"A dedicated hurricane escape toll road?"
CITY NEWS
Urban Affairs:
Three to bid on U.S. 290 project; campaign ethics questions linger.
February 23, 2006
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2006
Maybe it'll be a toll road, maybe not. But whatever U.S. 290 East becomes, it moved a step closer to becoming that on Wednesday.
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board approved a short list of three partnerships to bid on designing and building the nine-mile project. All three groups — Walnut Creek Constructors, Granite-Austin Road & Bridge and Lone Star Infrastructure-290E, JV — include major players involved in toll roads under construction in Central Texas. It should take until at least the fall for the authority to take detailed bids from the consortiums, evaluate them and award the contract.
That's OK, however, because there are numerous other studies going along on separate tracks that have to be done before it is even known whether the road will indeed be a turnpike or a free road. The plan right now is to take the four-lane road and, from Ed Bluestein Boulevard to east of Manor, build six express toll lanes and free frontage roads alongside with four to six lanes.
Mobility authority director Mike Heiligenstein, by the way, said Wednesday that the road is officially a hurricane evacuation route from the coast, and that the agency might be able to get some federal money to build it because of that. Board member Lowell Lebermann, attending the meeting by cell phone because of a back problem, then said what was on everyone's mind.
"A dedicated hurricane escape toll road?" he asked.
Yup.
Campaign ethics questions linger
As Austin heads into the 2006 City Council election season, the Texas Ethics Commission is still working its way through complaints filed during last year's campaign. The commission earlier this month levied a $100 fine against the political action committee of the Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services Employees Association for a reporting violation.
Shortly before the May 7 election, the committee reported a $20,000 expenditure for a brochure that boasted the public safety qualifications of three candidates: Betty Dunkerley, Lee Leffingwell and Gregg Knaupe. But the expenditure reports did not say that the group was supporting those three, as required by state law.
In a separate ruling, the committee was also fined $200 for not fully reporting its finances in monthly reports.
--From Staff Reports
© 2006 Austin American-Statesman: www.statesman.com
Urban Affairs:
Three to bid on U.S. 290 project; campaign ethics questions linger.
February 23, 2006
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2006
Maybe it'll be a toll road, maybe not. But whatever U.S. 290 East becomes, it moved a step closer to becoming that on Wednesday.
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board approved a short list of three partnerships to bid on designing and building the nine-mile project. All three groups — Walnut Creek Constructors, Granite-Austin Road & Bridge and Lone Star Infrastructure-290E, JV — include major players involved in toll roads under construction in Central Texas. It should take until at least the fall for the authority to take detailed bids from the consortiums, evaluate them and award the contract.
That's OK, however, because there are numerous other studies going along on separate tracks that have to be done before it is even known whether the road will indeed be a turnpike or a free road. The plan right now is to take the four-lane road and, from Ed Bluestein Boulevard to east of Manor, build six express toll lanes and free frontage roads alongside with four to six lanes.
Mobility authority director Mike Heiligenstein, by the way, said Wednesday that the road is officially a hurricane evacuation route from the coast, and that the agency might be able to get some federal money to build it because of that. Board member Lowell Lebermann, attending the meeting by cell phone because of a back problem, then said what was on everyone's mind.
"A dedicated hurricane escape toll road?" he asked.
Yup.
Campaign ethics questions linger
As Austin heads into the 2006 City Council election season, the Texas Ethics Commission is still working its way through complaints filed during last year's campaign. The commission earlier this month levied a $100 fine against the political action committee of the Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services Employees Association for a reporting violation.
Shortly before the May 7 election, the committee reported a $20,000 expenditure for a brochure that boasted the public safety qualifications of three candidates: Betty Dunkerley, Lee Leffingwell and Gregg Knaupe. But the expenditure reports did not say that the group was supporting those three, as required by state law.
In a separate ruling, the committee was also fined $200 for not fully reporting its finances in monthly reports.
--From Staff Reports
© 2006 Austin American-Statesman:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, February 23, 2006
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