Sixty-three percent of Dallas residents who've made up their mind about whether or not a toll road should be built between the Trinity River levees oppose the project, according to extensive polling done by The Dallas Morning News between April 10 and April 17. Among registered voters who've made up their minds, opposition is even higher, at 65 percent.
The polling is some of the most comprehensive that's been done on the issue since the 2007, Angela Hunt-led referendum to dump the road. The referendum lost by six points.
It's worth noting that the newest in the decades-long parade of plans for the Trinity River bottoms, the one created by Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings' so-called "Dream Team," received its official roll out April 14, right in the middle of sampling.
See also: Trinity Toll Road "Dream Team" Says Dallas Does Not Need Highway Through a Park
Of those who oppose the road, 54 percent are against it due to its $1.3 billion-plus potential price. Only 15 percent don't want it because of the effects the road might have on a potential park, but that's still more than the 12 percent who fear the project will balloon again from the four-lane parkway suggested by the Dream Team to a freeway that's at least six lanes.
Before getting too far ahead of ourselves and declaring victory for the bevy of City Council candidates who hope that their toll road opposition buoys their chances in May's election, it should be noted that, somehow, a full third of respondents have not made up their mind on the road. Still, only 23 percent of those polled said they were for the road, with just four percent of those proponents repeating the canard that the road "has been approved by voters twice."
