TxDOT: Calvert would have to offer itself as a 'guinea pig' for a rural tollway bypass.
Calvert bypass a 'hard sell'
April 21, 2006
By HOLLY HUFFMAN
The Bryan-College Station Eagle
Copyright 2006
CALVERT - Community leaders in this small Robertson County town want a bypass directing Texas 6 traffic around the city, but funding for such a project is almost nonexistent, a state transportation official said Thursday.
Some business owners in Calvert are pushing for a bypass around downtown to help alleviate traffic problems, which they say hurt local businesses.
The 3.5-mile loop would carry a price tag of nearly $90 million, according to preliminary estimates released Thursday by the Texas Department of Transportation.
With no money in the state budget, the only way to secure funding for such a project would be through a direct appeal to the Texas Transportation Commission, TxDOT District Engineer Bryan Wood told a group of Calvert Chamber of Commerce members. The town would have to offer itself as a guinea pig of sorts for a rural tollway bypass, he said.
But even approval for a toll road is seen as a long shot, because it wouldn't generate a profit for years to come.
"This doesn't mean this is a done deal and this will never happen," Wood said Thursday during a meeting with a few chamber members. "But ... this is a hard sell."
Chamber officials have said a bypass would give 18-wheelers and other pass-through traffic an alternate route while allowing shoppers the opportunity to wander safely through downtown.
The project is backed locally by the Chamber of Commerce, the Calvert City Council and Robertson County commissioners, but at least two downtown merchants have expressed worries that a bypass would put them out of business.
Calvert has about 1,500 residents and just one main thoroughfare running through town - a four-lane, undivided section of Texas 6 that doubles as Main Street. Between 8,000 and 12,000 vehicles - about 17 percent of them 18-wheelers - travel daily along the stretch of highway, according to TxDOT estimates. Generally, four-lane highways can handle up to 40,000 cars each day, transportation officials say.
The state already is in the process of expanding Texas 6 into a four-lane, divided highway on either side of Calvert. But the town itself doesn't qualify for funding under the improvement program because the highway already is four lanes within the city limits, Wood said.
The tollway wouldn't turn a profit for at least a decade, which means the state probably wouldn't be able to borrow more than $5 million to fund the project, according to a preliminary revenue analysis. But the road could churn out more than $1 million in annual profits after about 25 years and more than $3 million after nearly 40 years, the preliminary analysis indicates.
"I think this is a great idea. I think it's needed in the future," Wood said, suggesting the chamber enlist help from state and national representatives. "But without money, things don't happen."
While pass-through traffic generally is good for a small town, Chamber of Commerce members have blamed 18-wheelers for a general decline in downtown commerce as well as building disrepair.
Vibrations from the trucks are causing Main Street buildings to crumble, and motorists often are afraid to slow down and look at the antique stores and other shops because speeding trucks are on their tails, they said. The group also has pointed to safety issues relating to children and tourists trying to cross the busy highway.
The concerns prompted the Chamber of Commerce to asked TxDOT last year to consider the feasibility of a bypass to divert 18-wheelers around the town. When it became obvious there were no funds for a standard bypass, chamber members asked the state to study the feasibility of a tollway.
Nine residents - including Calvert Mayor Marcus Greaves and Calvert Police Chief Joe Cheatham - attended the Thursday meeting. Most expressed frustration over TxDOT's funding system as they detailed the city's fruitless attempts to slow down passing traffic.
"We can sit out there all day long ... and the next day people are running red lights like we've never been there before because we get new people," Cheatham said, referring to traffic control. He asked TxDOT to consider lower speed limits through the town, a school zone for students crossing the highway and an additional stoplight on Main Street.
Other members asked whether the state weighs highway safety as heavily as traffic counts and available money when considering new routes.
"What happens if some child gets killed in the middle of the highway? Would it help us to get a bypass?" Chamber Vice President Candy Shores said, obviously irked.
A 2005 chamber survey indicated 95 percent of the organization's 43 members were in favor of the project. But not all business owners think the loop is a good idea. Removing traffic from the highway essentially removes customers from downtown businesses such as Sonny Tindle's Dairy Queen and Chrissy Daley's Daley Grind coffee shop, they said.
Tindle said that although he has loyal Calvert customers, the majority of his business comes from people who are passing through town. Giving motorists an alternate route around the city would close him down, he said.
"We're already dying on the vine," said Tindle, who is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. "I can't see what they're thinking. I don't understand it."
Daley offered similar thoughts. Roughly 95 percent of Daley's business comes from repeat pass-through traffic, she said. And most first-time customers tell her they decided to stop after spotting her shop while driving by - business she would lose with a bypass, she said.
The coffee shop owner said she isn't really worried by the idea of the bypass because she doesn't think it will come to fruition. But if it does, she likely will have to close her shop and move the business to Franklin. Society is fast-paced and, if a bypass is available, most motorists won't take the time to meander through the city just "for the heck of it," she said.
"To call Calvert a destination point? What a joke," Daley said. "That's one of their major problems. We're no longer the antique capital of the state of Texas - get a grip. Why make a square object fit into a round hole? Why not take advantage of the fact that you've got [thousands of] cars driving down Highway 6?"
• Holly Huffman's e-mail address is holly.huffman@ theeagle.com.
© 2000 - 2006 The Bryan-College Station Eagle www.theeagle.com
April 21, 2006
By HOLLY HUFFMAN
The Bryan-College Station Eagle
Copyright 2006
CALVERT - Community leaders in this small Robertson County town want a bypass directing Texas 6 traffic around the city, but funding for such a project is almost nonexistent, a state transportation official said Thursday.
Some business owners in Calvert are pushing for a bypass around downtown to help alleviate traffic problems, which they say hurt local businesses.
The 3.5-mile loop would carry a price tag of nearly $90 million, according to preliminary estimates released Thursday by the Texas Department of Transportation.
With no money in the state budget, the only way to secure funding for such a project would be through a direct appeal to the Texas Transportation Commission, TxDOT District Engineer Bryan Wood told a group of Calvert Chamber of Commerce members. The town would have to offer itself as a guinea pig of sorts for a rural tollway bypass, he said.
But even approval for a toll road is seen as a long shot, because it wouldn't generate a profit for years to come.
"This doesn't mean this is a done deal and this will never happen," Wood said Thursday during a meeting with a few chamber members. "But ... this is a hard sell."
Chamber officials have said a bypass would give 18-wheelers and other pass-through traffic an alternate route while allowing shoppers the opportunity to wander safely through downtown.
The project is backed locally by the Chamber of Commerce, the Calvert City Council and Robertson County commissioners, but at least two downtown merchants have expressed worries that a bypass would put them out of business.
Calvert has about 1,500 residents and just one main thoroughfare running through town - a four-lane, undivided section of Texas 6 that doubles as Main Street. Between 8,000 and 12,000 vehicles - about 17 percent of them 18-wheelers - travel daily along the stretch of highway, according to TxDOT estimates. Generally, four-lane highways can handle up to 40,000 cars each day, transportation officials say.
The state already is in the process of expanding Texas 6 into a four-lane, divided highway on either side of Calvert. But the town itself doesn't qualify for funding under the improvement program because the highway already is four lanes within the city limits, Wood said.
The tollway wouldn't turn a profit for at least a decade, which means the state probably wouldn't be able to borrow more than $5 million to fund the project, according to a preliminary revenue analysis. But the road could churn out more than $1 million in annual profits after about 25 years and more than $3 million after nearly 40 years, the preliminary analysis indicates.
"I think this is a great idea. I think it's needed in the future," Wood said, suggesting the chamber enlist help from state and national representatives. "But without money, things don't happen."
While pass-through traffic generally is good for a small town, Chamber of Commerce members have blamed 18-wheelers for a general decline in downtown commerce as well as building disrepair.
Vibrations from the trucks are causing Main Street buildings to crumble, and motorists often are afraid to slow down and look at the antique stores and other shops because speeding trucks are on their tails, they said. The group also has pointed to safety issues relating to children and tourists trying to cross the busy highway.
The concerns prompted the Chamber of Commerce to asked TxDOT last year to consider the feasibility of a bypass to divert 18-wheelers around the town. When it became obvious there were no funds for a standard bypass, chamber members asked the state to study the feasibility of a tollway.
Nine residents - including Calvert Mayor Marcus Greaves and Calvert Police Chief Joe Cheatham - attended the Thursday meeting. Most expressed frustration over TxDOT's funding system as they detailed the city's fruitless attempts to slow down passing traffic.
"We can sit out there all day long ... and the next day people are running red lights like we've never been there before because we get new people," Cheatham said, referring to traffic control. He asked TxDOT to consider lower speed limits through the town, a school zone for students crossing the highway and an additional stoplight on Main Street.
Other members asked whether the state weighs highway safety as heavily as traffic counts and available money when considering new routes.
"What happens if some child gets killed in the middle of the highway? Would it help us to get a bypass?" Chamber Vice President Candy Shores said, obviously irked.
A 2005 chamber survey indicated 95 percent of the organization's 43 members were in favor of the project. But not all business owners think the loop is a good idea. Removing traffic from the highway essentially removes customers from downtown businesses such as Sonny Tindle's Dairy Queen and Chrissy Daley's Daley Grind coffee shop, they said.
Tindle said that although he has loyal Calvert customers, the majority of his business comes from people who are passing through town. Giving motorists an alternate route around the city would close him down, he said.
"We're already dying on the vine," said Tindle, who is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. "I can't see what they're thinking. I don't understand it."
Daley offered similar thoughts. Roughly 95 percent of Daley's business comes from repeat pass-through traffic, she said. And most first-time customers tell her they decided to stop after spotting her shop while driving by - business she would lose with a bypass, she said.
The coffee shop owner said she isn't really worried by the idea of the bypass because she doesn't think it will come to fruition. But if it does, she likely will have to close her shop and move the business to Franklin. Society is fast-paced and, if a bypass is available, most motorists won't take the time to meander through the city just "for the heck of it," she said.
"To call Calvert a destination point? What a joke," Daley said. "That's one of their major problems. We're no longer the antique capital of the state of Texas - get a grip. Why make a square object fit into a round hole? Why not take advantage of the fact that you've got [thousands of] cars driving down Highway 6?"
• Holly Huffman's e-mail address is holly.huffman@ theeagle.com.
© 2000 - 2006 The Bryan-College Station Eagle
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Friday, April 21, 2006
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