TexRail Truth. The real story of pork politics, government waste and taxpayer abuse in Tarrant County. December 10, 2014!

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1 December 10, 2014! TexRail Truth The real story of pork politics, government waste and taxpayer abuse in Tarrant County Chris Putnam! Colleyville City Council!

2 Liberal Austin Votes Down Commuter Rail One, recognize that 99 percent of every trip is made on the roadways, be it private or public transit or shared or emergency or school or government vehicles, it s on roads. And we need to fix our road system to accommodate that transportation. Second, we need to upgrade our transit system to support those people who need transit in their daily lives and have no alternative. And we need to stop trying to get people out of their cars to ride trains and other transit modes which are not viable for the 99.5 percent of the travelers.! Jim Skaggs Citizens Against Rail!

3 What is TexRail? TEX Rail is a 27-mile commuter rail project being developed by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) and will be the next passenger rail service coming to Tarrant County. The proposed commuter route would follow existing rail lines from downtown Fort Worth, northeast to downtown Grapevine and then into the north entrance of Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Operating on existing freight tracks, the route would provide direct access to all activity centers in the corridor, and would connect with other transportation services, TexRail is not light rail diesel-powered locomotives!

4 Fort Worth Transportation Authority 2013 New Starts Documentation! TexRail Funding Sources A taxpayer insult at every level of government - federal, state, county and city!

5 Commuter Rail doesn t work in DFW Ridership is declining precipitously during a period of explosive population growth! Annual Passengers mile opens December 30, , , , ,486 - service extended to Tarrant County, September million - service extended to Fort Worth, completing TRE system, December million million million million million million million million million million million million 25% ridership decrease since 2008!! Tarrant County Population Growth! ,306,827! ,931,335* projected! 47% population increase! Trinity Railway Expressway.org! Texas Department of State Health Services!

6 TexRail is not a Transportation Project As shown in Table 4-10, traffic on roadways that parallel the alignment would not be expected to change substantially as a result of the proposed actions.! At some locations, the Commuter Rail Alternative may add traffic volumes slightly due to the redistribution of traffic volumes and transit station related traffic, especially during peak periods. The most robust reduction of traffic for the Commuter Rail Alternative occurs on Loop 820 by 1,500. However, comparing to the high volumes of this major corridor, the reduction is not likely to change the projected congestion on Loop 820 (LOS F). Overall, the Commuter Rail Alternative has negligible effects on traffic patterns and volumes on parallel roadways.!

7 and has no Traffic or Environmental Benefit The Commuter Rail Alternative would result in a decrease of 0.07 percent from the No-Build Alternative and result in a net reduction of 198,691 VMT (vehicle miles traveled) per day. The Commuter Rail Alternative reduces regional VHT (vehicle hours traveled) by 0.11 percent compared to the No-Build Alternative. The Commuter Rail MOS Alternative would reduce regional VMT by 0.09 percent compared to the No- Build Alternative. Therefore, there is no significant change. Also, there will be no significant improvements on air quality or congestion among the alternatives.!

8 The T - a Taxpayer Black Hole $68M in annual taxpayer contributions! $67M annual operating loss!

9 So much $$$ for so Little Impact TexRail will never service even 1% of Tarrant County residents even using the T s forecasts! What were the TRE forecasts when that project was contemplated???!

10 Harsh Community Impacts Property values will decline near right-of-way! Noise 90dB+! Safety many pedestrian trails along the existing rightof-way; intersections obviously more dangerous! Increased traffic snarls from 40+ daily trains at key intersections! Safety issues at crossings, sidewalks and trails!

11 Who Benefits from TexRail?

12 Taxpayer/voter has no voice in this project and the people promoting it have no accou ntability to the taxpayers!! Why should the Alliance Care? Tarrant County GOP already passed a resolution specifically opposing TexRail! The Texas GOP platform opposes publicly funded passenger rail! Clay Jenkins (and many other Dem Libs) LOVE taxpayer funded commuter rail! Liberal Austin voters just rejected commuter rail handily. Conservative Tarrant County voters would reject it too if we were allowed to vote! Hypocritical for conservatives to oppose Obama stimulus bill then accept funding! The NTCOG/RTC are prioritizing rail, bicycle lane and economic! development projects over non-tolled roads we need to re-direct them!! Fiscally irresponsible doesn t solve a transportation or environmental problem per the T s own data when we are in a transportation funding crisis!

13 How you can help Stop TexRail Vote tonight for a resolution opposing TexRail and asking our federal, state, county and muni legislators to do the same! Burton, Zedler, Tinderholt, Capriligione, Stickland all oppose! Actively encourage our state reps to pull the state funding component! Actively encourage our federal reps not to pass the remaining federal funding component! Provide me with your contact details so we can keep you informed of other events and activities!

14 Fun with Bud

15 Thanks! Facebook.com/chrisputnamcampaign Twitter MadTexan92