Texas To Spend $1.3B on 14 Gridlock-Busting Highway Projects

dallas-hiway-txdot.jpg

DALLAS – Texas plans to spend $1.3 billion on 14 gridlock-busting highway projects in its five largest cities as the first phase of a long-term effort to reduce traffic congestion in the fast-growing Lone Star State.

The proposal outlined on Wednesday by the Texas Transportation Commission will be funded with $1 billion of state gasoline and sales tax revenues that had been diverted to law enforcement agencies and the general fund, and $300 million of other commission funds.

The program includes $443.3 billion of projects in the Houston area, with the remainder earmarked for highway work in four cities along traffic-clogged Interstate 35. The allocations include $364 million for Dallas, $170.3 million for San Antonio, $163.8 million for Fort Worth, and $158.6 million for Austin.

The average Texas motorist loses 52 hours a year by standing still on congested roads at a cost of $1,200 annually, said highway commissioner J. Bruce Bugg Jr., who oversaw development of the proposal.

More than two-thirds of Texans live in or near the five cities and those areas contain 99 of the most congested roads in the state, he said.

"In order to tackle this, what we decided to do is focus on the five major metropolitan areas," Bugg said. "We wanted to make sure the initial projects selected were ready and available to start construction very soon."

The 14 projects being funded over the next two years are the first step in long-range plan to reduce congestion on Texas highways, he said.

Expanding the gridlock-busting program to eliminate other roadblocks will take additional funding, Bugg said.

"Our goal and objective of this initial phase of funding is to get projects working as soon as possible so that Texas taxpayers that get behind the wheel of their car everyday will understand that we're serious about showing Texas taxpayers congestion relief as soon as possible," he said.

The $1 billion is available because lawmakers have all but eliminated diversions of transportation-related tax revenues to the Department of Public Safety and other agencies, Bugg said.

"We can use these funds to get projects going today," Bugg said. "But teeing up projects that could come later will be a part of using future funds."

Texas voters have provided the Texas Department of Transportation with more than $3 billion per year of additional funding through constitutional amendments since 2014, said state Sen. Don Huffines, a Republican from Dallas.

"We're not going to have any more toll roads and we're not going to issue any more paper," Huffines said at Thursday's commission meeting.

The congestion-relief work includes a total of 42 miles of highway. Most of the projects are expected to be completed by 2018.

TxDOT chief engineer Bill Hale said the state will save $457 million by beginning work on projects that had been delayed for lack of full funding.

The Texas Transportation Commission is expected to adopt the gridlock-busting plan as part of the state's long-range highway program on Feb. 28.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on the transportation commission in September 2015 to develop a congestion-relief program.

"Simply put, congestion is costing Texas taxpayers time and money, and the problem is only increasing," he said.

Transportation commissioner Jeff Austin will deliver the keynote address at The Bond Buyer's Texas Public Finance Conference in Austin on Feb. 1-3.

TxDOT executive director James Bass will participate in a Texas transportation infrastructure panel discussion following Austin's presentation on Monday afternoon. The panel also includes Horatio Porter, chief financial officer of the North Texas Tollway Authority, Savaan Gatfield of Fitch Ratings, and Tripp Kaiser of Municipal Market Analytics Inc.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Infrastructure Transportation industry Texas
MORE FROM BOND BUYER