You don’t have to convince us about the current conditions of US 290 – the current congestion during peak periods is at an unacceptable level. Unfortunately it continues to get even worse with time and continued growth patterns.
We understand your frustrations and share in the existing commute challenges on this corridor. However, transportation projects do take a lengthy period to achieve the necessary approvals. We must comply with current federal laws, which are designed to protect the public’s interest, including the current Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process governed by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is being very proactive in trying to expedite the US 290 Project at both the state and federal level. The goal is to make the process move faster in a responsible manner in order to meet the demands being placed upon our infrastructure due to exploding population growth rates.
Additionally, we are in the midst of a funding crisis. While legislative actions in recent years provided new financial tools for transportation which has enabled investment of historic levels with a $5.3 Billion construction project in 2006, to improve mobility and safety across the State, we have maximized all available options to date and our project is returning to the level of a few years ago. Meanwhile more and more funds are being diverted from transportation or rescinded by the federal government while costs are increasing at dramatic levels. The end result is we are running out of money to pay for added capacity projects and must shift our focus to maintaining the existing transportation system.
The issue is not new, but continues to become more challenging:
Over the past 25 years in Texas…
- Our population increased 57%
- Use of our roads grew 95%
- State road capacity grew only 8%
- Congress transferred $7 billion in Texas gas tax payments to other states
- The state moved $10.8 billion in transportation funds to other uses
Over the next 25 years in Texas…
- Our population will increase an additional 64%
- Use of our roads will increase an additional 214%
- State road capacity will grow only an additional 6%
- Congress will transfer an additional $7.5 billion in Texas gas tax payments to other states
- The state will use an additional $13.5 billion in transportation funds for other pressing needs
We encourage you to review this publication, TxDOT Open for Business. It gives even more stats and figures, as well as lists TxDOT’s original strategy to proactively meet this significant funding challenge.
However, the funding issue has been increased by a number of factors including the impact of inflation (highway construction costs have increased 62% over the past 5 years); increased maintenance needs for an aging system; the continued movement of State transportation dollars to pay for other state priorities; higher gas prices which has decreased consumption and resulted in revenue shortfalls since the gas tax remains a constant value per gallon; and the uncertainty of federal funds (the Office of Management and Budget predicts the Federal Highway Trust Fund will go in the negative in 2009 while they have already rescinded previously promised contract authority totaling $666 Million for Texas in the last two years while we face another potential $950 Million in rescissions in 2009).
As noted, the US 290/Hempstead project has always had a proposed phased implementation in light of some of these issue as well as consideration of traffic impacts. Project Phase I will focus on the Hempstead Tollway from IH 610 out to just west of SH 6 to be implemented by our funding partner, the Harris County Toll Road Authority. TxDOT, will focus on implementation of improvements at the US 290/IH 610 Interchange at least sufficient to make the toll road and multiple intersecting highways fully functional. These are the improvements we plan to begin in FY 2011.
However, Project phase II including US 290 reconstruction and widening from W. 34th to Telge, the Hemsptead Tollway from just west of SH 6 to the proposed Grand Parkway, and Project phase III, US 290 widening from Telge to FM 2920, will be significantly impacted by the available future funding. We will not initiate Phase II construction on US 290 until after the Phase I tollway is open to avoid construction on both major roadways at the same time. However, our ability to bring relief to US 290 will depend on the timing of any available funding for ROW acquisition and construction.
We do encourage you, as you feel is appropriate, to work with local and federal elected officials and elevate any timeline and funding concerns as applicable to help us bring relief to the US 290 Corridor as expeditiously as possible.