"Some lawmakers have gotten a bit miffed that they were not involved in the decision-making process."

I'm So Paid

2/28/09

By Holly LaFon
MSNBC
Copyright 2009

Faster than you can say “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” the Texas Department of Transportation is allocating its $2.2 billion of stimulus funds to pave the streets with gold finance construction projects and maintenance across the state.

On Monday, TxDOT provided the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding with a list of transportation projects totaling $2.2 billion dollars, which department staff will have to whittle down to $1.2 billion in projects, in order to allow for $508 million in maintenance. Another $600 million has already been sent directly to regional planning agencies, such as the Regional Transportation Council in Dallas.

The Texas Transportation Committee meets in Austin Wednesday and Thursday to vote on the projects.

Some lawmakers have gotten a bit miffed that they were not involved in the decision-making process, Rep. Jim Dunham going so far as to call the pace of spending “staggering,” and TxDOT a “small fiefdom” (an epithet less barbed from its frequent use in Texas politics). Yet planning for stimulus fund use has been going on for at least four months, whether he was aware of it or not.

No matter how people might blanch at seeing such large sums of money slip away so quickly, the spending has in the barest technical sense met Obama’s much-emphasized requirements for oversight and transparency. So transparent is the four-day spending of $2.2 billion that Texans can watch it trickle away like flour through a sieve to the projects listed here.

Though hopefully the projects will prove beneficial in the long run, one can’t help but be a little Debbie Downer when considering the construction-related traffic a TxDOT with verdant coffers would precipitate.


Holly LaFon is a Dallas journalist who has written and worked for various area publications including D Magazine and Examiner.

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“The Legislature continues to vote for toll moratoriums and TxDOT keeps ignoring us.”

$700 million eyed for toll projects

Grand Parkway's among 21 Texas roads in allocation

2/27/09

By ROSANNA RUIZ
Houston Chronicle
Copyright 2009

The Texas Department of Transportation has set aside more than $700 million in economic stimulus funds for toll road projects across the state, sparking criticism and questions about whether the pay-to-drive roads are an appropriate use of the federal dollars.

The toll roads — including the Grand Parkway in Harris County — are among 21 major projects up for a vote at next week’s meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission in Austin. The commission had planned to vote on the list this week but delayed its consideration a week after at least one state legislator complained the money was being spent without enough input.

The delay has given opponents an opportunity to organize a lobbying effort aimed at persuading state leaders to withhold stimulus money from toll road projects.

“It’s a total rip-off,” said Terri Hall, director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, a nonprofit opposed to toll roads. “That’s not how the money is supposed to be used.”

TxDOT leaders and transportation planners defend the projects, saying all of them, including the toll roads, are important to their regions and offer tangible economic and mobility benefits.

“I think it’s unfortunate that the discussion about these funds has eclipsed the broader discussion about the state’s transportation needs,” TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said.

The discussion should be on reducing gridlock now, said Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, whose criticism led the commission to postpone its vote. Toll roads should be built later with state money, not onetime federal stimulus funds, he said.

“The Legislature continues to vote for toll moratoriums,” he said, “and TxDOT keeps ignoring us.”

More fees for drivers

U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, also questioned the use of stimulus funds on toll roads.

“It concerns me that state officials would prioritize toll projects that will hit already hard-pressed Texas drivers with additional fees,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “I would like to see stimulus dollars fund projects that ease not only congestion, but an over-taxed public as well.”

The economic stimulus bill does not address toll roads, only that proposed projects satisfy requirements to create jobs and promote economic growth, said Jim Berard, a spokesman for the U.S. House Transportation Committee.

In addition to $181 million for the Grand Parkway, TxDOT’s list includes an additional $50 million for four new ramps connecting the Eastex Freeway and Beltway 8.

The other toll road projects slated for stimulus funds are: $36 million for Texas 550 in Cameron County; $42.5 million for a toll road in Smith County; $144.9 million for Fort Worth’s Southwest Parkway; and $250 million for toll lanes along the Dallas-Fort Worth Connector.

Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack, whose precinct includes Segment E of the Grand Parkway, said the segment satisfies the federal stimulus mandate as a “shovel-ready” project. The Harris County Toll Road Authority would add $16.6 million to the project.
Prioritizing projects

The 15-mile project, he said, potentially will alleviate congestion on U.S. 290.

Citizens Transportation Coalition chairwoman Robin Holzer, who opposed the Commissioners Court’s vote on the Grand Parkway segment, said the state should spend stimulus money on projects other than toll roads that typically are used by a small portion of motorists.

“It’s incomprehensible that TxDOT could think that this is the most important project in the Houston District,” she said.

U.S. 290, she offered, could benefit more from the federal funding.

Radack countered that a planned overhaul of U.S. 290 is not at the appropriate stage for the stimulus funds.

The Grand Parkway and the other projects landed on TxDOT’s project list after extensive planning to identify projects that would improve safety, among other criteria, Lippincott said.

The proposed Grand Parkway would span 180 miles, circling around the Houston area, at a projected cost of $4.8 billion. Segment E calls for a 15-mile, four-lane toll road that would connect the Katy Freeway and U.S. 290 at an estimated cost of $330 million, according to the Harris County Toll Road Authority.

A tolled Segment E could finance other portions of the parkway, proponents say.

rosanna.ruiz@chron.com

© 2009 Houston Chronicle: www.chron.com

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"If we can get that toll road out of there, this will amount to the most marvelous opportunity in the history of the city for re-creating downtown."

Destiny Does Dallas, or: Why the Corps' "Unacceptable" Levee Rating is a Blessing

2/26/09

By Jim Schutze
The Dallas Observer
Copyright 2009

Back during the campaign season for the 2007 referendum on the Trinity River toll road, Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow and I got into this really high-flown intellectual debate where I said, "Steve, you're stupid," and he said, "Jim, you're dumb," and I said, "Steve, you're a ninny," and .... You get the picture. I'm not sure how many hearts and minds we reached with all that.

Today Blow has a column in the paper about the announcement by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the levee system protecting downtown Dallas from flooding is "unacceptable." Blow writes, "If I'm reading this right, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is saying what the Trinity project planners have been saying all along: The levee system needs work."

Steve, you're not reading it right.

Right now I am sort of bouncing up and down in my desk chair biting my tongue and trying to force myself not to add, "Steve, you're ... you're ... you're a you-know what." But I ain't gonna say it. I will, however, say this ...

If nothing else, Blow is a useful bellwether warning us what the party line will be from the toll road partisans. Indeed, the other verse of the song is coming already from city officials who are telling us that construction of a toll road inside the levees will actually improve flood protection. It's really important to understand how nonsensical and dangerous this kind of talk can be.

But maybe we have to know something even more fundamental first, a thing that's hard to grasp.

Downtown is on the wrong side of the river. If Dallas had understood what Mother Nature was telling it in the early part of the 20th century, the towers of downtown would be on the Oak Cliff side, up on the bluff. It was the construction of earthen berms or levees along the river that allowed old Dallas families like the Stemmons clan and the Belo-Decherd-Moroneys (owners of Steve's newspaper) to push development instead on the flood-prone eastern bank of the river.

Only problem? Only the levees keep downtown from being wiped out every spring and summer when the river floods. The arrangement of downtown is a fist in the air to Mother Nature, a defiance.

Some people love that stuff. It's the can-do spirit of the city, they will say. And I can live with that, as long as the city takes the risk very seriously.

Let's get back to Blow. What he says about the Corps and the levees amounts to a really serious misunderstanding of the issues. The News began reporting back in the early 1990s that the Corps was worried about the huge amount of increased run-off in the Dallas watershed and the pressure on the river. The Corps has indeed been saying that the levees need to be higher.

What the Corps is saying now is that we can't even build the levees higher yet, because we have allowed the foundation they stand on to deteriorate, and we have done actual damage to that foundation with recent construction.

My own criticism of the toll road project started back in the mid-'90s when I was the Dallas bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle. I interviewed the late Ned Fritz, dean of Texas environmentalism, who steered me to national flood control experts: They all told me that filling in a floodway with concrete was a gravely dangerous, absolutely upside-down, wrong-headed and irresponsible idea, flying in the face of everything the world has learned about flood control, from China to the Netherlands. None of the national experts I interviewed could even believe Dallas was considering such an idea.

And here, not in reference to Blow but to the idea, I finally have to use that word: Stupid.

Building a new highway out in the middle of the floodway is a monumentally stupid idea that puts lives and property at risk. What the recent announcement by the Corps tells us is that before we can even think abut the toll road project, we're going to have to deal with the damage we have done to the levee system already with the very early elements of the Trinity River Project.

Concrete piers already sunk into the levees in preparation for construction of the Margaret Hunt Hill "signature" bridge, for example, have created a weak spot in the levee system that Dallas will have to find a way to repair. That's just one example.

Look, there are lots of good questions to be answered about how this got done in the first place. What political factors caused the Corps to sit on this report for two years? Why did the Corps sign off on those bridge piers if it knew the piers would weaken the levees? There are lots of serious questions to be asked and answered here. But the most important thing for us to keep in mind as citizens of Dallas is that flood safety for downtown Dallas is not a minor issue or a problem easily solved.

This new revelation by the Corps -- that the levee system won't protect downtown even before we subject it to even greater stress -- is a true bombshell. The mentality that Blow expresses -- doncha worry 'bout a thang, everthang gonna be fine -- is exactly the mentality that produced the ravages of Katrina in New Orleans.

This doesn't have to be a dark moment. If we can get that toll road out of there, this will amount to the most marvelous opportunity in the history of the city for re-creating downtown. Finally we will have a chance to build one of the most wonderful urban parks in the world.

I always come back to a thing city council member Angela Hunt said to me on the phone one day a couple years ago. She said her daydream was of somebody living in a tower downtown. That person gets his or her mountain bike down off the wall hooks, rides down on the elevator with it, gets on that bike and glides through the canyons of downtown and out onto a trail winding through fields where people are playing everything from softball to cricket, on out into a vast urban forest.

We can change what it is to be in Dallas, to live in Dallas. We can change the city's destiny. But first, we have to be smart and responsible about protecting what we already have. This does not have to be a bleak moment. This should be a moment of enormous promise. It's just going to take a little getting used to. Steve is ... Steve is .... Steve is a nice person with good intentions who is sort of .... sort of ... mistaken. I'm gonna have an aneurysm.

© 2009 The Dallas Observer: www.dallasobserver.com

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"Controversial road-pricing scheme would become the dominant funding mechanism for road construction and maintenance by 2020."

'Blue-ribbon' panel endorses road pricing, shift from gas tax

2/26/09


By JOSH VOORHEES, Greenwire
The New York Times
Copyright 2009

A blue-ribbon federal transportation panel called today for a temporary gas-tax hike followed by a move toward charging drivers directly for every mile they travel -- two ideas that have been soundly rejected by the White House in the past week.

The controversial road-pricing scheme would become the dominant funding mechanism for road construction and maintenance by 2020, with drivers being charged an average of 2 cents per mile, according to the report released by the 15-member panel created by Congress in the last highway bill authorization. The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission says the shift is necessary because the current funding mechanism -- federal fuel taxes -- has failed to raise the necessary revenue for needed roadwork and runs counterintuitive to national environmental and energy goals.

"The more successful U.S. transportation policy is at increasing fuel efficiency and reducing both foreign oil dependency and carbon emissions, the faster its primary funding source, the gas tax, becomes obsolete," said Texas state Rep. Mike Krusee, a commission member.
Increases in fuel economy, coupled with the fact that the current federal tax on gasoline has remained stagnant at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, have already taken their toll on federal revenues to fund road construction and maintenance. The Highway Trust Fund, which receives the bulk of its money from federal fuel taxes, would have run empty late last year if it were not for an eleventh-hour transfer of $8 billion by Congress to keep it solvent.

"With the expected shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, it will be increasingly difficult to rely on the gas tax to raise the funds needed to improve, let alone maintain, our nation's surface transportation infrastructure," said commission Chairman Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank.

To avoid the need for a similar transfer in the short term, the commissions calls for a temporary 10-cent increase to the federal gas tax, along with a 15-cent bump for diesel. The report estimates that the increases would generate $20 billion annually, which would close less than half of the federal funding gap but would enable current spending levels to continue.

Pricing advocates argue that the problem with the gas tax is that it fails to force drivers to confront the true cost of using roads and bridges. Because of the relatively frequent swings in the price of fuel, they say many Americans associate the tax with the cost of gas and not of driving. They argue that by pricing roads, Americans will drive less, in turn cutting congestion and the air pollution and oil consumption that accompany the gridlock.

Politically unpopular Both the long-term shift to charge drivers a fee for every mile they travel and the near-term move to increase the federal gasoline tax face a steep uphill battle to win support in Washington. Last week alone, the White House appeared to take both options off the table.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood drew a sharp rebuke from the White House after he suggested a vehicle-miles-traveled tax would need to be considered. "It is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Friday after being asked about LaHood's comments.
Atkinson said the commission realizes that the current political climate might not be open to the pricing scheme. "We don't have to decide this now," he said. Instead, he said, the upcoming highway reauthorization -- which will set the national transportation strategy for the next six years -- needs only to include money for public education and research and development. Then, in the following authorization, lawmakers could make the commitment to the pricing scheme.

Despite the White House's opposition, several prominent congressmen -- including the two top members of the House committee charged with crafting the reauthorization -- have already expressed their openness to considering any and all alternatives to financing the roadwork.
"Conceptually, it makes good sense," House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) said Monday, referring to taxing drivers per mile traveled. "I expect, if the technology existed in 1956, the founders [of the Interstate Highway System] would have used that instead of the gas tax."
Increasing the gas tax, on the other hand, may be even more difficult. One of the reasons the gas tax has remained unchanged in more than a decade is because of its political unpopularity. This past summer, as the price of a gallon of regular gasoline climbed above $4, lawmakers even considered a "gas tax holiday." While the price of gas has since fallen, the current economic climate makes any tax increases difficult.

"In a recession, when people are out of work, people don't have jobs, the last thing anyone, any politician is going to talk about is raising taxes," LaHood said Tuesday. "I am not for it, the administration is not for it."

Copyright 2009 E&E Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

© 2009 The New York Times: www.nytimes.com

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"What is this all gonna cost?"

Somewhere, Jim Schutze is Off Doing a Happy Dance

2/24/09

By Sam Merten
The Dallas Observer
Copyright 2009

Mayor Tom Leppert reluctantly addressed local media this afternoon regarding City Manager Mary Suhm's earlier announcement that the Trinity River levees will be rated "unacceptable" in 34 of 170 areas by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in advance of a March 31 deadline. He stressed that safety remains the city's No. 1 priority, and the Trinity River Corridor Project remains on track.

Following the flooding in New Orleans resulting from Hurricane Katrina, the corps developed a levee safety program. This new rating system was used in Dallas during its five-year periodic inspection in December 2007, which led council member Mitchell Rasansky (who was sitting in the audience) to ask why it took so long to find out what was going on.

"The simple answer is it didn't happen as quickly as we wanted it to," answered Kevin Craig, the new liaison to the project.

Joining the mayor and Craig were council members Dave Neumann, Dwaine Caraway, Ron Natinsky and Sheffie Kadane, along with Brigadier General Kendall Cox, commander of the corps' southwestern division. The consensus among Leppert, Craig and Cox was that some of the 34 issues can be fixed quickly, while others will take longer. But, right now, nobody knows how long it will take to repair the levee system.

Among the 34 problem areas includes vegetation growth around the levees, erosion problems and existing structures that affect the levees such as the columns for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Craig said diaphragm walls may be needed around the columns. "It's something that we're going to have to go back and do more investigations to ensure that all of the pathways underneath the levees and support are intact to make sure that those don't impact the levees."

Craig added that an inquiry from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is anticipated, and it's unknown whether flood insurance premiums will rise for businesses surrounding the floodway.

Leppert claimed components of the Trinity project may help fix some of the 34 issues, and he said the Trinity toll road continues to move forward.

Rasansky, a supporter of the road, may be souring on the project, as we noted previously. We caught up with him after the press conference where he was visibly upset.

"I really don't want to comment on this," he said. "This is just really depressing. Absolutely depressing."

Rasansky noted that it was said several times that more information was needed regarding the impact on the Trinity project, prompting him to wonder why the city continues to spend millions to move it forward.

"What is this all gonna cost?" he said. "I wish I would have known all this when...I'm just upset."

© 2009 The Dallas Observer: www.dallasobserver.com

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"I frankly think they would put the toll road ahead of the safety of the citizens of Dallas."

Trinity levees fail Army Corp review, putting toll road plan in doubt

2/25/09

By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2009

The Trinity River levees in downtown Dallas have flunked an important review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, casting more doubt on plans to build the Trinity Parkway toll road.

The findings released Tuesday will also trigger a new federal review of the city's flood risk, which could mean higher insurance rates for property owners in the Trinity's flood zone and more roadblocks to other development.

The corps inspected 170 aspects of the levees in late 2007, and found 34 "unacceptable." City officials said they learned of the findings only this week and have scrambled to make sense of a draft of the report, which won't be finalized until March 31 or later.

The problems highlighted in the report range from small flaws that can be almost immediately addressed to larger ones that could involve substantial changes.

Some of the larger problems involve questions about added risk of flooding relating to the placement of pillars on some of the bridges spanning the Trinity River. And the new Dallas County Jail's basement was dug into a levee, violating corps regulations and perhaps requiring significant changes.

But no accurate estimate of the fixes required – or the impact on the Trinity Parkway project – can be made until the city and the corps go over the findings in detail, Mayor Tom Leppert and other officials said Tuesday.

"It's too early to know," Leppert said, even as he promised that the city and its partners, including the North Texas Tollway Authority, would continue to push forward to meet a May deadline to have 30 percent of the $1.8 billion toll road designed. He has said he wants the toll road built by the end of 2013.

But Michael Morris, director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments and one of the road's top supporters, said the news could eventually mean a halt to the toll-road work.

"It's a big deal," he said.

And critics of the roadway, including Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt, who in late 2007 led an unsuccessful ballot initiative to take the four-and-six-lane toll road out of the Trinity River Corridor, say the findings ought to be red flags.

"What's it going to take to get them to give up on this road?" Hunt said. "We already have an unsafe levee system, even without pouring tens of millions of tons of concrete into our floodway."

NTTA chairman Paul Wageman said his agency will press ahead with design work.

"We're going to move forward with a design, do everything we can to hew to the deadline and by the May or June time frame have it to the corps so they can walk it through their process," he said. "That's going to be our focus. This is an issue that the city needs to address with the corps."

The May design deadline is critical because the corps must still decide whether the roadway will interfere with the city's flood protection. It can't make that decision until at least 30 percent of the road's design is done. Brig. Gen Kendall Cox, commander of the corps' Southwest division, and others said it's too early to tell what impact Tuesday's decision will have on the corps' review of those issues.

Morris noted that work already done on the toll road could actually help make resolving problems with the levees easier. "If we weren't thinking adding a transportation solution near the levees, we wouldn't have all that data that we have collected," he said.

The corps inspected Dallas' levees in December 2007, and Kevin Craig, the Trinity River project manager for the corps, said Tuesday that the agency has been working ever since to finish its final report.

"The simple answer is that didn't happen as quickly as we would have liked," Craig said. "We certainly wanted to make sure we were doing it right."

Now that the 34 items have been rated unacceptable, the corps and city engineers will inspect each one more thoroughly to determine what must be done to remove each flaw.

"Some of the items may turn out to be 'unacceptable' but it's possible some may not," Leppert said in prepared statements. "But let me be clear – if something is confirmed to unacceptable, we are committed to fixing it."

The corps has been busy inspecting hundreds of levees across the country since Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans. About 240 levees across America have flunked.

The unacceptable finding will trigger a review by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cox said Tuesday. FEMA certifies levees to protect against what is known as a 100-year flood – a flood which has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year. If the agency determines that Dallas' levees no longer provide adequate protection, it could decertify the levee system and redraw the city's 100-year flood maps.

If that happens, property owners could see big rate increases in their flood insurance. In some extreme cases, FEMA has prohibited nearly all development in flood zones after levees were labeled unacceptable.

After the corps labeled as unacceptable some of Sacramento's levees that line the Sacramento River, FEMA decertified them. As a result, the city has halted development in what had been expected to be its fastest-growing district.

While toll road supporters insisted that work on the Trinity Parkway would move forward, even Leppert said the report raises a host of uncertainties.

"Things come up when you are building a big project," Leppert said.

Hunt noted that in addition to the levee problems, the projected cost of the road has soared.

"I frankly think they would put the toll road ahead of the safety of the citizens of Dallas," she said.

Leppert and others said safety and flood control were always the top priority. Morris said his agency would not "do anything to jeopardize the flood control aspects of this project."

Wageman acknowledged that the costs for the project have soared since 1998, when voters first approved a bond package to pay for Trinity River Corridor improvements, including a new toll road. The road was originally estimated to cost about $350 million, with the city pledging $84 million toward that amount, he said.

Eleven years later, Wageman said, the cost is at least $1.8 billion, far more than the agency can expect to be able to pay with funds borrowed against future toll revenues.

Staff writer Rudolph Bush contributed to this report.

© 2009 The Dallas Morning News: www.dallasnews.com

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"$11,142 is attributed to administrative fees."

Woman receives toll road bill for more than $11,500

2/25/09

By: Bob Robuck
News 8 Austin
Copyright 2009

It all began with a woman who received a $4,000 bill from the Texas Department of Transportation for toll road usage and penalties.

Now, another woman has come forward with a bill a lot larger than that.

Samone Murray was recently laid off from her job as an administrative assistant. As such, money has been tight, a factor that only added to her shock when she received a toll bill for more than $11,500.

"Eleven thousand dollars in administrative charges -- that's not going to happen," she said. "That will not be paid, not by me. That's ridiculous."

The actual toll charges on the bill amount to about $358 and the remaining $11,142 is attributed to administrative fees.

"At first I laughed and thought, 'Well, maybe I'm reading this wrong. I'm a little tired or something,'" she said. "So I put it down and came back to it, read it again and immediately called my sister, and she said, 'Are they crazy?'"

Murray's problem actually started in December, when she received a number of invoices, for tolls assessed six months earlier, each including a $5 administrative fee. Since Murray did not receive any notices or bills prior to that month, she said she didn't know that every time she used the toll road, somebody was adding a new charge to her account

"I called customer service and they explained, 'Well maybe it was going to a different address,' and I said, 'Well I've been here long enough to have gotten them from you before, so what would be the difference?'" Murray said.

Murray said she's had a TxTag on her car the entire time and always passes under the readers in the toll plazas. She said the toll lights never signal a problem.

Though she said she called customer service several times, no one could explain why Murray owed so much. At one point, Murray said, a customer service representative increased the bill right over the phone, without giving Murray an explanation.

In the end, she said a representative told her she now owes more than $13,000.

For more than a week, News 8 Austin has tried to get a representative from TxDOT to explain and to detail the workings of the toll road system and third parties involved. They said they're working to get that information and may have something later this week.

© 2009 News 8 Austin: www.news8austin.com

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"We're putting this toll road ahead of the safety of our levees. We have a fixation with putting a toll road in a place it doesn't belong."

Dallas Council Votes To Continue Trinity Project

2/25/09

By Marianne Martinez
CBS 11 News
Copyright 2009

After a heated debate, members of the Dallas City Council voted today to continue drainage work with the Trinity River Corridor project, despite a report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that there are problems with the levees.

"This is a bad idea," said council member Angela Hunt. "We're putting this toll road ahead of the safety of our levees. We have a fixation with putting a toll road in a place it doesn't belong."

In 2007, the Corps of Engineers inspected the city's levees. The report it released yesterday said 34 of the 170 elements it examained were "unacceptable."

The Corps had previously said the levees were in good shape, but for this inspected it used new standards that were put in place after Hurricane Katrina.

"It's a divided issue," said council member David Neumann. "In my respective district, it was a divided issue. But the citizens have spoken and we're moving forward."

Still, it's not clear what needs to be done to fix the levees and how much it will cost. And some council memebers attitudes are changing as a result.

"It's going to be the last time I support anything with this without knowing what it's going to cost," said Mitchell Rasansky.

© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc.: www.cbs11tv.com

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"Being held to a higher standard."

Dallas Council: Trinity work should continue

2/25/09

By BRAD WATSON
WFAA-TV
Copyright 2009

DALLAS — The Dallas City Council Wednesday agreed to move forward with work on drainage improvements in the Trinity River floodway, even though the Army Corps of Engineers gave a failing grade to the river's levee system through the central city.

Work to assess the economic impact of the project and to design it is estimated to cost $2.5 million.

On Tuesday, the Corps declared the levee system to be unacceptable using tougher standards in the wake of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster. Out of 170 items under review, 34 were found lacking.

Council member Angela Hunt and some of her colleagues feel the city should hold off on further work and spending on the Trinity project until the levees can be repaired.

"We should not minimize this," Hunt said, "and we should take every step possible to make our levees safe."

"We have delayed this; we have continued to try to delay it and that sort of thing, and the only people who get hurt are the citizens of this city, and that's unfortunate," Mayor Tom Leppert said.

The majority of Council members agreed with Mayor Leppert and voted to spend the $2.5 million needed to continue work on the highway project.

It remains unclear what the city must do to bring the levees up to Corps of Engineers standards and what the final price tag will be.

City officials stress that the levees have held back Trinity River flooding for decades now; they are simply being held to a higher standard.

E-mail bwatson@wfaa.com

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/localnews/news8/stories/wfaa090225_wz_leveefolo.208f29f.html

Damn the Torpedoes: Dallas City Council presses ahead with Trinity Park Toll Road Boondoggle

Dallas Council: Trinity work should continue

2/25/09

By BRAD WATSON
WFAA-TV
Copyright 2009

DALLAS — The Dallas City Council Wednesday agreed to move forward with work on drainage improvements in the Trinity River floodway, even though the Army Corps of Engineers gave a failing grade to the river's levee system through the central city.

Work to assess the economic impact of the project and to design it is estimated to cost $2.5 million.

On Tuesday, the Corps declared the levee system to be unacceptable using tougher standards in the wake of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster. Out of 170 items under review, 34 were found lacking.

Council member Angela Hunt and some of her colleagues feel the city should hold off on further work and spending on the Trinity project until the levees can be repaired.

"We should not minimize this," Hunt said, "and we should take every step possible to make our levees safe."

"We have delayed this; we have continued to try to delay it and that sort of thing, and the only people who get hurt are the citizens of this city, and that's unfortunate," Mayor Tom Leppert said.

The majority of Council members agreed with Mayor Leppert and voted to spend the $2.5 million needed to continue work on the highway project.

It remains unclear what the city must do to bring the levees up to Corps of Engineers standards and what the final price tag will be.

City officials stress that the levees have held back Trinity River flooding for decades now; they are simply being held to a higher standard.

E-mail bwatson@wfaa.com


© 2009 WFAA-TV: www.wfaa.com

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NTTA picks Michael Baker Corp. as engineer for Trinity Park Toll Road Boondoggle

Baker Selected by North Texas Tollway Authority to Serve as Section Engineer on Trinity Parkway


2/25/09

Press Release
Michael Baker Corporation
BUSINESS WIRE
Copyright 2009

ARLINGTON, Texas, -- Michael Baker Jr., Inc., an engineering unit of Michael Baker Corporation (NYSE Alternext US: BKR), has been awarded an initial $3.65 million contract by the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) to provide design and engineering services for the Trinity Parkway, a new toll road approximately nine miles in length, with up to six tolled main lanes.

The new road will provide a reliever route to the west of downtown Dallas connecting the I-35/State Highway183 interchange northwest of downtown to the State Highway 310 interchange southeast of downtown. Baker is responsible for the design of Section 5 of the Trinity Parkway Project which includes two miles of tollway and a four-level interchange with I-45.

"This project will have high visibility in the region, will provide a much needed transportation artery for Dallas, and an economic boost to the area," said Michael Behrens, P.E., director of National Transportation Programs.

The project is being fast-tracked for completion by 2014 due to the region's need for additional transportation alternatives in this busy area. Intense coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Dallas is required in order to obtain approvals for construction in and around existing and proposed levee systems.

Baker will be providing preliminary and final design services which include surveying, right-of-way, environmental, utilities, roadway design, traffic control, drainage design, ITS, bridge design and reconstruction, construction access and contractor staging-area assessments, context-sensitive design and agency coordination.

"Without question, this is a significant win for Baker in North Texas," said Juan Contreras, P.E., project manager. "In serving this client, we have proven to be dependable on smaller projects, and now NTTA has chosen to place us over a much larger undertaking."

Michael Baker Corporation ( http://www.mbakercorp.com) provides engineering and operations and maintenance services for its clients' most complex challenges worldwide. The firm's primary business areas are aviation, defense, environmental, facilities, geospatial, homeland security, municipal & civil, pipelines & utilities, transportation, water, and oil & gas. With more than 4,500 employees in over 50 offices across the United States and internationally, Baker is focused on creating value by delivering innovative and sustainable solutions for infrastructure and the environment.


© 2009 Market Watch: www.marketwatch.com

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"Good news from Austin: Gov. Rick Perry and his staff are taking a 'hard look'..."

Texas governor should help improve road-and-rail plan

2/25/09

Editorial
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2009

Good news from Austin: Gov. Rick Perry and his staff are taking a "hard look" at the road-and-rail transportation funding plan introduced last week by North Texas legislators. Welcome aboard, governor.

Leaders from throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area have been working hard on this plan for more than five years. With the governor’s help, Texas could find ways to ease the traffic congestion that is hurting work force productivity and fouling the air in its major metropolitan areas.

Just one thing, though: Perry and his team are obligated to help provide a solution to the mess on our roadways, not just reject proposals that they judge to be imperfect. State Sen. John Carona of Dallas and Rep. Vicki Truitt of Keller have filed the Texas Local Option Transportation Act early in the current legislative session. There’s plenty of time to make the bill better before the session ends on June 1.

Perry has the power to veto any bill passed by the Legislature. He can also help ensure passage of almost any bill through public support and legislative arm-twisting once he is satisfied that the purpose and terms are good for the state.

The transportation bill as currently worded would allow county commissioners to pick from a list of local revenue options to fund specific road and rail projects. But none of those projects would move forward, none of the taxes or fees picked to fund them would be imposed, unless they are itemized on a ballot and approved by county voters.

The projects and funding clearly would require coordination among counties. No road or rail line would work if it simply goes to the county line and stops, nor would it be feasible to impose a local-option gasoline tax on one side of the county line and no such tax on the other.

For role models in leadership, Perry need look no further than the North Texas officials and business leaders who have helped bring this bill to its current point. To name just a few: Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck and North Richland Hills Mayor Oscar Trevino. They were joined by others from throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth region, as well as by representatives of major employers such as Texas Instruments and American Airlines.

Jeremiah Kuntz, Perry’s transportation adviser, says the governor favors user fees when it comes to funding transportation projects. He targets one proposed revenue option in the bill as veering away from Perry’s vision: a proposed "new resident impact fee" to be paid by people who move to the state and register a vehicle here for the first time.

Why is it wrong to ask people who have contributed nothing toward building the state’s current transportation system to help by paying to use and expand it? Still, if the governor has a better idea, let’s hear it. In the past, Perry’s solution has been to let private companies build toll roads, including the 'now-defunct' Trans-Texas Corridor.

How’s that idea working out for you, governor?

© 2009 Fort Worth Star-Telegram: www.star-telegram.com

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"Our mayor, with backing from the editorial page of the city's only daily newspaper, has always scoffed at concerns about the levees and flooding"

Mary Suhm Tells Council: "The Corps Has Rated the Dallas Floodway as 'Unacceptable'"

2/24/09

By Jim Schutze
The Dallas Observer
Copyright 2009

Merten just got back from City Hall, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just got through telling reporters that 34 of the 170 areas of the Trinity River levees are "unacceptable." Sam will have more to come shortly -- including a surprise cameo appearance by Mitchell Rasansky, who had his own questions for the Corps and Mayor Tom Leppert -- but, till them, let me explain why this is big news.

See, the levees protect downtown Dallas from catastrophic flooding. According to the Corps, the levees are in bad shape -- City Manager Mary Suhm told the council that very thing today in a letter you'll find right here. (You'll also find her Q&A, in which she warns that the issues identified by the Corps could "affect flood insurance needs." This is big, people. Big.)

The levees won't do the job.

Our mayor was in Washington recently to talk to officials there about the levees. So, was he there to ask if the levees are safe enough? No. Was he there to push the Corps of Engineers and Congress to make the levees stronger? No. Was he there because he's worried about protecting lives and property? What do you think?

Leppert was in Washington going to members of the Dallas congressional delegation to turn the political thumbscrews on the Corps and back the Corps off from its diligence with regard to the levees.

Our mayor, with strong backing from the editorial page of the city's only daily newspaper, has always scoffed at concerns about the levees and flooding. Leppert and The Dallas Morning News have pushed instead for a kind of flood-control Russian roulette in which Dallas would subject the levees to enormous new stress by building a highway between them.

Leppert was in Washington to try to do a political end-run on the engineers: With enough thumb screws, he thought he could force them to speed up their analysis of the toll road and its impact on the levees.

So what does today's announcement amount to? It's a huge call of the bluff. Leppert went to the pols. The Corps is going to the public. Now we have a new debate. A whole new debate. It begins with the knowledge that the levees are already compromised.

The new algorithm we have to work is one that measures the danger to downtown of catastrophic flood against the benefit of a highway that has always had weak traffic projections to begin with.

Tom ("The Riddler") Leppert says, "Take a chance." What do you say?

© 2009 The Dallas Observer: dallasobserver.com

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"City officials, including Leppert, have expressed frustration at the corps' commitment to the project..."

Corps of Engineers rates Dallas Trinity River levees unacceptable

2/24/09

Rudolph Bush
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2009

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has just delivered a bombshell to the city of Dallas, rating the integrity of the Trinity River levees unacceptable in a draft inspection report .

The rating means that Dallas' primary flood protection, the massive berms of earth that run along the Trinity floodway, do not meet current standards set out by the corps after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"It means that some of the items of our levee system must be fixed and on others we must do further testing and analysis to determine if they need mitigation," city manager Mary Suhm wrote in a memo to council members.

Suhm, Mayor Tom Leppert and top corps officials plan a press conference at 4 p.m. to discuss the findings.

The unacceptable rating comes at a time of increasing tension between the corps and the city over the Trinity River toll road project.

City officials, including Leppert, have expressed frustration at the corps' commitment to the project - deemed critical by supporters to easing Dallas' congestion problems and providing funding for the construction of massive park inside the levees.

In a written list of questions and answers provided to council members - city officials said it is unclear how the rating will affect the toll road project.

"It is too early to tell if construction will be delayed. Current design efforts will continue. As with every piece of the project, when all the evaluations are complete, we will make adjustments if needed," the document stated.

Read Suhm's memo - trinitydoc.pdf

© 2009 The Dallas Morning News: www.dallasnews.com

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"TxDOT has stated that its preference is to construct the Grand Parkway as a series of toll roads, which many residents in Fort Bend oppose."

After Heated Debate, Court Takes Step Proponents Say May Put Parkway Under Local Control

2/24/09

by Bob Dunn
Fort Bend Now
Copyright 2009

Over strenuous objections by two members, Fort Bend County Commissioners Court approved a complex agreement proponents said gives county officials their best shot at controlling development of the Grand Parkway locally.

But Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers and Precinct 1 Commissioner Richard Morrison said they believe the agreement - approved on a 3-2 vote - may obligate Fort Bend County to make a future payment of $100 million or more to the state of Texas.

The agreement approved Tuesday is between Fort Bend, six other regional counties and the Texas Department of Transportation. Titled “Market Valuation Waiver Agreement for SH 99 (Grand Parkway),” the document does more than waive a valuation study of the Grand Parkway project. (Such a study is required as part of Senate Bill 792, passed by the state Legislature last year.

The agreement also appears to define the Grand Parkway as “a single project that will ultimately include the full scope of work included in the Terms and Conditions.” Those terms were included as an exhibit to the main agreement.

The Grand Parkway, a proposed giant ring around Houston running through parts of Harris, Fort Bend, Brazoria, Galveston, Liberty, Chambers and Montgomery counties, has generated significant opposition.

So-called Segment D, running from U.S. 59 north to Interstate 10 in Fort Bend County, is the only portion of the parkway that’s been built. TxDOT has stated that its preference is to construct the parkway as a series of toll roads, which many residents in Fort Bend oppose.

The idea of running Segment C from U.S. 59 south past Greatwood in Fort Bend County has infuriated residents of that community and nearby subdivisions.

County Judge Bob Hebert said a market valuation study of the Grand Parkway project would take two years or more to complete. By that time, he predicted, the Texas Legislature will have decided to reauthorize funding for TxDOT, and possibly could designate the Grand Parkway as a state project - a designation the project currently carries.

Hebert and Precinct 4 Commissioner James Patterson said they believes that by waiving the requirement for a market valuation study, the stage is set to allow Fort Bend, Harris and the other five regional counties to meet and see whether consensus exists to make the Grand Parkway a locally controlled project, taking it out of TxDOT’s hands.

If such consensus were reached, Hebert said before Tuesday’s meeting, the seven counties could create a new entity to develop the Grand Parkway on behalf of the counties. Although the agreement passed Tuesday refers to “a single project,” Hebert said it would be developed locally in sections, based on economic demand.

“The citizens of Greatwood and Bridlewood have a bigger influence and voice with local government - as we certainly saw in the last election - than they do in state government,” Hebert said prior to the meeting.

He referred to Morrison’s victory in the November elections over former Precinct 1 Commissioner Tom Stavinoha. Greatwood residents’ strong opposition to Segment C of the Grand Parkway was seen as a major issue in the race.

On Tuesday, Morrison told court members he had spoken just before the meeting with an attorney who had authored the market valuation waiver agreement, and shared concerns he had about the document. Morrison said the attorney had agreed with concepts Morrison described for making certain changes to the document. In order to make such changes and give the revised document to the Fort Bend County Attorney’s Office for review, Morrison asked to table the vote on the Market Valuation Waiver agreement for a week.

Although commissioners almost routinely grant each other such requests, Morrison’s request was rebuffed.

“What in here are you concerned with?” Patterson asked him, holding up the agreement.

“No. 6 -” Morrison began.

“That’s a simple statement,” Patterson said.

“I can read, commissioner, I can read it,” Morrison said. “I have read it.”

Section 6 of the agreement reads, “Development of a market valuation for the Grand Parkway Project is waived.”

Morrison and Meyers’ concerns stem from a provision in SB 792 that indicates if a county or group of counties decides to develop a project such as the Grand Parkway locally, once certain conditions are met, the local development entity would have to:

“Commit to make a payment into a toll project subaccount in an amount equal to the value of the toll project as determined by the market valuation…” or:

“Commit to construct…additional transportation projects in the region in which the toll project is located with estimated construction costs equal to the market valuation of the toll project…”

“I don’t think this agreement, the way it’s written, gives us local control,” Morrison told the other court members. “…it ties the hands of those in the future.”

Hebert and Patterson argued that provisions Morrison referred to in the senate bill could not apply to the Grand Parkway until and unless Fort Bend and the other six counties agreed to create a local entity to develop the parkway. And, Hebert said, a waiver of the provisions quoted above are “implied” by TXDot’s agreement to waive the market valuation study.

“Anything is negotiable,” said Precinct 2 Commissioner Grady Prestage, after about 10 minutes of debate on the issue. “I suggest we go ahead and do it,” whether it’s 5-0 or 3-2 or whatever.”

Prestage, Hebert and Patterson then voted to approve the agreement, trumping “no” votes by Meyers and Morrison.

© 2009 Fort Bend Now: www.fortbendnow.com

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"Options in the bill may be out of step with Perry’s ideas" ..."he wants a user-fee [i.e. toll tax] system of funding transportation."

Gov. Perry taking 'hard look' at local-option rail legislation

2/22/09

By DAVE MONTGOMERY
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2009

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry’s office is taking a "hard look" at a sweeping transportation bill that would finance roads and rail lines in North Texas out of concern that it will be widened to other areas of the state and will include taxes and fees that go beyond Perry’s "vision" of transportation funding.

The Texas Local Option Transportation Act was unveiled Monday. Sponsors intend for it to put North Texas on a path toward a regional rail network and billions of dollars in road improvements starting in 2011.

Supporters released a poll this week of North Texans who signaled strong support for a regional rail system to ease pollution and traffic congestion.

In interviews last month, Perry supported creating a locally funded regional rail system in North Texas. Since then, the plan has changed and broadened, prompting Perry to give it a "lot more scrutiny," his spokeswoman Allison Castle said Thursday.

A money problem

The local-option bill would allow counties to choose different ways to finance transportation improvements and to call elections to get voter approval for the plans. Funding options include higher motor-fuels taxes, parking fees, vehicle-emissions fees, driver’s license fees and a new "impact fee" of up to $250 when cars are registered in Texas for the first time.

Perry supports the concept of paying for local projects with fees charged to users of the improvements, said Jeremiah Kuntz, his transportation adviser. But the options in the bill may be out of step with Perry’s ideas, he said.

"The governor, when looking at transportation, has consistently said he is in favor of local control, he wants to encourage competition and he wants a user-fee system of funding transportation," Kuntz said.

The legislation, he said, "tends to veer away" from user fees and relies on more traditional transportation funding, such as gas taxes and vehicle registration fees.

As for the impact fee on new residents, Kuntz said, that is "probably the furthest thing from a user fee you can get. Just by the mere fact that you’ve moved to Texas, you have to pay a fee to drive."

Also, he said, allowing a local option for fuel taxes might result in the price of gas differing greatly in neighboring counties.

North Texas legislators have said transportation is a top priority in this legislative session. Perry’s office will work with the bill’s sponsors to try to resolve disagreements, Castle said.

Meant for North Texas

State Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, the House sponsor of the bill, said a "few other areas of the state" have asked to be included in the local-option measure.

But she stressed, "The idea was born in North Texas for North Texas. We don’t want to impose this on anyone who doesn’t need it.

"We’re early in the process and we’re going to listen to anyone and everyone’s concerns and try our best to address them," Truitt said.

Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, is the Senate bill sponsor.

Strong support found

HillCo Partners, an Austin lobbying firm representing North Texas cities supporting the measure, released a poll this week showing that 85 percent of North Texans surveyed support a rail system as "the most effective method" to cut traffic congestion and pollution.

Nearly 90 percent of the respondents supported local elections to create and pay for the system. A driver’s license fee and vehicle registration fee were the top choices to pay for the rail system.

Respondents were also asked how much they would be willing to pay in higher fees or taxes to finance a rail system.

Half said they would be willing to pay $50 to $75 annually, and 35 percent said they would pay less than $50.

Fifty-three percent said they would be willing to pay 3 to 5 cents per gallon in added gas taxes to fund the project, and 63 percent said they would pay $50 or more in new driver’s license fees.

The poll, conducted Jan. 24-28, surveyed 1,600 registered voters in Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson and Tarrant counties. They are considered likely voters but otherwise were chosen at random. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 2.45 percent.
DAVE MONTGOMERY, 512-476-4294


© 2009 Fort Worth Star-Telegram: www.star-telegram.com

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