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TEXAS TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION
COMMISSION MEETING
Thursday, April 27, 2006Brownsville Special Events Center
1 Event Center Boulevard Brownsville, Texas 78526
COMMISSION MEMBERS:
Ric Williamson, ChairmanJohn W. Johnson
Hope AndradeTed Houghton, Jr.
STAFF:
Michael W. Behrens, P.E., Executive DirectorSteve Simmons, Deputy Executive DirectorRichard Monroe, General CounselRoger Polson, Executive Assistant to the Deputy Executive Director
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I N D E X
AGENDA ITEM PAGE
CONVENE MEETING 7
Receive comments from area public officials, 19community and civil leaders, and private citizens.Report by the Pharr District.
1. Approval of Minutes of the March 30, 2006 18regular meeting of the Texas TransportationCommission
2. Report 80Status report on the development of anInterstate-quality facility from I-37 to theRio Grande Valley
3. Discussion Itemsa. Commission recommendations to the Texas
Legislature regarding potential statutorychanges that would improve the operationof the department
b. Preparations for upcoming Legislative Appropriations Request
4. Strategic Plan Adoption of proposed structure and approachfor the departments Strategic Plan (MO)
5. Promulgation of Administrative RulesUnder Title 43, Texas Administrative Code, and the Administrative Procedure Act,Government Code, Chapter 2001:Final Adoptiona. Chapter 18 - Motor Carriers (MO) 162
Amendments to '18.2, Definitions (GeneralProvisions), '18.13, Application for MotorCarrier Registration, '18.14, Expirationand Renewal of Commercial Motor VehicleRegistration, '18.16, InsuranceRequirements, '18.17, Single StateRegistration System, and Repeal of '18.18,Temporary Registration of InternationalMotor Carriers, (Motor CarrierRegistration), Amendments to '18.51,Household Goods Agents, '18.58, MovingServices Contract - Options for CarrierLimitation of Liability, and ''18.63-18.65,(Consumer Protection), and '18.82,Definitions, ''18.87-18.93, and '18.96,
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Disposal of Certain Vehicles (VehicleStorage Facility) and Withdrawal of'18.32, Motor Carrier Records (Recordsand Inspections)
b. Chapter 21 - Right of Way (MO) 174New '21.23, State Participation in Toll-Related Relocations (Utility Adjustment,Relocation, or Removal)
6. Transportation Planning and Programming 176Hays and Travis Counties - Tender a proposal toHays County and the City of Buda to construct a new location facility on the state highway system from I-35 (at Main Street) to SH 45, realign FM 2001, and construct interchanges at I-35/FM 2001 and I-35/Main Street (MO)
7. Toll Road Projectsa. Cameron County - Consider preliminary 181
approval of a request for financing from the Cameron County Regional MobilityAuthority to pay certain costs for thepreliminary engineering, financial planning and preliminary development of the West Loop project from US 77/83 to Palm Boulevard in the city of Brownsville; and for environmental studies, design, legal services and preliminary development of the second causeway project (MO)
b. Denton and Collin Counties - Designate 201tolled mainlanes on SH 121 from 0.23 mileseast of Business SH 121 to the Dallas NorthTollway in Collin County as a toll projecton the state highway system, and as acontrolled-access facility for the purposeof development, maintenance and operation(MO)
c. Travis and Williamson Counties - Accept 205the General Engineering Consultant quarterly progress report for the CentralTexas Turnpike System as of February 28,2006 (MO)
8. FinanceVarious Counties - Accept the Quarterly 206Investment Report as of February 28, 2006 as required by the Public Funds Investment Act (MO)
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9. Pass-Through TollsAuthority to Negotiate AgreementHidalgo County - Authorize the executive 207director to negotiate a pass-through tollagreement with Hidalgo County Road DistrictNo. 5 or with Hidalgo County for improvementsto various highway projects in the county (MO)
10. Right of WayDenton County - Authorize the negotiation of 214options to purchase for advance acquisition of right of way for I-35E (MO)
11. Contracts a. Award or Reject Highway Improvement
Contracts(1) Maintenance 215
(see attached itemized list) (MO)
(2) Highway and Building Construction 217(see attached itemized list) (MO)
b. Contract ClaimVarious Counties - Project CSR 924-00-34 - 220Approve a claim settlement with Kothmann,LTD, for additional compensation (MO)
12. Building Constructiona. Maverick County - Eagle Pass Maintenance 222
Facility - Authorization for the department to issue a Request for Qualifications and Proposals, then select, rank, and negotiate a Development and Exchange Agreement withthe top-ranked design-build firm for the acquisition of land and the design and construction of a building or otherfacility in exchange for existing property (MO)
b. Starr County - Rio Grande City 223Maintenance Facility - Authorization for the department to issue a Request for Qualifications and Proposals, then select, rank, and negotiate a Development and Exchange Agreement with the top-ranked design-build firm for the acquisition of land and the design and construction of abuilding or other facility in exchange for existing property (MO)
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13. Routine Minute Ordersa. Donations to the Department 225
(1) Falls County - Consider a donationfrom Wal-Mart Stores, Texas, L.P.contributing funds and propertytoward development of a continuous frontage road section along SH 6 inMarlin (MO)
(2) Houston District - Consider a donationfrom Oak Ridge Associated Universitiesfor travel expenses related to a department employee giving presentationsat the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Department of Energy Emergency Management Issues Special InterestGroup to be held in Las Vegas, Nevadafrom May 1-4, 2006 (MO)
b. Eminent Domain Proceedings 225Various Counties - noncontrolled andcontrolled access highways (see attacheditemized list) (MO)
c. Load Zones and Postings 225Various Counties - Revise load restrictions on the State highway system:(1) Roadways (MO)
(2) Bridges (MO)
d. Right of Way Dispositions and Donations 225(1) Bexar County - I-37 between Dawson
and Nolan Streets - Consider thelease of right of way (MO)
(2) McMullen County - SH 72 at SH 16 in Tilden - Consider the sale of surplusright of way (MO)
(3) Tarrant County - SH 360 south of SH 183 in Fort Worth (surplus) and Business SH 114L at Dallas Road inGrapevine (new) - Consider the exchangeof right of way (MO)
(4) Travis County - I-35 at East 51st Streetin Austin - Consider the exchange ofright of way (MO) DEFERRED
(5) Yoakum County - SH 214 at Rogers Avenuein Denver City - Consider the sale ofsurplus right of way easement (MO)
e. Speed ZonesVarious Counties - Establish or alter 225regulatory and construction speed zones
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on various sections of highways in thestate (MO)
14. Executive Session (none held) 226
OPEN COMMENT PERIOD 227
ADJOURN 231
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P R O C E E D I N G S
MR. WILLIAMSON: Good morning.
AUDIENCE: Good morning.
MR. WILLIAMSON: It's a great morning to be a
Texan. It is 9:20 a.m., and I would like to call the
April 2006 meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission
to order.
Before we begin today's meeting, we
traditionally ask everyone in the audience to join with us
in taking a moment to reach into your pocket, purse or
sidesaddle, pull out your pager, your cell phone, your
PDA, your DewBerry, whatever you carry, and please, if you
would, put it on the silent or vibrate mode so that none
of our guests will be interrupted unexpectedly. We'll all
do it with you. Thank you.
I want to tell you it's a great pleasure for
the commission to be at the tip of Texas this morning.
Brownsville is a great Texas city, as are all of the
communities scattered up and down the Lower Rio Grande
Valley.
It's our practice to begin each of our
commission meetings by permitting each commissioner to
address the audience on a personal basis, so with your
indulgence, we will begin to the far right with Mr.
Houghton and go to Ms. Andrade and Mr. Johnson, and then
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I'll close the remarks. Ted?
MR. HOUGHTON: Good morning, everyone, and I
echo the chairman's remarks on being down at the tip of
Texas here. It's been a lot of fun; I've been down here
quite a bit lately. And I look forward to the actions
today, the anticipated actions today to launch this
community into a new arena of transportation.
And again, thank you for all the hospitality
that you've afforded us.
MS. ANDRADE: Good morning. It's just
absolutely wonderful to wake up in South Texas this
morning. It's a great morning, it's a great day. I'm
looking forward to the business that we're about to take
on and to keep transportation moving forward here in South
Texas.
But also what's wonderful is to see so many of
our friends from other communities come together to
support what we're trying to do. And I see kids back
here, I see our future leaders back here, so I'm so glad
that they've been brought here to see how business is done
for transportation in the state of Texas.
Thank you all again, it's been a great trip.
MR. JOHNSON: Good morning. I would like to
echo the comments of Commissioners Houghton and Andrade.
It occurs to me that many years ago whenever
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the state highway engineer or the chairman of the
commission decided to move some of these meetings outside
of Austin, he or she had an idea on his or her mind that
perhaps they ought to move these meetings to where there
was a more friendly, receptive audience than some of the
ones that we get in Austin when we meet. I think you're
probably a home run for what he or she had in mind.
But there's some other things that have been
accomplished by that. One, we get to see the various
parts of the state, and as Hope said, it's great to see a
lot of the youth here, who are the future leaders of these
communities of the state, take interest in what goes on.
And by conducting these meetings out in the field, if you
will, you can learn what goes on, the deliberations of
transportation decisions which affect not only the local
communities but the state as a whole.
Secondly, we get to interface with you, the
people who have great interest in the decisions that we
make. Rather than doing it in an office environment, we
can visit with you one on one, and that's a great help to
us.
And thirdly, and as important, we can share
time with the people who really do the work, and that's
our local district people. And last night was no
exception. We had a wonderful barbecue and we got to
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visit with them. There was a film basically describing
what goes on in the district, and a lot goes on in this
district: $700 million plus under construction right now,
the population is growing. We visited the port yesterday,
an economic engine of untold proportion which brings goods
and economic opportunity and jobs to this area, and it's
all part and parcel to why we go out and have these
meetings where we do.
And so I want to thank you for your attendance
today and thank you for all you do for this great state.
It's been a pleasure and the hospitality in South Texas
just is without par.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Ted and Hope and
John, and I would associate myself with the remarks of my
fellow commissioners. Thank you, Mario, for a great
presentation, great trip yesterday around the area. We
thoroughly enjoyed the evening last night.
It is our practice to take the commission
meetings on the road three or four times a year, depending
upon the legislative session. As John said, it gives us
the opportunity to see with our own eyes and hear with our
own ears about the successes and the failures that occur
in the transportation world in the diverse parts of the
state.
It also kind of prepares us for what we want to
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say to the legislature every other year about how the laws
need to change, and we're starting something this year
that will also permit us to do that perhaps in a more
organized manner. In June of this year -- I think it's
June 8. Is that right, Coby?
MR. CHASE: June 8 and 9.
MR. WILLIAMSON: June 8 and 9, we will host the
first Statewide Texas Transportation Forum in Austin,
Texas. We're doing that in partnership with the Texas
Good Roads Association, the oldest continuously active
organization focused on transportation in the state of
Texas. And that will be held in Austin and there will be
state, national and international transportation
engineers, financiers and managers and operators of
electronic devices, along with state and federal
officials, talking transportation to the state.
I invite each and every one of you to take the
time to come to Austin and attend that forum. We're
running this as a bit of a test to see how much interest
there is in it. If we believe it's valuable enough to the
citizens of the state, we're then going to look at doing
it on maybe a quarterly basis around the state to give
everyone the opportunity to sit down and visit and
exchange ideas and learn from each other.
I think there's a card, a registration card out
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in the lobby. Is that correct, Coby?
MR. CHASE: Yes.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Out in the lobby, yes, ma'am.
Thank you.
So I invite you to attend that if you can make
the time.
This is a history-making event today, the first
time in the history of our commission -- which dates back
to 1917 -- that we have met in Brownsville. Now, we've
been in the Rio Grande Valley, we've been in the Lower Rio
Grande Valley, but this is the first time we've actually
been in Brownsville. The last time we were in the Valley
was in July of 1997; the commission met in Weslaco.
We're very happy that we've been so pleasantly
received, and please note for the record that the public
notice of this meeting, containing all the items on the
agenda, was filed with the Office of Secretary of State at
10:20 a.m. on April 13, 2006.
Now, normally we get to this point and we talk
about some homework, we hold our cards up -- and I'm going
to do that real fast for a reason -- we hold our cards up
and we say if you're going to talk about an agenda item,
you need to fill out the yellow card before you approach
the dais, please; if you're going to talk in the general
comment section towards the end of the meeting, we ask
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that you fill out a blue card, please. And in any event,
try to restrict your remarks to about three minutes so
that everybody will have the opportunity to speak.
And we do other housekeeping matters and then
we go right into the presentation, but we're going to
break ranks a little bit today because I don't know about
John and Hope and Ted, but this is the first time I've
been to a commission meeting where elementary age children
were actually in the meeting. We've had some high school
kids, I think, that are interested in the engineering
world come in from time to time, but we've never had young
children.
And sitting here listening to all of our
opening remarks and watching the crowd of adults in
attendance from highway contractors to engineers to
transportation planners to TxDOT employees to bankers to
transportation planners on the left, it occurs to me that
while we all operate in our own self-interest -- and
that's okay, that's what America is about, the ability to
operate in your own self-interest -- we operate in our own
self-interest because we have a common interest, and that
is the common interest of a transportation system that
will prevent congestion, keep the roads safe, make sure
the air is not too dirty, make sure that we drive safely,
and make sure that we don't have potholes, and we do that
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for those kids that are lined up against that back wall.
We don't really do it for ourselves because we
know that in our lifetime most of this stuff is not going
to be accomplished. We've got a plan and we think the
plan is going to work and we think along about 2030 this
is going to be just a marvelous transportation world here
in the state of Texas, but for most of us, the true value
will be realized by these young people who are with us
today.
So I know you're not ready for this, Teacher,
but my mom was a teacher and I learned that she was
prepared for anything, so why don't you bring those kids
up here and let's let them introduce themselves, and
they'll remember that this day they had the opportunity to
tell us who they were and what was on their minds.
MS. SANAL: Good morning. My name is Norma
Sanal and I'm the director for Brownsville Urban System,
and they're here with Mr. Mark Maddy who is a member of
PTAC, and I'll let Mr. Mark Maddy go ahead and present
himself.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Very good.
MR. MADDY: Thank you. I am Mark Maddy and I
am a member of the PTAC and I am very proud to have the
student council members of Morningside Elementary School
here with us today, and I'll let them introduce
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themselves, starting with our president.
The Morningside Elementary School Student
Council members introduced themselves as follows:
I am Michael Torres, and I'm the president of
the Student Council Morningside Elementary.
Hi. I am Isaac Castillo from Morningside
Elementary. I'm vice president of the Student Council.
I'm Alexis Martinez and I'm the secretary of
Morningside Elementary Student Council.
I'm Leslie Gutierrez and I am the treasurer of
Morningside Elementary.
Hello. My name is Arturo Mendioloa and I'm
historian for the Morningside Student Council.
Hi. My name is Alondra Diaz and I'm the at-
large member of Morningside Elementary.
Hi. I'm Armando Ramirez, at large of
Morningside Elementary.
Hi. My name is Cynthia Mendiola and I'm the
at-large for fourth grade.
My name is Rigoberto Bocardo and I'm fourth
grade at-large for Student Council.
Hi. I'm Kimberly Pena, I'm a representative
for Morningside Elementary Student Council.
Hi. I'm Adrian Gonzalez, I'm a representative
for Morningside Student council.
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Hi. My name is Valeria Garcia and I'm a class
representative.
Hi. I'm Jackie Gutierrez and I'm a
representative for Morningside Student Council.
Hi. My name is Jesett Arredondo and I'm a
class representative.
Hi. My name is Jeronimo Herrera and I'm class
representative for Morningside Elementary.
Hi. My name is Janette Balli and I'm classroom
representative.
I'm Mario Benavides and I'm a representative.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And Mr. President, you get to
ask us one question, so what one question would you ask us
as representing the youth of Brownsville, Texas? Just
whatever comes in your mind is okay. Do you want to
caucus with everybody else and get everybody else's
opinion.
Okay, everybody come up. Let's do this right.
You discuss about what you want to ask us.
MR. HOUGHTON: This girl has something to ask
us. What do you want to ask us?
MR. WILLIAMSON: You meet right there at the
microphone and we're going to wait and you decide what you
want to ask us.
MICHAEL TORRES: Does all the United States
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have this transportation?
MR. WILLIAMSON: Like this?
MICHAEL TORRES: Yes, all of the United States.
MR. WILLIAMSON: That was a very good question.
I think what the president was asking maybe was is there a
commission like this for the entire country and then does
each state have one like this.
The answer is there's not a commission like
this for the entire country, there is a federal highway
administrator who is more like Mario on a national level,
he's an appointee but he's a professional engineer that
has certain qualifications, and he or she supervises the
50 states, and yes, every state has a commission like
this, there are 50 of us.
Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
MR. MADDY: I would also like to introduce my
co-sponsor for the student council at Morningside, Ms.
Mary Nieto.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And if you will stay here,
we've decided that we want a picture with you, so we're
going to take just a second and get a picture.
(Pause for photos.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: We thank each of you for
indulging us on that. Everyone on the dais has raised
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children, and we frequently say from this position that
we're one people and this is one state, and kids is what
it's all about because one day they'll be running things,
and the better we leave it for them, the better off we're
going to be. And we thank you.
I have some documents in need to read from
various elected officials, but I think it's more
appropriate to let the meeting start, Mike. Let's see, I
think I would like to get the minutes approved, and I
think that's what I'll do.
Members, we have the minutes from the March
meeting before us. Do I have a motion?
MR. JOHNSON: Move approval.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor will signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries.
Now, Mike, I think we'll move into the program
and we'll go back to the agenda in a little bit.
MR. BEHRENS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It's our custom when we go out of town on these
out-of-town meetings where we hear from our local district
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and from local transportation leaders that are in the area
and in the community, so to start with, I want to ask our
Pharr District Engineer Mario Jorge to begin the
presentation, and also introduce our local guests that are
with us today. Mario?
MR. JORGE: Thank you, Mr. Behrens,
commissioners. It's a pleasure to have you here in the
district. We thoroughly enjoyed last night, the meeting
with our employees.
Before I start my presentation, I would like to
have a couple of individuals that are key partners in our
transportation system here in the Valley that are
essentially hosting this event or this meeting for us.
I'd like to introduce the mayor of Brownsville,
Mr. Eddie Trevino, who is going to officially welcome the
commission, and I'll introduce our Cameron County judge,
Gilberto Hinojosa, who will also do the same. Mayor?
MAYOR TREVINO: Thank you, Mario.
Mr. Chairman, commissioners. I need to deviate
from my prepared comments because, first of all, we're
honored by your presence and the fact that we're having
the opportunity to host this meeting, but your actions at
the beginning of this meeting give me a lot of pride,
first of all, in being a Texan, and in knowing that
clearly these ideals which you've exemplified by allowing
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and paying attention to some of the most important
treasures in my community, clearly we must be on the right
road to doing something good in Texas, and I commend you
for allowing the importance of the children to take
priority in this meeting.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.
MAYOR TREVINO: Obviously we're honored to have
you here. On behalf of the partnership established by the
City of Brownsville and TxDOT, we welcome you to
Brownsville.
Mr. Mario Jorge, our district engineer, and his
staff, I use the term visionaries for the fact that they
are always ready, prepared and looking ahead. At our
monthly MPO meetings, TxDOT staff communicates with us
about our future needs and our mutual challenges. They
work cooperatively with the city, Cameron County, the
Brownsville Navigation District, to identify and address
solutions. The Rio Grande Valley is well served by the
efforts of these topnotch professionals at the Pharr
District.
I have some brief observations about our
transportation plans which I think we all need to realize
include Mexico's infrastructure along with their highway
plans. The population of Brownsville and Matamoros, our
sister city on the Mexican side, total almost a million
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people. When you factor in the entire Valley, you're
talking of over 4 million people between both sides of the
border. Those are populations that are extremely
beneficial to the region and obviously create unusual
challenges.
By forming these partnerships, we try to reduce these
challenges and focus on realizing the benefits by working
together.
For example, the wear and tear of overweight
Mexican trucks on our state highways has been mitigated by
the fees imposed by the Port of Brownsville for those
vehicles. Those fees have been used to repair our
highways on the overweight truck corridor.
There are, of course, immense economic benefits
to be gained from our international trade and partnership
with Mexico, along with the Pacific Rim and the Asian
nations. Mr. Bernard List, our port director, will
address some of these points later today.
In addition, Brownsville and the Rio Grande
Valley connects, via new highways in Mexico, to the
Pacific and Asia. The land bridge which you will hear
about is an example of a way to cut transfer costs for
containers, allowing businesses and trades to expand into
South Texas, something that is necessary.
You're going to hear from my good friend, Judge
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Gilberto Hinojosa, and others who will comment on the city
and county plans regarding our West Rail Relocation
project which is an international project regarding the
relocation of the rails from both Brownsville and
Matamoros, allowing for better economic development and
less congestion, better environmental issues, and
obviously the most important issue I think that's going to
be addressed today, the vision of the Cameron County RMA.
We're pleased and honored to be a partner with them.
We're entering a time and period of immense
potential, but as I like to tell the citizens of
Brownsville, especially the children, while potential is
nice, progress is even better. With your help I am
confident that we will be able to meet these challenges
and build the needed trade corridors and our
transportation infrastructure.
Good luck in today's work and in the rest of
your efforts on behalf of the state of Texas. God bless
you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Mayor.
(Applause.)
MR. JORGE: Thank you, Mayor. And now I'll
introduce the county judge for Cameron County, Mr.
Gilberto Hinojosa.
JUDGE HINOJOSA: I'm Gilberto Hinojosa and I'm
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the Cameron County judge, and I want to welcome you to
South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. I want to welcome
you because what you have been talking about, what you
talked about this morning, Mr. Chairman, and what this
commission has done, I believe, in the last few years is
present the regional approach to our transportation issues
across the state of Texas, and in being here today, I
think you recognize how important South Texas is to that
regional approach.
What I want to first say before I go into my
presentation, besides welcoming you and welcome to South
Texas on behalf of the Cameron County Commissioners Court
and the people of Cameron County, and I want to recognize
most of my county commissioners court is here. Edna
Tamayo, Precinct 4 commissioner, David Garza, Precinct 3
commissioner, and I know John Wood is back there, Precinct
2; the Precinct 1 commissioner is under the weather today
as well. They're here along with me and all these leaders
from the Rio Grande Valley because they recognize the
importance of transportation in South Texas.
But I also want to say that your staff down
here, Mario Jorge and all the people in the Pharr District
office and in the San Benito office that you have, have
got to be the best in the state. If there's anybody
better, I'm going to travel over there and see them,
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because there's nobody that gives better service to their
local community than these people who work in
transportation in the Rio Grande Valley.
Sure, we get up in the morning and it takes us
a little bit longer to get to work or to get to the mall
or to drop off our kids to school because of all the
construction that's going on out there, but that's a sign
of the progress in the Rio Grande Valley and the hard work
and commitment of resources that you see by your staff,
and I want to congratulate you for that and the rest of
the people at TxDOT all across the state of Texas.
The Rio Grande Valley has got a lot of things
going for it, as you know. We have an expanding economy,
fast-growing population -- we're going at a rate of about
30 percent every ten years -- and a unique geographical
location. Eddie was talking about there's about a million
people between here and Matamoros and Brownsville, but if
you take the entire Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico,
we're about 3 million people.
We have here in Cameron County something that
no other community in the United States has: we have
three seaports, we have two commercial airports and a
county airport as well, we have the Gulf Intracoastal
Waterway, we have highways, rail, and all of these in
close proximity to Mexico.
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There's a lot of challenges that we have for
the future, however, that we are in the process of
undertaking today on a regional approach in cooperation
with your offices. First I want to talk just briefly or
give you a quick overview of our countywide railroad
relocation project.
Now, Cameron County probably has the most
advanced railroad relocation project, if not in the United
States, in the state of Texas. We are in the final stages
of our West Rail Relocation project here in Brownsville
where we're going to move all rail lines about six miles
to the west, build a new international bridge for the
rail, and eliminate at-grade crossings that would have
cost the state of Texas somewhere upward of $60 million.
It's going to eliminate at-grade crossings that
are dangerous to the public in a variety of ways. Not
only collisions are going to be avoided but the problems
that are caused by emergency vehicles not able to cross is
going to be eliminated and the congestion that we have.
You've got to remember that these rail lines
were built when there was only a couple thousand people in
Brownsville and in Matamoros, and today, as Eddie said, we
have a million. We need rail but not in the middle of
town.
We also are in the process of doing the same
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thing for the northern part of the county, and working on
a plan to relocate rail from San Benito and Harlingen.
The Port of Brownsville has done a lot.
They've relocated the rail lines to an area near Olmito,
and that, combined with the efforts of the county, the
city and all the partners, including TxDOT, I think will
create a rail relocation project that will be a model for
the United States and will make a big difference in terms
of safety and cost savings for the state of Texas and the
local community. It will eliminate about 80 at-grade
crossings throughout Cameron County.
We also have one of the first regional mobility
authorities. Some of the things that we talked about
setting up a toll system across the county to meet
infrastructure needs where there isn't sufficient
resources. Today, again, TxDOT is working very closely
with us.
The Cameron County Regional Mobility
Authority -- which you're going to hear from our chairman
in just a minute, Mr. David Allex -- has been meeting
almost every other week. It's an active and strong board.
They are right now working on a project of building a
second causeway to South Padre Island. As you know, the
number one segment of the Cameron County economy is
tourism, and that is located primarily in South Padre
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Island.
We're also looking at a west loop, through the
regional mobility authority, around the city of
Brownsville, another road that may be financed through
tolls.
The last thing I want to just bring up very
quickly is this issue of an interstate highway through the
Rio Grande Valley. You know, and we've talked about many
times, the fact that the Rio Grande Valley is the only
community of this size in the nation that does not have
access to an interstate highway. We believe that it's not
just important for the Rio Grande Valley that we have
access to an interstate highway, but it's important for
the state of Texas and across the rest of the United
States that we be linked to the rest of the United States
by an interstate highway.
We believe that there's enormous potential for
the extension of I-37 into the Rio Grande Valley to build
upon existing infrastructure. You will receive a
resolution presented by David Garza, Commissioner Garza,
to talk about how we're united on a regional approach to
have this interstate corridor into the Rio Grande Valley.
Again, this is something that's good for us and it's good
for the people of the state of Texas and the rest of the
United States.
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We have four international bridges just in
Cameron County, three of them that are owned by Cameron
County; three seaports; two commercial airports; we have
an inland waterway; ocean freight. We have everything
that's set up to be able to connect up to an interstate
system that will benefit the rest of the state of Texas if
we are able to accomplish this. And again, the regional
mobility authority is looking at this project along with
TxDOT in order to be able to move this along and get it
done at least in our children's lifetime, if not our
lifetime.
Again, our state will be made stronger if
Cameron County is stronger economically. Cameron County
will only become stronger economically if we have the
transportation infrastructure necessary to develop the
economy which we all agree has an enormous potential. We
want to continue to work with you, work with your staff,
work with the district office to ensure that we can
accomplish this goal, and your presence here I think is an
example of your commitment towards this goal.
So thank you for being here again, and we look
forward to working with you in the future.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Judge.
(Applause.)
MR. JORGE: Thank you, Judge. And we've have a
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tremendous partnership with Cameron County for many years
in right of way acquisition, project development, unlike
any other, so we've been very successful in getting
projects completed because of their partnership with us.
Being in Cameron County, I would like to just
have the mayor from our second largest city here in
Cameron County, Mayor Rick Rodriguez from Harlingen,
welcome the commission also. Mayor?
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mario. Good
morning. My name is Rick Rodriguez and I am the mayor of
Harlingen, Texas. It is my distinct pleasure and
privilege to represent the city of Harlingen. I want to
extend a warm welcome to all of you and a special thanks
for your presence and support here.
We are pleased to have a strong relationship
with the Pharr District, especially Mario Jorge, Arnold
Cortez, and of course our RMA chairman, David Allex.
We're also committed to building infrastructure that will
carry us into the future, and extending and building an
interstate that is crucial for our future, therefore, I'm
here to voice our support for extending I-37 via US 77.
We're also willing to not only support you
vocally and morally, but we're also here to extend our
financial support to this project. We're willing to
commit $250,000 a year for ten years, or $2.5 million.
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I know this commission is visionary and
therefore shares our vision because building an interstate
is crucial to the growth and development of our community.
We are working on several projects, many of which include
moving our railroads out of our town, extending our port
and our airport. We believe that building and extending
an interstate to the Valley is not only needed but
necessary. Please know that we are here to support and
work with you in preparing our region for future growth
and development.
Thank you again for being here and thank you
again for all the support that you give us.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Mayor.
(Applause.)
MR. JORGE: We'll go ahead and start our
presentation. My presentation will be shared with some of
our partners, and again, it's an effort to relay
information about our district, some of the goings-on and
some of the challenges that we face. Some of the
information may be information that you have seen,
commissioners, but I think it will be very informational
for the audience, some of the items that we're going to
cover.
This is a map of our district. We cover the
southernmost eight counties in Texas. We have offices
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throughout our district, and you see there the blue
square, that is our Pharr District office located at 83
and 281 expressway; we have three area offices.
One is in Pharr, located there in pink. That
office handles all the projects in Hidalgo County and some
of the major projects in Starr County, and they currently
have over $350 million under construction.
We have an area office in San Benito here in
Cameron County, and they handle all of the
Cameron/Willacy/Kenedy responsibilities, and they are
right now handling $405 million under construction.
And then we have our office in Hebronville, the
hometown of Mr. Amadeo Saenz, and that office is
responsible for Jim Hogg, Zapata, Starr and Brooks
counties, essentially handles all the rural sections in
our district and handles all of our preventive maintenance
throughout the district.
Of course, you see the several maintenance
offices that we have throughout the district and they
handle the maintenance responsibilities for each of their
respective areas.
The population of our district -- and this is
on the U.S. side based on the 2000 census -- is over a
million people. When you combine the population of the
north of Matamoros, like the judge mentioned, the
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population of the general area is over 3 million people.
We cover 2300 centerline miles, 111 of which
are freeway centerline miles, and lane miles 5700 and
growing with a lot of the work that's going on on the
freeway. Daily vehicle miles traveled is an important
number that indicates the activity that we have in our
district, and that is the seventh largest volume in the
state of Texas, so it's very significant to note that.
Now, our ability to function and address the
transportation needs of our community is largely tied to
the operating budget that we currently operate with. Our
design budget includes mainly in-house design work and
project management, and on an annual basis it's $6-1/2
million.
Our maintenance budget includes both in-house
work as well as contracted work, and as you well know,
this part of our work has become more and more costly.
Our district highways are more urbanized in nature and
with the added capacity that we have experienced, the
demands to keep an acceptable level of maintenance has
been difficult to meet. Rehab and preventive maintenance
are prioritized unless funding is available for added
capacity.
Our construction volume currently, as we
discussed, is over $700 million -- actually, with the last
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month's letting is pushed to $780 million which is a
record high for our district.
Our design consultant budget on an annual basis
runs somewhere around $16 million. We're currently doing
as much as 75 percent of our work contracted due to the
demand that the construction oversight has given us. We
manage over 30 active contracts, 17 different firms are
doing work with us. In addition to that, we have Texas
Transportation Institute from Texas A&M that does a lot of
research for us through an interagency agreement.
Our right of way budget, you see there, is $18
million. Our right of way staff has been extremely
aggressive pursuing acquisition, they've been very
successful, but besides our in-house staff, we also have
currently four acquisition consultants working for us and
actively acquiring right of way.
And of course, our public transportation
budget, you'll hear later on in the presentation from
Norma Zamora how we're putting those funds to use in our
regional transportation system.
This shows the progression of our letting
volumes in the Pharr District over the last 15 years. As
you can see, there has been a steady increase. The NAFTA
program which was instituted by the commission and came
into effect in the mid to late '90s, and the chart
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indicates the rapid increase in letting around that time.
And the challenge that we all face and will
continue to face for the next few years is to maintain
that growth in letting over the next few years by
utilizing a lot of the innovative financial tools that are
available to us, and again, by introducing and working
closely with partners such as the RMA and MPOs in order to
bring even more options to the table. And you're going to
hear a little bit more about those initiatives later.
This slide as put together by our planning
staff in conjunction with our MPOs and it indicates a
population projection comparison between the Rio Grande
Valley and the other major urban areas in the state. And
again, this population projection is based on the growth
rates that were experienced in the previous decade. The
Valley has one of the highest growth rates in the nation.
And as you can see down here, this is the Rio
Grande Valley population as of the 2000 census, you can
see Austin and San Antonio above it. Of course, Houston
and Dallas are much higher. As you project the growth
rate over the next 30 years, you can see where we're going
to wind up being very close to Austin and San Antonio,
assuming the growth rates are maintained.
This represents tremendous transportation
challenges for our region, but as you heard throughout the
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presentation, we are definitely working in partnership to
address them.
Our district has the largest number of
international crossings in the state. The existing
international crossings provide significant challenges in
the number of vehicles and trucks that cross daily. The
daily freight and vehicle crossings congest our arterials
and add to the safety concerns that we already have.
A recent provision in the SAFETEA-LU highway
bill created the Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program
which will help us address some of those needs for
mobility and capacity at or connecting to our existing
international crossings. And we'll be working with our
MPOs and bridge owners, port directors and GSA to identify
those projects.
We've also been working with several entities
on proposed crossings which you see there in red. The
Anzalduas Bridge which is proposed in Hidalgo County south
of Mission, we're working with the local development board
in a pass-through financing project to connect the
Anzalduas Bridge to the US 83 expressway. Of course, the
Donna Bridge is also in the process of being worked on,
and we have some projects identified to connect them.
The West Rail Bridge -- which you'll hear a
little bit more about later -- is a project that is being
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pursued by Cameron County and the RMA. And of course, the
Port of Brownsville Bridge that you saw yesterday, the
location of the proposed bridge that the port is working
on.
The next several slides are going to show you
some of the international bridges which have the largest
volume of truck crossings. Now, this is not one of them.
(General laughter.)
MR. JORGE: But I thought I would start with a
picture of our ferry in Los Ebanos in Hidalgo County. As
far as I know, this is the only hand-pulled ferry that is
still operational that I'm aware of, and you can see how
it functions. They cannot operate, obviously, 365 days
because it depends on the flow of the river. But I've
taken it and it's interesting. And when you get there,
you actually get out of the car and you help out.
Let's talk about trucks now. This is the
Veterans International Bridge in Brownsville. This bridge
currently carries an average of 16,000 northbound trucks
per month and 170,000 northbound passenger vehicles per
month. There is a temporary border state inspection
facility operated by DPS at this location, and we have a
permanent one planned in the next couple of years. It
also happens to be a point of destination for the
overweight corridor from the Port of Brownsville, as you
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saw yesterday on the tour, with the steel slag bridge also
has a connection from US 77/83 which has been constructed
to interstate standards.
This is the B&M Bridge which is a combination
rail/vehicular bridge operating in downtown Brownsville.
It currently carries an average of 200,000 northbound
passenger vehicles per month. Of course, the West Rail
Relocation project will construct a new rail bridge west
of the city and allow this bridge to be used exclusively
for vehicular traffic. And it also happens to be the
termini for the West Loop project which is one of the
projects being proposed by the RMA and you will hear about
that later in the program.
The Free Trade Bridge in Los Indios south of
Harlingen is another Cameron County bridge which currently
handles freight. An average of 4,200 northbound trucks
and 62,000 passenger vehicles per month utilize the
facility, and we also have a temporary inspection facility
there.
The Pharr-Reynosa Bridge, located directly
south of Pharr along 281 in Hidalgo County, carries an
average of 40,000 northbound trucks and 160,000 northbound
passenger vehicles per month. We also have a border
station facility and a permanent is planned. It also has
a fast lane operating for northbound freight.
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We have several projects being worked on by
TxDOT, Hidalgo County and the newly RMA once they take
shape which will provide improved mobility and
connectivity to the bridge, and I'll discuss some of these
later.
You all have seen this before. This is an
aerial shot of a typical temporary inspection facility
operated by the Department of Public Safety, and we have
one at three locations. It's a five-acre site at those
facilities that will be replaced with permanent ones.
The Port of Brownsville has been a great
partner with us over many years in developing several
transportation projects. I will cover those, but I would
first like to introduce our port director who is going to
provide the commission an overview of operations and
proposed improvement projects at the port, and then I'll
review the cooperation that has taken place on many
projects and what is planned for the future.
So at this time, I'll introduce our port
director.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Mario, if you would permit me.
MR. JORGE: Yes, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have several letters that
during your presentation I need to read into the record
and I'd like to do them at break points so as to not
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overwhelm us all.
As most of you know, the legislature is meeting
in special session to consider changes to the tax system
and the public education finance system. Your senator and
all of your House members had to miss the commission
meeting here because of legislative requirements and not
because they don't wish to be with us. All of them
expressed support at various levels for what will
transpire today.
From Senator Lucio -- who is a great
transportation senator, I might add -- I'll read it into
the record.
"As you're aware from our frequent
conversations -- this letter is addressed to me
personally -- and from the tours you've taken in the area,
there are many important infrastructure improvements
needed in the Rio Grande Valley and in Cameron County in
general. Development of these projects will greatly
increase mobility, enhance safety, and bring a better
quality of life to the citizens I represent.
"One organization that focuses on a regional
approach is the newly created Cameron County Regional
Mobility Authority. While created only a year and a half
ago, they have focused on a plan that will have immediate
infrastructure impact in the area. With hurricane season
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coming, I'm particularly interested and supportive of
their efforts to build a second causeway.
"As you know, I cannot attend the commission
meeting today but I know the commission will have a
fruitful and informative visit to my Senate district and I
look forward to discussing these issues with you in the
future. In my absence, I extend my full support to the
effort of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority
and respectfully request that you consider supporting the
agenda items on the calendar. Thank you for your
consideration. Do not hesitate to call me. Senator Eddie
Lucio."
Eddie Lucio is a true transportation senator.
Please go ahead, Mario.
MR. JORGE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
At this point I'd like to introduce a great
partner of our transportation system in the Valley, and
that is the Port of Brownsville port director, Mr. Bernard
List. Mr. List and I have something in common: he just
moved in from Miami and I lived in Miami for about a
couple of years a while back and I still have a lot of
family in Miami, so we have something in common. Mr.
List?
MR. WILLIAMSON: Welcome. We're glad you're in
Texas.
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MR. LIST: Thank you, sir. Good morning. My
name is Bernard List, and yes, I do come from Florida, I
was assistant director at the Port of Miami. And thank
you again, commissioners, for hosting this meeting in our
area because that's very important to us.
I also went to Oklahoma State University, so
don't hold those two things against me, please.
(General laughter.)
MR. LIST: We had the honor of hosting the
commissioners yesterday at the port and we gave a
presentation, we went through a tour of the port, and we
were able to showcase some of the highlights of what is
happening at our dynamic port.
I want to take a moment to address an item that
Commissioner Johnson asked me on the way because I
expressed that we had just had a record year of 5,185,000
tons of cargo through the port, and he said, Are those
metric or short tons? I said, Those are metric tons which
are larger than short tons. And then he said, Well, how
much is a metric ton? And those numbers are a little
rusty, and I got the 2,200 correct but I missed a little,
so I went back and checked and the correct answer is
2,204.6 pounds is a metric ton. And then he asked me also
about a long ton and that's the British ton, and that is
2,240 pounds. So now we got it all straight.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: That's not 2,240 stones?
(General laughter.)
MR. LIST: So anyway, you know, 5 million tons
of cargo is significant. It would mean about 6 million
short tons in U.S. and American tons. So in terms of
ports worldwide in this nation and within Texas, that's
significant. We were talking about how our port is 42
feet deep and that's very significant depth for any port.
Back to the business at hand, we certainly want
to take a moment to acknowledge the good relationship that
we have with all the good folks at TxDOT. Amadeo Saenz,
of course, is very interactive with us, and I heard also
yesterday that he was hired by our own Nino Gutierrez at
TxDOT before he retired. Thank you, Nino, good job. And
also Mario Jorge and Arnold Cortez are significant in many
of the things we're doing here.
For example, the relocation of State Highway 48
not only is a major artery into the port but it decongests
all the mobility down to South Padre Island, the tourism
that the judge mentioned earlier today.
Also the railroad relocation project which is a
major home run, and that accomplished again through the
direction of Nino Gutierrez, eliminates 79 of 87 railroad
crossings and that's of major significance to our activity
here.
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In addition to that, our overweight activity,
and as we explained yesterday, our steel slag accounts for
about 2.4 million, metric tons of our cargo, and a lot of
that moves over the roads and needs to have that access to
be able to carry 125,000 pounds each to make it
economically feasible for those trucks to survive.
And finally, for State Highway 48, the port
donated 30 acres for turnabouts and conservation easement
which is just another example of how we've worked very
closely together.
I'll go through this very quickly, we have a
tight schedule today. We are the westernmost terminus of
the Inland Waterway System but also we're the southernmost
terminus -- and I think that's significant -- in our
location. Right against another country we have deep
water and we have a lot of acreage and a lot of benefits
to offer.
Here you can see our growth, significant. We
had a record year in '70 and this is our 70th year, over 5
million metric tons. And our overweight permit traffic is
growing, 44,200 in 2005, so we're growing.
Our BRG rail traffic is significant. We worked
hand in hand with our own railroad to accommodate the
steel that needs to go over to Monterrey, Monclova, all
the other areas in northern Mexico where that is
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processed, and as we discussed yesterday, a lot of it
comes back into the United States through the NAFTA
umbrella to go to consumers here in the states and other
places beyond.
Very important to us is our new project, Dock
16 which will be a duplication of Dock 15. It is a
deepwater facility that will allow to duplicate the
ability to bring in heavy steel ships, container ships,
and other deep draft vessels, and it avoids the congestion
at one terminal so we can get simultaneously two large
ships for the terminal, you can handle both of them, not
impact them with demurrage charges which could run up to
$60,000 per stay which would drive the business away to
another port.
And there is our proposed international truck
corridor which, again, as we move on and the cargo grows,
the steel continues to grow, this will avoid transporting
over the roadways and directly into Mexico and out of
Mexico.
We're also, in the Dock 15/Dock 16 area with
our brand new Gottwald Crane, capable of doing 25 moves an
hour for containers. We don't have containers at this
moment, we just have a company that's established a
container facility, a bonded facility that will already in
the next week or so be able to house oceangoing
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containers. Hapag Lloyd has already made a commitment to
drop and pick their containers here at the Port of
Brownsville, and this is our first step towards
containerization.
We're looking at short-sea shipping which would
be like a feeder service between us and Houston to start
out. We know that the Far East cargo, a lot of it coming
all-water from the Far East through the Panama Canal zone
will come straight into our area for consumption into the
Valley.
It is every day more costly bringing it down
via truck and congesting highways and so on, and if we can
get this on the water with the higher fuel prices and
everything, we believe and our numbers show that it would
be a significant savings to the consumers, H.E.B., Wal-
Mart, Home Depot, all those folks in the Valley and across
the river as well. So we're working very diligently on
making this happen, and our crane -- which is in the above
picture -- has the capability of handling container ships.
On that, I'll take a moment to talk about our
land bridge ambitions, and that would be, for example,
from Lazaro Cardenas bring more line haul container
activity into the Port of Brownsville over the rail, what
you call piggyback or double-stack container cars to bring
them into the Port of Brownsville to further ship them
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from Brownsville to other destinations on the water, on
the rail truck, or short-sea shipping again into the Port
of Houston. So we're going to be working also with TxDOT
and some other folks on making this a reality in the near
future.
We have a proposed deepening project going to
55 feet seven miles in. That would even make us a more
outstanding and attractive facility for larger vessels,
larger companies to look at us as a real player. We're
also looking at maybe coming in 45-46 feet all the way
into our turning basin -- which is here at the end -- but
at 42 feet we could actually bring in a container ship
with 4,000 TUs, 5,000 TUs, so this is evidence that we are
prepared to take on the container business.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Hang on a second, Bernard.
MR. LIST: Yes, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Can you go back?
MR. LIST: Yes.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So the last part of that
sentence, oil and gas offshore platforms, so you envision
that they could be constructed and towed out. Is that why
you make a reference to that?
MR. LIST: That part there, yes, sir. One of
our tenants is AmpHel and they have like 2,200 full-time
employees repairing and fabricating parts or fabricating
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rigs, and that's another part of our deepening
justification and widening justification because a lot of
those units are very wide and when they come in and come
out and turn, it becomes a real challenge. So we
certainly want to move forward with that. Right now we're
doing our deepening and widening study with the Corps in
Galveston and that will take some time, but have to go
through all those steps and all the environmental
challenges to be able to get to the point where we'll
start that deepening and widening.
They can do pretty much everything but they're
larger units and with the storms -- in the past the storms
coming up, there is a bigger market out there that they're
not capturing that they could capture if they had a
deeper, wider entrance here.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.
MR. LIST: You're welcome.
And this is what I touched on before, the
proposed rail canal project and it would be what you call
a land bridge from one side of Mexico all the way over.
It's what they call a dry canal versus the Panama Canal.
And in some countries they talk a lot about just a highway
generally from one port to another port, and then beyond
on the water or on the land as well.
And that is my presentation today. Thank you.
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If you have any questions?
MR. WILLIAMSON: Whose railroad car is that
looking at us?
MR. LIST: The railroad engines belong to the
district which is the Brownsville Navigation District, and
the BRG is a creation, like a subsidiary of the BND, they
have their own board. We work hand in hand. The assets
belong to the district, and basically it's ten engines
that it's the power to move the cars. The cars come over
a lot from Mexico, what used to be TSM, and now it's
Kansas City Southern de Mexico, so the cars are supplied
by them. They come through UP to us but our engines are
the ones that do all the work over in the Port of
Brownsville and move the cars over the bridge into Mexico
and back.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, do you have questions
of this gentleman?
MS. ANDRADE: Thank you.
MR. LIST: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you for that
presentation. And Mario, while you're walking up, my very
good friend, longtime friend, Rene Oliveira dropped by a
letter personally.
"I write with warmest regards thanking you for
selecting Brownsville for your commission meeting. We're
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grateful for your interest and thoughtfulness.
"As you have seen from your time in Cameron
County, there are important transportation improvements
that will enhance international commerce and improve
mobility and safety in our communities.
"I'm proud of the work done by our Cameron
County Regional Mobility Authority which was formed over a
year ago, three members comprise. The members are
experienced, visionary persons who have begun an
aggressive strategic plan focused on financing projects
for the quickest manner possible.
"I regret not being able to attend today due to
the special legislative session. I offer my support to
the mobility authority and ask for favorable consideration
on the agenda item. Thank you for being in Brownsville.
Please do not hesitate to call."
Please continue, Mario.
MR. JORGE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I wanted to show you a slide and identify some
of the projects that the port has been a key ally with us
and some of the future projects planned that will improve
the connectivity to and from the port and really to the
city of Brownsville and Cameron County.
What you see here is a railroad relocation
project. Here's the Port of Brownsville, here's 77/83.
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This railroad relocation project which Mr. List alluded to
has already been completed after many years of hard work
by the port and county and the State of Texas and the
federal government. That is already in place.
The project that is currently under
construction to complete the expansion of State Highway
48 -- which also Mr. List mentioned -- that goes all the
way to Port Isabel is a critical link for us, and I will
tell you that without the port being an ally, we probably
would not have been able to succeed on that project. It
took many years of difficult negotiations on various
issues, but I will say that the port did a couple of
things that really helped our cause.
One was they dedicated a 1,000-foot wide
conservation easement that helped us mitigate some
endangered species issues. We constructed a bridge that
will handle those endangered species but without the port
dedicating 1,000 foot of their own land as a conservation
easement, that project would not have been a success.
The second issue that they assisted us
tremendously in is digging a pilot channel from the ship
channel across 48 which facilitated the flooding of Bayou
Grande which has been creating a very serious dust problem
and which has created health problems in some of these
areas, and also addressed some very difficult habitat
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concerns that Fish and Wildlife had for many years. This
effort has been applauded by many, many environmental
agencies, groups and local communities, so it was a great
effort on their part.
We're building a bridge also to cross that
channel into the Bayou Grande to maintain that flow, so
that was a huge accomplishment. That helped us with the
wetland mitigation that we needed for the project. So
those two things were extremely important for us.
The other project I want to mention to you is
FM 511 which FM 511 is designated on the ISTEA legislation
as a segment or leg of I-69. We're in the process of
developing this project. We are purchasing right of way,
as we speak, sufficient right of way to allow us to
construct a future controlled access facility, although in
the meantime we'll have a four-lane divided highway. It's
going to provide a loop on the east side of Brownsville,
connection directly into the port. It will have room for
future dedicated truck lanes when the time comes and when
we can identify funding mechanisms with the RMA.
And that project, the port is dedicating a
significant amount of right of way to the department, to
the state, so we're very thankful for working with them on
that.
We also have a project that we're working with
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the City of Brownsville and Cameron County which is to
create and east loop connection from the Veterans
International Bridge, a new location and then around on
511 to connect back to the entry point near the port. And
again, as you can see, this creates a mobility corridor on
the east side of Brownsville that will facilitate freight
traffic and vehicular traffic to and from the port, as
well as for the general area on the east side of
Brownsville. A very important project, mobility project
that we're working with them on, and the RMA is going to
be a big part of this.
We also have, as you know, an Intracoastal
Waterway that we are part of. It's within the boundaries
of our district. The causeway bridge spans this
particular waterway and connects Port Isabel to South
Padre Island has had significant work done. One of the
projects that was installed within one year of the
collapse due to the barge accident in 2001 is a collapse
detection project that is a system that activates gates,
flashers and overhead message boards in case of a span
collapse. It's a very technologically advanced system
based on fiber optics and it's one that we're very proud
to have installed.
Using the Pier Protection Program that the
commission approved for causeway bridges in the state, we
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installed several concrete dolphins designed to withstand
the impact from forward-loaded barges and those have been
installed in front of the piers extending approximately
500 feet from each side of the Intracoastal on all four
corners. Makes us sleep well at night.
We followed the research recommendations on a
process to provide extended life to the concrete footings
and columns in the very aggressive marine environment, so
we've installed a cathodic protection system on the entire
bridge and we're really confident that this will delay the
start of corrosion and prolong the life of the bridge as
long as we can.
And of course, in conjunction with the RMA, we
will continue to develop and work on the project to
construct a second causeway to South Padre Island. There
are many environmental and financial issues that need to
be considered in the evaluation of the preferred corridor,
but it is, nevertheless, an important project and it is on
the agenda for the RMA, so I'll let them cover that later.
Our major corridors, just a quick rundown.
Everything you see here in black is expansions that have
been completed over the past few years. This is roughly
about 30 miles of work already completed to six-lane
expansion. Everything in red is currently under
construction which is about 70 miles. It's the source of
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a lot of aggravation for motorists but they do see the
progress that's being made. And the green is proposed
projects that we'll have in the next couple of years.
We work with three MPOs in our district -- I
think we're the only district that has three MPOs. First
of all, Hidalgo County MPO which is a TMA with over
200,000 in population; the director is Mr. Andrew Canon.
Harlingen-San Benito MPO is an urban MPO; Mr. Juan Sanchez
is our director. And Brownsville MPO, also another urban
MPO, which Mark Lund is the director. You can see how
they are very close together and we'll see what happens
with the next census whether we can have a Valley-wide
MPO.
At this time I'm going to ask Andrew Canon, as
the spokesman for the three MPOs, to give a quick
presentation on some of the important items that the MPOs
are looking at.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And while you're walking up,
Representative Escobar sent us a letter thanking us for
having our monthly meeting in Brownsville, and endorsing
the projects that will improve mobility, enhance safety
and bring a better quality of life to the organization.
He specifically endorses the focused countywide and
regional transportation vision of the Cameron County
Regional Mobility Authority. He fully supports it and
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encourages us to move forward on the agenda item, and we
appreciate him taking the time to send the letter.
MR. CANON: Thank you, commissioners.
This morning I'd like to introduce myself. My
name is Andrew Canon. I have the honor and privilege of
being the director of the Hidalgo County MPO. I'd also
like to introduce my planning partners. I have Juan
Sanchez with me here today from the Harlingen-San Benito
MPO, as well as Alfonso Vallejo, representing the
Brownsville MPO today.
The Lower Rio Grande Valley is home to some of
the greatest cross-border growth within the state.
Reynosa is the only border city that has an increase in
maquiladoras and employees in 2005. The amount of
maquiladoras have increased significantly here along the
Texas border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley region.
Reynosa exported a dollar value increase by almost 151
percent in the last five years. In comparison, Juarez had
an increase of 39 percent. Our growth is quite
spectacular that we're undertaking here in the Valley that
you'll hear about and that you've heard more about this
morning.
Cameron and Hidalgo counties have a total of
eight existing bridges along our border with proposed four
additional bridges: two within Hidalgo County, the Donna
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Bridge and Anzalduas Bridge; and two within Cameron
County, the Port of Brownsville Bridge and the West Rail
Bridge.
These bridges are necessary to support the
growth that the region is undergoing. For example,
Matamoros, Mexico has a population of approximately
700,000 citizens living directly across the border from
Brownsville. Reynosa has an estimated population of 1.2
million people, and the Hidalgo County urbanized area
boundary alone is worth noting that it was the only
urbanized area to double in size between the 1990 and the
2000 census populations in the state of Texas.
Hidalgo County UAB encompasses 800,000 people.
Hidalgo County, Brownsville, and Harlingen-San Benito all
have a forecasted population rate of 4 percent. This,
compounded by the fact that Mexico has an estimated growth
rate of 12 percent, makes us one of the fastest growing
areas in the state, if not the fastest growing.
Along the way to address this is that the
Hidalgo County MPO recently has undertaken the initiative
and is about to sign a memorandum of understanding with
the City of Reynosa and with the City of Rio Bravo -- they
serve as ex officio members of my policy board -- and we
hope to be able to do this and to have this memorandum of
understanding in place so that we may coordinate our
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efforts better across the border on what our planning
needs and our congestion needs over the next 25 years may
be.
The great growth within the Lower Rio Grande
Valley brings with it other aspects as well, such as the
amount of traffic moving north and south across our
bridges for commercial and personal purposes. The Pharr
Bridge is the only bridge in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
that has experienced a dramatic increase in truck traffic.
There has been approximately a 27 percent increase in
northbound truck traffic within the past five years on the
Pharr Bridge alone. Another example is that from
Brownsville to Zapata in 2005 there were 958,793
northbound truck crossings alone, accompanied by
23,500,000 passenger vehicle and buses coming northbound
across our bridges. As you can see, the amount of
congestion that we have is growing insurmountable compared
to our population growth.
As a part of our increased truck and freight
traffic along the border, the amount of commodities
crossing logically have increased significantly as well.
The steel trade has increased significantly after the
bridge at Los Tomates opened operations to the Port of
Brownsville. From 1997 to 2004, the imported steel has
increased from 1.2 to 2.2 metric tons, or an increase of
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81.5 percent. Steel arrives to our area from such
countries as Brazil, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, Korea,
Mexico, and of course, the U.S.
Along with this, rail traffic to and from
Mexico has not slowed either. Brownsville and Hidalgo
both have seen dramatic growth in the amount of dollars
for imported goods shipped into and out of Mexico in the
last five years. Brownsville has seen a 31 percent
increase in rail traffic within the last five years.
I'll move on to the mobility plan. As the
chairman clearly stated to us yesterday afternoon and this
morning, local areas have now been provided the
opportunity to identify our potential needs and address
the mobility concerns that we have over the next 25 years.
Along with identifying these potential needs, we've also
been given the opportunity to address how the local areas
could address financing or future mobility needs in our
projects. Thus, the Texas Metropolitan Mobility Plan has
been developed.
The Hidalgo County MPO, as one of eight larger
MPOs in the state, has been undertaking and working on the
TMMP over the past several years. The Hidalgo County MPO
has identified a $787 million shortfall for Hidalgo County
alone over the next 25 years. To address this shortfall,
Hidalgo County, working with citizens groups, board
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members, staff, TxDOT and other entities have been coming
up with local initiatives to address our financial needs
over the next 25 years.
These two slides present two initiatives that
were undertaken and presented to my board recently, one
being a possible additional toll at bridges to capture
those vehicles that are coming across and using our
roadways on a daily basis, and the other being a local
sales tax initiative. This is just two of five
initiatives that we have at the moment that we're working
on to address our needs over the next 25 years.
Along with that, on October 31, 2000, Chairman
Williamson met with the 17 non-TMAs in Austin to kick off
a similar initiative to the TMMP. This initiative
entitled the Texas Urbanized Mobility Plan, or TUMP.
Mario and Jorge and myself co-chair this panel and we've
been working diligently with the 17 smaller non-TMO MPOs
around the state to also address their needs over the next
25 years, as well as identifying any initiatives they may
have to address these needs.
I will say that we've made a great deal of
progress and that we're on time to meet our June deadline
that we have for our draft to the commission for review
and our September final submission of our document.
I'll speak briefly on some of the initiatives
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undertaken by the Hidalgo County MPO, one of these being
our congestion management system which is quite
instrumental in what we do in preparation of identifying
our needs over the next 25 years.
The Hidalgo County MPO has the data collection
of over 500 lane miles within Hidalgo County. We have a
consultant that drives out these 500 lane miles for us on
a yearly basis, information is captured in two-second
intervals via GPS accompanied by a video. It's become
quite a useful tool in public involvement. It allows us
to be able to click on several of the links, any of these
identified red lines that we have on this map, and we can
show the public what it is that was seen at the time that
the system was driven out.
That's important for us because we don't want
to identify areas that have construction taking place at
this time as an area that has serious congestion problems
because the congestion may be due to the construction
that's undertaken, therefore, we know that the problem is
actually being addressed.
We also moved on to a CMS Tier 2 approach --
and it was an analysis of four corridors, those corridors
listed there: FM 88 in Weslaco, 907 in Alamo, 495 in
Mission and 10th Street which is one of the busiest
arterials that runs through the middle of McAllen -- to do
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a real-world analysis of how we could address the
congestion concerns of these communities.
I will say that the City of Weslaco has moved
forward with one of our initiatives identified and they
are now looking at the possibility of installing raised
medians along FM 88 as a part of their access management
initiative to help relieve some of the congestion problems
that they're suffering there in that city as it grows
quite quickly.
And I'd also like to say that for the first
time we have a regional model coming down to our area from
TP&P up in Austin. Along with our three independent
models that we use and to forecast out our needs over the
250-year horizon that we have to, this is going to be an
incredible tool for us to use since we know that we are on
a regional basis and that the traffic does not stop or
begin at our boundaries or at our county line.
I would also like to say that this regional
approach gives more emphasis to the need for the formation
of a possible one regional MPO to be the voice of the
region as a whole instead of three independent MPOs.
Also, in Hidalgo County, one of the initiatives
we've undertaken and partnered with Cameron County and the
MPOs here is we work with all of the EMS providers within
Hidalgo County and we are soon to release an RFP for a
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non-destination, non-radioactive HAZ route study. Along
with the I-69 possibilities that we have here, any
interstate corridors, we realized that this was something
that we needed to look at with the increased truck traffic
that we have from Mexico to assure the safety to the
population and to the citizens of Hidalgo County and
Cameron County as well.
Harlingen and San Benito, it's worth noting,
already has such a hazardous route in place within their
city limits, so we're hoping to work in conjunction with
this.
That's all I have for you today. Any
questions?
MR. WILLIAMSON: Do you find that the mobility
plan we've asked you to develop is revealing anything you
didn't already know?
MR. CANON: Yes, sir. I think what the
mobility plan has done is actually shined a light on what
we weren't looking at before. We knew the dollars that we
had over the next 25 years, we knew what was probable to
be able to be built out, we knew where we thought we were
going, but the mobility plan has done for us is shine a
light on that shortfall that we really didn't give that
much emphasis to. We sort of looked at the side of what
we knew we were going to be building, we never sat down
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and took into consideration, in conjunction with our
population growth, how much of a gap we would have that
would continue to grow over that 25 years, and thus, leave
us in a bigger hole if we don't address it now.
So I think it's been an incredible tool for us
to use and I think it's a significantly valued tool for
the 17 non-TMA MPOs as well.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.
Any other questions?
MR. HOUGHTON: Yes. You glossed over -- or I
didn't pick up on it real quick -- the three independent
MPOs acting as one.
MR. CANON: Yes, sir.
MR. HOUGHTON: Is there any movement to merge
all the MPOs?
MR. CANON: I know that there was a movement a
couple of years back on this initiative, and I guess what
I should say to be politically correct, this is sort of a
personal initiative that I have. I think that we as a
region need to resonate our voice as one up to Austin as
well as up to Washington, D.C., I think any time that we
resonate independently and separately as three separate
entities instead of one whole. Also, as a whole being
equivalent to the size of Austin, would give more impact
to what we have to say possibly. I think it's important.
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Half of my staff -- I have a staff of nine --
half of my staff actually live in Cameron County or drive
from further away into Hidalgo County. We know that our
traffic congestion and the concerns that we have for the
movement of people and goods do not stop at our urbanized
boundaries or at the county line. It seems to me somewhat
silly, if you will, for me to undertake initiatives for
Hidalgo County and then have them stop at the county line
when I know that my planning partners are undertaking
duplicate initiatives within Cameron County. Instead of
doing it three times, I think we could do it once as a
whole and have a greater impact and better benefit to the
citizens of Cameron and Hidalgo counties.
MR. HOUGHTON: Thanks for answering that. I
didn't mean to put you on the spot.
MR. CANON: It's no problem at all.
MR. HOUGHTON: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: It's a difficult thing, and
it's a thing that's best spoken of, I think, from the
state level and not in a demanding way but in a this-is-
what-we-think way, and over time the county judge will
decide if he agrees or not, and over time the mayor will
decide if he agrees or not.
MR. CANON: Absolutely.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I mean, some things we think
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we ought to say to the local and regional leaders this is
what you should do, some things we say this is what we
think you should do.
MR. CANON: Yes, sir. And I have a policy
board tonight and I know that that will come up again at
my board meeting, as well as the Cameron County policy
board meetings that are held here. My board is very
concerned about congestion and the movement of people and
goods throughout the county and throughout the Lower Rio
Grande Valley, as well as we realize that our borders
don't stop at the river. These communities that are south
of the river are just as impacted and important to us as
they would be if it was any community on the north side of
the river.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you very much. Hope?
MS. ANDRADE: I'd just like to say one thing.
I just need to congratulate you on recognizing the need to
work together. I mean, it's just fantastic that you're
all able to do that. So congratulations and thank you for
doing that. It makes our job a lot easier too.
MR. CANON: I appreciate that.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I didn't get to serve with Mr.
Escobar but I did get to serve with Mr. Solis -- in fact,
we sat right next to each other. He also sent a letter.
"I'm writing to express my appreciation for
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your being in Brownsville today. As you have seen from
the tours you've taken, we have many improvements in this
area that are necessary, and our organization known as the
Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority is very
important. I fully endorse their program and endorse the
item on the agenda.
"Call me if I can answer any questions."
Jim is a nice guy. Go ahead.
MR. JORGE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think Mr. Canon responded very eloquently on
that question. It's a difficult issue to be addressed and
it's one that we've already been discussing with several
of our local leaders, and you're right, Mr. Chairman,
that's something that I think as a region we'll have to
make that decision.
MR. WILLIAMSON: But we would never want a
county judge or a mayor or a city council person or a
commissioner to think that we were telling them what -- we
will never tell you about that kind of stuff what you
should do, you've got to make that decision yourself. We
just happen to believe that local execution and planning
is better.
It's been effective in North Texas for a number
of years, although we're admittedly going through a little
bit of a rough patch right now over a toll road. But
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generally speaking, it's permitted North Texas to speak
with one voice, and frankly, I think that had a lot to do
with our decision to allocate money and not projects which
I think has been a tremendous help to everybody.
But to the extent that the judge and the
commissioners court and the leaders of the community can
figure out how to speak regionally and plan regionally, we
think that's a good idea.
Where else are we going, Mario?
MR. JORGE: The next speaker I'd like to
introduce is Ms. Norma Zamora. She's our director of the
Brownsville Urban System, and she's going to talk about
the regional transit service plan that I know Commissioner
Andrade has been very forward in asking us throughout the
state to implement a regional plan, and Ms. Zamora will
speak to that. So Norma?
MR. WILLIAMSON: Welcome.
MS. ZAMORA: Good morning. Again, my name is
Norma Zamora. I'm the director of the City of
Brownsville's transit department, the Brownsville Urban
System. It is my pleasure to again welcome each of the
commission members and all of the TxDOT employees from
Austin, Pharr and other parts of the state of Texas to
Brownsville.
It is my pleasure to talk to you today about
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public transportation and I want to take this opportunity
to thank each commission member for all that you do to
support public transportation in South Texas. I also want
to extend a special thanks to Commissioner Andrade for
heading the statewide effort to procure the requirements
of House Bill 3588.
My presentation will provide an overview of our
federal- and state-funded transit systems, and more
importantly, to provide you with a status report on the
progress of our region's response to House Bill 3588 as it
relates to public transportation.
For the purposes of the regional transportation
planning effort, the Statewide Study Group opted to define
the service area boundaries as the COG boundaries which in
our area consists of Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy
counties. Although the 2005 population estimate in the
three-county region is over a million, a substantial
portion of the users of our public transportation systems,
especially in the urban systems, are from Mexico. For
example, in Brownsville approximately 40 percent of the
passengers that board at the downtown terminal walk across
from Mexico to shop, work, visit medical facilities, go to
school, and for recreation.
According to the Sustainable Civic Initiative,
Matamoros, Mexico, across the bridge from Brownsville, has
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an estimated population of 150,000. The city of Reynosa,
Mexico, across the border from McAllen, has an estimated
population of 750,000. As there are several communities
between Brownsville and McAllen, there are also several
small communities between Matamoros and Reynosa. These
cities are immediately adjacent to the planning region and
have a tremendous impact on the transit systems that
operate in our three-county region. This effectively
increases the daily population to our region, however,
they are not counted in the state or federal funding
formulas.
We support any effort that may be taken by this
commission to distribute transit funding to border areas
to help mitigate for the added burden placed on
communities along the Texas-Mexico border.
The management structure for the regional
transit service plan includes the Pharr District Transit
Advisory Panel, who will provide direction and oversight
throughout the planning process. The local COG was
selected to be the lead agency. The management and
oversight of our regional planning process reflect the
leadership role by the lead agency in close counsel with
the members of the Transit Advisory Panel. The COG will
serve as the lead agency and will provide leadership,
management and administrative support for the overall
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processes. We will also have a subcommittee responsible
for overseeing the outreach efforts and a technical
subcommittee which will be overseeing the work done by the
consultant.
The cost of the regional plan is $165,261.
TxDOT's participation is $100,000, Hidalgo County MPO is
$60,000, and Brownsville Urban System is paying the
difference. The COG is also providing 40 percent in in-
kind services.
All of the federal- and state-funded public and
private transportation providers are participating in the
regional planning process. They include four 5307 small
urban transit systems which include Brownsville Urban
System, Harlingen Express, Rio Metro, and McAllen Express.
Combined they provided over 2 million trips in fiscal year
2005.
We also have two Section 5311 rural transit
providers, Rio Transit and The Wave. They together
provided over 220,000 trips.
There are four Section 5310 elderly and
disabled transit providers, Amigos Rio Grande State
Center, the City of Port Isabel, and the Southwest Key
Program which provided a combined total of 58,240 trips.
We have one Section 5311(f) inner-city bus
provider, Valley Transit Company in Harlingen, a
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subsidiary of Greyhound Bus Line and the medical
transportation program, a client-based public
transportation service provided by LeFleur, who
transported 537,244 passengers in 2005.
In fiscal year 2005, our transit operators
provided over 2.3 million passenger trips in our region,
and at this time I would like to acknowledge all the
transportation providers and ask them to stand that are in
the audience with us.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.
MS. ANDRADE: Thank you.
MS. ZAMORA: Thank you.
And as you can tell from the map, the location
of each transit system is going to help us close any
service gaps identified in the planning process. Of
course, there are other client-based providers in our
regions, such as the Texas Workforce Commission, the State
Department of Health, the Department of Aging and Disabled
Services, the Department of Mental Health and Mental
Retardation, and others who are also taking part in our
regional transportation planning process.
As for the status of the regional coordination
planning efforts, the Lower Rio Grande Development Council
was selected as the lead agency in September of 2005. We
will continue to use the Transit Advisory Panel, which has
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been in existence since 2001, to monitor and oversee the
planning process. Representatives of the Transit Advisory
Panel include the three MPOs, the public transit
providers, the health and human service agencies,
Workforce, MHMR, the disabled, the medical transportation
providers, and the private bus carriers.
The stakeholders in this group continue to
expand. Aside from the participation of our Transit
Advisory Panel members, we also have the benefit of
guidance on this planning process by having the Pharr
District PTC as a member of Commissioner Andrade's
Statewide Study Group.
In October 2005, the City of Brownsville and
Brownsville Urban System hosted a regional transit summit
to promote the region's effort to develop regional transit
coordination and identified barriers and constraints which
hinder coordination. In November of 2005, the TxDOT
district office enlisted Texas Transit Institute and the
services of Ms. Linda Sharrington to assist in the
development of the RFP and set up the management structure
for our regional plan. She has been an invaluable asset
to the progress of our plan.
In January of this year, we released a request
for proposals. In February and March we received and
evaluated the proposal that was submitted, we interviewed
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the consultant and negotiated the contract. And I'm happy
to report that the contract was awarded to KFH Group,
Inc., and we had our kickoff meeting yesterday in the
Pharr District office. This project is scheduled to be
completed in December of 2006.
Thank you for your attention, and this
concludes my presentation.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Questions, members?
MS. ANDRADE: Norma, I just want to thank you
for what you're doing in developing this plan, and also
thank your partners, Health and Human Services, your local
COG, the Workforce Commission and the many providers, and
I urge you to keep working together. So thank you so
much.
MS. ZAMORA: Thank you.
(Applause.)
MR. JORGE: Thank you, Norma. And I'm going to
wrap up with some slides.
As you know, we have two RMAs in our district,
one that's been in operation now for over a year, and one
that's newly formed which is Hidalgo County. I want to
just mention both chairmen. I think they're here and
they're going to be speaking later in the program.
Mr. David Allex is the chairman for Cameron
County RMA. David, please stand. Thank you.
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And Dennis Burleson is the chairman for the
Hidalgo County RMA. Dennis, if you'll also stand. Thank
you, sir.
Both of these individuals were appointed by
Governor Perry to lead the respective RMAs, and it's been
a pleasure working with both of them, and I look forward
to many, many successful projects in this region.
What I wanted to show here is again some of the
major RMA projects that we're going to be looking at in
the future, and I think Andrew Canon mentioned a shortfall
from the Texas Mobility Plan and the Texas Urban Mobility
Plan.
One of the shortfalls, as you see here, is this
Hidalgo County Loop. This is a little over 100-mile loop
that as we stand today we have no means to fund over the
next 25 years. And as a transportation engineer here in
the Valley, if I'm sitting here 25 years from now and we
haven't moved on this loop, I think we'll really be
shortchanging the future of this region. So this is an
extremely important endeavor that needs to take place, and
the RMA, I think, will be the vehicle that will get us
there.
We are doing some work also a portion of this
loop, an extension of Military Highway as a parallel road
to 83 and 77 to hit Brownsville, and extension of
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arterials, expressway type arterials on the north end to
loop around Harlingen. Those are very important key
elements. We're doing a lot of work on some of these,
preliminary work, and I wanted to show that.
We have a relief route which is probably going
to be the first RMA project in Hidalgo County, planned as
a toll road, tolled relief route around the city of La
Joya and Penitas. And that project, we're finalizing the
environmental documents and we've had about three or four
public meetings that have gone very well. That project is
going to be first in line, I believe.
We're going to be looking at the southwest
segment of the Hidalgo County Loop, doing some preliminary
engineering and environmental documents in a very short
time so that we can start facilitating that project.
Again, financially funding these projects is going to be
an effort that's going to take, I think, the RMA, us and a
lot of the local entities.
The expansion of Military Highway from the
Pharr International Bridge all the way into Brownsville is
one that we're currently undertaking in terms of the
environmental and preliminary engineering. We've had two
public meetings that went very well, and we should be
conducting another one this summer and finalizing the
environmental documents this year.
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The southeast segment of the loop is a segment
that Hidalgo County will be performing the preliminary
engineering on, with our oversight, also in the next few
months, and that's another major leg of the loop.
We're also looking at this connection from 281
to 77 on the north side of Hidalgo and Cameron County as
an expressway facility with allotment for future dedicated
truck lanes. Again, a lot of these will provide
connectivity to any interstate corridor coming to the
Valley.
The City of Harlingen is assisting us, with
Cameron County RMA, in looking at the extension of that
same corridor east and then south to hit FM 509 which
leads directly into the Los Indios Bridge, and so that's
an effort that they're undertaking, in conjunction with
the rail relocation project that they're doing, again in
looking at preliminary engineering and environmental
documents.
In the Brownsville area, a couple of projects
that I want to mention here that the RMA is going to be
performing, and we'll hear more about these later. The
West Rail which is essentially tied into the rail
relocation is already done and goes west and then south to
the new international bridge on the west side of
Brownsville; FM 511 which I mentioned earlier as a future
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controlled access facility into the port and east side of
Brownsville; the East Loop which I also mentioned earlier
as a relief route to the east side of Brownsville; and the
West Loop which is also on the agenda today which involves
the obtainment of the abandoned railroad right of way once
the West Rail project is in place and development of a
toll road corridor from 77/83 into the B&M Bridge.
This slide here just shows a picture of our
potential interstate corridors. Everything you see there
is already completed. It is roughly over 111 miles of
highways that are to interstate standards. Everything
that is in blue is still pending, and the last numbers I
have in terms of mileage are about 60 miles on 281, about
50 miles on 77 that are still missing.
We do have a project in Falfurrias on the UTP
that is funded for the next three years, and one in
Raymondville for this year.
This slide right here shows the major
connectors on the northern Mexico side and these are the
major toll roads and major highways that lead directly to
the Valley, and you can see how this provides very good
connectivity to the major cities in Mexico and some of the
ports on the Pacific Ocean, as mentioned earlier.
MR. JOHNSON: Mario?
MR. JORGE: Yes, sir.
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MR. JOHNSON: On the previous slide, help me
with the differentiation in the colors. What are they
significant of, the yellow, blue, red and green?
MR. JORGE: Commissioner, they're just
identified as different corridors. I don't think they
have any specific meaning other than just different
corridors. This is the existing toll road from Monterrey
to Reynosa; this green here is a connection that's been
recently from Ciudad Victoria south to San Luis Potosi.
So I don't know that they necessarily have any meaning
other than they just identify different corridors.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.
MR. JORGE: Yes, sir.
I think this slide you have seen before, but
it's important to show because it identifies economic
activity within the I-69 corridor, and you can see the
shaded area in Mexico how 79 percent of the economic
activity takes place within this shaded area which is in
direct line of the corridor. About 80 percent of the
economic activity happens within the shaded area of the
United States which again has good connectivity with I-69,
and a similar percentage in Canada as the corridor arrives
in the eastern part. So these are very significant
numbers, and again, those are nothing new that you haven't
seen.
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That really pretty much concludes my
presentation. I want to thank the commission once again
for being here in Brownsville and the Pharr District, and
hopefully this presentation was informational to you. I
think the theme of this presentation which we tried to put
out today is the same theme which we conduct our everyday
business, and that is to enhance our transportation system
through partnership.
We have many financial challenges facing us. I
think the tools that have been provided to us by the
legislature and the governor, and those that we can come
up with and develop locally, I think will assist us in
meeting some of those challenges.
Once again, I thank you for your attention, and
any questions you have, I'd be glad to answer.
MR. JOHNSON: Any questions of Mario?
MR. HOUGHTON: I just thank you, Mario, for
your tremendous hospitality, you and the members of the
TxDOT family here in South Texas -- excuse me -- the Rio
Grande Valley.
MR. JORGE: We're glad to have you, and even
though my staff probably will kill me, we'd have you back
any time you want. It's been a lot of work but it's been
very enjoyable.
(General laughter.)
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MR. JOHNSON: It's been a very comprehensive
and enlightening presentation. We're grateful for that.
We've had one card submitted, Charlie Leal, who
is district aide for Senator Lucio. Did you want to say
anything? The chairman has read into the record Senator
Lucio's letter. Mr. Leal?
MR. LEAL: I think that's fine, sir.
MR. JOHNSON: All right. Thank you for being
here, and we miss the senator but we were grateful to be
able to share some time with him yesterday.
Well, I was going to say that the chair was not
present, and in view of that, I was uncertain as to what
he wanted to do, go to the next item on the agenda or
recess, but I'm going to yield back.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you. I think it will be
appropriate, Mike, at this time to ask Mr. Saenz to give
us an overview of potentially extending -- well, how we're
going to build an interstate highway in the Lower Rio
Grande Valley and the implications for potentially I-37.
MR. SAENZ: Thank you. Good morning,
commissioners, Mr. Behrens. For the record, Amadeo Saenz,
assistant executive director for Engineering Operations.
The item is a report to give you a status as to
where we're at as we look at developing an interstate-
quality facility from 37 south to the Rio Grande Valley.
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Of course, this request came in a letter from Governor
Perry to the Transportation Commission, and of course,
we've started working on it, and there are basically two
concurrent methods or ways that we think we can get this
project developed.
The first thing that we're looking at, of
course, we have been working and developing the TTC-69
Corridor, and to that end, we have been working on the
environmental assessment, we're working on an
environmental streamlined project and using a two-tier
approach, and of course, Tier 1 of the environmental
project we hope to complete by late 2007, at which time
then we can have individual project studies done on the
projects for the corridor in the Tier 2.
We expect to have full environmental clearance
for the whole corridor TTC-69 by 2010, but that might be a
little bit optimistic. You know, as we move on, these are
major challenges.
Concurrently with the tiered approach, and also
at the request of Governor Perry, we have moved forward
and put in place a request for qualifications to bring
onboard a strategic partner very similar to what we have
on the 35-TTC with the Cintra-Zachry team. This strategic
partner is going to be the group that will help us
identify the funding sources and identify the projects
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that can be developed and in what form, shape, schedule
priority, and look for ways to use the tools that we have
available to us to develop these projects.
That procurement is out. We had a kind of
kickoff meeting with the potential developers earlier this
week, and we hope that in the next couple of months we
will have a developer partner onboard to help us put
together a project list, a master plan for the TTC, as
well as a financial plan on how these projects can be
developed.
We think that we can have a developer onboard
and have a master plan in place and financial plan in
place by late 2007, and the project would be developed
very similar to what we're doing on 35-TTC, two concurrent
processes going on.
The second option that we want to look at is
the possibility of just taking and looking at the idea of
just doing what the letter said, take one of the existing
corridors and develop it to an interstate-quality
facility, connecting 37 down to the Rio Grande Valley.
This would allow us to comply with the federal
requirements that for a highway to be considered
interstate, it has to: one, meet the interstate quality
standards, and two, it needs to connect to an existing
interstate.
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Of course, under that option we really have two
corridors that connect to 37 that come down to the Rio
Grande Valley, one being US 77 and one being US 281. So
under that process, what we're looking at is, of course,
we will do separate environmental studies for each of the
corridors or do one feasibility study to determine which
one would be the one to move forward with, or a
combination of both. And then from that we would
determine mechanisms to come up with funding, and that's
always going to be the question.
We could then, if we move forward on the
southern leg of the 37 connection -- that's what I'll call
it for today -- the 37 connection, as the TTC-69 project
continues to evolve and the developer partner identifies
financial mechanisms and funding plans, we could then
basically meld both projects.
So what we looked at so far is I've asked the
districts to put together estimates of what the
development of these projects would cost. For example,
our construction estimate for US 77 from 37 just north of
Robstown down to Brownsville, to make it an interstate-
quality facility would cost us about $640 million in
today's dollars. Of course, environmental clearance has
been done to some extent, but it could be done either way.
On 281 the project is a little bit longer and
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our estimate is somewhere about $840- to $850 million to
be able to upgrade US 281 to an interstate-quality
facility and connect it from around the Three
Rivers/George West area down US 281 to the Pharr area.
So now we've started and we're also looking at
some potential funding options. How would we find some
funds to be able to construct it? Well, one thing we can
look at under legislation that we have is build truck
lanes or separate truck lanes, and of course, if a
corridor is designated as part of the Trans-Texas
Corridor, we have the opportunity to not only build these
truck lanes but these truck lanes can carry heavier loads
and also allow trucks to be configured in doubles and
triples as well as to go faster.
Then we could build those, and as you build
those, basically the money that you would generate from
building those projects, after you pay for that initial
construction, could then be used to upgrade the existing
facility.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Hold on a second, Amadeo.
Let's assume that became one of the financing options that
would permit us to do the improvements to get to the
interstate standard. I take it, because the rest of our
transportation grid is not yet prepared to accept
overweights or doubles and triples, that we would in
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effect be marketing a Brownsville to Corpus Christi, or
maybe to think globally, a Monterrey to Brownsville to
Corpus Christi industrial corridor that would be uniquely
suited.
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Because someplace in the
Corpus Christi area the trucks would have to shift loads
or shift trailers or get to a container.
MR. SAENZ: That's exactly right, and that's
one of the things that we were looking is wherever you end
the overweight corridor, you've got to have some kind of
an intermodal facility that you can either shift to
alternate modes or basically break down the load so that
then the load goes, or you stop at a potential destination
where these loads want to go.
By considering only the 77 or the one down to
the Rio Grande Valley, you do create this one unique
corridor. I think through competition you would probably
get additional corridors that could be funded the same
way, say from the Laredo area to Corpus Christi could be a
potential additional corridor. Being them all being part
of the transportation system, this could become financial
tools or funding sources to be able to develop more
projects of this type throughout the state.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And sort of leap-frogging
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ahead, because the tendency is always to think about well,
if you do this is it detrimental to the Port of
Brownsville, if you do that is it detrimental to the Port
of Corpus Christi, if you do the other is it detrimental
to the Port of Laredo. We are aware of changes soon to
occur in the Panama Canal and our whole basis for the
economic opportunity component of our Strategic Plan, with
regard to this area, is our firm belief that the ports on
the West Coast will collapse under their own weight in the
next few years, and the question is going to be who will
take advantage of that commerce. Will it be the Republic
of Mexico, and if so, will it be a land bridge; will it be
the Republic of Panama, and if so, will it be a deeper
canal?
But in any event, when those ports collapse,
with certainty it doesn't matter how fast the Port of
Brownsville and the Port of Corpus Christi and the Port of
Houston and the Port of Victoria grow, there will still be
more business than everybody can handle.
MR. SAENZ: That's correct. I think what was
announced by the Panama Canal and the expansions will
basically only provide additional flexibility and
opportunity for cargo that was coming into the West Coast
and now to have basically more options: you can come and
use the Mexican ports and have this land crossing or this
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land connection, or they come across at the Panama Canal
and then come into the United States on the East Coast.
And the ports that we have on the Gulf Coast in
Brownsville and Corpus and Houston, Beaumont-Port Arthur
are going to be very important as now they will be
receivers of cargo that would come in. And the trade
corridors, in essence, change from east to west to more
north to south.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So it will be important for
us, as we deliberate and find solutions to bring the
interstate to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, to emphasize to
our partners in Corpus Christi and Houston, particularly,
there will be plenty of business for all of us, there will
be no business for any of us if we don't plan together and
act together.
MR. SAENZ: We need to move forward and plan to
try to get ahead of the game, you might say.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Please continue.
MR. SAENZ: Another alternative is, of course,
by designating the connection down to the Rio Grande
Valley as the Trans-Texas Corridor is we have the
opportunity to use the utility elements of Trans-Texas
Corridor as a potential funding source to be able to, one,
provide the service of bringing additional utilities down.
And one time there's been talk about a desalinization
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plant that was being built in Corpus, this desalinization
plant could then provide water down to the Rio Grande
Valley. There could be a need to provide electric
services, major transmission lines down to the Rio Grande
Valley as fast as it's growing. So having a utility
corridor and bringing in partners will allow us to
hopefully float some additional money that we can use to
also build and expand on the highway transportation
elements of that.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So in theory, if we could find
a water district that wanted to pay us for the right to
lay water line, if we could find a utility company that
would be willing to pay a toll that would use lines we
would erect, we would use that cash plus the contribution
of the partners from Harlingen and Brownsville and the
whole area, plus state and federal funds, and maybe
collectively that will be enough to finance the project.
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir. And I guess we heard
this morning -- that was going to be my next -- the next
possible funding source we heard from our partners in
Harlingen, and I think the district has been working
closely also with Cameron County and we'll be working with
other partners on the corridor to see what we can do to
bring in some additional money that we can leverage.
And of course, the whole key on a particular
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corridor if you don't have enough money, the private
developer can only bring so much, we've got to somehow
bring in some additional funding sources in the form of
toll equity so we can make the project a reality. And
that's really what it's going to take, it's going to take
a combination of a lot of funding sources and strategies
to be able to take this facility and bring it down,
upgrade it to interstate quality, put in the truck toll
lanes, use the utilities, and with those monies then we
can basically have it in place.
And of course, we also have the other tools
that we have available to us through pass-through
financing. Of course, there is for locals some assistance
through the State Infrastructure Bank. If they don't have
the money, they could come back and borrow part of that
money to utilize for some of the cost of this project.
And of course, looking at the Mobility Fund, there may be
some additional funding through the Mobility Fund that we
can do.
My plan is to keep working on these strategies,
identify potential funding sources, and piece together a
financial plan of how we can expand and build this type of
facility.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Amadeo, one of the things that
we constantly run into across the state on these big
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corridors is the absence of intimate knowledge about how
the environmental process works, and invariably when we,
for example, advanced the Corridor 35 project, we were all
surprised by the number of local officials who weren't
intimately familiar with the environmental process.
For the sake of the audience that's here today,
let me take you through a series of questions and answers.
With regard to Interstate 69 or TTC-69, there's a lot of
pressure to select either 77 or 281. Is it likely, based
on the way the system works, that those two existing
footprints would be more favorably received by the federal
government than an alternative footprint? I'm not asking
you to comment on what will happen, I'm asking you to
comment on is it likely.
MR. SAENZ: It is likely. You try to minimize
the impact so if you're trying to expand on something that
already exists and you're taking much less than having a
build a brand new one, most definitely it's easier to go
along an existing corridor or parallel to an existing
corridor or adjacent to it.
MR. WILLIAMSON: That's the interstate model.
Now, when you're speaking of building the Trans-Texas
Corridor model, a whole new multimodal concept, is the
same true or is it likely that it will be someplace else?
MR. SAENZ: It will pretty much be the same
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thing. You will look at how much capacity you have
available on the existing system that you have, and if you
have capacity available to you. For example, I'll talk
about the draft EIS that was just posted for the 35-TTC,
and if you look at south of San Antonio that the route
goes to Laredo and it follows or it looks at expanding the
existing 35 footprint because we have a lot of capacity
built into that.
So even under the Trans-Texas Corridor, you do
have the possibility of if you have capacity that you take
advantage of that capacity first before you go out there
and build a brand new one.
Now, there are some circumstances that are out
there with respect to environmental and historical
requirements, and you have to look at all options, and
that's why we have to be able to look at every option
available and then, in essence, following the guideline
and the regulation, we will go out there and evaluate each
one, determine what are the pluses and minuses, the
benefits and the drawbacks, and then come back with the
best solution.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So it's not a matter of this
commission or your staff deciding we want to build this
road right here, it's a matter of us complying with
federal law and answering a series of questions and the
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answers to those questions determine where the route goes.
MR. SAENZ: That's correct.
MR. WILLIAMSON: It's entirely possible that
the route for TTC-69 would be pushed off to the west, is
it not?
MR. SAENZ: It could be, but I think the law
now has been changed and there's some flexibility that
allows us to look at impacts along existing corridors, and
they deal with the environment on the historical side and
also on the other side of environmental that allows us to
be able to go out there and if you have to take some, say,
historical property, as long as that impact is minimal --
or they call it minimis -- and we get the consents of all
the property owners and the National Parks Service, we can
take historical property instead of having to move out
there and impact a lot.
As you move away from these corridors, a lot of
properties in South Texas are historical in nature
themselves. They may have not been designated, but South
Texas has been here for many, many years and the ranching
communities out there in South Texas have been here for
many generations, so they in themselves are also
historical. So you're also having to balance that.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And then one final question.
In the old, or in the up until the last few years model,
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would we ever have enough money, federal money to build
Interstate 69?
MR. SAENZ: No. Based on the money that we get
from state gasoline tax and the federal reimbursement and
our needs, we don't have enough money -- we did not have
enough money to build I-69 and that's why we have not been
able to build it. We've been working on I-69 for at least
15 years.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So there was never enough
money even when Congress was designating potential routes.
MR. SAENZ: When Congress was designating
potential routes, there may have been but they chose not
to, and as time went by and costs increased, in essence
they've said that the interstate system has pretty much
been identified and put in place and they no longer have a
funding source to build the interstate, the actual
interstate construction.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Anything else on your
presentation?
MR. SAENZ: Just looking at this, as an
example, we will continue to work, our Transportation
Planning and Programming Division is doing some studies to
determine amounts of revenue that we think we can generate
from the truck toll lanes. And we'll be working with all
our partners to see how we can put together, as I said, a
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financial plan to move this project forward.
I'd be happy to answer any questions.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, dialogue with Amadeo?
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: They're letting you off easy.
MR. SAENZ: Mario tired them out.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Richard Garcia, mayor of
Edinburg.
MAYOR GARCIA: I may be a bit out of order
here, but I'm here in support of someone else that was
going to speak, I believe, Mr. Dennis Burleson with the
Rio Grande Valley Mobility Task Force, but I'll be glad to
go forward.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We go in the order in which
this guy put the cards in, so we're going to blame him.
MAYOR GARCIA: Well, first of all, by way of
identification, my name is Richard Garcia, and I have the
good fortune to serve as mayor of the City of Edinburg,
and in that capacity I had served previously for two years
as chair of the Texas Border Infrastructure Coalition
which is a coalition of cities and county judges and
economic development corporations from El Paso to
Brownsville, and I also had the opportunity to serve as
the county judge for the County of Hidalgo, and honored to
serve on the judicial bench for the State of Texas for 16
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years.
I want to thank the commission again this
morning. I want to thank, certainly, Cameron County and
Brownsville for their hospitality today. And while I'm
here, I want to thank TxDOT for all the great projects in
and around our city, our county and this region.
As I've heard you speak about today, certainly
we realize that our world is shrinking, that the border
and trade barriers are blurring, and as a result of our
geographical location, we have become one of the fastest
growing regions in this country, and certainly the
greatest ingredient to that growth is transportation and
that's why we very much realize the importance of what
we're doing here today.
I am here today to represent the cities of
Hidalgo County in support of a resolution that has been
prepared by the Rio Grande Valley Mobility Task Force,
basically supporting the position that's already been
talked about here with the south of I-37 and the I-69
project that include five total relief routes, as stated
in the resolution which is Resolution Number 2006. And if
it hasn't been forward to you, it's entitled Resolution
Supporting the Extension of Controlled Access Highways to
the Rio Grande Valley, and if it hasn't been forwarded, it
certainly will be forwarded to you.
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In addition, I have with me resolutions from
Brooks County signed by the judge and their commission,
Jim Wells County and the City of Premont which are all
located along the 281 corridor, all in support of the
resolution as prepared by the Rio Grande Valley Mobility
Task Force and which includes the corridors of 77 and 281.
And I realize that brevity is virtuous, so I
will yield the podium at this time. Thank you very much.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I apologize for catching you
off guard, I may have gotten the cards out of order
myself, but you were eloquent, you reacted quickly.
MAYOR GARCIA: Well, I appreciate that.
MR. WILLIAMSON: No doubt all your years of
training on the bench.
MAYOR GARCIA: Well, that was helpful.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, we do thank you for your
testimony and your offer of support.
Let me take a second to consult with my
executive director. How do you want to approach this,
Mike? Do you want to have David and Dennis come up and
present this first?
MAYOR GARCIA: I have the resolution. If you
wish, I can read the pertinent part regarding the five
routes that we're making reference to.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I think, Bill, are you here,
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Bill Summers?
MR. SUMMERS: Yes.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We almost always turn to Bill
when we're confused, so I think we're going to turn to
you, Bill, and let you come up and guide this part.
MR. SUMMERS: Okay. David Garza is next, and
then the co-chairman of the regional mobility authority,
Dennis Burleson, and then I will finish.
MAYOR GARCIA: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Mayor. We
appreciate it.
David? A person familiar to us.
MR. GARZA: We have a packet that we have for
each one of you and for the record. We welcome you this
morning again, for the umpteenth time, to this area.
(General laughter.)
MR. GARZA: I am David A. Garza, Cameron County
commissioner of Precinct 3, and I stand before you not as
Cameron County commissioner of precinct 3 but a voice for
a number of governmental entities, cities and other
chamber of commerce organizations that stretch from Nueces
County to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. And I would hope
that Commissioner Houghton would walk in before I got to
the meat of it.
MR. WILLIAMSON: He's putting his fairy wings
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on.
MR. GARZA: A couple of housekeeping items.
Next time when we welcome you at the airport, we will have
lunch for you. We thought the state flight included lunch
but I guess it didn't.
Commissioner Johnson, you knew where to stop to
have your lunch before you joined the group, so I know who
the smartest guy up there is.
MR. JOHNSON: You know too much.
(General laughter.)
MR. GARZA: And Chairman Williamson, you know,
it's always a pleasure to see you in our area, and we
appreciate you being here.
We are very excited to have you here to discuss
the transportation issues that affect all of Texas and all
of us Texans, but most importantly, the area that we
represent here in South Texas. You have seen on your trip
down here, you have seen on your flight in and on your
tours, and will continue to see hopefully the rest of the
day today, that the decisions that you make in Austin in a
very big way affect us very directly. Even if it's being
delayed to get to the reception or get to the hotel, we
know that the construction that's occurring is setting us
up for the infrastructure we need for the future of this
region to become as viable as we would like it to be.
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Last December, Governor Perry, in a speech
before the I-69 Alliance in Houston, instructed this
commission to immediately begin developing proposals to
build an interstate, and I was glad to hear Amadeo's
presentation in regard to what has occurred on that.
Separate truck lanes, commercial lanes, different funding
mechanisms to make this happen, all are very important.
The folks in this corridor took the comments
that we heard very seriously, there's been numerous
meetings that have occurred with many stakeholders in the
corridor to explore what we could do as an area. Many of
the current projects that are being worked on or
developed, as you saw by Mario's presentation, will
provide that seamless corridor and will provide that
seamless transportation goods route so that we can take
goods not only up into the state of Texas but to other
parts of the United States.
This corridor would start at the west end at
Rio Grande City and on the east end in Brownsville and
then go up to US Highway 77 and connect I-37 in Corpus.
And you've seen a lot of power point presentations, but I
would like to indulge you in one more today and it will be
short, but it will be different, not to take away from
Mario's presentation or any of the other folks before me.
But with us today are many representatives of
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counties, cities, economic development corporations,
chambers of commerce, metropolitan planning organizations,
and port authorities that stretch from Corpus Christi to
Brownsville which is the front door and where trade and
commerce begins, as far as we're concerned, and my power
point presentation this morning will be to ask the folks
that are here in support of the resolutions I'm presenting
you to please stand up. Gentlemen, ladies.
MR. WILLIAMSON: You made your point with
power. Thank you very much.
MR. GARZA: Thank you very much. Mario, that's
our power point presentation.
(General laughter.)
MR. JORGE: Shorter than mine.
MR. GARZA: A little bit.
I think Governor Perry stated in that speech
that this platform -- which is you gentlemen up there --
know the importance of reliable transportation systems and
what that could do to bring unprecedented trade
opportunities, economic development, and most importantly,
job creation to this area. That is why we have become
united in our efforts to categorically state our support
for the extension of I-37 via US 77 down to the Lower Rio
Grande Valley.
We understand your commitment to ensuring that
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we have adequate interstate connections, and we will
present you -- and I did just a few minutes ago -- with
signed resolutions and/or letters of support from every
entity supporting this endeavor. You may open the
envelope. You will find replicated resolutions from the
cities of Brownsville, Corpus, Harlingen, Kingsville, Los
Fresnos, Port Isabel, Rancho Viejo, Rio Hondo, Robstown,
and San Benito in that packet.
Also included in there are resolutions from the
counties of Kleberg, Willacy and Cameron and Nueces; also,
the Port of Brownsville, the Port of Corpus Christi, the
Port of Harlingen; also, Cameron County Regional Mobility
Authority, the Corpus Christi Metropolitan Planning
Organization, the Brownsville Economic Development
Council, the Development Corporation of Harlingen, the
South Padre Economic Development Corporation -- and we
promise, Commissioner Houghton, that we'll take you to eat
over there the next time you're down -- San Benito
Economic Development Corporation, Brownsville Chamber of
Commerce, Harlingen Area Chamber of Commerce, Harlingen-
San Benito Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Letters of support and a resolution from
Congressman Solomon Ortiz, our local U.S. Congressman;
letters of support in the packet from Senator Eddie Lucio,
State Representative Abel Herrera, State Representative
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Juan Escobar, State Representative Rene Oliveira, and
State Representative Jim Solis.
Also are some letters of intent for financial
support from some of the people that have already
committed money to develop these projects as TxDOT sees
fit that we need to invest those dollars to most quickly
bring this project into our Lower Rio Grande Valley area.
As an example, Cameron County has committed
$250,000 a year over the next ten years, per year, for
this; Harlingen the same; and other pledges have already
been discussed with many of the major stakeholders in this
area. We've gotten verbal commitments of funding to be
approved that could go to construction of the project or
construction of ancillary projects to make this interstate
become a reality quickly.
You have been there to visit but there's many
things happening to this area. We want the continued
growth that an interstate would bring. We've heard the
comments made by yourself, Chairman, and Commissioner
Houghton on the likelihood of what will happen to this
area with the Panama Canal expansion, and we want to be
ready not only in Brownsville but to have the corridor
ready to get goods up anywhere into the midwestern United
States, we want to be part of I-69.
Shippers, haulers and logistics supervisors are
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looking for the swiftest, safest, most cost-effective and
most reliable routes to get their product to market. We
believe that we have that opportunity to make this happen
right here starting in Brownsville.
We know that they want to continue to move
these products to the less congested areas. We have the
international crossings, you've heard about the seaports,
you've heard about the airports, the only hindrance is an
interstate. The deepwater ports are in place, existing
rail is in place, the Intracoastal Waterway and others.
I think Senator Lucio best said it yesterday
when he mentioned to us that we are a part of Texas, Texas
is one big body, all we need is an artery to float our
area so we can invigorate ourselves and blossom, and we
look forward to doing that with your help and with us
helping you.
As TxDOT and many other transportation agencies
across the United States and many other partners that have
partnered with the Federal Highway Commission over their
last 50 years of existence have celebrated this year which
is their 50th anniversary, we would like to be part of
that celebration. We would like to be part of the
interstate system.
We want to thank you for your time and effort
in listening to us, and we hope that your stay here has
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been a good one, a pleasant one, and we hope that you'll
be back soon.
MR. WILLIAMSON: You're too kind, David.
You're always a kind host.
Members?
MR. HOUGHTON: I don't know where to begin,
you've laid out a buffet for me to pick from. I've got
James Bass in the back. Where's the mayor of Harlingen?
He's in the back of the room. Bass, they've pledged each
$250,000 a year. Do you have a collection box for these
people to put something in as they leave?
(General laughter.)
MR. HOUGHTON: I'm truly grateful for the show
of support, I really am. David, my first contacts down
here were you and Commissioner Wood, and the dedication
you have to this part of the world is admirable. I
commend you. Every community has its champions. As
Johnny so eloquently talked about at the short course, if
you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the
boat, and you are starting to do that.
With that said, one of the things that you've
all figured out that you can't win this thing divided,
you've got to come together. Hidalgo County, the RMAs and
the MPOs are going to have to eventually come together to
work to make all this happen.
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And that leads me to my second point. There
can no longer be any sacred cows. Those international
bridges have got to be a part of the solution to these
issues on a regional basis. The Port of Brownsville has
got to be a solution as to you've got to look outside your
fences to transportation systems that enhance your ports.
And I commend this region. You've come a long
way in a very, very short time, probably faster than most
regions in the state. And David, you're one of the
reasons why. Thank you very much.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Hope, John, anything?
MR. JOHNSON: Anything that I would say would
echo what Commissioner Houghton said. I appreciate what
you've said and the manner you've said, and as he alluded
to or referred to, it's amazing to see the momentum that
you have gathered on these very critical issues, not only
to the communities around here but to the entire state,
how quickly you've gathered that momentum, and we want to
partner with you. I think that's the message that we're
extending to all corners of this state.
MR. WILLIAMSON: David, we really appreciate
it. In the few years we've come to know each other,
you're a pretty steady hand, and we appreciate that. More
than anything else, in fact, we appreciate a steady hand,
somebody who will stay the course, stay the course, stay
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the course.
MR. GARZA: Thank you. And I must remind you
I'm a voice for a lot of folks sitting in this audience,
their public servant.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We appreciate it, David.
(Applause.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay, Dennis. And then Bill,
you'll be next. Correct?
MR. BURLESON: Mr. Chairman and commissioners,
thank you very much for being here in the Rio Grande
Valley. We very much appreciate it.
There has been a lot of changes over the last
few years. NAFTA often gets a lot of that credit for the
increase in activity and some of the increase in
population here, but I will tell you NAFTA wouldn't have
been able to possibly do what it's done for the Valley
without the investment that the Highway Commission has
made in South Texas transportation infrastructure over the
last six or seven years. So you know, you deserve a good
chunk of the credit that NAFTA very often gets.
Harkening back to the MPO presentation, this
area is one of the fastest growing areas of the country,
and thankfully to the economic activity that I just
referred to, unemployment is down, prosperity is up in
northern Mexico. I think we're starting to see locally
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and also up 281 and up 77 what that prosperity along the
border is starting to bring, and part of that challenge is
that it brings more traffic.
I wear the hat today of a co-chair, along with
David Allex, of the Rio Grande Valley Mobility Task Force
which is a planning organization that includes
representatives of all the MPOs, all the cities, all the
counties and the RMAs in the four-county area. And when
we looked at the charge by Governor Perry and by the 77
Coalition's additional response to that, we figured out we
would come today to you with a bargain. You can spend a
lot less money and people can use it sooner and we might
even suggest a funding source for that bargain.
77 and 281, two junction points at I-37 and at
69, have five signaled intersections. Two of those are on
77, three of those are on 281. I've been told, and I'm
recently new to the transportation theme here in South
Texas, but I've been told that for about $250 million, you
can cure those signaled intersections along 77 and 281 and
give the citizens of South Texas and the truck traffic
that the prosperity that I've referred to brings immediate
improvement to their concerns, and making the center lanes
of both 281 and 77 basically interstate-quality at that
point.
And those investments in those overpasses won't
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be wasted as the interstate shield, whether it be 37 or
69, is applied to either one or both of those highways.
And we realize that it is your choice on environmental
concerns and financial feasibility concerns about where
that route will be, and all of South Texas will support
whatever that route choice you make, and we look forward
to that determination and your investment.
But as an initial first step, if you basically
make the center lanes of 77 and 281 interstate type
structures, all the way to George West on the 281 side and
Robstown and the 37 connection on the 77 side, that's
something you can do immediately.
Hopefully you'll have even more successful
negotiations with a potential I-69 concessionaire. And I
keep hearing different terms for that partner, but I'll
try to get this right eventually.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, I mean, it is a little
confusing. The developer is the person or the company we
ask to help us coordinate the transaction. They may or
may not be also the concessionaire, it may be that they're
just the developer and they end up not making the best
proposal for the concession and it ends up being a
different party that gets the concession if we have a
concession. So we're the ones that are causing the
confusion, not you.
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MR. BURLESON: Okay. If your negotiations are
successful with that development partner, and you receive
the potential of a large payment to be able to invest into
the transportation net of the state of Texas, we would
hope that you would look kindly on what the resolution
asks for, that you enter into a minute order to out of
that payment be willing to fund those overpasses that get
rid of those signaled intersections.
Not only is that a benefit to our
transportation concerns, but it also actually helps feed
economically the tolled sections of TTC-69 because the
trucks that move along the center lanes, until they get
the designated truck lanes, as long as they don't have to
come to signal lights, I'm not sure the trucks really care
a bunch whether it's got an "I" in its name or not. You
know, we care here because there are good opportunities
and there's visibility and there's commercial concerns
that the interstate designation will bring to us.
But that's the resolution I speak to today as
co-chair of the Mobility Task Force, and I'll be happy to
answer any questions.
Before I do, though, I will give you an update
on Hidalgo County's RMA. McAllen has appointed their
member and we're on the county commissioners court for May
2 and if the county commissioners court will give our
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board five more members, we hopefully can have all the
right petitions and the letter of inception that needs to
come to your next meeting. So I look forward to that
hopefully by next week.
MR. WILLIAMSON: That's great.
Members, questions of Dennis?
MS. ANDRADE: Dennis, welcome to the
transportation world and thank you so much for being
willing to serve as chair of the RMA, and good luck.
MR. BURLESON: Thanks, and looking for help.
MR. JOHNSON: Dennis, one observation. You
referred to what I interpret to be a concession fee, and
while the TTC-35 corridor there is a concession fee that
is involved, there's certainly no assurance that on the
TTC-69 that there will be. They're very much different in
terms of the economic impact and population, and I mean,
who knows. We cannot set a template for what these
negotiations are going to look like because they're in the
future, we can only use what has gone on in TTC-35 as
experience for future discussions. And so we can't
allocate money that we don't have and we're not assured of
ever getting.
But I think your point is well taken there. It
does make an abundance of sense to deal with where there
are bottlenecks, and stop lights create bottlenecks on
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heavily traveled thoroughfares.
MR. BURLESON: I think if somehow the
concession fee or the financial arrangement isn't enough,
we'll just have to work harder to find alternate solutions
to find that $250 million.
MR. JOHNSON: Well, and that's what
partnerships create, they create the willingness of both
sides to try to find solutions, neither committing 100
percent but everybody committing up to their resource
limits.
MR. BURLESON: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Anything else, members?
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay. Thank you, Dennis. We
appreciate it.
MR. BURLESON: Thank you for allowing me to be
here.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Bill?
MR. SUMMERS: Mr. Chairman, thank you for this
opportunity.
I have some prepared words, as today I'm
representing the Alliance for I-69, I'm vice-chairman, you
know, we represent 34 counties. But before I go on,
there's two mayors that I don't know if they've been
introduced. Mayor Norberto Salinas from Mission, Texas.
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Mayor Salinas, glad you're here.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Good to see you again.
MR. SUMMERS: And Rick Morales from the City of
Donna, he was here a while ago. And Mayor Garret from
Corpus Christi.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Hello, Mayor. How are you?
MR. SUMMERS: He drove all the way through the
King Ranch just to see you.
(General laughter.)
MR. SUMMERS: My name is Bill Summers and I'm
president and CEO of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership,
also serve as vice-chairman of Alliance for I-69. It is a
great pleasure to have served in that capacity for the
last 13 years.
I know you're all familiar with the alliance.
The organization is a coalition of public and private
interests in 34 counties from South Texas to Houston to
East Texas, formed to pursue the development of a new
interstate-grade corridor linking the industrial heartland
of Mexico, U.S. and Canada.
We've kept the alliance strong and whole over
13 years with your help, due in large part to the fact
that our coalition has always focused on the big picture.
Our goal has always been to see the corridor built in a
manner that is efficient, cost-effective, and makes the
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most sense for the movement of people, good and commerce.
The alliance has always supported the original
Corridor 18 and Corridor 20 study areas -- in other words,
US 59/77 and US 281. The alliance has purposely not taken
positions on specific corridor alignments, which way the
route might zig or zag. This is a TxDOT project and
specific alignment decisions are TxDOT's job.
Therefore, today I speak for the alliance in
supporting the resolution -- David, you did an outstanding
job, fantastic -- that has just been presented to you.
The alliance too supports the development of TTC-69 on US
281 and US 77, -- or it might be called 37 East, West. We
don't care what it's called, we just want a highway you
can get on and keep on going.
I'm pleased that the Rio Grande Valley
leadership speaks with one voice on this issue. The
alliance is strongly on record in support of the
resolution, in support of the Transportation Commission
and TxDOT as you undertake this monumental and critical
infrastructure development. What's good for the Valley is
good for Texas, and vice versa.
But I do want to tell you at this time,
speaking as president of the Rio Grande Valley
Partnership, it is a great day in my life that the whole
Valley finally agrees to let TxDOT make the decision to
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where our interstate is going to be. I know all of our
Valley is going to have an interstate maybe at the same
time, and it's going to continue to build, but if it
wasn't for you -- and Mike, you and Amadeo have done an
outstanding job, and you commissioners, we appreciate it
so much. And if all of you were as good looking as Hope,
I would give you a hug, but right now I'll just say thank
you and we're glad you're there.
Do you have any questions or answers or
comments?
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, I don't think anyone
doubts that this wouldn't have happened without your
intensity, Bill.
(General laughter.)
MR. SUMMERS: Well, all these people. Former
Mayor Bill Card is here, and he was there. Dennis
Burleson was one of the lucky ones that hired me 19 years
ago for the partnership, and he was there at the same
time. And David Allex, he's bald-headed now because he
worked with me so long.
(General laughter.)
MR. SUMMERS: But we're so glad that you are
here and this is really a happy day of my life. I
appreciate it.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, anything of Bill?
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MS. ANDRADE: Bill, I just have to say thank
you. Every time that I come, the reception is just great.
But you know, we plan these meetings usually a year ahead
and the timing is perfect that we planned this meeting
here in April and all these wonderful things are happening
at this time also. So I think you play a big part in
getting everybody together, and I thank you for that, and
I think that the Valley is lucky to have your leadership
here.
MR. SUMMERS: I want to say the Good Lord did
the planning, he got you down here for this.
MS. ANDRADE: I believe in that. Thank you.
MR. SUMMERS: Appreciate it.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We do recognize, Bill, that
you've worked long and hard on this. And it's true. I
mean, I understood what David was saying about
representing lots of people, and you should always want to
give credit to the team that you work with, but the
reality is you've been very vocal and very constant, as
David has been constant, and that means something.
MR. SUMMERS: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So you can give the credit to
the others also but take a little bit of pride in what you
do. It's a great day in the Valley, I think.
MR. SUMMERS: Thank you, sir.
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(Applause.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Judy Hawley, former
legislative member and former colleague.
MS. HAWLEY: I just want to add that we're here
from the Corpus Christi area to support what's going on in
the Valley. Bill, you've been a friend for a long time;
David, it's nice to meet you.
Exciting things, we're glad to be part of this
region, and we're here just to lend our support and our
vote of confidence with what's going on. We've got the
chamber of commerce with Ralph Coker here is represented;
we have, obviously, the City of Corpus Christi with the
mayor and his deputy city manager; I'm representing the
Port of Corpus Christi; and we come united to support our
colleagues in the Valley.
So again, a great day. Thank you for being
here and thank you for supporting what we're working on
down here.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Judy, you've been involved in
this a long time. Is it not the case that we have to kind
of think of sort of the upside down triangle of the tip?
We're always going to be competitors, but in ways this
kind of goes hand in hand because if it's good for the
deepwater port plans of Corpus Christi, it's ultimately
going to be good for the deepwater port plans of
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Brownsville.
MS. HAWLEY: And Houston and Victoria. And I
think what you have captured so well is that your mission
is what's good for Texas. It's interesting, I received a
call from a reporter or someone yesterday saying describe
the commission in one word. And I just share this story
with you because it's so timely, and to think of one word
to describe all of you and how you're viewing your current
mission, and I came with three -- I used to be a school
teacher so I came up with three, the three Rs -- but the
first one was you're resourceful.
And the resourceful part is real critical to
where we are now in Texas. You've all referenced that in
many, many speeches about the shortage of dollars, but you
also are resourceful in looking at the opportunities, and
the opportunities are not broken down into what's good for
one part of the state, it's what's good for all of the
state. And what happens as we're talking about the Gulf
of Mexico and the opportunities here, they impact Lubbock,
they impact El Paso, they impact Amarillo, they impact
economic opportunity for all of us.
The second R was that you are resolute, and you
have to be because you look at the nay-sayers always are
more vocal than the people that think something is going
to be done. You look at what's happened here in the Rio
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Grande Valley, in all my 32 years of public life, I never
envisioned that we would see this kind of cooperation and
collaboration here in the Valley, and this is a historic
day. Bill should take great pride in his role in that in
making that happen.
And the third one is -- I forgot what the third
one was -- resolute, resourceful, and responsive.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Hardheaded.
MS. HAWLEY: You're responsive because you are
here, you are responsive. That doesn't begin with an R so
I couldn't use that one. But you are responsive because
the communities have to drive what's going on. This is
not the TxDOT of old where it was driven from the top. It
has to bubble up and you're allowing those kinds of things
to happen.
Trans-Texas Corridor as you envisioned it five
years -- I don't even know how long we've been on this.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Five years.
MS. HAWLEY: Five years -- we didn't have the
China-India piece playing, we didn't have the L.A.-Long
Beach piece playing, we didn't have two hurricanes that
changed the need for redundancy in deepwater ports in the
Gulf of Mexico, and we didn't have the Panama Canal
announcement that we had just yesterday that opens up the
Gulf of Mexico for these post Pana-Mex ships that
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tremendously changes the dynamics.
So yes, your triangle analogy is good. What we
have is an opportunity for huge economic growth within
Texas that's going to impact every Texan and we can't miss
that opportunity because the entire Gulf Coast is looking
at how can they best leverage to attract that kind of
industry.
So your attention to freight corridors, your
attention to economic development, your attention to
moving that part of the economy is what's neat about this
Transportation Commission, and that's where our
opportunities for being in the 21st Century are really,
really upon us. That infrastructure is critical, thanks
for looking at multimodal and thanks for spurring us on,
and the Bill Summers and the David Garzas to be there.
So Corpus Christi, we're just here to support
what's going on today and we thank you for letting us have
a part in it.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Judy.
(Applause.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: And Mayor Garrett, you came up
from Corpus Christi.
MAYOR GARRETT: Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
commissioners. You know, I drove down from Corpus Christi
this morning early to put into the record our resolution
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supporting the extension of 37 into the Rio Grande Valley.
But I think Judy touched on it, I've been in the
government for 42 years now, in city government, and I've
had the opportunity to serve on many task forces and
commissions, but I've never in all my career witnessed
what's happening here in this project with all the
communities, the region coming together, working together
hand in glove, with the commitment to make it happen.
You know, I've never had an opportunity and I
can't even remember in the history of Corpus Christi where
a county commissioner from Cameron County come into the
council chambers in Corpus Christi and walk away with 100
percent support from all council members. I don't know
how you did it, David, but I'm working on it.
(General laughter.)
MAYOR GARRETT: But that's the kind of
commitment that we have. I know that working with all the
cities from the Valley all the way up through Kingsville
and Kleberg County, San Pat County, we know that together
we can make it happen, and we appreciate your commitment
to it.
And Hope, I appreciate what you did coming down
to Corpus Christi and listening to us about another
project because we want a new harbor bridge. Thank you
very much.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, thank you for being
here, Mayor. We appreciate you taking the time to be
here.
Mike, I think we can let Amadeo close and we
need to move on with our regular business, but we'll be
coming to some things these people want us to do in just a
few minutes.
Okay, Amadeo, any final remarks about what we
need to do? You know what you're going to hear from me.
MR. SAENZ: Pretty sure. But we are looking
also at some interim solutions, very similar to what was
provided in that one resolution, about identifying those
bottlenecks that exist on the corridor and try to find
mechanisms, and at the same time, the things that we've
been doing, the things that Mario and his staff and Craig
and his staff have been doing, any project that we develop
on 77 and 281 are being developed to interstate standards
so that we don't lose anything. If either one of the
corridors becomes the interstate, they're there.
So some of these interim solutions that were
presented about relief routes around communities, those
can be looked at and I think can be developed as almost
individual projects, independent projects and have them
ready, and as we can collect funding, using maybe some of
the local funding and some of the tools, we can get those
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in place as we kind of tie in and then commingle them or
make them part of the bigger solution as we get the
developer onboard and come up with the ultimate solution
for this corridor.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, do you have anything
that you want to impart to Amadeo while we have him in
front of us in this report phase?
For the audience, this is one of the few times
that the commission gets to talk about what we want to do
without having to take a vote, we get to communicate
legally about where we'd like to see something happen, so
we often take this chance to do so.
Anything, Ted, John, Hope?
MS. ANDRADE: No.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay. Well, I took my
instruction from Mr. Perry very seriously, so what I want
to incent you to do is not permit ourselves or our
partners to -- you know, God gave us two things, time and
grace, and we need to take advantage of that time.
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And in light of the Panama
Canal thing, we need to move very, very fast. We don't
want companies that might otherwise invest in this road to
help Brownsville and Corpus Christi and Harlingen and
Laredo and eventually Houston go to Biloxi, Mississippi.
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We haven't got anything against Biloxi, but we'd just as
soon them come to Texas. So if they see activity on our
part, that means they'll be interested in Texas.
MR. SAENZ: We're moving forward with the
corridor at all levels and we will continue working on
getting this thing developed and try to get a program in
place as quickly as possible.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We certainly want to open up
Interstate 37 or Interstate 69 to the tip of Texas before
David loses any more hair.
MR. JOHNSON: I'm beginning to take offense at
these references. You know, there's a school of thought
that that's a distinguishing characteristic and not a
negative one.
(General laughter.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.
MR. SAENZ: We will work on it.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Let's proceed with 3, Mike.
MR. BEHRENS: We'll go to agenda item number 3
which is discussion items. They deal with recommendations
to the commission and discussion about our legislative
agenda for the coming session in January. Item (a) will
be covered by Coby Chase, item (b) will be covered by
James Bass, and he'll also be talking about our
Legislative Appropriations package that we're putting
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together. Coby?
MR. JOHNSON: Mr. Chairman, before Coby starts,
I hate to interrupt, but today is my wife's 39th birthday,
and I've got to excuse myself. It has been a very
enlightening meeting and previous day, and I know there's
a lot of important stuff on the agenda that I'm going to
miss and I regret that. But two weeks from now is also,
miraculously, her 39th birthday, and the day following
that is, as Lawrence Olson said, the most important day,
Mother's Day, so this is a very delicate period for me in
the year's cycle and I don't want to get it off to a bad
start, so I've got to excuse myself.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Will you be doing that
quickly? Are you saying we need to take some votes before
you leave?
MR. JOHNSON: If you need my vote to secure
passage, you must.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I think we're in pretty good
shape. I never know how people are going to vote, but I
think we're in pretty good shape.
MR. JOHNSON: I think you are too. Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, thank you, John. We
understand completely.
Mr. Chase?
MR. CHASE: Good afternoon. For the record, my
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name is Coby Chase and I'm the director of TxDOT's
Government and Business Enterprises Division. At your
direction, I'm appearing before you each month throughout
the year to discuss the formulation of your legislative
agenda.
For the benefit of those in the audience, let
me restate that the Texas Transportation Commission is
authorized by law to make recommendations to the Texas
Legislature on statutory changes that will improve the
operation of the department -- if there is anyone left in
the audience behind me who is listening at this point.
A little bit of history is, Chairman
Williamson, every month I appear before the commission to
discuss kind of an ongoing effort to envelop a legislative
agenda for the commission, as law allows, so when the
legislature reconvenes in its regular session in 2007, our
recommendations will be on the table.
One thing I would like to say, just from a
small political history standpoint being here in the
Brownsville area, is having worked for the department in
this and a similar capacity for 12 years, at least on the
legislative side, that Senator Lucio -- you know, success
has a lot of fathers, that's true, but sometimes you're
almost an unintentional part of the success -- he and
Senator Ogden, I believe in '99, really started the
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dialogue about debt, and while that effort was not
successful -- and then Lieutenant Governor Perry were all
engaged in that, and while it was successful in the
Senate, it didn't get out of the House, but it did start
the dialogue and we've built on that. And Senator Lucio,
quite frankly, was in the middle of that.
Another one is Representative Oliveira, who, as
I've said, maybe incorrectly, but I kind of generally
characterize as one of the last things we can do to the
gas tax to make it more efficient was move the point of
collection, and he was the original House sponsor of that,
working with Commissioner Nichols and now almost Senator
Nichols on that.
And so this region in Texas certainly has a
political history, at least in the legislature, of
stepping up to the plate and helping out, and that's very
appreciated.
While we're here, and since many things haven't
changed since the last time we talked, and I'm not going
to try to go over too many of those, but I would like to
talk about rail in particular. And again, having been
around these issues for a number of years, and talking to
our district engineer yesterday on our tour, I was
reminded Congressman Ortiz, since I started at the
department in '94, had been working tirelessly on a rail
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relocation funding on the federal level, a little piece
here, a little piece there. And as aggravating as it was
to collect all that money, how difficult it was, it was
equally aggravating back here in Texas, to him and to us,
our inability to spend it quickly, or how to get it to the
problem quickly and match it with other funds and things
like that.
And Mario and I talked about that at length
yesterday and the rail package we're proposing, the stars
have lined up for roadways and toll roads and things of
that nature and politically and I think they're lining up
now for rail. And Congressman Ortiz was very helpful to
us in the beginning, but I think what it is we want to
solve what I would call the working problems in the sense
that it shouldn't be that hard of an issue just to put
rail down. And I think this community in particular can
appreciate everything that he went through and the
community went through just to make that happen.
Let me talk a little bit about the Texas Rail
Relocation and Improvement Fund. Creation of the Texas
Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund was approved by
voters last year. This session we'll need to assist the
legislature in identifying a funding source. As I
mentioned in past meetings, the department hired a
consulting firm to provide a list of possible revenue
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sources. We received that draft list earlier this week
and we're evaluating it now, but among some of the items
we're evaluating are a proposal to extend the diesel fuel
tax to railroads and sending the proceeds to the fund.
I'm not saying these are good or bad ideas, I'm just
saying they're under review.
MR. WILLIAMSON: They're just things we can
think about.
MR. CHASE: Yes, sir.
A proposal to impose a licensing fee on those
transporting hazardous materials in Texas with the
proceeds going either to the Rail Relocation or the
Mobility Fund, depending on the mode of transport.
Another proposal would impose a fee on containers that are
brought it or de-ramped at Texas intermodal terminals.
Again, the proceeds will be deposited to the Rail
Relocation Fund or the Mobility Fund. And then there are
several more proposals, some better than others, that
we're still evaluating and we'll bring before you at the
next commission meeting, if you so desire.
Another rail-related proposal would authorize
the commission to make low interest loans to railroads
from the Rail Relocation Fund to rehab or improve capacity
on existing lines. Railroad cleanup, as we call it,
lastly with respect to rail, the commission may want to
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look for opportunities to clarify and make technical
revisions to TxDOT's rail powers. This would involve
recodifying the rail statutes, repealing some old and
obsolete ones, allow TxDOT to use money from the Texas
Enterprise Fund on rail projects without waiting for
specific line item appropriations, give the department
explicit authority to study and plan state and other
entities' rail projects, and we could, and I would say
should seek authorization to use CDA concession fees and
surplus revenue on rail relocation projects.
We've also discussed the statutory cap imposed
on the length of concession terms. They're capped at 50-
year terms unless there's a mechanism to buy out the
developer in which case the cap is extended to 70 years.
This may pose a particular problem in our ability to
execute a CDA for rail. The cost of rail infrastructure
is such that longer terms may be needed to justify the
investment. We're still looking into that.
The chairman had asked me a while back, in the
context of the governor's announcement about bringing an
interstate-quality facility or facilities to the Lower Rio
Grande Valley, was there anything in state law in
particular that would either need to be taken out of the
way or enhanced, whatever the case may be, and also on the
federal level.
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We're investigating both more deeply. On the
federal level we'll do that, of course, with the I-69
Alliance, who has always been our steadfast partner. I'm
trying to change the name to the Trans-Texas Corridor 69
Alliance; I think we'll get there one of these days. But
we work closely with Gabe Rashel, Bill Summers and that
crowd who've always brought a productive hand to what we
do in D.C. on those matters.
But on the state level, it is a little more
abstract, it isn't so much a straightforward change this
and X will occur in the Valley, but there are things that
would make it easier to deliver a large project of this
caliber, and you've heard me talk about them before, and
I'm going to talk about them again here for just a minute.
The commission may want to look for
opportunities to make the right of way acquisition process
as efficient as possible so that the project can be
developed quickly. These items also will ensure that --
MR. WILLIAMSON: Stop. You just gave me a
thought. Add to our list for consideration, and then we
can knock it off if the commissioners don't like it -- our
ability to swap land we own for right of way we need or
for land we need.
MR. CHASE: Swap land we own for.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Right now, if I understand it,
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if we decide we want to exchange something -- or maybe I'm
wrong about this -- Mr. Monroe will pop up if I am which
we're glad to see you, Mr. Monroe.
MR. MONROE: Thank you very much.
MR. WILLIAMSON: If, for example, one of these
ranchers in this part of the world had been watching us
all day and he was inspired or she was inspired to help us
and she raced in and said, Tell you what, you've got this
little triangle at the Heart of Texas Highway in Austin
that's perfect for a restaurant and I want to help move I-
37 along and I'm willing to give you a thousand feet of my
right away right now for that piece of property, would we
be able to do that?
MR. MONROE: Yes.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So we don't need to change the
law.
MR. MONROE: We have the power to swap land for
land for highway purposes.
MR. CHASE: I'll take that off the list.
Back to right of way, right of entry
specifically with right of way, virtually every type of
entity with the power of eminent domain has express
statutory authority to enter the property to conduct
preliminary surveying to determine right of way parcels.
Except for toll roads, TxDOT does not have this authority.
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Without property description of the proposed
right of way parcel, we're delayed in preparing our right
of way maps and parcel plats. Additionally, property
owners are advised by counsel to refuse entry to the
appraiser who is attempting to assess the compensation to
which the property owner is entitled. Typically is done
through for some perceived tax advantage in the
condemnation proceeding.
Our goal is to offer property owners as
accurate an appraisal as possible. If we are prevented
from doing that, we are really not serving anyone's
interests other than the condemnation lawyer who is paid
on the spread between what we offered and what is
ultimately granted.
TxDOT does not have access to real property
sales information that would enable us to make the most
accurate appraisal. There is no legal requirement in
Texas requiring the purchasers of property to disclose the
amount of sales. To correct the situation, you could
recommend that property sales be disclosed and the
information made available to parties in a condemnation
proceeding and to tax assessment districts. That might
raise some eyebrows but it would be something that would
help us ensure we make more accurate offers up front.
A piece of legislation that left the House last
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session but went nowhere in the Senate was county planning
authority. I should also mention again that the
legislation would establish a mechanism for TxDOT and
counties to work together to ensure that homes and
businesses are not developed in future right of way for
transportation projects. We've discussed that many times
before but I think that would be important for a very,
very large project.
We're entering a new phase in our history that
we haven't been in in many, many years where we have to
rethink how we do these things since the interstate
system. This is the new interstate system, it's bigger
and it requires more land and a broader way of thinking,
and so we need to kind of clear out the law books on some
of these and reposition ourselves so we can actually do
these in a timely manner.
Also, in terms of delivering a new interstate
facility, utility reimbursements. We've discussed this at
length. Under certain conditions, utilities have a
statutory right to be in state right of way at no charge
because utilities had to be relocated to accommodate a
highway improvement. The current law limits reimbursement
to a utility for those who possess a compensable property
interest or something you have to pay them for.
However, if the highway is being approved as
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part of the national system interstate and defense
highways, taxpayers must pick up the tab for moving the
utilities whether they have a property interest or not,
whether or not they were allowed there free or whether
they were there in the first place. Federal law allows
this, however, we could free up more federal money for
construction if state law is altered to ensure that
relocations on interstate highways are treated the same as
any other highway. On a project the scale of TTC-69, that
could be a lot of money, quite a bit of money.
And we have also talked about concurrent
jurisdiction. The commission's proposal was introduced by
Senator Robert Duncan and Representative Sylvester Turner
last session that would have allowed both district courts
and county courts of law to process condemnation cases. I
know this might sound kind of arcane to some people in the
audience, but these are very important real-world issues
for the department when it comes to acquiring right of way
and building large roads. They're not glamorous issues
like bringing in billions of dollars from wherever, but
these are kind of day-to-day work issues that help us
actually deliver projects.
There has been a development on this matter I
did want to share with you. During Mike Behrens's
testimony last week on eminent domain before the Senate
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State Affairs Committee, Chairman Duncan strongly
encouraged the department to pursue that matter once
again. He's willing to take that up once again, and it's
tough, it's a tough issue.
As you know, there has been some discussion
about cities and counties leasing their international
bridges. The Chicago Skyway experience demonstrates that
he lease of public facilities can provide vigorous
economic benefits when the proceeds are committed
strategically and in a fiscally responsible manner.
To achieve this, we would need to seek
legislative changes that specifically authorize counties
to lease their bridges to the state. Cities already have
this authority. We'll further examine this proposal and
identify the significant benefits that such an arrangement
could have on a region's transportation system. This is a
very important kind of new development, or there's growing
interest in this type of program, and I think we need to
be prepared to embrace it and see that it works.
And if I may just mention a little bit,
Commissioner Houghton, at the Texas Transportation Forum,
is hosting a breakout session on this very topic and has
invited international experts on it to address it, so it
will be a very good learning experience from that
standpoint.
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There are a couple of items you asked me to
look into last month on this topic of billboards. A lot
of municipalities restrict billboard ordinances precluding
our ability to relocate an existing billboard. You asked
if enhancement money, federal enhancement money can be
used under federal guidelines for purchasing billboards.
The answer is yes, absolutely.
Safety initiatives. Commissioner Johnson asked
if we are examining any proposals designed to improve
safety on our highways. In addition to the sobriety
checkpoints -- that if former Senator Sibley is still
here, he was the leader on that and he can tell you how
difficult that is because he certainly was a very ardent
supporter of that legislation when he was in the Senate --
some other things we are looking at is the US DOT
recommends booster seats for children until they are eight
years old or four feet, nine inches tall.
And you have to listen to this next sentence.
Everybody here thinks about my daughter, she's 37 inches
tall and she's three years old; we have grandkids that are
about that size too, I think -- not I, some of our
commissioners do. In Texas, safety seats are required for
children up to five years old or three feet tall. We may
want to encourage legislation that meets the US DOT
recommendations. When you think about it, that's a much
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safer standard than we have here in Texas, and they are
indeed our precious cargo.
Another proposal would authorize the department
to set variable speed limits based on current conditions
such as inclement weather, traffic crashes and work zones,
and in the event the attorney general finds the use of
automated enforcement technology unlawful, you may want to
consider legislation that authorizes automated enforcement
for highway intersections, railroad crossings, and HOV
lanes.
Wrapping up, there have been some interim
hearings, as you may know, we've all participated in.
Here's a summary of what we've done last month.
House Transportation. House Transportation
conducted a hearing on April 18 to continue its
consideration of the aviation and rail needs of the state.
Amadeo Saenz outlined the proposal by Cintra-Zachry to
build a rail line as part of the TTC-35 project.
The Senate Transportation and Homeland Security
Committee held a hearing on April 18 to consider several
of their interim charges: naming of state highways, TxDOT
programs designed to increase safety, the state's
overweight truck fees, and TxDOT's ability to build,
maintain and relocate rail facilities.
The committee also held a hearing on April 25
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to review its Homeland Security related interim charges.
At the close of the hearing -- and we testified regarding
our activities, particularly hurricane activities -- at
the close of that hearing it was requested by one senator
that the next hearing of the committee should focus on
comprehensive development agreements, so we might be
talking about that soon.
And then finally, the Senate Committee on
Transportation Financing met April 19 to review financing
options for all modes of transportation. Chairman
Williamson and Mr. Behrens offered our testimony which was
very good and very instructive for a number of members.
That concludes my remarks for this month. Any
questions or any input?
MR. WILLIAMSON: Additions, deletions,
suggestions, areas of interest we wish them to explore the
next month?
MR. HOUGHTON: Coby, I saw the list of the -- I
think there were 46 to 48 different opportunities on the
rail relocation, some a little out there, but one of the
things that was in there is we need to bring the trucking
industry in to talk about the future for truckers in this
state as far as what they pay, whether they're captured at
the bridges or coming into the state or around the state.
I think that was one of the recommendations.
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I sure don't see any one of those
recommendations standing alone to fund a rail relocation
adequately enough to make a lot of sense. I think it's
going to have to be a combination of many different
things.
MR. CHASE: I think you're right, the math
isn't there.
MR. HOUGHTON: Yes. When you start working the
math, you're talking about many, many different
opportunities.
MR. CHASE: Absolutely.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Anything else, members?
Coby, I don't have any additions or deletions
that you didn't touch upon. Thank you very much.
MR. CHASE: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I'm hoping our partners in the
Lower Rio Grande Valley will start thinking about things
that you mentioned that we need changed. We'll need some
help.
MR. BEHRENS: Go ahead, James, and talk about
our Legislative Appropriations Request and how we're
coming on that.
MR. BASS: Good afternoon. For the record, I'm
James Bass, chief financial officer at TxDOT. This is one
in an ongoing series of updates to the commission on our
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progress in developing the department's Legislative
Appropriations Request, or LAR. The LAR is the official
document that the department submits to the legislature
once a biennium for the regular session and requests the
funding and resources the department needs in order to
carry out our functions.
If you remember last month, we looked at 2008
and 2009 and we began with revenue estimates to the State
Highway Fund and then began peeling off different layers,
first peeling off a layer that goes to other state
agencies. The state gas tax and vehicle registration that
go into the State Highway Fund do not all go to TxDOT, so
we first looked at that first layer going to other
agencies. We then looked at what it takes to maintain the
existing system, what it takes to plan for the future
development of the system, and what we were left with at
the end was through our traditional sources what would be
available for mobility or expansion of the system.
I told you last month that we were continuing
to refine the revenue estimates, and what has happened in
that last month, of course, is the legislature has come
into a special called session and the comptroller has
updated their biennial revenue which covers just 2006 and
2007. I'm sure most of us have heard that the surplus for
General Revenue has grown and there's a positive outlook
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on the general Revenue Fund.
However, what has not been noted to any great
extent is the updated revenue forecast for the State
Highway Fund, and for 2006 and 2007, the forecast is
actually roughly $300 million less than it was previously.
If we then take 2006 and 2007 as a baseline and apply some
growth patterns to that for 2008 and 2009, we're looking
at roughly another -- if you continue the comptroller's
projections which theirs stop at 2007, but if you were to
continue that trend, you would have about another $200
million less over the biennium than what I spoke to you
about last month.
We hold a slightly different viewpoint than the
Comptroller's Office does on some of the growth rates and
those patterns, but the long and short of it is, over the
next 3-1/2 years there is going to be $450- to $500
million less going into the State Highway Fund than we
thought just a couple of months ago.
Now, we still have an 80,000 mile system that
needs to be maintained out there. The needs and the age
of that system have not changed; the amount of money that
it's going to take to maintain that system is going to
stay the same. Likely the amount of money going to other
state agencies to fund their operations is going to stay
the same or possibly increase, if history is any
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indication. So what that ultimately means is for
mobility, for expansion of the system over the next 3-1/2
years, we're going to have $450- to $500 million from our
traditional funding sources.
MR. HOUGHTON: What's the mitigating
circumstances behind her projection?
MR. BASS: The primary change of that $300
million in '06-07, about $225 million of that is from the
state gas tax, showing a continued growth from where
collections currently are but the growth rate is much
lower than it had been previously forecast.
And so over the past few months, Mr. Chase and
others, we've talked about unreliability and uncertainty
associated with federal funding, we experience that as
well even with our state funding and state financing
through the traditional sources that we receive.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So the higher gasoline is, the
higher price it is, the less the public people are going
to buy in relation to the past.
MR. BASS: Correct. We haven't seen a dramatic
downturn, and it's difficult to isolate one factor on the
collections of gas tax, because at the same time the
prices are going up, the population of the state is
increasing, more goods flowing through the state, more
vehicle miles being traveled, and so overall on an annual
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basis the collections are increasing, but not at a rate
that had been previously forecasted. So it's still
growing but just not as fast as some had hoped or
projected previously.
MS. ANDRADE: James, I have a question. Are
those numbers from our office or their office?
MR. BASS: They are from the Comptroller's
Office, and we have a slightly more optimistic view in
2008 and 2009. We are forecasting rather than a $200
million reduction from what we saw just a couple of months
ago, we're more forecasting just a reduction of $120- to
$140 million over that two-year period.
MS. ANDRADE: Those are the numbers we think?
MR. BASS: Yes. And the difference really
deals with the projected growth rate and what we expect to
get in the current year, so there are some differences.
MS. ANDRADE: Thank you.
MR. BASS: As I said, ultimately that leads us
to less money for mobility, giving us a stronger reliance
to look to some of the new financial tools that the
legislature has provided us, the Texas Mobility Fund and
the ability to issue bonds backed by the State Highway
Fund. However, both of those are limited resources, and
so this just means that those tools will be depleted a
little bit faster than what we had thought, and almost
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certainly by the end of 2009, both of those resources at
their current nature and format would be exhausted for the
near term.
Another item in the Legislative Appropriations
Request, TxDOT has an opportunity to suggest revisions or
deletions to riders in the Appropriations Act. Now,
riders to the Appropriations Act is the ability for the
legislature to send additional direction or limitation to
agencies on how the appropriations can be spent. And what
happens a lot of times is once a rider gets put into the
bill pattern, it stays in for a long time, even that
perhaps a rider at one point was put in as a test that's
deemed to be a good idea and ends up being codified and
fully put in the statute, yet it still remains in the
Appropriations Bill, and the number continues to grow.
Some may say no harm, no foul, you have to do
it anyway, however, at some point it becomes another
barrier to our constituents, the public, senators and
representatives understanding what it is that the
department does and how we carry out our work, because
when you pick up our section of the Appropriations Bill,
you not only see the dollars going to TxDOT but you see a
list of 50-some riders that provide additional direction
or exceptions to other agencies.
We made a lot of progress last session. The
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initial numbers may not sound like it but for 2004 and
2005, TxDOT had 58 riders, and in 2006 and 2007 we have 53
riders, but of those 53, ten of those riders are what I
would call one-time riders, if you will, contingency
appropriation riders that if a particular bill passes the
legislature, additional money that may be collected would
be appropriated to TxDOT to carry out that program.
Another example of a one-time rider deals
with -- there's probably six or seven of them dealing with
special transportation enhancement projects in that if the
funds are available that they be directed towards the
Battleship Texas or county courthouses. Those ten would
not be a continuing rider, one would not expect them to
be, so in effect, we were able to reduce about a dozen of
those riders. There's probably another dozen or so that
we feel are unnecessary because they're also covered in
statute and we will certainly make an attempt once again
to reduce those to limit again the confusion and that
barrier to the understanding of our budget.
In addition, there are times where we actually
want an additional rider that will help streamline the
operations or the efficiency of the department. Some of
them we made an attempt at last session; my presumption is
that we would do that again. The first one deals with the
FTEs or full-time equivalents, the number of employees
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that TxDOT can have, and rather than limiting that to a
hard cap number, the rider we attempted two years ago was
to limit the percentage of our budget that could go to
salaries and wages rather than dictating the number of
employees.
In addition to that, dealing with the capital
budget, rather than limiting the amount we can spend for
highway equipment or to repair TxDOT facilities, that
we're doing and projecting sometimes three years in
advance, don't limit that to a hard dollar number but
provide us flexibility as a percentage of our overall
budget, or at a minimum, allow us the same flexibility
offered to every other state agency that allows them to
take money from their operating budget and transfer it
into their capital budget if situation dictates. We're
the only agency I'm aware of that does not have that
particular flexibility.
Another rider we would probably look at deals
with the Colonia Road Bond Program where TxDOT manages a
program of the Governor's Office to provide paved roads to
border colonias. There was a rider last time that limited
the amount that we could expend. I believe at least two
years ago the department's position was the voters of the
state passed a constitutional amendment for this program,
and as those projects come on line, we should be allowed
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to move forward with that project.
Another example of one that we would ask that's
not currently in there, as we've moved forward and are
very aware of the nature of construction and how
disruptive that can be -- in a number of the metro areas
we're doing nighttime construction, weekend construction,
trying to keep as many lanes open as possible during the
rush hour, and if there are any lane closures necessary,
do those late at night or on the weekend, placing
additional demands upon TxDOT staff. We would like the
ability to supplement their pay for the employees who are
required to work overnight or extended hours on the
weekend.
And we're checking with all the divisions and
offices in Austin asking them to review the riders right
now and see if they have any ideas of some that can be
deleted or be enhanced or any ideas that they can suggest
be added to that, and here in the next month or so we'll
be providing that to your offices as well to see if you
have any ideas or thoughts as to how we might better
operate or streamline the operations of the department
through either a deletion of a rider or an addition of
one.
The last item I have today, I believe blends in
with the next agenda item coming up which is the structure
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of the Strategic Plan and how the Legislative
Appropriations Request will blend in or tie into that
Strategic Plan so the department is truly speaking with
one voice to all of our audiences, both internal and
external.
And the Legislative Budget Board in their
instructions has allowed a de-linking, if you will, that
the Strategic Plan and the LAR do not have to be exact
word for word and in exact alignment, however, the Finance
Division is working with the Government and Business
Enterprises Division to integrate that as much as
possible.
To be honest with you, it is difficult at some
points because of the broad goals that we have of reduce
congestion, improve air quality, economic development,
most of the things we do on a daily basis touch most if
not all of those goals, and so it may be difficult to
break those up into the various pieces that will do a
better job of tying those all together so people can see
how construction activity that we do or maintenance
activity direct us toward those broad, overreaching goals
of the department. Rather than as they read now, one of
our goals is transportation planning, well transportation
planning is not really a goal, it's an activity to get us
to a higher goal.
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And so we're going to try and make that tie
stronger and more direct between the appropriations
request, the Appropriations Act, and the department's
Strategic Plan.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We should work very hard on
doing that.
MR. BASS: And those are the three items that I
had this month. I'm open to any comments or questions
that you may have.
MR. HOUGHTON: Well, that's pretty profound
when you talk about the reduction or the forecast on the
gas tax as to how it impacts projects down the road -- not
down the road but now, right now, since we have to live
with those estimates and our forecast is a little bit
different from their forecast, but I guess they rule in
that situation.
MR. BASS: Where we get to the appropriations
and the legislature convenes, it's the comptroller's
estimate that dictates.
MR. HOUGHTON: That's right. Have we seen what
kind of impact it's going to have on projects, potential
impacts?
MR. BASS: Not yet, but ultimately it would be
$450 million or $500 million less in the next 3-1/2 years.
MR. HOUGHTON: In that biennium. Right?
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MR. BASS: Correct, and that's for the
remainder of '06, '07, 2008 and '09 for that $450- to
$500 million.
MR. HOUGHTON: Right. That dovetails the next
question, Coby. Are we going to take a position, Mr.
Chair, on the -- I don't want to call it an index of the
gas tax that certain folks around the state would like to
see, but an increase in the gas tax that may be
dedicated -- if you can dedicate it, I don't know if you
can -- you could raise the cap on the State Highway, you'd
have to leverage those dollars. So in other words, if you
had a 10-cent increase in the state gas tax, I understand
that's $100 million.
MR. BASS: It's $100 million per pennies; if
you did a 10-cent, it would be about a billion dollars to
the State Highway Fund.
MR. HOUGHTON: How far could you leverage out a
billion dollars on a 20-year bond?
MR. BASS: A 20-year debt would be about $12-
1/2 billion in proceeds.
MR. HOUGHTON: In proceeds. So that would be
something to look at and that would be like a Garvey.
People talk about Garveys, but our Garveys, we call them
Garvey-plus. Something that I may be interested in
pursuing but I'm not sure the legislature has any appetite
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for any tax increase, especially of gas approaching $3 a
gallon. But it seems to be if you want to continually
kick start and you look at the compression or the
reduction of the projections by the Comptroller's Office,
slicing off $450 million worth of projects, and with the
$86 billion we keep talking about, there's got to be some,
I would just say, intestinal fortitude to look at how
we're going to fund these projects.
That's my thoughts.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I think Ted gave you an
instruction and asked a question, and I think the
instruction from any commissioner is to look into it, but
I think the question sent to me was where are we on the
indexing of gas tax. Historically, the commission has
been unafraid of recommending to the legislature toll
policy, we've been reluctant to recommend tax policy,
although we've spoken, we think frankly, about what kind
of tax policy it takes to pay for this stuff if you want
to pay for it with taxes.
So I don't know that it would be a bad thing to
explore the idea of using a special gasoline tax Garvey-
bond type driver to jumpstart things like Interstate 37 or
a railroad relocation in Houston or a railroad relocation
in Dallas-Fort Worth, that wouldn't be, I think,
inappropriate. We just have to make it clear to our
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friends across the street that we're not telling them what
taxes to set. That's the only thing we need to steer
clear of.
MR. HOUGHTON: And I'm not necessarily
interested in index but a specific number that would be
dedicated to leveraging. Because when you throw -- I
don't say a billion dollars is not anything to think
about, it's real money, but it doesn't go very far in the
scheme of things, it really doesn't, it doesn't get you
where you need to go. It sounds good.
MR. WILLIAMSON: You know, James, we might
ought to give some thought to going ahead and notifying
our partners about that drop in the gas tax collections.
MR. HOUGHTON: I sure would. I think that may
drive support.
MR. WILLIAMSON: You know, if I'm David down
here in the Valley trying to put together my RMA or if I'm
trying to put together my I-37 thing, I think I would want
to know pretty quickly that the global view of the state's
transportation fund is the comptroller thinks the cash
flow available to power all of our plans over the next
four years is going to drop by $600 million, we think
that's the most pessimistic view and that an optimistic
view might be $400 million, so it's going to be somewhere
in between the two and we should all begin to adjust our
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long-range plans accordingly. I think that's not a bad
idea.
MR. HOUGHTON: We may need a few guidelines.
MR. WILLIAMSON: One of the things we try to
promote is no surprises. People need to know where we're
headed, what we're doing and why, not just from a
legislative perspective but from a financial perspective
as well, so maybe we need to do that.
MR. HOUGHTON: Basically, if you listen to
Senator Ogden, this is right along his line of thinking of
bonding up authority to fast-start these projects, and
well, the way you do it is to have a dedicated source of
revenue to do it.
MR. BASS: And hopefully a new source of
revenue so you can work to shrink the $86 billion gap
because, as you well know, if you bond off an existing
revenue stream, you're accelerating your project which is
very good but you haven't shrunk that gap.
MR. HOUGHTON: No, you have not shrunk the gap.
And this is a way to shrink 86 minus 12 billion so you
have a new source of revenue immediately. Now, you can't
bond it all at once.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Anything further?
MR. BASS: No, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, James.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: Michael?
MR. BEHRENS: We'll now go to agenda item
number 4 which will be a discussion and recommendation on
what our proposed structure and approach should be on our
Strategic Plan that we touched on a few minutes ago.
Coby?
MR. CHASE: Thank you, Mr. Behrens. Again for
the record, my name is Coby Chase, director of the
Government and Business Enterprises Division.
First of all, let me say when James and his
people told us about the $400 million change in state
revenue, so to speak, what's kind of sad is we just kind
of shrugged our shoulders and that's just becoming
knowledge, or it's just common news anymore.
Unfortunately, I think it's almost reached a state of
being predictable.
It's also kind of interesting in the context of
at least some people have said publicly that we have
enough money in the bank to build all the projects that we
need, and then we find that we're $400 million short.
Kind of interesting.
What I'm here to talk about is the Government
and Business Enterprises Division, our research section,
is in charge of the agency's Strategic Plan, and we spend
a good portion of each commission meeting talking about
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the Strategic Plan, and it was brought to my attention --
and this is going to serve two purposes, three actually --
it was brought to my attention by our general counsel's
office that we talk about five goals and then we talk
about four fundamental strategies, and we say them as they
are agency-commission policy, even though we do say them,
every person up on the dais there has said it and repeated
it over and over again, the commission would probably need
to vote to make sure those are the broad goals and the
strategies of the agency.
That solves one problem. That helps us do
things like publish this, so we can say this is what the
commission has said. But I think equally and importantly,
it will provide the structure formally by which we will
build the agency's preferred Strategic Plan on and deliver
it to you soon. Instead of giving you an entire Strategic
Plan that's been written and tweaked and massaged and say
here, we hope you adopt this, we at least would have
adopted the outline for it before we get to that point.
And it would be our four goals: reduce
congestion, enhance safety, expand economic opportunity,
improve air quality, and increase the value of our
transportation assets. We've said that over and over
again. It almost seems kind of silly to ask for a vote on
this because we've said it so much, but we do need to do
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that.
And in support of these goals, we'd like to
muddle in there these four fundamental strategies: use
all financial options to build transportation projects,
empower local and regional leaders to solve local and
regional transportation problems, increase competitive
pressure to drive down the cost of transportation
projects, and demand consumer-driven decisions that
respond to traditional market forces.
There is a minute order before the commission
asking that you adopt these, and once that's finished,
there's an ancillary issue about discussing the gas tax
and what the rate would need to be meet our $86 billion.
I'm not requesting a vote on that but just guidance and
general understanding of how the agency will talk about
the gas tax when asked. We can get to that after we wrap
up the discussion on the Strategic Plan goals and
strategies. And I'll take any questions if you might have
them.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you've heard Coby's
explanation of the minute order. Do you have discussion?
Do I have a motion?
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
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All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you.
MR. CHASE: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Now what was it about the gas
tax?
MR. CHASE: About the gas tax, what is
interesting and having been in this occupation for quite a
long time, we are called upon many, many times to ask what
the gas should be or what the gas tax could be or if the
gas tax is raised what would happen. The agency has very
clearly established there's an $86 billion target, and
that the assumption upon which -- you don't have to vote
on it, just tell me that's fine and we can change it later
if we need to -- but I have five assumptions that we base
why the gas tax should be $1.40, and Chairman Williamson
testified to that with the Texas Study Commission on
Transportation Finance. I'd like to just get a
recognition from the commission that that is how we should
portray how far you'd have to raise the gas tax to reach
that $86 billion goal.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, I think that the $86
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billion is our best estimate of the gap between the cost
inflated for the CPI over the next 24 years of all of the
transportation projects of which we are aware or which we
can project that would be necessary to reduce congestion,
improve air quality, provide economic opportunity,
preserve our asset value, or make things safer.
When taking the forecast amount of revenue from
all of our sources -- that being the gasoline tax, the
motor vehicle registration fee, federal reimbursements,
and all other manners of revenue that flow into our
hands -- and then deducting disbursements that were
constitutionally or statutorily or regulatorily can
project will occur, $86 billion -- and netting that back
for cash -- is the magic number.
So when we talk to our transportation partners
when we see Gary Bushell and we see Mr. Burleson and Mr.
Allex in the RMA world and we say we've got to do enough
money to do not much of our projects, we're $86 billion
short by 2030, that's what we mean. And we understand
that $86 billion can go up and go down with inflation,
with technological innovation, with changing housing
patterns, with changing population patterns, we understand
that.
And we understand that ten years from now the
legislature might look back and say, Hell, you didn't need
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$86 billion, you only needed $40 billion. Well, you're
right, and we didn't realize that gasoline was going to go
to $9 a gallon and people would start living in the city
again and we didn't need so many highways, we couldn't
project that in 2006.
But if you ask us -- which they did -- to
project today what does it take by 2030 to build our way
out of the problems we've set up for ourselves and the
population increases that are coming, our answer is $86
billion generally is the gap.
And then when asked what it takes to do the
gasoline tax to pay for all that, it's just a simple
calculation. I think, as Steve Simmons said last night,
it might be $1.32 next year, depending on how the economy
changes. It could be $1.21 depending on how many projects
drop off the list as the price of gasoline goes up. It
could be $1.90 depending upon how the federal government
redefines the Clean Air Program. But I'm comfortable with
a buck forty and I'm comfortable with $86 billion.
Mike have you got anybody on your staff that
wants to elaborate?
MR. BEHRENS: I might let Amadeo comment. I
know he was involved in some of those calculations.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I think what you're asking
for, Coby, is: Commission, clearly this is what we hang
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our hats on.
MR. CHASE: Right, and then the assumptions
that we used in your testimony to calculate that number,
knowing that they change from time and again. But from a
little bit of a selfish standpoint, we publish things and
put it in front of the public and say it's a dollar amount
and so forth and so on, and we kind of keep using the same
assumptions unless something really -- you don't vote on
it because all of a sudden we lock in all of our --
MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, Richard Monroe would
probably come out of his chair if we started voting on the
gas tax rate.
MR. CHASE: Right, and he would have a full
recovery and strangle me.
(General laughter.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Amadeo, do we feel comfortable
sitting on these numbers?
MR. SAENZ: I feel comfortable.
MR. CHASE: Unless there are any questions,
that's all the direction I need.
MR. WILLIAMSON: You got it from the
Hebronville Hero himself.
MR. CHASE: Apparently so.
MR. HOUGHTON: One thing I think, Coby and
James, we do need -- and the chairman mentioned it -- was
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of that $450 million that we're lopping off, the pro rata
to each district -- we've got to make it personal to
them -- when they see $450-, they say, Huh, doesn't sound
like it's going to affect me any.
MR. CHASE: And we learned last legislative
session, the mere absence of $200 million can shut down
quite a bit.
MR. HOUGHTON: Yes, and I think that's
important that we start planning that process today to say
that reduction takes Loop 375 project out of El Paso, or
some other project -- I'm picking on El Paso because it's
easy -- or some other project in Houston or Dallas or even
in the Valley here, and we've got to get people inside to
go in the same direction.
And I really believe -- and again, I just don't
know if it's even possible to get some folks focused in on
any increase in the gas tax has got to be leveraged.
That, we've talked about, is new money, and we're looking
for all of those pots of new money.
MR. CHASE: I think just running the
calculations and those scenarios and in the context of
possible legislative proposals, I think we can do that
very easily with James and others.
MR. HOUGHTON: Absolutely.
MR. CHASE: I think so too. And the $400
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million hit, however much it was the comptroller said,
that's on top of just a recent federal rescission that we
just got another one.
MR. HOUGHTON: That's on top of.
MR. CHASE: Yes. It's another 90-some-odd.
That's all I have. Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Anything else, members?
MR. HOUGHTON: No.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Mr. Coby.
MR. BEHRENS: We'll go to agenda item number 5
in which we have two rules for final adoption. The first
one, agenda item 5(a), concerns our motor carrier
operations. Carol Davis, please.
MS. DAVIS: Good afternoon. For the record,
I'm Carol Davis, Motor Carrier Division director.
The final adoption package you have before you
contains amendments to Chapter 18 concerning motor
carriers and vehicle storage facilities. These amendments
incorporate new vehicle storage facility requirements
concerning fees, proof of ownership, notification, and
acceptable forms of payment. They also incorporate
modified liability insurance levels for certain commercial
school buses and modify alternative motor carrier
registration based on vehicle weight for household goods
carriers.
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The proposed amendments were published in the
December 2, 2005 issue of the Texas Register and posted on
TxDOT's website. The public comment period for the
proposed amendments ended on January and four comments
from two associations were received. Two of those
comments were incorporated into the final adoption
package.
As you know, additional comments were received
at the February and March commission meetings, and our MCD
staff members have worked extensively with that commenter,
who I believe is here today, to address his concerns
regarding auto liability insurance and other issues.
Based on those comments and the statutory
requirements passed during the 79th Session, we are
recommending moving forward on the changes with the
exception of the auto liability insurance requirement, and
those amendments have been withdrawn. MCD will hold a
public hearing on the auto liability insurance issue and
at a later date proposed related amendments based on input
received at that hearing.
And at this time we are recommending approval
of the amended sections.
MS. ANDRADE: Commissioner Houghton, before we
move forward, we've got a citizen to be heard. Mr.
Johnson?
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MR. HOUGHTON: Could we have a palace coup at
this time, or do we have enough votes?
MR. BEHRENS: We don't have enough votes.
MR. ROD JOHNSON: Good afternoon -- I would say
Chairman Williamson, but he's gone -- members of the
commission. My name is Rod Johnson, I'm president of a
small local moving company called The Apartment Movers.
We move people out of one apartment into another
apartment. We use regular pickup trucks that are owned by
independent contractors and they pull small trailers that
are owned by us.
In Texas there are two classes of household
goods movers: Class A, the large van lines using big semi
trucks, over 26,000 pounds, generally long haul; and Class
B, small local movers using small box trucks or pickup
trucks, like we use, that are considerably under 26,000
pounds.
House Bill 2702 removed the distinction between
Class A and Class B; it did not remove the insurance rate
differential and it did not set new minimum insurance
limits for any weight class; it did not give Texas DOT the
authority to set any limits higher than the current
standards; it did remove the requirement for any further
study of insurance requirements for household goods
movers. Why? Because the study has already been done.
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Vernon's Civil Statute, Senate Bill 370, House
Bill 1418 created regulations for all household goods
carriers. These statutes required a study be conducted to
determine the different insurance level for vehicles over
or under 26,000 pounds. This applied to all household
goods carriers. House Bill 2702 removed the requirement
to conduct any further studies. TxDOT conducted that
study in 1998 based on the current insurance requirements
on that study.
Late yesterday I finally obtained that study.
I have presented that study to the commission today. Here
are some of the findings of that Texas DOT study titled
Texas Department of Transportation Household Goods Carrier
Advisory Committee Vehicle Liability Insurance Study.
Quote, "As with any vehicle operated over the
public roads, streets or highways of Texas, the owner of
the vehicle is responsible for complying with the Texas
Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibilities Act." I do not own
those pickup trucks.
Quote, "Texas DOT may not have the statutory
authority to require vehicle liability insurance higher
than those specified in Transportation Code Chapter 601,
as explained in Exhibit 1."
Quote, "Additionally, the committee considers
the feasibility necessary of holding the Class B, under
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26,000 pounds, to a higher standard than the minimum
vehicle liability requirements. The committee did not find
any evidence indicating that vehicles operated by Type B,
under 26,000 pounds, household goods carriers pose any
different danger than any other vehicle under 26,000
pounds."
Texas DOT asked the DPS, Texas DOT asked the
Federal Highway Administration, Texas DOT asked the United
States Department of Transportation. No one could find
any greater risk for small trucks or small box trucks.
Again quote, "We can interpret the lack of
specific authority within the statute as an indication
that Texas DOT has not authorized the legislature to
establish vehicle liability insurance for the Type B
household goods carriers for vehicles under 26,000
pounds."
Continuing to quote, "The committee recommends
that the vehicle liability insurance limits apply
consistently within similar weight classes of commercial
vehicles, with the exception of vehicles operated by tow
truck operators, hazardous materials transporters, and for
motor carriers."
Those were all set out by the legislature,
they're in statute.
Again quote, "We believe the minimum vehicle
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liability insurance limits specified in Transportation
Code Chapter 601 is appropriate for Type B household goods
carriers unless the legislature has the desire to review
the vehicle liability requirements for all commercial
vehicles."
Again quoting, "In the future, the committee
recommends any increased limits should be established by
the legislature in the Transportation Code, or the
legislature should authorize Texas DOT to establish the
increased limits through the Administrative Code." That
has not happened, to my knowledge.
Again quoting, "If the legislature wants
increased vehicle liability limits, then Vernon's Civil
Statutes, Article 66758 would need clarification as to
Texas DOT's authority to establish the increased limits."
Exhibit 1 answered two questions directly,
quote, "Can the Texas DOT create rules to require Type B
carriers, vehicles under 26,000 pounds, to carry or file
proof of insurance limits other than 20-40-15." Answer:
"No."
And I continue to quote, "Texas DOT has no
inherent authority, only statutory authority. There is no
statutory authority authorizing Texas DOT to require any
carrier to carry or file insurance. Instead, Article 6675
and the Transportation Code laws created by the
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legislature specifically outline when and to what extent
insurance levels may be set forth by Texas DOT." That's
your school buses, your tow trucks, your HAZMAT, and that
has not changed.
The bill's author, the clerk for the House
Transportation Committee failed to come forth to refute
any of these findings.
There were minority comments. Quote, "In
closing, my colleagues on the committee should be
commended for their work on the committee's document as
there is much of it that is right on target. They arrived
at their conclusions with thought, deliberation and
insight." That's a dissenting opinion.
I respectfully submit that by Texas DOT's own
study, Texas DOT lacks the statutory authority to set
minimum liability auto insurance limits without specific
legislature authority to set minimum limits. Texas DOT
insurance requirements have repeatedly in this study and
elsewhere, been recommended by Texas DOT to be referred
back to the legislature for clarification if the
legislature decides.
I respectfully request that the committee refer
House Bill 2702, Article 6 back to the next legislature
for debate, modification, clarification, if they see fit.
Thank you.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: Now, Rod, I want to be sure I
understand --
MR. ROD JOHNSON: Pardon?
MR. WILLIAMSON: I want to be sure I
understand. what's before us right now is 5(a). Is that
correct? Does 5(a) have anything to do with his insurance
concerns?
MS. DAVIS: Out of the final package we've
taken the liability insurance requirements out of those.
We will be holding a public hearing on that issue and will
propose rules at a later date on that particular piece.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay. And so Rod, you're just
reinforcing that this is a good decision we've made.
MR. ROD JOHNSON: I'm reinforcing there's no
statutory authority. With due respect, what you did last
meeting was absolutely what needed to be done. I don't see
in what I'm reading here that there's any statutory
authority going forward for the Texas DOT, with all
respect, to set any higher minimum standards than what's
already there.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So that would be an argument
you'll offer for the public hearing that's going to come
up. Correct?
MR. ROD JOHNSON: I certainly will continue on
with that argument.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: But I don't want to
interpret -- I know you marked "On" on the card, but you
don't see anything in this 5(a) that gets back to the
meeting of a month ago where you were so eloquent in
explaining the problem?
MR. ROD JOHNSON: Honestly, I got that day
before yesterday and it's 150 pages long. I stayed up
most of the night and tried to read it and comprehend it.
MR. WILLIAMSON: But you don't think that our
employees would lie to you?
MR. ROD JOHNSON: Absolutely not.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I mean, they'd be lying to us
and they don't do that.
MR. ROD JOHNSON: Not knowingly, anyway. I
believe that some people have some misunderstandings, but
I think that's clarified in this report that was done in
depth and it's quite a document. And it's prohibited --
not prohibited, that's not correct -- there no longer a
requirement to do another study, they took that out
specifically of 2702, they struck it out the requirement
to do any further study of liability requirements.
MR. HOUGHTON: That's your opinion. We're
going to do the hearings, we're going to do public input
now.
MR. WILLIAMSON: It would be your position at
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the public hearing that there's no inherent authority, it
might be someone else's opinion -- in fact, I think Carol
needs to share with us what she thinks it is.
MR. HOUGHTON: Right.
MR. WILLIAMSON: If you want to do that, please
go ahead. Although, I don't want to drag out 5(a) by
having a discussion on this.
MS. DAVIS: Right. You can take this report
which was done in 1998 and there's been a couple of
sessions since then, and take out pieces of it, but if you
read it in context, there are other pieces like on page 2,
"The committee is concerned about non-compliance with auto
liability requirements by Type B carriers. The Department
of Insurance and the insurance industry has confirmed and
suggested that a form of commercial vehicle insurance
would be appropriate rather than the personal liability
policy."
Also, our authority -- and Richard could
probably talk more about this -- our authority for setting
insurance limits, we didn't have any explicit authority
for Type B prior to 2702, we had explicit authority for
other carriers that weren't Type B carriers, and there was
a maximum of what we could set it at.
Well, the Type B carriers are gone. House Bill
2702 removed that distinction between carriers, so one
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would assume that that ability to set those limits would
apply to all household goods carriers.
MS. ANDRADE: Mr. Chairman, I want to thank our
staff for going back and researching and listening and
exploring and doing everything else, and I think we've
asked them to do this twice and I'm ready to move forward
with their recommendation.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And Rod, just be sure to go to
the public hearing because we have a continuing interest
in not putting small business out of work.
MR. ROD JOHNSON: I appreciate that. If I
could make a little short comment, in the preamble, the
last preamble there was a statement that there would be no
impact on small businesses, I believe also on small
minority businesses. You'll notice in the current
preamble it's gone and it never was done, they never did a
study on small minority businesses, they never did one,
and we asked for it in writing and never got it.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We do appreciate your bird-
dogging this issue for us. Citizens like you help us make
better decisions.
MR. ROD JOHNSON: And people like you make it a
better state.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you. That's kind of
you.
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MR. ROD JOHNSON: Well, it's true. Some very
flattering things have been said about all of you,
specifically yourself.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We appreciate that, and we're
going to get the insurance thing worked out one way or the
other.
And Carol, what we're fixing to consider,
there's nothing in here that should affect what we
understand to be his concerns about the insurance?
MS. DAVIS: Nothing about insurance.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, do you have other
questions of staff?
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you.
We look forward to seeing you again, Buddy. We
know you'll help us.
MR. BEHRENS: We'll go to agenda item 5(b),
another rule for final adoption. This is concerning state
participation in toll-related relocations concerning right
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of way. John Campbell.
MR. CAMPBELL: Good afternoon. For the record,
my name is John Campbell, director of the Right of Way
Division.
I'd like to present for your consideration item
5(b) which provides for the final adoption of amendments
to 43 Texas Administrative Code, Section 21.23 concerning
state participation in utility adjustments made on toll-
related projects.
The amendment is made necessary in order to
implement the requirements of House Bill 2702 of the 79th
Legislative Regular Session in 2005. This amendment
provides for the department and utilities affected by
toll-related state highway projects to equally share the
costs of utility adjustments made prior to September 1,
2007. It also establishes procedures concerning the
reimbursement for those. The new Section 21.23 requires
the utility to enter into an agreement with the department
prior to commencing the utility work.
These rules were presented for proposed
adoption at the January 26 commission meeting and no
comments were received before the deadline of March 13,
2006, and staff recommends your approval.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Now, did you notice the way he
said that, that no comments were received before, so what
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was received after the deadline?
MR. CAMPBELL: There was one comment that was
received the day after the filing deadline and the comment
reflected a misunderstanding of the impact of the law. We
prepared a department response to the comment.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And did the commenter seem
satisfied?
MR. CAMPBELL: So far we have not heard
anything back.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So far.
MS. ANDRADE: I'm just so glad we responded
after they submitted after the deadline, so thank you for
doing that.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Such precision in your
employees, Mr. Behrens.
Okay, members, you've heard the staff
recommendation and explanation.
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
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MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you.
MR. BEHRENS: Item number 6 is under
Transportation Planning and Programming. This concerns a
proposal to Hays County and the City of Buda to construct
some new facilities on the system in their area, and Jim
Randall will lay that out for you.
MR. RANDALL: Good afternoon, commissioners.
Jim Randall, director of Transportation Planning and
Programming Division.
Item 6, this minute order tenders a proposal
from the City of Buda and Hays County to construct a new
location facility on the state highway system from I-35 to
State Highway 45, realign FM 2001, and construct
interchanges at I-35 and FM 2001 and at I-35 and Main
Street.
Both the city and the county have considerable
interest in the development of these projects. This area
is becoming increasingly urbanized and experiencing rapid
development. The proposed projects will provide for
improved north-south mobility by enhancing utilization of
the State Highway 45 and the State Highway 130 toll roads.
In addition, the projects for safer improved access to
area developments and facilitate incident management along
I-35.
The proposed projects consist of four elements:
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number one, upgrades to the I-35 overpass road
interchange, number two, the realignment of FM 2001;
three, the construction of the I-35 and Main Street
interchange; and four, the construction of an eastern Main
Street extension to State Highway 45.
The city and county will be responsible for all
costs associated with these projects except for the
construction cost of the two interchanges and 90 percent
of the right of way and utility relocation costs
associated with the I-35/Main Street interchange. In
addition, the department will agree to take the newly
constructed Main Street extension onto the state highway
system and the county will agree to accept the abandoned
alignment of FM 2001.
The estimated cost to the department is $22.4
million, and the costs to the city and county are $23.2
million. If agreed to by the city and county, the local
governments will submit a SIB loan to the department not
to exceed $15 million for the construction of the Main
Street extension project.
Staff recommends approval of this minute order.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Amadeo, is this part of our
large transaction we've got going with Hays County, or is
this different?
MR. SAENZ: This is different.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: What's to be gained -- how
does this reduce congestion on the state system?
MR. SAENZ: It will reduce congestion on 35.
By building Main Street, you will be able to feed that
whole area that's developing around the Cabela's and
provide them direct access. Instead of going up 35 and
getting 45, they can take Main Street back over that way.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So it will take congestion off
of 35, local road congestion.
MR. SAENZ: Local road congestion off of 35.
MR. WILLIAMSON: How does this enhance safety?
MR. SAENZ: Safety in that in the interchanges
we're putting a turn-around. It also reduces traffic, it
will reduce congestion. By reduced congestion on 35, we
have a safer facility. We're moving them over to a
separate facility that's built with adequate capacity that
we're able to address both of them.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I'm sure we can quantify the
reduced congestion, but can we quantify the enhanced
safety? Not yet because we're still polishing our
indexes?
MR. SAENZ: We have them already and I can run
those for you. It will be a reduction in traffic on 35;
based on the reduction in traffic, we'll see a reduction
in accidents.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: There's not an economic
opportunity component here because it's already there, or
is there?
MR. SAENZ: Well, the economic opportunity in
that you're opening a corridor on Main Street to connect
to 45 southeast that's under construction that connects to
the 130 toll road.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So it is economic opportunity
for the tax base of that city, county and school district.
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And it's also going to be some
access to our 45 toll road.
MR. SAENZ: It provides access to our 45 toll
road. Main Street provides new access to our 45 toll
road, provides economic opportunity, it will reduce
traffic congestion on 35, improve safety on both of the
facilities. The 2001 project is just a realignment, it
provides for a much better connection and circulation in
the area of the Cabela's, and so now we're able to address
and space the two interchanges on 35 at better distances
than how they were connected before, so that's another
safety improvement element. And of course, relocation of
2001 will add some additional economic opportunity. Also,
we're removing that one sharp curve so we also have
enhanced safety on 2002.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay, Jim. Members, you've
heard the staff's explanation and recommendation.
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you.
MR. SAENZ: To add to that, if you look at it,
it's a joint venture between the county and the city and
TxDOT, and they're almost equally spending money to
address congestion problems for that whole area.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, I just want us to be
sure -- you know, we have to put our litmus test on every
project, not just the ones that -- we're sitting here in
Brownsville and there's about 15 projects like this in
Brownsville they'd probably like to pursue and they need
to hear that we use a certain value set for every project.
Okay, Phillip.
MR. BEHRENS: Agenda item number 7, these are
toll road project recommendations in those minute orders.
The first one is 7(a) for Cameron County, and this is a
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request from the Cameron County Regional Mobility
Authority to have the department help them with some toll
equity. Phillip?
MR. RUSSELL: Thanks, Mike. Good afternoon,
commissioners and Roger. For the record, I'm Phillip
Russell and I'm the director of the Turnpike Division.
As Mike just laid out, we recently received a
request for financial assistance from the Cameron County
Regional Mobility Authority. The request originally had
asked for about $41 million for two projects: one is the
West Loop -- that I think Mario may have talked a bit
about in his district presentation -- from 83/77 all the
way down to Palm Boulevard, as well as a second causeway
connection.
The requested work is fairly straightforward
development work, engineering, environmental. There were
a couple of little elements in there that we thought were
probably a bit premature, right of way acquisition and
some relocation dollars, so through some discussions
between my office, Mr. Saenz, the district and the RMA,
we've been able to refine that back to what you see before
you which is a request for $21.6 million that would be in
the form of a loan, and again, we've taken out that right
of way and relocation assistance scope.
So of course, on a request like this it's a
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two-stage process; this is the first, the preliminary
request. And so staff would recommend approval of this
financial request.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And there's nothing about this
approach that's markedly different from the way we've
dealt with Bexar County, Central Texas?
MR. RUSSELL: Absolutely not.
MR. WILLIAMSON: That same basic approach.
Everybody in the state gets treated the same way.
MR. RUSSELL: Yes, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay. Well, we have some
witnesses, and poor David has sat back there and taken the
brunt of two of my jokes and waited all morning long to
get to this point, and I apologize, but believe it or not,
we're running ahead of a normal TxDOT meeting schedule,
we're going to be out of here before the sun goes down.
MR. ALLEX: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have
a short presentation, Pete and I will. But I think it's
important that I bring before you the six members of the
Cameron County Regional Board of Directors that have been
sitting here since nine o'clock for this to come up. So
I'm going to introduce them to you. They're not going to
talk, they're just going to come up here and stand with me
because they're my partners in crime -- I guess you could
call it that.
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I'll start out with a new judge, Cameron County
Court at Law elect, Laura Bettencourt; retired county
judge and now business associate, Ray Ramon;
transportation specialist, David Garza -- these are their
specialities in their private lives; real estate
developer, Scott Campbell; financial expert, Michael
Skief; and the man of the cloth that prays for us to keep
us out of trouble, Dr. Victor Alvarez.
And ladies and gentlemen, this is your Cameron
County Regional Board of Directors.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, first of all we've got
to give them a hand.
(Applause.)
MR. ALLEX: I'm most proud of these individuals
because of the time they have spent, they dedication to
the job at hand, and their vision of the future. I'd like
to thank the Cameron County Commissioners Court also for
appointing these fine people because evidently they knew
what I was getting and I appreciate it.
In the last 15 months of our existence, we have
had 17 regular and special meetings with almost 100
percent participation. Some came late, some left early,
but we had them all there at one time every time. We made
ten major decisions, unanimously, on all of the items that
we had. We have presented our goals and objectives to all
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the major cities in Cameron County, chambers of commerce,
economic development corporations. We have made three
presentations to the governor of the State of Tamaulipas,
we've made presentations to the mayors of Matamoros and
Reynosa, and numerous other meetings with your staff here
at Pharr and in Austin.
I especially want to recognize Mario and Amadeo
for the help that they have given us in this organization
time period. Without their help, we would have been lost.
Everybody has been talking about population but
I with population, that's my job. I'm not a demographer
but I work with the market, that's my job. And if you
visualize the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico as an
oval that starts at Padre Island and goes to Rio Grande
City which is 80 miles long -- and these guys always get
on me when I do my presentation, but that's all right --
and it's 60 miles wide, visualize that oval. And in that
oval there are 4 million people, and the only thing that
divides those 4 million people is a street with water in
it.
I don't have to tell two of you commissioners
what relationship we have on this side of the border with
our friends, our business partners, our families on the
other side of the river. Four million people right now;
14 years from now by the year of 2020, based on my
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projections and based on Mexico's projections, there will
be 10 million people in that same oval.
Now, I can't tell you what kind of dynamic effect that's
going to have on the transportation infrastructure in the
Rio Grande Valley and Cameron and Hidalgo counties.
I'm especially pleased today -- and he's stuck
with us here, you've already met him, the chairman of the
Hidalgo County RMA, Dennis Burleson -- and it's really
unique because we've had about three meetings together at
lunch, in the morning at breakfast, talking about the
issues of Hidalgo and Cameron counties, and it's really
unique and I'm real proud to say that he shares the same
vision that we do in Cameron County about making these two
counties one single economic unit, transportation-wise,
economic development-wise.
So we've got a partnership here that we can
grow on and work on. We both the mayors of both Reynosa
and Matamoros, they want to work with us also. So this is
a unique relationship that we're dealing with in the RMAs
on the border in that the engine that fuels our economy is
Mexico, and so we've got to look at that when we start
developing our own plans and specifications.
In fact, we were sitting there back in the back
trying to figure out ways we could tap into some other
markets, and I ask you and I ask your legislative people,
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how can the RMAs help pay for more of these developments
on 77, 281 and 83 as they come into the Valley. There's
got to be some other areas out there that we can get into.
And you talked about your gasoline tax. One
cent -- I forgot what you said, Ted, $1 billion was what
one cent was, or something like that?
MR. WILLIAMSON: One cent, $100 million.
MR. HOUGHTON: $100 million.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Statewide.
MR. ALLEX: Pete and I will take some of that
and we'll do something with it, we'll make it work for
you, I promise.
So I think it's important that we have this
kind of camaraderie here in the Valley. You saw it
earlier in the day, we all got in the same boat and we're
all going in the same direction to try to get an
interstate to the Rio Grande Valley. We've got the same
thing with the two RMAs, and it's going to be exciting
five, ten, fifteen years out.
So here we are. Our goals and ambitions are
simple: to build a great urban society here in South
Texas, giving all of our citizens an equal opportunity to
be gainfully employed, jobs, jobs, jobs. We have a high
unemployment but we have a more serious under-employment.
We have 40 to 50 percent of our people working today have
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good work ethics, they have families, both husband and
wife are working, and they want new jobs, they want jobs
that are better paying. So our under-employment is just
about as serious as our unemployment -- in fact, it's
worse.
We're going to do all those things, and as the
chairman said last night, you ain't seen nothin' yet, I
promise you that. And so we've got effective mobility,
we've got economic growth, and I want to do some magic for
a few minutes, what you'll see on television in the next
four or five years.
(Whereupon, a video was shown.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Bravo. That's great.
(Applause.)
MR. ALLEX: And I would be remiss if I didn't
say that the people that put this all together basically
are these six members right here. They're great people,
and that's all I'm going to say.
Pete, come on up here.
MR. WILLIAMSON: That was pretty slick.
MR. HOUGHTON: Well done, Pete.
MR. SEPULVEDA: Mr. Chairman, commissioners,
Mr. Behrens. Thank you for the opportunity to be here
with you today. I have a real short power point just to
give you an idea of what we've done the last 14 months to
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get to this point.
The purpose of the Cameron County Regional
Mobility Authority is to respond to both the changes
taking place in transportation management in Texas, as
well as the exciting growth and economic possibilities in
Cameron County. I'm happy to report there's much to which
to respond.
We in the Valley like to say, As goes the
economy of the Valley, so goes Texas. Never before in
history has this been truer. As a result of NAFTA and
other exciting economic changes, the Valley is more
vibrant and exciting than ever before. However, that same
vibrancy means that we must stay on top of the
infrastructure needs of the area or the Valley, and
therefore all of Texas, will be negatively impacted.
These changes mean that a whole new
responsibility for the mobility needs of Cameron County
and the economics of good transportation planning now
reside with the local governments and local citizens of
our area. However, this also means that the
responsibility for funding mobility needs also rests
squarely with the citizens of our county.
The Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority
is the organization that's taken responsibility for
funding mobility projects in our area. It's a large task
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that lies before us, but on behalf of the board and the
staff of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority,
we accept the responsibility and the challenge.
We've taken many critical steps towards
organizing our agency to fulfill this responsibility. We
had our very first regional mobility authority meeting on
the 25th of February of 2005. In subsequent meetings we
adopted bylaws, we finalized and adopted procurement
procedures, we issued a conflict of interest policy to our
consultants, we wrote a disadvantaged business enterprise
policy statement, and we wrote a drug and alcohol policy.
There's two major milestones that we feel paved
the way for us to be here before you today. The first one
occurred on the 12th of January when the RMA board of
directors unanimously selected the firm of Instala
[phonetic] Hinojosa to be a financial advisor for the RMA.
The second one came on the 23rd of January when again the
board of directors unanimously selected the firm of HNTB
to be the general engineering consultant for the RMA. On
the 16th of February, the board unanimously approved a
contract with HNTB and on the 1st of March, two weeks
later, we submitted two toll equity grant applications to
the district engineer in Pharr and to the Texas Turnpike
Authority.
This is some of the projects that we're working
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on. The first project is the West Loop project. The West
Loop project is about an eight-mile stretch of road that
will add about a 40,000 vehicle a day capacity to the city
of Brownsville in an area that desperately needs access.
A byproduct of this project is the West Rail Relocation
project where we will relocate the existing main through-
line of Union Pacific away from the downtown area in
Brownsville and Matamoros and locate it to a more rural
area in the city of Brownsville. The second project we're
working on is a second causeway project that would liken
the town of South Padre Island with the city of Port
Isabel.
Both of these projects, Mr. Russell mentioned
earlier, are on the agenda. On the West Loop project
we're requesting financial assistance so we can do
environmental analysis and we can do preliminary
engineering. The second causeway project, also requesting
financial assistance so that we can do preliminary
engineering and traffic and revenue studies.
In addition to these two projects, we've also
sat down with your local TxDOT office and identified nine
different pass-through financing projects that hopefully
in the next couple of months we'll come back before you
and bring those projects before you.
The other project we're working on is the North
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Rail Relocation project. This project involves the
relocation of the main through Union Pacific line that
goes through downtown Harlingen and San Benito. The idea
is to relocate the line away from the urban area to a
rural area, eliminate 80 at-grade crossings, and have much
safer and less congested areas in Harlingen and San
Benito.
A different project within the same project is
the potential relocation of the switch yard in downtown
Harlingen to the switch yard in Olmito.
Along with this project, we're also involved in
the FM 509 Loop project. FM 509 begins at the Free Trade
Bridge at Los Indios, it goes north between the
communities of Harlingen and San Benito, and it ends in
the industrial park area of the city of Harlingen right by
Valley International Airport. What we're considering
doing is taking that road, go about 17-18 miles to the
north, and align it with the loop that's coming from
Hidalgo County which would then allow us to have access
from our international bridge up to Expressway 77 and into
Hidalgo County.
What we're trying to do here is establish a
transportation corridor that has the rail component and
has the highway component, and we're trying to clear the
project environmentally so that we can begin with the rail
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relocation and the construction of the loop.
We've got partners on this project, we've got
Cameron County, we've got the City of Harlingen, the City
of San Benito, and obviously the Union Pacific Railroad.
The rail relocation project, we've got earmarked funds
that we're utilizing to do technical studies. The FM 509
project, Cameron County is providing the funding to
advance that project.
Now, Cameron County -- and you've heard it
before and I'll mention it one more time -- we have an
excellent, excellent working relationship with your
district office in Pharr. About ten years ago, the
citizens of Cameron County passed a bond, about $9-1/2
million. The idea was to leverage that money, do
technical studies, advance projects so that TxDOT could
then step in and take over the project and do
construction. Of the $9-1/2 million that the voters
authorized, we've spent about $6 million and we have
gotten in return from TxDOT over $150 million worth of
construction. So I tell you, that's a pretty investment
for our money.
Action items that we have, two different ones.
The first one is a strategic plan. We have completed the
first draft of the strategic plan which includes a mission
statement with an emphasis on economic development, strong
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relationships including international relationships, local
leadership, local business resources, technical
excellence, ethical business practices, increasing safety
in our transportation system, assessing federal, state and
other funding mechanisms.
We've set eight goals that we want to achieve
between the year 2007 and the year 2011. We also have a
statement about our commitment to transportation
partnerships.
We're also working on a public involvement
plan. Phase one would include issue identification
through key person interviews, spokesperson training,
materials development, database development, in
preparation for a two-way communication program that will
give everyone in Cameron County an opportunity to
participate in the process.
Now, what's our promise to Cameron County? The
Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority will make
significant contributions to a high quality of life by
providing our residents, businesses and state, national
and international visitors with effective accelerated
mobility improvements to encourage economic development in
South Texas.
The Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority
will see local leadership, management and local business
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resources to build transportation projects sooner,
providing alternatives that will save time, increasing
safety for the local traveling public, and creating a more
pleasing destination for business and leisure travelers
which supports job creation.
The Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority
will work in conjunction with state, federal and local
planning and funding organizations to develop a strategy
and plan to generate revenue for maintaining and improving
the total transportation system.
What do we envision? The achievement of an
efficient, locally managed, world-class regional mobility
organization that supports economic development,
facilitates life-saving medical and emergency services,
and promotes the overall quality of life in our region.
The resourceful use of federal, state and other
funding mechanisms that maximizes local business resources
to prevent congestion, improve and maintain transportation
assets, reduce commute time during peak hours, protect
natural resources, and encourage business and tourist
travel.
The development of a customer-focused, market-
driven mobility organization, utilizing local leadership,
technical excellence, ethical business practices, and two-
way communication with our public to build a
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transportation system that inspires creativity and
encourages social and business interaction for the benefit
of the region.
What are our next steps? As we work through
each goal over the coming months and years, we will
partner with the general public, other transportation
agencies, area elected officials, economic development
experts and many more to make sure we provide innovative
regional solutions to our new mobility challenges. In
doing this, we will enhance the economic vitality of life
in South Texas which will positively affect our ability to
compete in the state, national and global marketplace.
The last slide is a map showing the different
projects we're working on. We've got nine different pass-
through toll projects within the county: we've got two or
three in Brownsville, one or two in the Harlingen-San
Benito area, we've got a project in the La Feria area.
The next project is the West Loop project study
area. That project will occur when the project is
environmentally cleared and the rail is relocated. We
also have the North Loop project that begins at the
International Bridge and goes to the north and will
eventually connect to the loop coming from Hidalgo County.
We've got the rail relocation project, and then a long-
term outer loop in Cameron County, and then of course, we
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have the second causeway corridor study area between South
Padre Island and Port Isabel.
We also have the Valley International Airport
in Harlingen, we've got the Cameron County Airport, and
we've got the Brownsville Navigation District, the Port of
Brownsville, we've got the Harlingen Port, and then we've
got the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District.
Mr. Chairman, commissioners, Mr. Behrens, thank
you for the opportunity, and this concludes my
presentation.
MR. ALLEX: We tried to make it as fast as
possible. I promise we won't do it at the next meeting,
we just wanted to give you a real quick overview of where
we're going.
MR. WILLIAMSON: It's long today, but we stay
long at these meetings. We feel worse that you have to
wait so long to get to us, but you take as long as you
need to make your presentation. It's pretty fast-moving,
kind of takes your breath away. That's a good job, Pete.
MR. ALLEX: Thank you very much. I appreciate
the time you've given us and the work you're doing to
promote jobs in this great state of Texas.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, no doubt Ted and Hope
have something to add to this, but we're pretty pleased
with the progress your RMA in particular is making,
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because I knew it from almost we're not going to do that
to we can do that. You took off like a rocket. That's
always pleasing to us.
Go ahead, Ted.
MR. HOUGHTON: Well, to coin the saying, you've
come a long way, baby, in a very short period of time.
And I've had the opportunity of working with all of you,
and Pete, what a dynamic individual. I look forward to
always somebody lurking back there in the background doing
a lot of different things. I commend all the members of
the board.
And with that, Pete, you get the other side of
it too. Remember there's no sacred cows out there, we've
got to bring them all in. Right?
Thanks a lot. Congratulations.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Hope?
MS. ANDRADE: I'm just so proud of you. I
still remember when I first met you, David, and I didn't
realize what a lead position you would take in
transportation, but thank you for doing that. And it's
great to see all of the board here.
I have to ask you, what are you doing, what
efforts are you making in reaching out to the community
and educating them on what you're doing? Any public
education?
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MR. SEPULVEDA: We're working on phase one of
the public involvement plan; phase two will be just that,
going out, reaching out to the community. We've done a
little bit of that, we've gone to the Rotary Clubs, we've
gone to the economic development corporations, we've gone
to the chambers of commerce. But before we begin our
first project, we want to make sure we've got a solid
public involvement plan in place and take that to the
community so that we can be prepared once we start going
to public meetings and public hearings on some of those
projects.
MS. ANDRADE: Does the community understand
what you're trying to do and is it positive feedback?
MR. SEPULVEDA: Absolutely. To this point I
have to say that they do and we have support from major
cities and smaller cities in the county. We even have
financial support from some of those cities and we're
still working on that with a couple of other cities and
economic development corporations.
MS. ANDRADE: That's great. Congratulations.
You should be celebrating.
MR. ALLEX: It's kind of our philosophy that if
you dream, you can do it. Well, we're going to dream but
we're going to do it also.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, you know, it's kind of
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interesting because what I've seen in my two days in
Brownsville this trip is something that Ted has been
telling me about for a while. We've thought for several
years that the triangle I talked to Judy about,
Brownsville to Corpus Christi, across to Laredo and back,
is probably going to be the center of economic development
in the state. We believe San Antonio is destined to be
sort of the economic activity center of the state, but
that little triangle on the tip of Texas, we weren't real
sure that you realized what was fixing to happen, but I
think you've got a pretty good grasp now. This economy is
going to change in ways that no one five years ago could
have even fantasized about. There will be people from
Dallas moving down here to go to work.
MR. ALLEX: I just want to reemphasize, don't
forget the engine that's fueling South Texas' economy.
When they're having 80 percent growth every ten years and
we're having 45 percent growth, as far as Mexico is
concerned, that's just going to compound itself, compound
itself every ten years, and we've got to get prepared for
it. And I know that these people that work on this board
live and work down here and they feel it every day, just
like I do, and Hope, you do, and so do you, Ted.
But you've got to realize what Mexico is doing
and you can't really grasp it until you're there. You see
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the young men and women over there taking care of their
own communities, professional people working, and I deal
with them all the time and it's exciting to be around
these young people, and they're making a name for
themselves in Mexico. You know, it's not a panacea but
they're going to do something in Mexico and they're going
to do something in the United States, they're going to do
something in the Rio Grande Valley, they're going to do
something in South Texas. Some say just get out of their
way. I'd rather work with them rather than get out of
their way.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you for being so
patient. Our meetings take time, that's just the way it
is.
MR. HOUGHTON: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And welcome to a new level of
public service.
And Dewey Cashwell, where's Dewey? He went
home to the island. The mayor of South Padre Island was
here for a while and I think he was here to offer his
support as well, and if you would, pass along to him that
we appreciate the fact that he was here for a while and we
understand why he had to leave.
MR. BEHRENS: We'll go to agenda item number
7(b), Phil, and this is to do some toll designations in
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Denton and Collin counties concerning State Highway 121.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, I've got a question for
you about this.
(General talking.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Oh, I'm sorry. Members,
you've heard the staff explanation and the staff
recommendation, and you've heard the testimony of
witnesses. What's your pleasure?
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved, with pleasure.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We have, with pleasure, so
moved and seconded on item 7(a). All those in favor,
signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries.
(Applause.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: See, I just thought it was a
foregone conclusion that we were going to be in full
support. Sorry.
MR. BEHRENS: Okay, Phil, 7(b).
MR. RUSSELL: Thanks, Mike. Agenda item 7(b)
is possible toll designation of State Highway 121. This
particular project is primarily in Denton County in the
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Dallas District, it stretches from slightly east of
Business 121 all the way to Dallas North Tollway. DNT is
about a mile, mile and a half into Collin County, so
essentially it's that piece of Denton County State Highway
121.
The district did go back through an
environmental re-evaluation; that was environmentally
cleared as a toll road on April 14. And if you choose to
approve this minute order, you do two things: you would
designate this section of 121 as a controlled access
facility, and you would designate it as a toll road.
I'd be open to any questions you might have,
and staff would recommend approval of this minute order.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I'm going to have some
questions. Members, do you have questions?
MS. ANDRADE: No.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Phil, I was on KRLD Radio the
other day getting kind of gently chewed on about 121, and
the guy kept referring to a stretch of 121 that's paved
and ramped and ready to go. Is this the stretch he's
talking about?
MR. RUSSELL: This piece of 121 is currently
under construction, yes, sir. It's not open to traffic.
MR. WILLIAMSON: But it's not ready to be open
to traffic?
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MR. RUSSELL: No, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: How close is it?
MR. RUSSELL: Probably about June, July,
somewhere in there.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Do you have anything to add to
that, Amadeo? Because I had to confess ignorance to him.
I told him I thought that there wasn't any of 121 ready to
open yet.
MR. SAENZ: This portion of 121 in Denton
County was identified in the MPO's long-range plan as a
toll project, and we were going through the environmental
re-evaluation. We just got environmental clearance. Now
we can then designate it as a toll road. We're working
right now on putting in place the video tolling equipment
that will go on this project so when it opens we'll be
able to then operate it as a toll road under video
tolling.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And are we convinced we're
doing enough public outreach for the community to
understand that it's going to be an electronic toll and
they'll be paying for it when they use it?
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir. We have full support
from the Denton County folks.
MR. WILLIAMSON: What I mean by that is we're
not going to have a bunch of people hitting that thing
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thinking it's a tax road.
MR. SAENZ: No.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Like a big old yellow sign
saying, "Toll, Toll, Toll".
MR. RUSSELL: The other thing, Chairman, that I
think is very important, I think the district thinks this
section of 121 as a toll road is going to be critically
important because it feeds back into their near-neighbor,
near-time program. There's five other projects that are
going to be built as kind of spinoffs from tolling this
particular piece of 121. So that's why I think the MPO
has been full square behind designating this as a toll
road.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Does this mean when this gets
rolling, Amadeo, we're going to reduce our gap, we're
going to close the gap?
MR. SAENZ: It will reduce the gap because of
the projects that are going to be done near-time, near-
neighbor were unfunded, so they're part of $86 billion.
MR. WILLIAMSON: So we're closing the gap.
MR. SAENZ: We are closing the gap.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you heard the staff's
explanation and recommendation. What's your pleasure?
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you.
Thank you, Phil.
MR. RUSSELL: Thank you, Chairman.
MR. BEHRENS: Agenda item number 7 (c) is
recommendation to accept the General Engineering
Consultant quarterly progress report on the Central Texas
Turnpike System.
MR. RUSSELL: Thanks, Mike. This is our
standard quarterly update, construction update, prepared
by the general engineering consultant, Post, Buckley,
Schuh & Jernigan (PBS&J). I'm happy to say that the
prognosis, the health of the project continues to be good.
The project is on budget and on time.
I'd be happy to address any questions you might
have, and would suggest approval of this minute order.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you've heard the
staff's explanation and recommendation. Do you have
questions?
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
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MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you.
MR. BEHRENS: Agenda item number 8 is under
Finance, and this is also recommending acceptance of the
Quarterly Investment Report. James?
MR. BASS: Good afternoon. Again for the
record, I'm James Bass, chief financial officer of TxDOT.
Item 8 presents the Quarterly Investment for
the second quarter of 2006 which ended February 28. The
investments covered in the report are associated with the
2002 project of the Central Texas Turnpike System and with
the lease with an option to purchase for the Houston
District headquarter facilities.
The details of the investments have been
provided to you in the quarterly report, and staff
recommends your acceptance of the report, and I would be
glad to answer any questions you may have.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you've heard the
staff's explanation and recommendation.
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MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you,
James.
MR. BEHRENS: Agenda item number 9 concerns
pass-through tolling. This would be concerning Hidalgo
County and to negotiate a pass-through toll with either
Hidalgo County Road District No. 5 or Hidalgo County for
improvements to various projects in the county. Amadeo?
MR. SAENZ: Good afternoon, commissioners.
Again for the record, Amadeo Saenz, assistant executive
director for Engineering Operations.
The minute order before you on item number 9
authorizes the department to begin negotiations for a
pass-through toll agreement with Hidalgo County Road
District No. 5 or Hidalgo County for improvements on
several highway facilities that the road district and the
county want to pursue and build and then request pass-
through tolling.
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These facilities include FM 494, FM 676, State
Highway 364 and Abram Road. Abram Road is currently not
on the state highway system, they're working with the
district on an exchange to be able to bring Abram Road on
to the state highway system and taking over some existing
roads that are not operating.
These roads are collectors and arterials; they
act more in a local capacity right now. One of the things
that we want to work with the county on is how do we get
some regional benefit for these facilities and also some
statewide benefit, so that it probably will have to be
lengthened, but we need to sit down with them and discuss
them to see how we can tie to a more complete
transportation plan.
With respect to congestion, the roads currently
are at Level of Service F. By adding capacity, they'll go
to C, so we will see a good improvement in congestion
relief.
Safety, of course by going from these two-lane
roads to four- and five-lane with continuous left turns,
we will have a reduction in accident rates of 20 to 30
percent.
Economic opportunity, this area in western
Hidalgo County is very congested already, it's pretty much
built out, just the roads have not been able to keep up
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with the growth out there.
Air quality, because we're able to increase
speeds on these by reducing congestion, we'll be able to
improve air quality. Even though Hidalgo County is not in
non-attainment, it is in a inland area, so we will still
have an air quality improvement.
Staff has reviewed and recommends that you
approve this minute order so that we may move forward and
continue to negotiate with Hidalgo County and the road
district.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, we have a most
distinguished guest who wishes to comment for. Mayor
Salinas? A good transportation local leader.
MAYOR SALINAS: Thank you, Amadeo, Mr.
Chairman, commissioners. Thank you for working so hard
for the state of Texas and giving us an opportunity to
come before you again and ask you to support this pass-
through toll road.
As you know, this is a very important project
for us. I'm the chairman of Road District 5, appointed to
this Road District 5 by a county commissioner on the
commissioners court.
As you know, we have got a commitment from
Mexico City to Washington, as the [indiscernible] has been
approved. I'm on the Anzalduas Bridge board, we are
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working to start the agreement to advertise for proposals
to build the bridge starting December of 2006. We have a
commitment of construction ending in September of 2008.
This is going to be a project that is going to bring a lot
of economic development to our area, and working with the
Pharr office, we feel that this is a very important
project for us, for Hidalgo County.
We are working closely with McAllen, Edinburg,
Pharr and the city of Hidalgo and Mission. We have an MSA
there that we have unemployment of 4 percent, we have a
lot of growth and we need some kind of help in this
project. I think this would kind of put it together where
all our traffic is going to come in through the Anzalduas
Bridge, it will help us, especially the Abram Road, and it
would help us grow.
So I'm here representing our committee and of
course our county commissioner, and hopefully you will
help us on this agreement that we would try to work out
with TxDOT.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, sir. Members, any
questions of Mayor Salinas?
MR. HOUGHTON: Mayor, thanks for coming. Nice
seeing you again.
I have a question of Amadeo. The project cost
is $75 million. Are they requesting us to fund 100
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percent?
MR. SAENZ: I guess before I answer that,
Commissioner, just to kind of tie in a little bit to what
the mayor has talked about, if you look at the map that's
behind the cover sheet, the project on the east side is FM
494. FM 494 to the south has already been improved and it
eventually will tie down to the area that will connect to
the new bridge the mayor was talking about.
And of course, Abram Road is the one farthest
to the west, and of course, what I mentioned a little
while ago that we want to talk to them because the
projects are limited to the boundaries of the road
district, and to get some regional importance or regional
benefit for these things, we'd like to hopefully work with
the county to expand them so that we can get these
corridors stretched further north so they can tie back to
the corridors that will international traffic to possibly
go north.
Now, to respond to your question, right now the
way that the application has been submitted, it was a $75
million project. The metropolitan planning organization
had identified about $24 million and they were requesting
the remainder of it in their pass-through toll
reimbursement.
Like I said, we're going to have to look at
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these projects because right now as they're shown, they're
local. We need to tie them to some regional and then come
up with, I guess, a determination of benefits for the
local versus the state, and then come up with some ratio
to that.
MR. HOUGHTON: Okay, thanks.
MR. SAENZ: Any other questions?
MR. WILLIAMSON: I don't have any.
MR. HOUGHTON: No.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Mayor.
MAYOR SALINAS: Thank you very much.
MR. SAENZ: Recommend approval of the minute
order.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you've heard the
staff's explanation and the witness testimony and the
staff's recommendation.
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries.
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I have to comment, Mayor. There's been so much
said the last couple of days about everything we've done
and everything that's going on down here, and we all
appreciate that. But this to me is the perfect example of
the system we started building a few years ago where a guy
or gal with a local and regional following and the ability
to help him or herself and the need for a partner has a
system by which he or she can go to the commission and
say, Here's my deal, here's why it makes sense, here's how
it's rated. And the staff and the commission can move
forward and nobody is begging, it doesn't really matter
that it's the tip of Texas or Amarillo, it doesn't really
matter if it's El Paso or Weatherford, it's just a deal
for Texas.
I mean, we always like to come to Brownsville
to see these deals work, but the truth is we're happy that
it's just working because it's Texas, it's a problem in
Texas that needs to be solved.
MR. HOUGHTON: Always glad to help a great
mayor too.
MR. WILLIAMSON: It's always good to have a
great mayor.
Okay, Michael.
MR. BEHRENS: Agenda item number 10 under Right
of Way, this will be minute order recommendations for
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using options to purchase right of way on I-35E in Denton
County.
MR. CAMPBELL: Again for the record, my name is
John Campbell, director of the Right of Way Division.
I'd like to present for your consideration a
minute order under agenda item number 10 to authorize the
use of option contracts for the potential future purchase
of right of way along the proposed route for the expansion
and widening of I-35E in Denton County.
The minute order provides for the authority for
the Dallas District engineer to negotiate the execution of
option contracts and to extend funds for option fees and
related expenses. Staff recommends your approval of the
minute order.
MR. WILLIAMSON: You're not condemning Lake
Lewisville, are you?
MR. CAMPBELL: No, sir. We do not have the
authority to condemn for options.
MR. WILLIAMSON: We ought to change that.
MR. HOUGHTON: We need the lake. So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: There's been a motion and a
second. All those in favor of the motion will signify by
saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
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MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you,
John.
MR. BEHRENS: Agenda item number 11, our
contracts for the month of April, both Maintenance
Contracts and Highway and Building Construction Contracts.
Thomas?
MR. BOHUSLAV: Good afternoon, commissioners.
My name is Thomas Bohuslav, director of the Construction
Division.
Item 11(a)(1) is consideration of award of
Highway Maintenance contracts let on April 11 and 12, 2006
whose engineers' estimate is $300,000 or more. We had 18
projects, an average of 2.7 bidders per project. Staff
recommends award of all the projects.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I notice it's down below our
bids. Were our bids too high or are we seeing some
competition we haven't seen in a few months?
MR. BOHUSLAV: Could you say that again?
MR. WILLIAMSON: Were our estimates a little
high, or are we starting to see some competitive pressure?
MR. BOHUSLAV: We're probably moving our
estimates up. We have some that are a little bit high as
far as bids, but in the construction and maintenance area
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we're seeing increases in bid prices and trying to stay
even with that on our estimates. But prices are up and
we're seeing much more increase, and I can talk about that
more in the construction arena, if you'd like.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, we estimated $13.8
million would be the low bids and they came in at $13.4-,
so I'm assuming we're beginning to increase our estimates
somewhat for the costs that have occurred the last few
months, or if not -- I mean, this is 3 percent below, 3.2
percent below our estimate. What would be the competitive
pressure that would have reduced that?
MR. BOHUSLAV: I believe that districts are
adjusting in the maintenance area. They've been doing a
good job in the maintenance area on keeping up with their
prices and watching and seeing what they need to estimate,
they see those pretty quick.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Any other questions, members?
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
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MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you.
MR. BOHUSLAV: Item 11(a)(2) is for
consideration of award or rejection of Highway
Construction and Building Contracts let on April 11 and
12, 2006. We had 91 projects, an average of 3.5 bidders
per project. We have seven projects we recommend for
rejection.
The first project is in Howard County, project
number 3204. We had one bidder, it was 32 percent over,
about a $10 million bid on this project. It's rehab of
IH-20 in Howard County. We have some pretty tight
sequencing of work in this project, we need to open up
some opportunities for contractors to be able to move in
and set up a plant and crushing operations to make
materials, we need to make some changes in the plans to
address that. We'd like to go back and re-let this
project and solicit more competition, and hopefully by
opening it up we will get more bidders on it.
The second project recommended for rejection is
in Scurry County, project number 3243. We had one bidder,
it was 69 percent over, the bid was $1.1 million. It's a
pavement repair and surface with PFC on FM 1605, I
believe, in Snyder. This is really high and it's going to
hurt their budget in the district and they'd like to go
back and they're going to consider possibly using state
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forces to do some work there and some other things to try
to save some money on that project.
The next project recommended for rejection is
in Travis County, project number 3037. Had one bidder on
this project as well, 62 percent over, $3 million bid.
It's for safety work on US 183 and FM 1327, includes some
shoulders and SET work, left turn lanes, guard fence work.
We only had one bidder, we would like to get some more
competition and there were some discrepancies in the plans
we need to address and fix and hopefully we can get more
bidders and get better prices on that.
The next project recommended for rejection is
in Brazos County, project number 3229. One bidder, 127
percent over, a small project, $167,000 bid on that
project. This is landscape work and we need to get some
other bidders on this project. In fact, we had talked to
another bidder and they are interested in bidding it and
we believe we can save some money by going back and re-
advertising and re-bidding the project.
The next project recommended for rejection is
in Hale County, number 3218. Two bidders, 41 percent
over, $13.2 million bid. Rehab of State Highway 194 in
Hale County. We need to do some redesign work to bring
more clarity to the plans. The bidders had some problems
understanding the work required in the plans. We'd like
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to go back and do that.
The next project recommended for rejection is
in Wilbarger County, project number 3246. Had two
bidders, it was 69 percent over, $830,000 bid on that
project. This is replacing a structure on FM 91, only two
bidders and the prices are significantly higher than a
project we just let five months ago, and we want to go
back and see if we can do something to save, re-advertise
and solicit more bidders and get better prices on it.
The last project recommended for rejection is
in Austin County, project number 3207. Two bidders on it,
44 percent over, $4.1 million bid on the project. It's a
road widening on an FM road there, and we're looking at
some redesign work on this project to see if we can go
back and save some money on that as well.
And with that, we've been looking at our
Highway Cost Index, as you discussed, primarily on our
construction projects. We're seeing a 20 percent increase
over the past year in the cost of all work, significant.
In fact, probably pushing those today are asphalt prices
and fuel prices, of course. In the last two years we've
seen on our bid prices for surface work, asphalt for
surface work, we've seen it almost double. On hot mix
prices in the last year we've seen a 20 percent increase
in the cost of hot mix on hot mix work out there. So
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we're seeing significant increases recently in true crude.
And what's happening a lot right now in the
asphalt area is the bidders or contractors are not able to
get quotes for the duration of the project and the
suppliers are giving them a quote at the time of delivery.
So we're seeing some impact of that, and there may be a
little bit of risk in our bids for that as well.
Staff recommends award with the exceptions
noted.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you've heard the
explanation and recommendation from staff.
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries.
MR. BEHRENS: Agenda item number 11(b) is a
contract claim. Amadeo?
MR. SAENZ: Good afternoon. For the record,
Amadeo Saenz, assistant executive director for Engineering
Operations.
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The minute order before you for item 11(b) is
approval of a claim settlement for contract by Kothmann,
LTD. for Project CSR 924-00-34 in various counties in the
El Paso District. The Contract Claim Committee met with
the contractor on March 13, considered the claim, and made
a recommendation for settlement. The contractor has
accepted. The committee feels that this is a fair and
reasonable settlement offer and recommends your approval.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I don't know how you could
conclude it's fair and reasonable.
MR. SAENZ: Fair and reasonable.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I think you whacked him.
MR. SAENZ: Zane has done a better job than I
have.
(General laughter.)
MR. HOUGHTON: Well, whoever did it, so moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: There has been an explanation
and recommendation. All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries.
MR. BEHRENS: Agenda item number 12(a) and
12(b), one in Maverick County and another in Starr County,
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is the way we're looking to improve some of our facilities
by going out with proposals. Amadeo, if you'd lay both of
those out.
MR. SAENZ: Thank you, Mr. Behrens. Again,
commission, for the record Amadeo Saenz, assistant
executive director for Engineering Operations.
Item number 12(a) is a minute order before you
authorizing the department to issue a request for
qualifications and proposals to select a private entity
who can provide a 10- to 12-acre site and construct a
maintenance facility in exchange for the existing Eagle
Pass maintenance facility, and also to commence
negotiations to enter into a development and exchange
agreement with the private entity that offers the best
value to the state.
Upon review of the proposals, we will evaluate
them and then negotiate with the one that gives us the
best value. Then we will come back before the commission
for final approval of the property exchange.
Staff recommends approval of this minute order.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Didn't we have another one of
these going someplace and never tied it up, maybe at Bull
Creek or someplace else?
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir. We're working on a
project at Bull Creek and I don't believe we've come
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before you to ask permission to go out for proposals yet,
but we will start working on that. This is in Eagle Pass
and the next one will be very similar.
House Bill 2702 is what gave us the authority
to be able to go out there and request proposals to do a
property exchange with the private sector, so this is one
of the new tools that the legislature has provided us in
the last session.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you've heard the
explanation and recommendation.
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries.
MR. SAENZ: Thank you. Item number 12(b) is
also very similar to 12(a). It is also a request for the
department to go out and request for qualifications and
proposals to select also a private sector entity that can
provide a 10- to 12-acre site and construct a maintenance
facility in exchange for our Rio Grande City maintenance
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facility, also to begin negotiations with the proposer
that gives us the best proposal, and then come before the
commission at a later time to request your approval.
This maintenance section is in Rio Grande City,
I have personal knowledge of it. It is a small facility,
we've outgrown it many, many years ago, and in fact, there
was a possibility of doing some property exchange many
years ago before we had the authority, but now with the
authority we can move forward and see what we can get.
Staff recommends approval of this minute order.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you've heard the
explanation and the recommendation.
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. And I know
that we wouldn't do anything without an evaluation, but
just out of an abundance of caution, just let me say
before we go do anything, let's be sure we have --
separate and apart from the deal, let's have someone go
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out and give us a third-party evaluation of what the
property is worth, separate from the deal.
MR. SAENZ: Yes. We have done that already and
have values already determined for the facilities.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And the guy or the gal that
did that evaluation is not involved in the deal?
MR. SAENZ: No.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay.
MR. SAENZ: Real property improvements are
valued for our Eagle Pass facility at about $1.36 million,
and for our Rio Grande City facility, right at $1.045
million. That's the value we're looking for.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Do we own the minerals under
those properties?
MR. HOUGHTON: Not hardly.
(General laughter.)
MR. BEHRENS: Agenda item number 13 is our
Routine Minute Orders. They've all been duly posted as
required. If you have any of them that you'd like to
discuss, we'll be happy to do that. We will be deferring
item 13(d)(4) which is in Travis County where we're
looking at exchanging some right of way. Hopefully we'll
bring that back in May.
MR. WILLIAMSON: 13(a), the donation from Wal-
mart, is that part of the Routine Minute Orders?
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MR. BEHRENS: Yes, it is.
MR. HOUGHTON: That's nice that conference
somebody is going to in Las Vegas.
MR. BEHRENS: With the exception of 13(d)(4), I
recommend approval of the Routine Minute Orders.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you've heard the
explanation and the motion.
MS. ANDRADE: So moved.
MR. HOUGHTON: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying
aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries.
Mr. Behrens, do we have any reason to go into
executive session?
MR. BEHRENS: No, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Mr. Behrens, do we have any
general comments?
MR. BEHRENS: Yes, we have some.
MR. WILLIAMSON: McAllen city commissioner,
Scott Crain. Are you still here?
MR. CRAIN: Since nine o'clock this morning.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: You are magnificent.
MR. CRAIN: Actually I've enjoyed it. I've
learned quite a bit today. I was unaware of the Panama
Canal issue that's taking place and how that's going to
affect our area.
But anyhow, my name is Scott Crain. I'm a
member of McAllen City Commission. I'm here on behalf of
our mayor, who is out of the country, and our commission
just to extend a welcome and appreciation for coming to
the Rio Grande Valley.
I wanted to give you just a brief update on
four projects in McAllen, where we're at on those
projects.
We've got a convention center that's about
halfway through development. It's a $50 million facility
on the freeway on Expressway 83, and I wanted to give
thanks to Mario Jorge for helping us with enhancements to
the access, ingress-egress and so forth at that project.
I wanted to touch on the McAllen Economic
Development Corporation, as you're aware, has been working
on a multimodal terminal. And I don't know if Mario is
the appropriate person or yourselves, but to consider
funding SH-115 -- to give thanks for the funding of State
Highway 115 and the access that's going to provide to the
multimodal terminal which is more commonly know here as
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South 23rd Street.
But we recognize the value that that's going to
bring to our community and look forward to being more
competitive really in the global marketplace by reducing
transportation costs. It's estimated that by putting the
trucks to rail, the transportation costs could be reduced
anywhere from 25 percent to a third or so, and we feel
it's going to make us very competitive in the global
market in terms of recruiting manufacturing companies to
our community.
And then I wanted to also touch on Mission
Mayor Norberto Salinas's comment. We're partners in the
Anzalduas Bridge that's going in, and we just wanted to
reiterate the need to move forward with the connection
from the Anzalduas Bridge to expressway Highway 83.
Then the last thing I wanted to touch on, there
is a group Valles de los Terceros which has proposed to
build a $23 million Class 2 horse track at McAllen.
Should that take place, we wanted to put in the pipeline
the request for some help on ingress and egress which
would be State Highway 336 and Vickers Road.
And then again, just thank you for all you do
here, to express our appreciation. And I also wanted to
comment that I learned from you today in your time and the
value and importance that you saw in acknowledging the
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children that were here this morning and bringing them and
getting them involved, and I take that away with me today
and intend on trying to practice the same behavior that
you did today. So thank you so much for allowing me to
comment today.
MR. WILLIAMSON: That's kind of you to say
that. We're hoping one of those young people will go to
Texas A&M or UT and get an engineering degree and come to
work for us.
Any questions for this young man?
MR. HOUGHTON: Just thanks for your support.
MS. ANDRADE: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And we really appreciate your
staying so long.
MR. HOUGHTON: Yes, for sticking around.
MR. WILLIAMSON: It's very nice of you to do
that.
MR. CRAIN: I did go to one previous meeting in
Houston where Governor Perry gave a luncheon to talk about
how he was going to take the Trans-Texas Corridor, if you
will, to the financiers in New York and his vision for
that and so forth. So this is my second opportunity and I
enjoyed both times.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you very much. We do
appreciate it, Scott.
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MR. WILLIAMSON: I think we waited Carlos out,
unless he's laying down asleep. Carlos Arudes, I think to
tell you, Mario, that he doesn't appreciate your median
project on Alana. And we don't blame him about that. He
waited right there in that chair for three hours.
Dan Miller?
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: He wanted to comment on
posting, representing the Jones Ranch.
Jose Herrera?
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: "I think that all the
improvements are excellent but think that when building at
major intersections there should be ramps built to allow
flow of traffic instead of creating bottlenecks. I don't
know more costly but it wastes a large amount of time
which is money." Which is a good observation.
Okay, Jose, we appreciate your having waited as
long as you did, and your thoughts are noted for the
record.
Anything else, Mike?
MR. BEHRENS: That's all.
MR. WILLIAMSON: No open meetings business.
Anything else, Amadeo, last call?
(No response.)
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MR. WILLIAMSON: The most privileged motion is
in order.
MR. HOUGHTON: So moved to adjourn.
MS. ANDRADE: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion to adjourn will signify
by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. We are
adjourned at 2:24 p.m.
(Whereupon, at 2:24 p.m., the meeting was
concluded.)
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C E R T I F I C A T E
MEETING OF: Texas Transportation Commission
LOCATION: Brownsville, Texas
DATE: April 27, 2006
I do hereby certify that the foregoing pages,
numbers 1 through 232 inclusive, are the true, accurate,
and complete transcript prepared from the verbal recording
made by electronic recording by Penny Bynum before the
Texas Department of Transportation.
5/02/2006(Transcriber) (Date)
On the Record Reporting, Inc.3307 Northland, Suite 315Austin, Texas 78731
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