Now Fort Bend County wants to take over its part of the Grand Parkway
Following up on these posts about state Sen. Jon Lindsay's bill that would allow a county toll road authority to take over a TXDoT project to expedite construction and then transfer the property back to the state when it is complete, check out this Chronicle story about Fort Bend County trying to take over portions of the Grand Parkway:
If Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers has his way, a series of overpasses planned for the Grand Parkway through Fort Bend County would be built and managed by the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority.
Under Meyers' plan, surplus revenue from tolls would be reinvested by the county to build the parkway south of U.S. 59.
As many as 11 overpasses would be built along the Grand Parkway between Interstate 10 and U.S. 59.
[snip]
"TxDOT has been a very good partner with the two tollroads we did build. We want to maintain that relationship," Meyers said.
Meyers thinks it is possible to maintain that relationship by having the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority take over the Grand Parkway and commit to build tolled overpasses.
The surplus tolls would be used to continue building the Grand Parkway , he said.
Having the county authority maintain and continue to build the Grand Parkway would take a burden off the state, Meyers said.
The county can build the road quicker and less expensively because it doesn't have to meet all the requirements the state does, he said.
[snip]
Meyers said that TxDOT has expressed concern about having Fort Bend County operate the tolled overpasses because state funds were used to construct the existing portions of the Grand Parkway .
One issue to be resolved is whether the state would want the county to pay back the $50 million to $60 million it spent building the highway.
As Charles Kuffner points out, the main problem with toll road authorities is that municipalities have no legal avenue to do anything about a toll road authority project. TRA's practically have a build-at-will capability.
RELATED: Grand Parkway Segment C, from US 59 to SH 288.
UPDATE: This Katy Times story says that not everyone supports the move:
"This new proposal would create a convoluted mix of both tolled facilities and free roads, which is both confusing and an unecessary burden to all drivers," [State Rep. Glenn Hegar] said.
He said the conversion to a toll road is an effort to provide funding for the project and an attempt to speed up the construction timeline.
Hegar is encouraging Katy residents to attend a TxDOT meeting scheduled for 6-8 p.m. May 4 in the Cinco Ranch High School Ninth Grade Center.
"It is important that the people who live and work in Katy and Fort Bend County, and who will be affected most by this proposal, let the Department of Transportation know just how they feel about essentially be asked to pay for these highway improvements twice, first with their tax dollars and now with tolls," he said.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/13/05 02:50 PM | Print |
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