Toll Rules Passed to Help Accelerate Transportation Projects

By finalizing rules guiding toll road and regional mobility authority operations, state officials have expanded the list of options available for accelerating transportation projects to improve mobility and safety.

June TxDOT Highway Letting Dates

The Texas Department of Transportation has scheduled its next highway letting for June 8 and 9. Sixty-seven projects are approved to be let with an estimated total of $344,334,813.

A TxDOT report in March said projects may be added, advanced or delayed as deemed necessary.

Texas Transportation Commission Passes Toll Rules

The Texas Transportation Commission recently passed rules applicable to counties, regional mobility authorities and the state that will supplement traditional highway financing and implement new tools designed to deliver transportation improvements sooner.

"These are some of the most significant rules that we'll deal with for a long time," said Ric Williamson, chair of the Texas Transportation Commission.

One option available to local governments is the formation of a regional mobility authority. The new rules outline the steps local governments must follow to form an authority and allow the development of multiple transportation projects to generate revenue for other local projects.

Currently, Texas has two county-operated regional mobility authorities, and other counties have expressed interest in doing the same, according to TxDOT.

A related set of rules was adopted guiding the potential conversion of tax-supported highways to toll roads that allow tax- to toll-road conversion by an RMA, county or TxDOT.

All of the rules expand the requirements for public involvement before such conversions can take place.

The commission discussed the development of a strategic plan for funding transportation projects through the Texas Mobility Fund. The fund is a new source of revenue gained from transportation-related fees that will pay off road-building bonds sooner and also help meet the costs of other public transportation projects. The Texas Mobility fund was enacted in 2001, and last year the 78th Legislature dedicated revenue to the fund, allowing the commission to issue bonds.

Feds Call Texas an Innovative Leader in Transportation Funding

The federal government will partner with Texas to plan and develop the Trans-Texas Corridor through an innovative contracting agreement announced by the nation's top highway official.

Mary Peters, administrator for the Federal Highway Administration, said the corridor qualifies Texas for a special experimental project agreement-only the second such agreement in the country-allowing federal funds to be used in project planning while environmental analysis is conducted.

"With the Trans-Texas Corridor plan, Texas offers a bold concept for surface transportation that can provide a model for other states to follow," Peters said. "Texas is definitely a leader in finding new ways to work with the private sector to form public-private partnerships to meet important transportation needs."

The announcement by Peters resolves differences between federal and state procurement processes for a comprehensive development agreement through which Texas will hire a private firm to plan, design, construct, finance, maintain and operate the Trans-Texas Corridor that will parallel Interstate 35.

Without the agreement, Texas would not be able to use federal funds on the comprehensive development agreement until after the environmental process is complete, which is expected to take several years.

Environmental studies are beginning on a 600-mi. multimodal element of the Trans-Texas Corridor from Oklahoma to the Texas border with Mexico. The corridor will be a 4,000-mi. transportation network that will include a dedicated utility zone as well as separate highway lanes for passenger vehicles and trucks, high-speed passenger rail, and commuter and freight rail.

Gov. Rick Perry has announced $1 million in grants to three Texas communities that have been negatively impacted by military-base realignment or closures.

The $1 million will be distributed in the form of grants to be used by the communities for infrastructure and facility projects designed to improve economic development and job creation efforts.

The money was awarded from the State's Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant program to: Dallas, for airfield repair and construction at the former Dallas Naval Air Station; San Antonio, for water line repair at Brooks City Base and for construction of an engine test cell at Kelly USA; and Bowie County, to replace roofs, repair heating and cooling units and renovate interiors of six buildings on the Red River Army Depot Industrial Site.