TxDOT views roads like Highway 121 as top candidates for toll roads and future revenue.
Fork in the road for Highway 121 work
Collin County: Agency has several options on ways to turn it into a tollway
Thursday, November 10, 2005
By TONY HARTZEL
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2005
The North Texas Tollway Authority will consider several options Friday for placing tolls on State Highway 121 in Collin County, and one of the ideas could signal a shift in the way the agency builds and operates future toll roads.
An option to be presented to the agency's board of directors calls for the tollway authority to pay $200 million to $345 million in toll or bond revenue to help build other, non-toll-road projects throughout the region. It would mark the first time that NTTA toll revenue could be diverted to nontoll projects.
"It's a big change," tollway authority board chairman David Blair Jr. said. "This is the exception at the moment, but it might be the rule in the future."
Under the proposal, tolls would be based on a 15-cent-per-mile rate. That is similar to rates a private company would charge if the state were to allow it to build and operate a toll road along 10 miles from the Dallas North Tollway to Central Expressway.
The state has received bids from several companies, some as far away as Europe, to operate a Highway 121 toll road in Denton and Collin counties.
The tollway authority also will consider a second proposal that calls for it to build and operate a Highway 121 toll road in Collin County and charge a rate of about 12 cents a mile.
That figure does not include any money spent on nontoll projects, and it also would require cities adjacent to the road to pay for frontage road maintenance.
The 12-cent-per-mile cost is similar to what officials in Collin County, Plano, Frisco, Allen and McKinney had estimated when they proposed creating a local government corporation that would build and operate the toll road.
Local officials have been backing away from the locally based toll road proposal for several weeks. They now expect it to be rejected by the Texas Transportation Commission and the Texas Department of Transportation, which view roads like Highway 121 as top candidates for toll roads and future revenue.
Money back
In addition, the state has said it would seek about $300 million from any company or agency interested in taking over Highway 121 as a toll road project. That amount generally reflects the state's investment to date in Highway 121.
"We believe in the NTTA. It's a matter of what the Transportation Commission will accept for use of that road," said Collin County Commissioner Jack Hatchell.
Regional leaders will also be considering another toll road option today. That choice, to be presented at a workshop for the Regional Transportation Council, would create an umbrella financial agency that could collect and distribute toll revenue for projects regionwide, Mr. Hatchell said.
"That sounds like a good option. The majority of the money raised in Collin County would stay in Collin County," he said. "But we don't have any decisions on anything yet."
Bob Brown, deputy district engineer for the Transportation Department's Dallas office, said, "I don't know what to say about the proposal because I haven't seen it."
Any State Highway 121 plan must be approved by the Transportation Commission and the Regional Transportation Council, a North Texas group made up of 40 mostly elected city and county officials. A decision is expected by December.
May open by 2010
Construction on a toll road could start in 2007, and the road could be open in 2010.
In general, the state will be looking for a payment or possibly a revenue-sharing agreement if it allows a state road to be converted to a toll road, Mr. Brown said.
"That's what we hope for because we don't think in the future there will be gas tax to maintain all our roads," he said.
He added that the proposed payment from the tollway authority could help build and maintain other roads.
'A lot of questions'
Collin County Judge Ron Harris said he is reserving judgment on the proposals. He pointed out that the tollway authority, cities and county already have contributed more than $100 million to Highway 121 construction, which may not have been considered by the state when it came up with its estimate of a $300 million payment for any private bidder to take over Highway 121.
"There are a lot of questions going on with it," Mr. Harris said.
Those questions also extend to the project cost estimates, he said. According to some estimates, building a 10-mile toll road with electronic toll collection only and building major interchanges at the tollway and at Central would cost about $366 million. However, a recent estimate from Collin County consultants found that such a project could cost $439 million.
The tollway authority considered building a toll road along Highway 121 several years ago but determined that it would not be feasible. Since then, the county has gained thousands of residents.
E-mail thartzel@dallasnews.com
© 2005 The Dallas Morning News Co www.dallasnews.com
Collin County: Agency has several options on ways to turn it into a tollway
Thursday, November 10, 2005
By TONY HARTZEL
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2005
The North Texas Tollway Authority will consider several options Friday for placing tolls on State Highway 121 in Collin County, and one of the ideas could signal a shift in the way the agency builds and operates future toll roads.
An option to be presented to the agency's board of directors calls for the tollway authority to pay $200 million to $345 million in toll or bond revenue to help build other, non-toll-road projects throughout the region. It would mark the first time that NTTA toll revenue could be diverted to nontoll projects.
"It's a big change," tollway authority board chairman David Blair Jr. said. "This is the exception at the moment, but it might be the rule in the future."
Under the proposal, tolls would be based on a 15-cent-per-mile rate. That is similar to rates a private company would charge if the state were to allow it to build and operate a toll road along 10 miles from the Dallas North Tollway to Central Expressway.
The state has received bids from several companies, some as far away as Europe, to operate a Highway 121 toll road in Denton and Collin counties.
The tollway authority also will consider a second proposal that calls for it to build and operate a Highway 121 toll road in Collin County and charge a rate of about 12 cents a mile.
That figure does not include any money spent on nontoll projects, and it also would require cities adjacent to the road to pay for frontage road maintenance.
The 12-cent-per-mile cost is similar to what officials in Collin County, Plano, Frisco, Allen and McKinney had estimated when they proposed creating a local government corporation that would build and operate the toll road.
Local officials have been backing away from the locally based toll road proposal for several weeks. They now expect it to be rejected by the Texas Transportation Commission and the Texas Department of Transportation, which view roads like Highway 121 as top candidates for toll roads and future revenue.
Money back
In addition, the state has said it would seek about $300 million from any company or agency interested in taking over Highway 121 as a toll road project. That amount generally reflects the state's investment to date in Highway 121.
"We believe in the NTTA. It's a matter of what the Transportation Commission will accept for use of that road," said Collin County Commissioner Jack Hatchell.
Regional leaders will also be considering another toll road option today. That choice, to be presented at a workshop for the Regional Transportation Council, would create an umbrella financial agency that could collect and distribute toll revenue for projects regionwide, Mr. Hatchell said.
"That sounds like a good option. The majority of the money raised in Collin County would stay in Collin County," he said. "But we don't have any decisions on anything yet."
Bob Brown, deputy district engineer for the Transportation Department's Dallas office, said, "I don't know what to say about the proposal because I haven't seen it."
Any State Highway 121 plan must be approved by the Transportation Commission and the Regional Transportation Council, a North Texas group made up of 40 mostly elected city and county officials. A decision is expected by December.
May open by 2010
Construction on a toll road could start in 2007, and the road could be open in 2010.
In general, the state will be looking for a payment or possibly a revenue-sharing agreement if it allows a state road to be converted to a toll road, Mr. Brown said.
"That's what we hope for because we don't think in the future there will be gas tax to maintain all our roads," he said.
He added that the proposed payment from the tollway authority could help build and maintain other roads.
'A lot of questions'
Collin County Judge Ron Harris said he is reserving judgment on the proposals. He pointed out that the tollway authority, cities and county already have contributed more than $100 million to Highway 121 construction, which may not have been considered by the state when it came up with its estimate of a $300 million payment for any private bidder to take over Highway 121.
"There are a lot of questions going on with it," Mr. Harris said.
Those questions also extend to the project cost estimates, he said. According to some estimates, building a 10-mile toll road with electronic toll collection only and building major interchanges at the tollway and at Central would cost about $366 million. However, a recent estimate from Collin County consultants found that such a project could cost $439 million.
The tollway authority considered building a toll road along Highway 121 several years ago but determined that it would not be feasible. Since then, the county has gained thousands of residents.
E-mail thartzel@dallasnews.com
© 2005 The Dallas Morning News Co
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, November 10, 2005
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