MoPac needs to be completed.
Perhaps the best testimony to that statement is the section of MoPac already in use. It was opposed vigorously by some. Can you imagine all the traffic which is now carried efficiently by MoPac having to move through neighborhoods and on streets existing before MoPac's construction?
The Austin Chamber of Commerce for more than half a century has worked hard to prevent pollution of any form. Any business which posed a threat has received "counsel" and assistance in finding a more compatible location elsewhere.
What little pollution Austin has comes mostly from automobiles - exhaust and oil drippings. To wilfully prevent the efficient movement of traffic is against the Chamber's long-standing non-pollution goals.
It's obvious that failure to complete the north end will cause traffic delays for major employers (and taxpayers) such as IBM, Tandem, Abbott and the rapidly expanding University complex at Balcones Research Center.
On the south, it is estimated that during busy traffic times it would take one-fourth as long to move along the proposed completion route from 360 to 290 as it would to use the present route. Even if auto pollution were only two times as great because of distance and delays, that's too much. And, lest we forget, both routes are almost entirely in the Barton Creek watershed, so runoff and air pollution will be much greater if we fail to complete MoPac south. Some contruction runoff is bound to occur, but runoff from a new bridge or from an expanded intersection will both go downhill - to the same creek.
Let me urge you to do something about it. Send dollars, lots of them, to Neighbors for MoPac, 225 Congress, Suite 185, Austin, TX 78701. And on April 3, get everyone you can to the polls to vote for completion. The alternate is not pleasant: increased pollution, increased mileage costs, increased time delays, increased traffic congestion, and ultimately, greatly increased costs when the project is going to have to be completed anyway.
As in the past, we oppose any action, or lack of action, which harms the Austin environment.
