manner, protect our bondholders, and partner to meet our region’s growing need for transportation infrastructure.”

Let’s break that down. NTTA is an operation that is “designed to relieve traffic congestion and get North Texans around the region quickly, easily and safely” with a deeper purpose “to enhance the quality of life for area residents.”   And if that weren’t enough, you want to “increase value and mobility options for our customers … and partner to meet our region’s growing need for transportation infrastructure.”

Take out all that hooey about how tollways and asphalt that don’t really relieve congestion (come on, it’s to keep those with more money moving faster) – what are you left with?  Transportation. Moving people efficiently. Let’s start with that as your new core mission statement.

The City of Dallas needs to move people differently than it has. A strategy of building until there’s a revolt isn’t where we are today. Dense, vibrant urbanism is what we need for the next century. The sprawl of the past needs to taper off for a host of reasons obvious to anyone – including NTTA.

Don’t think we don’t see you going on vacations to far-flung cities in large part because of their dense urbanism.  It’s why we visit Chicago instead of Peoria. Dallas has to urbanize like those cities. To do that, we need better public transportation, not more highway “rich lanes.”

Subways, Not Sandwiches

At a recent urban planning event, both Atlanta and Washington, D.C., were held up as really getting into the groove on urban vitality, development, and density. What those two cities have in common is that they were the last two large cities to receive a federal funding bouquet in the 1970s that enabled them to build subways.

For NTTA’s purposes, subways might be considered underground tollways whereby users have tickets instead of toll tags. You have the ability to bring the financing, secured by your aboveground tollways, to be a continuing and vital partner to Dallas for the next 100 years.

You might be thinking I’m describing DART’s mission. In a way, I am.  But DART isn’t getting the job done either because of funding (where you come in) or foresight. Between NTTA, DART and the government, y’all should be able to shake money loose from the feds and hire the right talent. Think of it, we could all be hopping on the TART.

We need this because unlike tollways that simply shuffle traffic into pay lanes, an extensive inner-loop subway system would actually diminish traffic on the surface – and everyone would pay to use it. If NTTA began to think about itself as a transportation operation instead of the parochial tollway-maker, it could diversify its portfolio and risk.

Yes, risk. During recessions and Recessions, I’d bet fewer folks splash out on tolls. Sure, some are unemployed at that point, but many just forgo. But indoctrinating a populace to use public transportation and they’d be there every day, ticket in hand.  And not just commuter traffic – quick runs to the grocery store too unwieldy to balance on a scooter. Most folks take the tollway a lot less than they travel. What if NTTA was able to capture some of that revenue?

For example, take me. I travel a bit. I have never driven a car in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid, New York, or any number of other cities with good subways whether they’re called Tube, Metro, or Subway. When I lived in Preston Hollow and had to go into the city, I drove because there was no Preston Center subway stop to take me there (or anywhere else).

Every city with a subway views it as an amenity. Housing prices are measured by distance to a stop. Density, services, and neighborhood “scenes” erupt near stops.

Back in 2017, Dallas was finally talking about a new line through downtown and finally pushing for it to be underground. The proposals ranged in cost from $938m and $1.29b with feds paying part.

I’m left asking myself, “What more could be built if NTTA embraced ‘transportation’ as its mission and leveraged its equity to help fund a subway?”

My short answer?  Dallas.

Remember:  High-rises, HOAs and renovation are my beat. But I also appreciate modern and historical architecture balanced against the YIMBY movement. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the National Association of Real Estate Editors recognized my writing with three Bronze (2016, 2017, 2018) and two Silver (2016, 2017) awards.  Have a story to tell or a marriage proposal to make?  Shoot me an email [email protected]. Be sure to look for me on Facebook and Twitter. You won’t find me, but you’re welcome to look.