Praise at TGRTA meeting for 2003 transportation legislation
State Sen. Steve Ogden called it “landmark legislation.”
Transportation Commissioner Robert Nichols said it was “the most significant and most comprehensive in decades.”
Steve Simmons, deputy executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation, called it “the most important legislation since the Interstate System was created in 1956.”
Coby Chase, TxDOT’s legislative affairs director, said it represents “the most dramatic shift in transportation philosophy since the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956.”
Lawrence Olsen, executive vice president of the Texas Good Roads/Transportation Association, said the Legislature passed “the most innovative and progressive legislation in at least 12 years.”
“It” was the Texas Legislature’s passage of HR 3588, the transportation bill, and its signing into law by Gov. Rick Perry.
Everyone at TGRTA’s 71st annual meeting June 29 and July 1 – or nearly everyone – was singing the praises of the new law. Offering a strong word of caution was Collin County Judge Ron Harris, who said, “We took another hit, amongst all the hoopla about adding money to transportation,” when the law diverted another $213 million to other purposes.
“Most are not bad things,” Harris said of the purposes to which the transportation funds are diverted. “They just shouldn’t be funded out of transportation.”
Senator Ogden stresses safety
Sen. Ogden, chairman of the Infrastructure and Security Committee, which steered the transportation bill through the Senate, said that highway construction not only improves mobility and supports economic development but also saves lives. “We don’t think about (safety) enough.”
There are 10 traffic fatalities in Texas each day, he said. We need to “give that innocent Texan a better chance of avoiding a collision,” he added.
Ogden asked TxDOT to focus on putting improved shoulders on two-lane highways with a 70-mpg speed limit. “There is no margin for error on a two-lane road with no shoulder at 70 miles an hour,” he said. “Improved highway construction can make a huge difference,” he added.
Texas highways are far too congested, he said. “Maybe we ought to think about policies that spread people out. Highway construction can spread people out. By improving mobility, people can spread out and we don’t have to be as crowded as we are.”
Ogden cited a comptroller study concluding that every dollar we invest in highway construction gets a 41 percent return annually. “That’s enormous,” he commented. The return includes employment, construction contracts, increased productivity and not wasting so much time in traffic. “We get a good return on building the highway now, rather than later.”
He said he was encouraged by TGRTA support for the constitutional amendment on which Texas citizens will vote Sept. 13. “It’s imperative to pass if we’re going to get improved mobility, increased economic development and reduced fatalities,” said Ogden.
The amendment authorizes the Transportation Commission to issue bonds secured by the State Highway Fund.
On federal involvement in transportation, Ogden said, “It is not helpful for the federal government to earmark so many projects,” rather than giving the state broader authority to spend the money as it sees fit.
On the environment, he favored environmental streamlining. Noting that many projects are delayed by environmental studies that ultimately conclude the projects have no significant environmental impacts, Ogden said he preferred that the state be able to do its own environmental study in those areas “where we know there will be no significant impact.”
The Legislature threw the door wide open, says Nichols
Commissioner Nichols, just reappointed to a second six-year term, said the “incredible” 2003 legislative session “gave us a bag of tools…every single tool we asked for…with the exception of money.”
Actually, he said, transportation ended up with “a couple of hundred million more,” adding that “we need a lot more.” A portion of the taxes is split between Fund 6 (the highway fund) and schools.
Nichols played a major role in changing the way fuel taxes are collected. Starting Jan. 1, the point of collection will be the refinery rather than the station pump. It is a more efficient way to collect fuel taxes, he said, “squeezing out those who were cheating.” It is not harmful to the fuel industry, he said, and fuel marketers supported the change.
The change will produce $250-300 million per year, he said.
“There are no free roads in Texas,” Nichols added. “It’s a matter of how we pay for them.”
First priority should be to take care of what we’ve got, he said. Rural roads need more attention, he suggested. Rural roads “get us connected to the rest of the state so that we can share the benefits.”
The Trans-Texas Corridor approved by the Legislature is “the footprint for transportation for the century,” Nichols declared.
The corridor is a 4,000-mile network of roads that will include rail lines and a dedicated utility zone. The new law broadens TxDOT’s authority to finance the corridor, allowing participation by private entities in planning, designing, building and operating facilities and bond financing to construct it.
Increasing congestion in urban areas “is choking us,” he said. Toll equity, passed two years ago and refined this year, is “the key to unlocking the door,” he added.
Toll equity in financing turnpike projects could make more highway projects toll-viable, which has the effect of freeing up state highway funds for other improvements around the state.
Nichols noted that the expanded Katy Freeway at Houston, for which bids were taken in July, will have toll lanes in the middle. And Harris County is contributing to financing, accelerating its completion.
Other communities may be willing to convert some of their resources to toll roads. Today, Nichols said, we can say, “If you’re willing to convert some, we can sign you up now and do it.”
“People need to know the reality…not to be strung along. Would you rather do it now or 15 years from now? If drivers have the choice of one hour in congestion or drop a dollar in the bucket, they’d put a dollar in the bucket.”
The Legislature “threw the door wide open…and we intend to use it,” said Nichols.
He predicted that in five years, toll bonds would finance $1-2 billion in construction each year.
Understanding the new transportation law
A three-man panel – TxDOT Legislative Affairs Director Coby Chase, House Transportation Committee Policy Director John Langmore and Gov. Perry’s transportation policy director, Kris Heckmann – outlined details of the new transportation law.
Chase noted that while some new money came into the Highway Fund, some additional money was leaving. One of the largest and newest responsibilities will be to oversee Health and Human Services transportation, at a biennial cost of $110 million to the Highway Fund.
The Legislature okayed a Sept. 13 vote on a constitutional amendment that will allow TxDOT to issue bonds secured by the Highway Fund. The aggregate principal amount may not exceed $3 billion and no more than $1 billion per year, Chase added. Those bonds may not be used for projects on the Trans-Texas Corridor.
Langmore said the law created a new kind of tolling authority, known as pass-through tolls. If another public or private entity builds a toll or non-toll facility on the state highway system, the Transportation Commission may reimburse the builder through pass-through tolls, which would be based on the number of vehicles using the highway.
If a community has an important project on the state system that does not enjoy the same level of urgency by the commission, the commission may reimburse the locals for the project over time with pass-through tolls.
Langmore pointed out that the 2003 law gave regional mobility authorities (RMAs) the power to issue bonds for rail as well as highway projects. “This is a great tool in terms of regions determining their own destiny,” he said.
Heckman said the commission now can purchase an option on real estate before the alignment is determined. It is expected that TxDOT will realize savings in buying property at today’s costs, rather than the expected higher, future value.
Referring to the new Trans-Texas Corridor, he noted that the commission already is looking at proposals to build a multimodal corridor from Denison to Brownsville.
The law also established comprehensive development agreements (CDAs), previously known as exclusive development agreements. A CDA is an agreement with a private entity that provides for design and construction of a turnpike project. It may also include financing, acquisition, maintenance and operation. There is an eight-year trial period for CDAs, which Heckman said are “looked upon long-term as an experiment.”
Probably one of the biggest changes for TxDOT, said Heckman, is the department’s new authority to plan and construct rail lines. “This is really going to benefit Texas,” he said.
Judge Harris: Stop diversion
Judge Ron Harris said he was disturbed by continuing diversion of highway taxes to other purposes. In addition to the costs of Health and Human Services transportation to be paid from the Highway Fund as a result of the new law, he said the Highway Fund has been tapped for $50 million to maintain university campus streets.
Other diversion from the Highway Fund includes a share of educational costs and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“We need to educate the citizens of Texas. They are paying enough transportation taxes,” said the judge, who is co-chair of the Dallas Regional Mobility Authority and secretary of the Texas Urban Transportation Alliance.
“We need the ability to finance an additional $20-80 billion in infrastructure over the next 20 to 25 years,” Judge Harris explained. “We’ve been advocating, in our area of the world, a two-cent-a-gallon graduated gas tax increase, to hit 20 cents over 10 years. That won’t make it. That would produce a bonding ability of $20 billion. We need $80 billion, which comes from getting the state to a 1.15 congestion factor (proposed by another speaker, Jeff Judson).”
“We have the money, but it’s being spent in every other place. And if we stop diverting what the public thinks they are paying in transportation dollars, it will lessen resistance to more transportation taxes,” Judge Harris said.
What are you doing with my $4 billion? the public would ask.
He said 25 percent – about $1 billion – goes to education. “While they’re fixing education,” the judge added, “we need to work with them so they take that off the backs of highways and fund at least that portion from other sources.”
“Because of one emergency after another, we in transportation are more susceptible to raids,’ he said.
“We didn’t get to this place we call Texas by diverting or dodging the issue,” the judge concluded.
You can build your way out of traffic congestion, Jeff Judson contends
Jeff Judson, director of the Texas Urban Transportation Alliance, said traffic congestion in Texas rose by 123 percent between 1990 and 2000, while highway lane miles rose by only three percent.
The state’s congestion factor is 1.3, which means drivers suffer a 30 percent time penalty on congested roads. His alliance seeks a congestion factor of 1.15.
How? By building additional lane miles.
Benefits outweigh the costs, Judson pointed out. Even “some anti-tax advocates say that the gas tax is one increase they would support to reduce their commuting time,” he added.
Judson is promoting local-option transportation taxes “to allow local residents to solve their problem…People know where their money will go.”
“We are about to shatter the myth that you can’t build your way out of the traffic problem,” he said.
Federal transportation reauthorization due Sept. 30
Dan Reagan, regional administrator for the Federal Highway Administration, told TGRTA members that the nation needs $150-160 billion a year just to stay even and maintain our current highways. The current $128 billion spending level covers 55 percent.
What’s needed to improve our highways is about $200 billion, Reagan said. The “no new taxes” mantra in Washington will have an impact. “My guess is that we’re probably not going to reach $200 billion this year,” he added.
The Transportation Energy Act (TEA 21) expires Sept. 30 and this is the year for its six-year reauthorization. The U.S. DOT’s legislation carried the SAFETEA acronym, which stands for Safe, Affordable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Energy Act.
The overall program will remain stable, said Reagan, and the basic emphasis will be on safety. Fatalities went up last year, and “that’s not good,” he said.
In Texas, the federal focus will be on speed, alcohol and intersection collisions.
Last April, President Bush called for streamlining of the environmental process by executive order. That was “so well received,” Reagan noted, and Congress will codify the process into law. That will apply to DOT and other federal agencies such as the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.
David Soileau, TxDOT’s federal legislative affairs manager, said stakeholders are taking their positions and Congress is posturing as TEA 21’s expiration date approaches.
The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee’s markup of the bill reportedly is scheduled for late July.
There is a “serious difference” of $125 billion between SAFETEA’s $250 billion, the Senate’s $255 billion for highways, and the $375 billion the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is seeking, Soileau said.
Texas is one of 14 states that belong to the State Highway Alliance for Real Equity (SHARE), which is seeking a fairer share of the funding. Texas is a donor state, sending more transportation-tax dollars to Washington than it receives. Because of the minimum guarantee provision, Texas receives 90.5 percent of its contributions. SHARE is after 95 percent and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas was among the representatives who introduced it in the House. Soileau said he’s been told the Senate bill, which includes Texas Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn among its 23 cosponsors, will provide 92 percent.
SHARE’s demand provides pressure for increased funding to minimize or eliminate any funding reductions for “donee” states in the Northeast.
Some lawmakers think the 2003 reauthorization will be delayed one, two or more years. Rep. Tom Petri of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Highways, Transit and Pipelines, would rather delay TEA reauthorization than pass an underfunded bill.
Katy Freeway expansion gets the green light
Reconstruction and expansion of the Katy Freeway (I-10) at Houston – at a total cost of $1.1 billion – began in June.
Gary Trietsch, TxDOT Houston district engineer, said the groundbreaking was held on a Saturday and work began the next day. Work on that seven-mile portion from Mason Road to Park Ten will go 24/7 for the next 35 months.
Bids were opened July 1 on two other projects – three miles from Katy to Grand Parkway, the I-10/I-610 interchange, and 2.6 miles of I-610 south to Post Oak Boulevard. Trietsch expected work on both would start in October.
Before the project is over in 2009, said Trietsch, TxDOT will reconstruct 23 miles of interstate freeway, while under traffic, and reconstruct two freeway-freeway interchanges and 27 grade-separated intersections. The existing highway has 11 lanes; the reconstructed highway will have 18 to 20 lanes, including four-lane mainlanes in each direction, three-lane frontage roads and one or two managed lanes. Most notable are the four toll lanes in the middle.
Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas, Inc. is the general engineering consultant, with nine subconsultants. There are 10 section design consultants, 30 subconsultants, and seven construction contractors.
The story of how tolls were added to I-10 and the financial involvement of a local partner is the forerunner of how expensive major facilities likely will be built in the 21st century.
John Mack, FHWA district engineer for South and East Texas, said that the federal Value Pricing Program enacted in 1991 allowed Texas to permit fewer than two persons in its High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on the Katy.
Trietsch said drivers without passengers can use the HOV lanes if they buy toll tags that record the vehicle identity when it uses the lanes. The concept has not been heavily used in the first several years – about 200 a day, said Trietsch.
TEA 21 okayed tolls on existing interstates on a pilot basis.
The Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) came up with an offer of $250 million to jump start the project, to be repaid from tolls on the four middle lanes, all collected electronically. HCTRA agreed to go with value pricing and the funding agreement between TxDOT, FHWA and HCTRA was signed March 14.
A local group, Katy Corridor Coalition, filed a lawsuit last September opposing the design. It asserted the need for more detailed studies, wanted sections of the mainlanes to be depressed, and expressed concern about preserving right of way for future transit alternatives.
Traffic deaths on the rise
Traffic fatalities across the nation reached 42,800 in 2002, up from 2001 and the highest since 1995, John Mounce of the Texas Transportation Institute told TGRTA members.
Texas recorded 3,724 traffic deaths in 2001, 541 more than in 1995. “That’s like crashing a fully-loaded Boeing 737 every two weeks,” said Mounce.
In 43 percent of the crashes, at least one driver was drunk. And, said Mounce, “it will likely get even worse” if no new effective safety countermeasures are implemented.
Mounce is senior research engineer and program manager with the institute’s Center for Transportation Safety, established by the Legislature in 2001 and located at Texas A & M University. The center currently conducts about $2.5 million in in-house and contract-funded research.
There was some good news from Mounce: Pedestrian deaths were down, as were children deaths, truck deaths and total injuries.
Bad news: Up were motorcycle deaths, alcohol deaths, young driver deaths and rollover deaths.
Among the safety issues Mounce cited were red-light running (Texas was fourth worst in the nation) and deaths on rural two-lane roads (Texas was eighth worst).
Key issues on two-lane rural roads are pavement width, speed and traffic growth.
There is a great deal of crashes on farm-to-market (FM) roads, predominantly run-off-road. “If you can get one or two feet, there is a much greater chance of reduced crashes,” said Mounce.
He said TxDOT is “concerned, very proactive.” TxDOT is making a systematic review of two-lane highways and reviewing speed limits, he added.
New fees fund diesel emissions reduction
Research into reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from diesel engines “is the key to our industry,” Jennifer Newton of the Associated General Contractors of Texas told TGRTA members.
Many in the audience were highway contractors very dependent on diesel trucks and construction equipment, for which the cost of buying equipment went up July 1 with the start of surcharges.
The 2001 Legislature laid out the program; lawmakers this year provided the funding source, the surcharges on diesel equipment purchases along with increased vehicle title and registration fees.
The fees will finance a Diesel Grant and Technology Innovation Program that Brian Christian of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) estimated would provide $150 million a year in its lifetime.
“It’s a big grant program…and we need a great deal of penetration…in order to achieve its goals,” said Christian, TCEQ executive assistant. “We need to have lots of applications and clean up lots of engines.”
A two percent surcharge – up from one percent – will be assessed on all off-road, heavy-duty diesel equipment sold, leased or rented statewide.
For on-road diesel motor vehicles over 14,000 pounds, the surcharge is 2.5 percent for 1996 and older vehicles and one percent for 1997 and newer vehicles.
Title fees are increased $20 in nonattainment and affected counties, $15 everywhere else.
Diesel equipment buyers can recoup some of the cost by applying for a grant that will cover the incremental cost increase of buying new, low-emission equipment.
The program also will fund research to reduce diesel NOx emissions. The goal is a 30 percent reduction.
“We have lots to learn,” said Newton, AGC’s natural resources and public affairs director.
The program is “integral to clean air,” said Christian. “If it doesn’t succeed, we are going to be in big trouble.”
“We are into a new era of implementing an ozone standard that is more stringent and wider” in its coverage, Christian explained. Most critical areas are Dallas and Houston where lower environmental speed limits and forcing diesel equipment users to do more of their work at night were possible. Austin, San Antonio, Tyler and Longview are facing stricter ozone standards in the future.
The daytime diesel equipment restrictions have been ruled out. There will be “no new environmental speed limits,” said Christian, “and we are not going to 55 (mph) in Houston.”
Since the new emissions reduction law was signed, Christian said, “EPA has verbally indicated that we are off the hook.” If Texas did not fund the program, he added, “it could have started the clock ticking and led to economic impacts in Dallas and Houston.”
The program is “viewed as a good investment in long-term economic growth,” said Christian.
TCEQ is doing expedited rulemaking this summer and Christian asked TGRTA members to “give us ideas to encourage participation.”
Click here for Mr. Brian Christian's complete remarks.
TxDOT likes low emission diesel fuel
The Texas Department of Transportation will convert its fleet of 6,000 diesel-powered trucks and equipment to Texas low emission diesel fuel following a yearlong test that showed it superior to emulsified diesel fuel, TxDOT Fleet Manager Don Lewis told TGRTA.
To help improve air quality in Southeast Texas, Gov. Rick Perry ordered TxDOT to immediately begin using emulsified diesel fuel in 75 percent of its Houston district fleet. The governor also asked TxDOT to establish rules stipulating all contractors working on Southeast Texas use cleaner burning fuel in their off-road equipment.
TxDOT was asked to collect data about the cost, emissions and efficiency of using emulsified fuel versus other fuels and share that information with local officials in urban areas.
TxDOT used PuriNOx, an emulsified fuel containing 20 percent water, 77 percent diesel fuel and 3 percent additives.
Lewis said TxDOT’s tests showed NOx reductions at the cost of implementation and conversion, fuel economy, fuel cost, re-fueling, productivity, maintenance and fuel separation.
The Houston fleet contributes 23 tons of NOx each year; Lewis said the test showed a NOx benefit of 1.1 tons at an annual cost of $461,000 per ton.
A similar test using AGC contractor fleets in Houston indicated a larger reduction and a lower penalty. NOx was reduced from 681 to 108 tons, at a cost of $62,000 per ton.
When TxDOT tested its low emissions fuel, the cost of removing a ton of NOx was $39,000 per ton; the AGC fleet had a cost of $8,000 per ton.
“The good part,” said Lewis, “it’s here today.” Valero produced the fuel for TxDOT and Chevron-Texaco is hinting at production in September, he added.
Contractors who wish more information can contact Lewis at 512-416-2085 or by e-mail at dlewis@dot.state.tx.us. The Emulsified Diesel Fuel Project Final Report is available on the Web at www.utexas.edu/research/ctr/prot files (username: donlewis, password: nox99).