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Rafael Anchia has backed up claims that he would listen to his Texas House district when it comes to the Trinity toll road.
Early Friday, Anchia filed legislation that would prevent the Texas Department of Transportation from providing funding for the Trinity roll road and require the road proposal to undergo an environmental review.
Seeing as the road is underfunded by around $1 billion, it’s hard to see the thing getting built without TxDOT funds.
Late last year, Anchia measured public opinion about the toll road with a survey and a poll.
See also: Rep. Rafael Anchia Just Released a Trinity Toll Road Survey. Why?
“My approach is just to figure out where my constituents are on this thing so I can properly represent them,” Anchia said at the time. “I suspect that the sentiment of the respondents is going to be unfavorable, and that’s consistent with what I’m hearing in the neighborhoods that I represent. We’re going to use a number of different tools to gather information and do fact finding.”
Anchia’s suspicions were confirmed. Respondents came out overwhelmingly against the toll road; by the survey’s count 94 percent were against it. (The poll results weren’t released.) Anchia is now acting to further the will of his district, despite his close ties to former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk and current Mayor Mike Rawlings, two of the road’s firmest supporters.
See also: Anchia Survey Finds That Everybody Hates the Damn Trinity Toll Road
“I’ve told everyone that you should be able to act in the best interest of your district,” Anchia told The Dallas Morning News‘ Gromer Jeffers. “My district hates the toll road.”
