FEB24WKSHOP - publicdocs.txdot.gov · Web viewThe substance of these rule revisions are to make...
Transcript of FEB24WKSHOP - publicdocs.txdot.gov · Web viewThe substance of these rule revisions are to make...
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TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
COMMISSION MEETING
Commission RoomDewitt Greer Building125 East 11th Street
Austin, Texas
9:11 a.m.Thursday,
February 22, 2001
COMMISSION MEMBERS:
JOHN W. JOHNSON, ChairROBERT L. NICHOLSDAVID M. LANEYRIC WILLIAMSON, appointee
STAFF:
CHARLES W. HEALD, Executive DirectorHELEN HAVELKA, Executive Assistant, Engineering Operations
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I N D E X
AGENDA ITEM: PAGE:
CONVENE MEETING.......................................6
1. DELEGATIONS a. TRAVIS AND WILLIAMSON COUNTIES Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization/ Capital Area Transportation Coalition Request construction funding for US 290 West/ SH 71 from Williamson Creek to FM 1826, US 183 South from Loyola Lane to Boggy Creek and Interstate 35 North at Greenlawn Boulevard....11
b. HARRIS COUNTY West Houston Association Request accelerated construction of Interstate 10 (Katy Freeway) from Interstate 610 to the Fort Bend County line........................39
c. VARIOUS COUNTIES Alliance for I-69 Texas Provide update on the development of this corridor from Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley through Northeast Texas to the Louisiana state line.........................................57
2. Approval of Minutes of the January 25, 2001, regular meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission and emergency meetings before the House Transportation Committee on February 6, 2001 and February 13, 2001.......................72
3. Aviation Approve funding for airport improvement projects at various locations (MO)........................73
4. Promulgation of Administrative Rules Under Title 43, Texas Administrative Code, Part I, Pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, the Government Code, Chapter 2001:
a. Final Adoption
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(1) Chapter 5 - Finance (MO) Amendments to §5.43 and §5.44 (Payment of Fees for Department Goods and Services)...74
4. Promulgation of Administrative Rules a. Final Adoption (Cont’d)
(2) Chapter 9 - Contract Management (MO) Amendments to §9.31, §§9.33-9.38 and §9.41-9.43 (Contracting for Architectural, Engineering, and Surveying Services).....75
3) Chapter 21 - Right of Way (MO) Amendments to §§21.31, 21.43, 21.44, 21.48, 21.50, 21.51, 21.53, and 21.54 (Utility Accommodation............................77
b. Rule Review In accordance with Section 9-10.13, Article IX of the General Appropriations Act, and Government Code, §2001.039, as added by Senate Bill 178, 76th Legislature, Readoption of 43 TAC Chapter 17, Vehicle Titles and Registration (MO)............................78 5. Traffic Operations Various Counties - Approve additional environmental speed limits in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (MO)...79
6. Transportation Planning a. Harris County - Approve construction of on- state system direct connectors at IH 610/Spur 548 and IH 10 with the northern and southern termini of the toll-free extension of the Hardy Toll Road, at a cost not to exceed $17,000,000, and enter into any necessary agreements with the Harris County Toll Road Authority (MO)...............................80
b. Kerr County - Advance project to replace the Hermann Sons Road bridge on the Guadalupe River to Priority 1, Category 6B, Off-State System Bridge Replacement/Rehabilitation Program, of the 2001 UTP (MO)................81
c. Various Counties - Approve adjustments to
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participation ratios for projects located in economically disadvantaged counties (MO).....82
d. Various Counties - Approve policy for limiting frontage roads on new controlled access facilities (MO)..............................80
7. State Infrastructure Bank Harris County - City of Bellaire - In accordance with 43 TAC 6.32(c), consider granting preliminary approval of an application from the City of Bellaire to borrow $3,180,000 from the State Infrastructure Bank to pay for an additional storm water trunk line within the IH 610 right of way in Bellaire (MO).........84
8. Contracts a. Award or rejection of highway improvement contracts: (1) Maintenance (MO)........................85 (2) Highway and Building Construction (MO)...87
9. Routine Minute Orders a. Speed Zones Various Counties - Establish or alter regulatory and construction speed zones on various sections of highways in the state (MO)........................................111
b. Load Zones Various Counties - Review load restrictions on various roads and bridges on the state highway system (MO).................................111
c. Highway Designation Hunt County - SH 224 and BU 67-T - Removes the designation of SH 224 from the state highway system from SH 34 to BU 67-T; and redesignates a segment of SH 224 and BU 67-T from US 69 to IH 30 as State Highway Spur 302 in Greenville (MO)........................................111
d. Right of Way Disposition, Purchase and Lease (1) Bexar County - FM 1535 - Northwest San Antonio near Loop 1604 - Consider the lease of right of way for a bridge to the abutting landowner (MO).............91
(2) Bowie County - SH 93 at US 82 in
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Texarkana - Consider the sale of a tract of surplus right of way (MO)...........111
(3) Cochran County - SH 114 south of West Grant Avenue southeast of Morton - Consider the sale of a surplus maintenance site (MO)..............................111
9. Routine Minute Orders (Cont’d.) (4) Gray County - FM 291 northwest of Alanreed - Consider the exchange of a surplus right of way easement for new right of way (MO)......................112
(5) Grayson County - SH 11 at US 69 in Whitewright - Consider the sale of a tract of surplus right of way (MO).....112
(6) Grayson County - US 69 at Eckels Lane in Whitewright - Consider the sale of a tract of surplus right of way (MO).....112
(7) Harris County - IH 610 at Buffalo Speedway in Houston - Consider the sale of access rights (MO)............................112
(8) Montgomery County - US 75 at FM 2432 in Willis - Consider the sale of a tract of surplus right of way (MO).....112
e. Eminent Domain Proceedings (1) Various Counties - Request for eminent domain proceedings on noncontrolled and controlled access highways (MO)........112
(2) Harris County - Consider the condemnation of land to be acquired for addition to the Houston District Headquarters (MO)..112
10. Executive Session Pursuant to Government Code, Chapter 551 ....................................113
OPEN COMMENT PERIOD.................................113
ADJOURN.............................................114
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P R O C E E D I N G S
MR. JOHNSON: Good morning. It is 9:11 a.m. and I
would like to call this meeting of the Texas
Transportation Commission to order. I would like to
welcome you to our February 22 meeting. It is a pleasure
to have you here this morning.
Let me note for the record that public notice of this
meeting containing all items of the agenda was filed with
the Office of the Secretary of State at 11:03 a.m. on
February 14, 2001.
Before we get started I would like to ask my
colleagues on the commission if they have any remarks or
comments they would like to make.
David Laney?
MR. LANEY: It's just nice to see the turnout. I
know we've got a number of delegations this morning, and
as many of you know, this is likely to be my last meeting,
and most of the faces are now -- I'm slow on the uptake --
but after six years they're familiar, and virtually all
those six years most of the faces have been very
supportive of our efforts, and I can't tell you how much I
appreciate it. It's made our jobs much easier and more
effective over the last six years, so I appreciate it, and
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I'll miss you guys. Thanks.
MR. JOHNSON: Robert?
MR. NICHOLS: I'd also like to thank all of you who
have taken time out of your day to come and talk about
transportation with us. Some of you traveled short
distances. Some of you have traveled long distances
across the state, and we appreciate the effort that you
have made to try to explain your needs.
And also since this is probably David's last meeting
I'd like to publicly say how much I have really enjoyed
serving with him for the last four years. He's been very
good for Texas. He's been a very back to basics kind of
leadership, but also with a vision. He's been fun to work
with and is a real class act, and, David, I really
appreciate what you've done.
(General applause.)
MR. JOHNSON: Well, David, since you broached the
subject I'm going to pile on.
Six years ago right after it was announced that
Governor Bush had named me to the commission, the first
phone call I got was from David Laney. The second,
ironically, was from a reporter, but in these past two
years David, as that first phone call showed, has been
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very helpful and very supportive, and from a personal note
I couldn't have learned as much as I did as quickly as I
have if it weren't for David's being always available in a
role -- as a quasi-mentor.
And then I look around at what has happened in these
two years not only within the department but also
statewide in the arena of transportation and
transportation planning, and I just marvel at what has
happened under his leadership, and he has been a
remarkable leader, and I think it will be exhibited over
time just how effective his service to this commission and
also to this state will be.
But, David, personal note and also from the citizens
of this great state, thank you for a job well done.
MR. LANEY: Thank you, Johnny. I appreciate it very
much.
(General applause.)
MR. JOHNSON: We have with us this morning as of
Monday named by Governor Perry as David's successor, Ric
Williamson, from Weatherford, Texas, and Ric, if you would
stand up so everybody could get familiar?
(General applause.)
MR. JOHNSON: I remember two years ago when I was
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introduced, Anne Wynne had said something about having a
bad hair day and then David said, Well, here's somebody
who's never had a bad hair day, so we welcome you and look
forward to working with you.
We have a full slate of business today, including
three delegations. Before we get into our first
delegation I notice that Senator Todd Staples has a
meeting in about 15 minutes and has asked to be able to
lead off. He's going to speak on I believe the I-69
route's behalf.
So, Senator, welcome.
SENATOR STAPLES: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I
appreciate that. Commissioner Nichols and Commissioner
Laney, it's certainly good to see you and Commissioner-
designate Williamson. We thank you for the job that you
do for Texas.
I am here today to speak on behalf of the I-69
alliance that will be making a presentation to you later
this morning. As I think about the tremendously important
job that you do and the balancing act that you have to
weigh to balance the resources to the needs that are faced
in Texas, I can only think of what a great opportunity
this is to build a new interstate in our state.
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It is a corridor that benefits not just a region of
Texas but all of Texas, and truly benefits as an
international project because of the ramifications that it
has. This project, as you know, will be a relief route
for other overly congested routes in Texas, and I think
it's just a tremendous opportunity to show what your
vision is for our state and for our country with the
implementation and the progress that can be made on I-69.
I know that there are dedicated citizens that are
carrying the load with you. They're doing their part, and
they're here today to make a presentation to you as well,
and I commend them for the cohesiveness that they have
shown so many times. It's difficult to balance the
projects that we need, but I've seen just a tremendous
gathering of individuals and resources from throughout
Texas to rank this as a top project, and I thank you for
your consideration of it this morning and thank you for
letting me get here so I can lay out a bill.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you very much.
Our first delegation represents the Capital Area
Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Capital Area
Transportation Coalition.
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TRAVIS AND WILLIAMSON COUNTIES DELEGATION
(Senator Gonzalo Barrientos, Pike Powers, Todd Baxter, Mayor Kirk Watson, Mayor Robert Stluka, Rep. Ann Kitchen)
MR. JOHNSON: Senator Gonzalo Barrientos will start
us off. Welcome, Senator, and thank you for letting
Senator Staples intervene. Commissioner Laney has pointed
out that your last few presentations before the commission
have been extraordinary in entertainment value, and we're
expecting no fall off in that regard.
(General laughter.)
SENATOR BARRIENTOS: May it please the commission,
good morning, Chairman Johnson, Commissioners Laney,
Nichols, Wes Heald. Thank you for your time and courtesy
to receive our delegation's request for funding for these
three very important highway projects for Central Texas.
Allow me a few brief words. Brief as there is a
session going on, and I will be receiving -- sitting on
the finance committee will be receiving the freshmen
senator who just spoke here a while ago, so I have to get
back there and hear his bill to see how we're going to do.
(General laughter.)
SENATOR BARRIENTOS: I also look forward as a member
of the nominations committee to quickly confirm my
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colleague -- former colleague from the House, Ric
Williamson. He's going to be a very good addition to this
important body.
Now, as the chair of CAMPO, the Capital Area
Metropolitan Planning Organization, I am pleased to tell
you that our delegation brings today 50 percent of the
funding needed for the requested projects. Now, this is
more than twice what we committed last year. These funds
include 80 percent of CAMPO's STP 4(c) funding for the
next three years.
Now, I'd like to introduce the elected officials who
are here today. If they would rise, just very briefly we
have Representative Ann Kitchen; Commissioner, Travis
County, Todd Baxter; Commissioner Travis County, Karen
Sonleitner; Hays County Commissioner Bill Burnett; our
Austin mayor, Kirk Watson; our council member for the City
of Austin, Will Wynn; Mayor Robert Stluka of Round Rock;
board chair of TTA, Pete Winstead; from our chambers Gay
Valdez, Cliff Davis, Mark Hazlewood; and I'm sure I have
missed someone, so, Pike Powers, please take up the slack.
Now the chairman of the Capital Area Transportation
Coalition, Mr. Pike Powers, who will provide the details
of our request, and by your leave, I have to get back to
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work. Thank you so much.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Senator.
(General applause.)
MR. POWERS: Chairman Johnson, Commissioners Nichols
and Laney, and Director Heald, and soon-to-be-Commissioner
Ric Williamson, my name is Pike Powers and I'm the chair
of the Capital Area Transportation Coalition, and it's our
pleasure to be back again this year. Before we start I
think on behalf of Central Texas we would like to take our
hat off to David Laney.
David, your door was always open. You always
listened. You were very thoughtful and sensitive in
everything you said to us over a number of years. I can't
tell you how much we appreciate the time and trouble you
took to spend with us, to encourage us, to nurture us, to
push us forward. So can we give you another round of
applause from all of us?
(General applause.)
MR. LANEY: Thank you, Pike. I'll send you a bill.
MR. POWERS: Well, I hope you will.
Can I ask everybody from the Central Texas
delegation -- and by the way, this includes Travis, Hays,
and Williamson County -- would everybody stand up
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representing those various groups? Thank you very much.
You can see we have a strong delegation, Mr. Chairman
and commissioners, here today to tell you again our story,
which we think is a positive, constructive, going-forward
story. We were here last year on these same three
projects. We're back with more money and more vigor and
enthusiasm than ever.
We do want to say to you and the staff that we
appreciate what you did during the last year, the access
roads on 290 West, which is the highest-ranked project of
our three. I think about 9 million got actually spent on
those endeavors, about 1.88 million as I understand it
from local funds, so thanks to you and the staff for those
efforts. We appreciate what we did get done but we've got
a lot more to do, and we're here to tell you that story
today.
We believe that Central Texas has its act together.
We have a strong delegation as you can see from the people
behind me. We bring money. We bring enthusiasm. We
bring involvement. We bring support for your activities,
and we want to go forward working with you in the future.
I think it's important that we mention the successful
local dedicated funds that we're bringing. Significantly,
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since the last time we were here we have had successful
local bond elections in both Williamson and Travis and the
City of Austin, and all of these people will be here to
talk about it. The voters of these communities have voted
and spoken, and they want the roads. They want the
mobility, and so we're here to tell you that story in
spades hopefully today.
We believe we've set new benchmarks for both the
local leveraging and hopefully also with our video, which
you'll see in just a minute. We worked hard to meet your
expectations, and we pledge to you that we'll work hard in
the future to keep up our commitments.
Do we have our projects up on the screen? I know you
have a paper in front of you with the Capital Area
Mobility that lays out these three projects. You'll see,
unlike last year when Project One was one and Project --
the other two projects were ranked two and two equally, we
have had a reallocation of priorities and tried to put the
second highest priority on 183 South that you'll hear
about in just a minute, so that's a bit of a change from
last year. That paper material is in front of you and we
would welcome any questions as we go along.
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Let me turn to our video in the interest of time. We
think you'll find this both informative and entertaining,
and we appreciate the opportunity to present it to you.
(Pause to watch video.)
MR. POWERS: We have a momento to present to
Commissioner Nichols. Given the fact that the legislative
battles are going to be fierce and tough and we're going
to need all the help we can get, so here's your helmet to
go through the battle with, Commissioner.
(General applause.)
MR. NICHOLS: That's great.
MR. POWERS: Well, we'll try to be more entertaining
next year. We're working at it.
It's my pleasure now to introduce Travis County
Commissioner Todd Baxter to present the 290 West project
and its money.
Todd, please join us.
COMMISSIONER BAXTER: Good morning, Mr. Chairman and
commissioners, Mr. Heald, and Commissioner-designate Mr.
Williamson. Thanks for having us. I think the video is
plenty to see. I think there's going to be a secondary
market for half-tracks on 290 now.
I want to thank you for hearing our delegation today.
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It is an honor to appear to you -- appear on behalf of
Travis County and as a member of the Capital Area
Metropolitan Planning Organization, and we certainly
appreciate the cooperation and assistance of the
commission in the past. We are very thankful to get the
frontage roads for 290 last presentation, and we hope to
build on that and move forward. Representative Kitchen is
also here in support of the project, and you'll be hearing
from her shortly.
But let me say that these highway improvements are
absolutely critical for improving safety, in fixing the
mobility issues, and reducing congestion. The CAMPO
policy advisory committee has committed $32.1 million from
STP(4)(c) funds to help the commission to build these
projects. As the graph shows that we have up there, this
is over 80 percent of our total STP(4)(c) funds for the
year 2003, 2004, and 2005.
This is truly an unprecedented amount of contribution
from our region, and I think is indicative of just how
committed we are to these projects.
In addition to these funds to show our strong support
for these projects Travis County has also committed $2
million towards a US 290 project, and that was recently
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approved by the voters and clearly you can see by the
voter support that was another example of how committed
our community is to this project.
All three of these projects are important to our
region and economy, but the project that received the
highest priority again by CAMPO is the Highway 290
project. Clearly this project's time has come and maybe
even be a little bit past, but certainly I think now is
the time to fully fund this project and move forward with
getting it all done.
This project would extend the existing western
terminus of the US 290 freeway from Williamson Creek to
west of 1826, as you can see on the map there. With your
help we've made this major east-west thoroughfare a
freeway from IH-35 to just west of Williamson Creek, and
that's just short of Motorola.
I know Commissioner Nichols has driven that portion
of roadway during rush hour, and as he knows and as we
have expressed before, what you really have is this
beautiful super-freeway situation where it literally slams
down to one lane. It is just causing major congestion in
the area, and I think we have a great opportunity, so
really what we need to do is continue this project beyond
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the Y in Oak Hill so we can better link the eastern and
western parts of Travis and Hays County for access to jobs
and schools, to improve safety, and to reduce congestion.
The strong community support for CAMPO's number one
priority ranking for Highway 290 West illustrates why we
believe the time has come to fully fund this project.
I'd also like to thank all the residents and
businesses of Oak Hill and the surrounding communities for
their patience and persistence. They have all been
wholeheartedly committed to this project, even when it's
meant personal sacrifice and disruption of their lives and
businesses, so I'd like to thank them very much for all
their commitment.
I'd like to thank you, Mr. Chairman and the
commissioners, on behalf of the citizens of the state, and
thank you for consideration of this very important
project. And, Commissioner Laney, we know that this is
your last meeting, and it's an honor to be here with you
at your last meeting, and I know just how much hard work
you've done for the state of Texas and how committed you
are to improving transportation opportunities for the
state of Texas, and I'd like to present you with a helmet
as well.
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We should have probably given this to you earlier so
you could wear it every once in a while when you needed
it, but I know there are times I wish I had this on 290,
so maybe I'll get one for myself too. Thank you.
MR. LANEY: Thanks, Todd.
(General applause.)
MR. POWERS: Well, for emphasis I'd just like to say
one more time we do have a number of people from Hays
County here today in support of this particular project as
well who stood earlier.
And now our distinguished mayor and Austinite of the
year as of this week, Mayor Kirk "Wheels" Watson.
(General applause.)
MAYOR WATSON: Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chairman
and commissioners. At the risk of taking too much time
but I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't say a
special thank you to you, Commissioner Laney. As a mayor
who came in during your tenure here and as a mayor who
wanted to address the transportation needs of my
community, I always found you to be someone that was ready
to help me and to help educate about different ways we
might achieve those results, so I want to say a special
thank you on this day.
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MR. LANEY: I appreciate it.
MAYOR WATSON: The other thing I want to say is that
we sincerely appreciate the funding that has occurred for
different projects in this area over the past couple of
years and last year as you've already been -- as people
have said already. And you've all heard it before. In
fact you heard it in the video, but I want to emphasize
one of the points, and that is that the population of this
area, while it's been growing extraordinarily rapidly in
the past couple of years, it's expected to double -- the
population is expected to double in the next 20 years, and
you folks know how bad the congestion is in this area
already because you're many times caught in the very same
traffic that we're caught in.
So we have the conditions we have now. You have in
addition to that the growing population over the next 20
years. We need to start paying attention to where we're
going to be 20 years from now.
And one of the points I most would like to stress is
the link between what is a very healthy state economy in
the Austin-Round Rock-Central Texas' region's economy.
This region is a vital part of the state of Texas'
technology-driven economy, and it has to be supported with
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safe and efficient transportation infrastructure in order
to sustain the healthy economy, not just here but in the
state as a whole.
These highways are needed because they make good
economic business sense. Let me give you some statistics.
According to the Texas Workforce Commission from 1990 to
1999 Travis County employment has increased by almost 71
percent. Now, just by way of comparison and just to put
it in perspective, Dallas and Harris County employment
levels increased by 30 percent and 23 percent respectively
in that same time period.
The pattern is even more pronounced for the suburban
counties, Williamson and Hays, which as you know surround
Travis County. The jobs in those communities have
exploded by over 107 percent and 142 percent. And again,
by way of comparison to Collin and Fort Bend counties, the
increase was 102 percent and 87 percent respectively.
The Austin region's dynamic economy is directly
linked to the state's economy, as I've said. Our growth
contributes to the state's growth, and as our workforce is
expanded significantly we're feeling the effects on our
transportation system.
My job today is to tell you a few words about US 183.
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We're particularly interested in the grade separation of
the two remaining stoplights on US 183. As you all know,
in previous years there has been money put forth to take
out some of those stoplights, but we're down to the
remaining two stoplights on US 183. One is at Loyola Lane
and the other is at Technicenter Drive.
What this would do is it would complete a nonstop
route from Cedar Park to Austin-Bergstrom International
Airport. It would also in my view provide some relief on
Interstate 35. In my opinion this roadway improvement is
essential for us to have any sort of effective multimodal
transportation system.
We're cognizant of the funding at TxDOT and the
shortage TxDOT has in terms of money, so I'm pleased to
report that the City of Austin is contributing $13.7
million to help with the construction costs, and as you
can see from the graphic, the addition of that to the
overall amount of money that is being brought forward.
I would also like to point out that I'm very proud
that the citizens of the City of Austin back in November
passed $150 million bond election to help us, 90 million
of which is set aside for help on different projects in
terms of right of way and matching funds. We also
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recognize that for the foreseeable future this local
financial participation is going to be extremely
important, and it's become a way of life, and so the City
of Austin I think stands ready to be a part of all these
projects.
Again, thank you for all you do for the state of
Texas. Thank you all for all that you have done for the
capital area, and I have another helmet that I want to
give out, and I'm going to give this to Chairman Johnson,
and you may wonder why we have so many helmets. Here in
the City of Austin when the legislature is in session we
buy them in bulk, so --
(General applause.)
MR. POWERS: Thank you, Mayor.
We've been joined in the last few minutes by Travis
County Commissioner Ron Davis. I know he strongly
supports this project as well and would like to say just a
word.
COMMISSIONER DAVIS: Good morning. How are you doing
this morning?
Listen, commissioners. We really do need some
relief. I live in this area. This particular area is in
my precinct, and on Loyola Lane in the morning and the
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evening folks coming out of those neighborhoods are just
at a standstill because they have to compete with the
traffic that's already on 183 South going toward the
airport.
Technicenter Drive is the same scenario. You have
Motorola sitting there. You have other companies, Fed-Ex,
in other areas that are there. In fact, we have a new
subdivision coming in right off Technicenter Drive, which
people are going to need access. They're going to be
competing at those traffic lights with the way the traffic
is now flowing down 183 South toward the airport, so I'm
really encouraging you to please go forth, fund us. We
need the funding. We are doing everything we possibly can
to ensure that people are made safe.
And again, thank you very much, and let's relieve
some of this congestion on 183 South. Thank you very
much. Have a good day.
MR. POWERS: Thank you, Commissioner.
It's now my pleasure to present the mayor of Round
Rock, Mayor Robert Stluka. He has no nickname he tells
me.
MAYOR STLUKA: Not that I'm willing to share with
anyone here.
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Chairman Johnson, commissioners, Mr. Heald, thank you
very much to give us this opportunity to make this
presentation.
And I must also take this opportunity, Commissioner
Laney, to say thank you to you, thank you to what you've
given the state of Texas and what you have given
transportation in the state of Texas. I certainly want to
thank you for your guidance and perseverance. I think it
was three sessions ago that Pete Winstead and I and you
walked the halls of the capitol when we were putting the
Texas Turnpike Authority together, legislation that
granted that, and I learned a lot at that time and I
appreciate all your perseverance as well during that time.
Last year we appeared before you with a request to
fund the Greenlawn interchange, and it's an integral part
to our overall regional transportation plan, and as the
graphic above you shows, it is an integral part to
connecting a loop around the major intersection of 1325
and 35, not only to serve the Dell needs of
transportation, but that whole area has now become a major
development for us in South Round Rock and the southern
end of Williamson County.
Today I am pleased to report that Round Rock has
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completed its construction of Greenlawn Boulevard and
TxDOT has also completed the ramp onto Greenlawn
Boulevard, and daily we are seeing an increasing number of
vehicles using the street and reducing the usage of the
highly congested intersection of 1325 and I-35.
As I am sure you know, we are in negotiations with
TxDOT to determine the final construction of that
particular bridge at that intersection, and we too have
pledged -- and as we have pledged before, we stand ready
to fund up to $5 million for that particular interchange.
We're here today truly as a part of a regional effort
because it is important to us in Round Rock, just as it is
in the City of Austin, Williamson County, and Travis
County to seeing these projects completed to be able to
move our people around more efficiently, more effectively,
and most important, more safely.
So thank you again for your consideration of this
presentation today, in particular in my case the Greenlawn
interchange, and we certainly look forward to a
groundbreaking very soon.
And last but not least, Mr. Heald, we have a helmet
for you as well. It's my understanding that Dell issues
these pretty much as standard equipment for all their
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employees that have to drive through that intersection.
(General applause.)
MR. POWERS: Mr. Chairman, commissioners, it's my
pleasure since she ran on the campaign slogan of putting a
Kitchen in the House to introduce to you our state
representative, Ann Kitchen, to say a few words.
(General applause.)
REPRESENTATIVE KITCHEN: Thank you. I want to
reiterate what Commissioner Todd Baxter has said to you
already about 290 West because it is so important to us as
the first item in our ranking, and also to my constituents
in Oak Hill.
So as you know, US 290 West has been a long-term
project for the past 20 years, and as you can see by the
turnout and determination of our audience, has the strong
support of people throughout Oak Hill and the counties
that feed into that area.
You know that -- I want to reiterate that this
project would benefit people not only in Travis County but
also Hays County to the southwest and Blanco and Burnet
counties to the west. US 290 and SH 71 are used by people
from all four counties to commute to Austin for work and
shopping and recreation.
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So I know you are aware of this but I just want to
reiterate that as the roadway currently exists we have
traffic on a multilane freeway that funnels down and slams
to a halt, dead-ending into a single lane. Not only does
this create severe traffic congestion -- it backs up for a
mile and a half -- but also presents a very dangerous
situation as people come up over that hill and slam to a
halt.
Construction of freeway main lanes, frontage roads,
and an interchange with SH 71 would increase the capacity,
help alleviate traffic congestion, and provide safer
transportation. Most of the right of way in this freeway
section has already been purchased, and with our region
contributing a considerable portion of the cost, now is
the time to complete 290, and I thank you for your
consideration.
(General applause.)
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.
MR. POWERS: Thank you, Ann.
Do we have any other elected public officials that --
Karen Sonleitner, one of the Travis County commissioners,
is with us.
Did you want to say anything, Karen?
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COMMISSIONER SONLEITNER: We appreciate your support.
MR. POWERS: Thank you for being here with us.
I would also like to recognize, Mr. Chairman and
commissioners, Tiffiny Britton is here from Senator
Ogden's staff, as well as Joe Morris from Senator
Wentworth's staff. We appreciate their involvement and
participation today.
Well, thanks for the time. We're out of time, but
thanks for giving us this time.
David, thanks for the memories in the past. We look
forward to working with you in the future, and Ric, we
very much want to work with you in the future and look
forward to telling you the stories in a meaningful way.
You've got a good guy seated right to your left. Just
listen and do whatever he tells you to do.
In wrap-up -- and I know we are out of time, Chairman
Johnson -- we did want to put one graphic up before you
just to demonstrate how far we've really come, and that as
you will see reflects the fact that we've gotten $32.1
million from CAMPO, $2 million from Travis County, $13.7
million from the City of Austin, and $3 million from the
City of Round Rock.
We applaud all these local jurisdictions for their
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attempts to raise almost $52.8 million for these projects.
We've just about made 50 percent. We're at 49.99 percent,
so it looks like we're a little bit shy. Is it $29 that
we're shy. We'll have this extra $29 so we can make sure
that we get to 50 percent. Here it is. $29.
(General applause.)
MR. POWERS: Well, you guys were good guys to be in a
foxhole with. We want to win this war and we want to work
with you, so thanks for having us today, and if you've got
any questions of any of our delegation, we'd be glad to
receive them.
Thank you very much.
MR. JOHNSON: Any questions, Robert or David?
MR. LANEY: My comment is looking at that last
graphic you put up from where you were five years ago, you
really have come a long way. My compliments to all of you
for the combined efforts of this part of the state, which
is a terrific regional effort. My hat's off to you.
MR. POWERS: Thanks.
MR. LANEY: But a note to Johnny, be sure and count
what's in that --
(General laughter.)
MR. POWERS: Don't worry. We counted it before we
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put it in there. Thank you very much. We look forward to
being back.
MR. JOHNSON: I think Robert --
MR. NICHOLS: Well, I really had some comments more
than questions.
MR. POWERS: Okay.
MR. NICHOLS: We went over it pretty thoroughly
yesterday in our meeting, and I appreciate that. When we
met yesterday I tried every way in the world to get a
glimpse of the video. They wouldn't give it to me.
But for those of you from the area who may not know
some of the things that were asked of your elected
officials, we had asked over the years that the community
figure out a way to step forward with a vesting into some
of these projects to show a strong support. Honestly, we
don't have enough money to build a lot of these projects,
and you have done that. You have stepped very -- a big
step forward in putting up the money including the last
$29, but it is a huge step for the area, and I know it's
taken a lot of work to do that.
We also ask you to, as a region, try to establish
priorities. There are so many projects that need to be
built in this area that trying to figure out which ones
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are the most important is a very difficult thing for your
communities to sit down and do that, and if you can't sit
down and do it yourself you can imagine the problem we
would have. And they have done that, so we asked you to
do that, you did that.
We also asked you to try to, as you did this process,
to end up with a communitywide support of the action you
have taken, and you have done that. So you have done
absolutely everything that we have asked you to do. My
hat's off to you. My compliment to your leadership and to
the community. I wish I'd had this helmet two days ago at
the legislature, but I appreciate it now.
Thank you.
(General applause.)
MR. JOHNSON: My observations are much along that
same line. I think that you're a prime example of what
can be done by working together. So often we see areas
that have not organized and do not work together, and they
have much more difficulty in getting things done, and
my -- I salute you. I would take off this hat, but it's
too heavy.
It's a prime example of what can be done, and you
ought to be congratulated.
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Secondly, as Robert mentioned, you brought
considerable leverage to these projects, and it's almost
to the point that it's a deal that we can't refuse.
Hopefully we can't -- better go back and tell them I
tried.
(General applause.)
MR. LANEY: He said almost to the point.
MR. JOHNSON: We do have some controlling factors,
obviously, and those are our budgetary numbers, but I
think you have done, as Robert has said, as much as
possibly could be asked of you, and hopefully we can do
our part also.
Thirdly, I'm a little bit saddened to think that if
you get all of this, the next video might not be able to
compare with entertainment value of this one, but as
Robert also said I know there are many projects that
remain undone and unfunded, and so I'm confident we'll see
and hear from you more, but I do want to congratulate you
on the presentation.
Before we take a brief recess I've been advised
there's several members of the House of Representatives
here who would like to come forward and be heard. They
have very tight and busy schedules, and we're grateful
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that they are here. And I'm going to start, ladies first,
with Representative Beverly Woolley. Then Gary Elkins and
William Callegari are all going to speak on Interstate 10,
and then Jim McReynolds on I-69.
So Representative Woolley?
REPRESENTATIVE WOOLLEY: Good morning, Chairman
Johnson, my friend and constituent; Commissioner Nichols,
my campaign buddy from California when we were working for
our good governor; and Commissioner Laney.
I too want to thank you for your service. Texas is
really fortunate to have the caliber of people like you
three men here willing to serve the state, and we are all
deeply grateful for your service.
And to my former colleague in the House, welcome,
congratulations, I look forward to working with you.
I am here on behalf of the West Houston Association
and their plea to move the project for I-10 up to priority
1 status. I have to drive this personally, and I drew the
black bean this session. I have an eight o'clock Monday
morning committee meeting, so I left home at about ten
minutes after 5:00 a.m. last week, and I was shocked at
the number -- at the amount of traffic at that point of
the morning both ways. It's amazing.
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I know that it is crowded and it's a parking lot 11
hours a day. It's 340 percent over capacity, and we need
help desperately. I know it's a big project. We would
like to see it start by 2003 and be completed by 2009, if
I've got the dates correct.
Whatever we can do to help on that, I'm willing to
try. I wish we could borrow Travis County's video and
show it again. It was wonderful. I think -- we don't
have the video but we've got the same problems, and they
are extremely acute. So we plead with you, we ask for
your help, and let us know what we can do, but I do hope
you take this into every consideration.
Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Representative.
Representative Elkins.
REPRESENTATIVE ELKINS: Thank you. Thank you,
Chairman Johnson and commissioners.
I'm going to say ditto to what Beverly said, but just
add a couple of points. One is, as you are all aware, we
have a tremendous air quality issue in Houston, and part
of the air quality issue is that the cars are all parked
on I-10, and so we need help desperately, and we are going
to urge you to make I-10 a priority 1 this session, and we
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don't want to wait until 2003 to start. We want to start
next week if possible.
We were all amused at the movie presentation, and
during the movie presentation I saw Winston Churchill give
his speech about victory at all costs, which reminded me
about a famous speech that he gave at a college
graduation, which went simply like this. And if I
remember right no graduate that year forgot the speech.
It was simply, Never give up, never give up, never,
never, never give up. And Chairman and commissioners,
from the West Houston delegation of Harris County we are
never, never, never going to give up until I-10 is a
priority 1 and completed.
Thank you very much.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.
Representative Callegari, welcome.
REPRESENTATIVE CALLEGARI: Thank you very much. I
appreciate the opportunity to talk to you this morning.
My district is 130 and it consists of the area
basically from the -- it includes I-10 from Eldridge to
the Fort Bend County line at Katy. Quite often the
question that's asked me more often than anything else is
what can you do to fix I-10? Every time I meet a
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constituent it seems like somebody wants to know about
that.
I-10 as you know is a mess. It's a real problem. I
live in Katy and every time I go downtown or to the
Galleria or anywhere east of Katy it takes considerably
longer than it used to.
I can remember a few years ago when I could get
anywhere close to downtown in 45 minutes. Now it takes a
minimum of an hour and a half and sometimes two hours if
I'm in peak traffic time. And I-10 is a problem not only
during the week but on the weekends as well.
The biggest problem that I see with I-10, other than
the obvious advantages that we would have if we -- as we
get it fixed of reducing air pollution and moving the
traffic is we -- as I travel around the country and around
the state I hear a lot of Houston bashing, and while
that's bad for Houston it's bad for the entire state,
because as people look at relocating businesses or look at
moving offices into the Houston area if they keep hearing
how bad the traffic is -- and they don't distinguish
between Houston and Dallas and Austin or anything else.
They just hear that traffic in Texas is bad -- it
translates to a situation I think hurts our economic
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development.
I urge you very strongly to put I-10 into priority 1,
let us get the funding, let us move on. It's going to be
tough as construction's going on. The longer we wait the
harder it is. If we don't start moving dirt and making
things happen we're going to have a problem that's going
to be almost insurmountable. We need your help. Please
help us.
Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Representative.
Representative McReynolds, the professor from East
Texas. Welcome.
REPRESENTATIVE McREYNOLDS: It's so nice to be in
front of you today, and in a little while you'll be having
a hearing on the I-69 corridor, and I thank you for
accommodating my time and it's a joy to be with you.
I know that building 1,100 miles of an interstate
corridor traversing 36 counties is no little project. By
the same token I know that you guys have been bold in this
building named after Billy Greer, and you know what a
challenge is, and I thank you for standing up to that
challenge.
I'd like to thank you for the jump-start that you've
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given to the program already by directing monies to
commence our environmental impact studies and our routing
studies along this corridor. I'm particularly pleased and
possessive of the fact that my region housed over in
Angelina County has really gotten out ahead on this
project, and I'd also like to say thank you very much for
being sensitive to assist with the mobility in the
existing corridor.
I had my staff pull up yesterday through this new
project management database just to see what you're doing
in that corridor already, and it's awesome. And I read
somewhere that there's already in terms of normal planning
122 projects that we have scheduled in this I-69 corridor.
I want to thank you and I want to thank our friends
with the Alliance for I-69 Texas in keeping us in Texas in
tandem with Washington. They're going to go next week I
believe or week after next, and we're going to try our
best to see U.S. drive dollars into this project as well.
Well again, thank you for this project that maybe
we'll see in our lifetime and certainly will be wonderful
for our children and children yet unborn. Thank you so
much for letting me testify.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Representative.
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We will take a short recess to let those who would
like to get back to commerce and industry to do so, and
any others who want to enter may do so. The operative
word is short, so we stand in recess.
(Whereupon, a short recess was taken.)
MR. JOHNSON: Our second delegation this morning
comes to us from the Houston area. I believe Roger Hord
with the West Houston Association, will begin the
presentation.
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HARRIS COUNTY DELEGATION
(Rep. Gary Elkins, Rep. William A. Callegari, Roger Hord, Lynn Grafing, Senator Jon Lindsay, Wallace Henley)
MR. JOHNSON: Roger, welcome.
MR. HORD: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Commissioner and
members of the commission.
Mr. Heald, thank you very much for receiving our
delegation. We have a very -- what we hope to be quick
and short and punchy enough presentation that we'll get in
and out real quick.
I want to introduce two people who are going to be
making our main presentation, then we'll have some
representatives of -- a representative from John
Culberson's office and Talmadge Heflin's office.
MR. JOHNSON: Roger, could I interrupt you?
MR. HORD: Yes.
MR. JOHNSON: I have made an egregious error. There
are two representatives that have compressed schedules and
need to --
MR. HORD: Absolutely.
MR. JOHNSON: -- speak. Representative Hawley and
Representative Morrison, if I haven't run you off by not
recognizing you, would you please come forward? And I
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apologize. I know your time is critical and you need to
return to the other side of the street, and so welcome
whoever wants to go first.
Representative Hawley?
REPRESENTATIVE HAWLEY: For the record, I'm Judy
Hawley. Thank you. If you hold us here a long time we
won't go do damage over there, so it may be in your best
interest.
MR. JOHNSON: We'll remember that.
REPRESENTATIVE HAWLEY: There you go.
I would just like to speak on the I-69 project and
just add my voice of total support for that. I just
attended a Mexican-American caucus meeting before coming
over here, and one of the things they were talking about
was sort of a Marshall Plan for the border, and a very
integral part of that is having these international
gateways, and I lend my full support to that.
As you know, the projected I-69 corridor goes through
eleven senatorial districts, 48 House districts. You're
going to have widespread support from obviously the Texas
delegation. Thirty-four counties, huge economic impact,
and I just urge you to do -- implore you to do whatever
you can to help us draw down those federal funds to make
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it a reality, and to know that you have a group here
working, which has been in place for some seven years,
working to make this dream a reality.
So just adding my support to that. A tremendous
expense for the state of Texas but as we lobby for those
federal funds, those billions of dollars we'll need to
make that happen, know that we're with you. We'll work
with you. We will do whatever we have to from the Texas
legislative standpoint to help draw down those funds and
to expedite this project.
So thank you very much for letting us appear before
you today, and I'll turn this over to my wonderful
colleague, Geanie Morrison.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.
REPRESENTATIVE MORRISON: Good morning. Good to see
you this morning.
As Judy said, I-69 will be very vital to continued
economic development of not only my district, District 30,
but South Texas as a whole. The infrastructure in our
area has developed in a manner that can both stimulate and
maintain a growing economy in our area. Due to the
accessibility of four of the five major metropolitan
areas, my district, District 30, which includes Victoria,
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DeWitt, Goliad, and Lavaca counties has the distinct honor
already of being called the crossroads of Texas.
In addition, our close proximity to the ports and to
the plants make District 30 and this area a very unique
environment capable of accommodating a wide variety of
business and industry. And of course I'm here in support
of I-69 and as you know, my county judge, Helen Walker, is
helping to lead the charge, and I certainly support her
and all that she's doing and encourage you -- as Judy said
we are here to help make this a reality, and anything that
we can do within the legislative process, we're here to
offer our support and our help to make that a reality.
Thank you so much for having us.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Representative.
Roger, before you were so rudely interrupted by the
chair -- please continue, and I apologize.
MR. HORD: No problem at all.
What I was going to say is this presentation we're
going to make updates on one we gave to the commission in
April 1999. I want to first introduce Rose Hernandez,
who's representing County Judge Robert Eckels, and then
following Rose will be Lynn Grafing, the chairman of the
West Houston Association.
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MS. HERNANDEZ: Good morning, commissioners. I'm
deeply honored to be here before you representing --
actually in two capacities. I'm here on behalf of Judge
Eckels representing the alliance of I-69 and the I-10
group as well.
First of all, I'd like to if I may read this letter
on behalf of Judge Eckels concerning the Katy Freeway.
"Commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to
reaffirm the Houston-Galveston region's support of the
efforts to expedite reconstruction and improvements of
Interstate 10 West, the Katy Freeway. I offer the
following remarks as chairman of the Transportation Policy
Council, the metropolitan planning organization for the
eight-county Houston-Galveston region and as county judge
for its largest county, Harris County.
"Interstate 10 West, known as the Katy Freeway,
accommodates more vehicles per lane per day than any
comparable facility in the state. Moreover, its pavement
and structures have long exceeded normal designed life.
Routine maintenance alone cannot adequately ensure
serviceable pavements. The deployment of transportation
management measures such as HOV lanes have improved
corridor mobility but reduced lane width and all but
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eliminated inside and outside shoulders.
"Increasing development pressures to the west of
Houston and the continued rapid growth of goods movement
in this international trade corridor produce the region's
most extended periods of bidirectional traffic congestion.
Intensive traffic use and reduced design standards coupled
with inadequate corridor drainage leave the facilities
susceptible to major traffic bottlenecks as a consequence
of minor incidents or inclement weather.
"Therefore, the reconstruction and improvement of
this corridor is of highest regional and state priority.
"In 1999 the Transportation Policy Council took the
unprecedented step of pledging $256 million in federal
funding and surface transportation funds and congestion
mitigation air quality funds to reconstruction and
improvement of the Katy Freeway. I urge the commission to
complete its commitment to implementation of these
improvements as soon as possible.
"Thank you for your continued partnership in
improving mobility, safety, and environmental quality in
the Houston-Galveston region. Sincerely, Robert Eckels,
chairman of the Transportation Policy Council."
And in the judge's behalf we just want to continue
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your support and thank Chairman Laney for all he's done in
the past. Thank you, gentlemen.
MR. GRAFING: Thank you, Commissioner Johnson, and
fellow commissioners for the opportunity to be here this
morning.
My name is Lynn Grafing and I'm the board chair for
the West Houston Association. We're a business group who,
among other things, promotes infrastructure improvements
in the West Houston area, and in the 21 years of our
organization's existence we think this may be the most
important issue that we've addressed, and that is the
reconstruction of the Katy Freeway.
Roger mentioned also that we specifically would like
to ask this morning for priority 1 status on this project,
and I'll get into that a little bit more in a moment.
The Katy Freeway has a reputation around Houston as
being one of the most dangerous and congested freeways in
Texas, and today we want to focus on three major areas.
One, the need for quick action, the current status of the
project, and our delegation's request to you, which I
alluded to just previously.
The need for reconstruction is obvious to most of the
folks who drive the Katy Freeway daily, truck drivers,
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commuters, and others. They're concerned that the
construction has been delayed and that the construction
period is longer than it should be. We want to focus on
about 21 miles of the Katy Freeway, from Loop 610 out to
the Fort Bend County line.
This is extremely congested. As you can see,
vehicles per day are about 260 percent above capacity on
that section, and on an individual lane about 340 percent
over capacity -- beyond congestion capacity. Much of the
time this section operates at level of service E or worse
in terms of congestion. Congestion occurs eleven hours
per day over the entire length of this section in both
directions during the weekday and on weekends, and the
cost of this delay due to congestion has been calculated
at about 100 million.
The Katy Freeway also operates at the margins of
safety because of high traffic volumes and the inability
of the design to accommodate that volume.
It's also a major interstate for commerce. Movement
of goods is limited by the severe local congestion in the
West Houston area.
Let me talk about the current status for just a
moment. The people who work and do business in Houston
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are concerned about the delay in the start of the project
and the length in the construction schedule, and their
concern is that there is going to be impact on economic
development and quality of life in West Houston.
We have very strong local commitment, as you can see,
to this project. To date about $317 million have been
pledged. That's about 26 percent of the funding for the
project. When you add the other sources that have been
committed, we have about 42 percent of the funding we
believe committed for this project.
But we are asking for action by the commission now to
designate this as a priority project. We're concerned
about the delays, the high cost, the limited cash flow
that's available for projects like this, and competition
from other projects in addition to TxDOT's piecemeal
development of these large projects can all contribute to
those delays.
The local TxDOT office has identified an aggressive
schedule for completion of this project, which we endorse
and many other business groups in Houston. It calls for
an initial letting of two major portions of the project in
2003, primarily based on that local funding that I
mentioned, and bidding the remaining sections by 2006. By
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doing so the project could be completed before the 2010
estimate.
We also are concerned that using the traditional
methods for development of this project construction could
likely extend to 12 to 15 years based on experience with
similar projects in the Houston area. Just a four-year
delay in this project could result in additional costs of
up to $65 million. Travel time cost to the public could
amount to 85 million, cost of acquiring right of way could
increase about 6 percent per year.
In summary, the local community recognizes this is an
important project and have committed an unprecedented
level of support. We're concerned that delayed
construction and a protracted construction schedule would
impact the economic development, and we would like to
respectfully request, as was done by Mayor Lee Brown and
County Judge Robert Eckels in 1999 that the commission
move this entire project to priority 1 status.
We'd also like to respectfully request that you urge
TxDOT to commit to the aggressive schedule mentioned
earlier, and in return you can count on us to continue to
work at all levels to look for innovative approaches to
dealing with the funding gap that we still have in place
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and working cooperatively to complete this project.
Thank you very much for the opportunity. We want to
recognize the hard work that you do, the difficult
priorities that you have to manage, and the limited funds
to get these projects done, but we assure you we're going
to do our part.
Thank you.
MR. HORD: We have been joined by Senator Lindsay,
whose district is bisected by this project.
Senator.
MR. JOHNSON: Senator, welcome.
SENATOR LINDSAY: Thank you, and thank you, Roger.
And, David, is this going to be the last time we see
you at this table?
MR. LANEY: Yes.
SENATOR LINDSAY: Well, thank you for serving the
time that you did. It's been great.
MR. LANEY: Thank you for all the support.
Appreciate it.
SENATOR LINDSAY: And it's all been said, and I'm not
going to say it over again, but needless to say we in the
community believe this is the most important project we
have in our neighborhood, and I think you believe that as
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well, having talked to you all about it from time to time.
I wanted to reassure you that you have my support,
and you will continue having my support in trying to get
adequate funds to do what needs to be done. I'm even
going to introduce some controversial things that says you
guys get more money at the expense of additional taxes,
which is not popular among some of my colleagues, but it
needs to be put on the table and discussed, and I'm
willing to do that. Might call for a referendum to prove
that there is community support out there for your efforts
to build more and better roads in the state of Texas.
And there's a lot of projects I know that need to be
done. I hear about them all the time. We've got more
than one in my district and my area. Certainly I am most
interested in this project, but I'm also interested in the
Grand Parkway, would like to see Interstate -- I-69 get to
the point where we know where it's going through our area,
because I think it will be a great benefit.
And I understand all the problems associated with it,
but I want you to know that I do support it, and I support
these people as well. I want them to know that I'm here.
I'm out of breath getting over here. I've got to run
back. But thanks again for your time, and thanks again
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for your service.
MR. LANEY: Senator, I appreciate the support. Thank
you very much.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Senator.
MR. HORD: I have several letters from the
legislators that I will leave. I won't bother to read
them now, but one's from Representative Charlie Howard and
the other one's from Senator Buster Brown.
Mr. Henley, would you like to come to the podium?
This is -- Wallace Henley represents John Culberson.
MR. HENLEY: Thank you, Mr. Hord, and Chairman
Johnson, commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to
speak today on behalf of United States Representative John
Culberson, for whom I have the privilege of serving as
district director.
I express very much his appreciation for the thought
and consideration that you've already given to this
project, and for the opportunity you extend us to interact
on this very crucial issue. We're cognizant -- the
congressman is cognizant of the partnership that will be
required to accomplish this huge project and your very
important role in it, and I have today a letter from the
congressman that with your permission I would like to read
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and then distribute a copy to each member of the
commission.
"Dear commissioners: On behalf of the 700,000-plus
citizens in Congressional District 7, I want to request
once again that the commissioners take whatever action is
necessary to accelerate the reconstruction of Interstate
10, the Katy Freeway, in Harris County.
"Progress on the freeway appears to have fallen
behind schedule. Deadlines have been missed, and it is
very difficult to get precise information on progress and
impossible to get a timetable on which taxpayers can rely
on the agencies to keep. I know you and all the
commissioners share my concern for improving mobility for
our citizens.
"Traffic congestion is intolerable on the Katy
Freeway. The constant freeway gridlock causes
immeasurable damage to Houston's economic vitality,
subtracts an untold number of irreplaceable hours from
family and work time of west Houston residents, and
threatens the health and safety of citizens who need to
reach a hospital but cannot because of a traffic jam.
"On November 10, 2000, when Chairman Johnny Johnson
and I met to discuss this project, I was heartened by his
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understanding of the situation and his concurring belief
that the Katy Freeway expansion should have a Texas
Transportation Commission top priority status.
"Since that meeting I have been working nonstop at
the federal level to acquire new additional federal
funding for the Katy Freeway expansion. I have met with
Senator Phil Gramm, Congressman Tom DeLay, and House
Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young as well as
numerous members of those committees and the
Appropriations Committee. All have pledged their support
for the project and offered their assistance in securing
funds.
"However, each time I explain the critical need for
funds the first question I am asked is, Does the Texas
Transportation Commission consider this project a
priority? I cannot answer that question properly because
I have no tangible proof that I-10 is a top priority of
the commission.
"I therefore urge the commission to move the entire
Katy Freeway expansion project to a priority 1 status,
issue a news release to that effect, and take whatever
other action is necessary to accelerate its completion.
Every day that I represent District 7 in Congress, I will
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take action in some form to accelerate the completion of
I-10. I will not rest until I have done everything in my
power to open this nightmarish freeway as fast as humanly
possible.
"This project is my highest legislative priority, and
I look forward to working with you to help remove every
impediment to its rapid completion. Sincerely yours, John
Culberson."
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, commissioners.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.
MR. HORD: Next we have a representative from
Representative Talmadge Heflin's office.
MR. WELCH: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members,
Commissioner Heald. For the record I'm Matt Welch and I'm
with Representative Talmadge Heflin's office.
Mr. Heflin is not submitting any written comments
today because he's been too busy with you all week, but we
just wanted to state for the record our interest in this
project, and also the I-69 alliance. He is supportive of
that.
This -- the Katy Freeway expansion is one we feel is
a critical need at this time, and there's probably nothing
I can tell you that you don't already know or haven't
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heard, but just know of our support.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to address
you this morning.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.
MR. HORD: By my watch we're giving you back five
minutes. Thank you for your attention. This is a
critical project for us.
MR. JOHNSON: That's obviously an impressive group of
presenters, and I think I speak for the commission that
obviously I-10, as I deal with it every day sometimes more
than once, is known to all of us in terms of its
importance not only to the Houston community but also the
entire state as a trade route and as a major corridor, and
problems are well known, and I think you can rest assured
that it's going to get our highest attention.
MR. HORD: Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON: Any other observations? David.
MR. LANEY: Johnny may be a little reluctant to say
it, being from Houston. I'm from the North Texas area,
Roger, as you know, and we have a number of very important
projects, but nothing in the state is as important from a
project standpoint in my judgment as the Katy Freeway and
I-10 West. Nothing is.
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We have economic -- financial constraints, as you
know, and we have overhanging this entire thing as you
know also the air quality nonattainment issue that could
take the fate of this project totally out of our hands and
out of our control. We also have legislation that Johnny
and Robert are trying their best to shepherd through
effectively that would enhance our ability to finance
projects like this with bonds.
I don't know the fate of that. So we've got a number
of moving parts, some of which work directly against us,
and some of which could work very effectively in favor of
our effectively moving this thing forward on a much more
accelerated basis than usual.
But if there is any doubt about the commission's
perspective on this project I think hearing the three of
us today should dispel any concerns that this is at least
among if not the most important projects in the state to
move forward, but it's got enormous challenges in front of
it, and we need help.
MR. NICHOLS: Just to make sure you did hear all
three of us, I'm going to reaffirm basically what they
both said. It is one of the highest priority projects in
the state from our vantage point, and we're going to do
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absolutely everything we can to see that it does become a
reality at some point.
MR. HORD: We appreciate it very much, and on behalf
of the West Houston Association and others in the Houston
area we commit to doing whatever we can to make this a
project that you really can't say no to, so -- and we want
to thank you for your help in the past.
And, David, good luck. Thank you.
MR. LANEY: Thank you, Roger. I appreciate the
support.
MR. JOHNSON: As all of our presenting delegations
are well aware, we do not make decisions on the spot
relative to the requests that the delegations make, but
they in each case present a very good picture of what's
going on in communities across the state, and they go a
long way to clarifying in our minds just how important
meeting those challenges are.
We're going to take a very slight, short recess so
the West Houston people can vacate, and we'll stand in
recess for just a brief period of time.
(Whereupon, a short recess was taken.)
MR. JOHNSON: Before we get to our third delegation I
would like to mention the backbone of TxDOT is contained
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in its 25 district engineers, and I see, I believe, at
least two of them here have come great distances to be
with I presume their delegations: Billy Parks from Corpus
Christi and Gary Trietsch from our Houston district are
here, and I cannot tell you how good a job these gentlemen
do.
I believe John Kelly from San Antonio is here, and on
behalf of the commission, congratulations and thanks for
all the work you do for your district, but it all adds up
to great work for this state.
Our third delegation is the Alliance for I-69 Texas,
and I would like to welcome Victoria County Judge Helen
Walker.
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VARIOUS COUNTIES DELEGATION
(Judge Helen Walker, Judge John Thompson, Mayor Louis Bronaugh)
JUDGE WALKER: Thank you, Chairman Johnson, and
members of the commission. We're appreciative of the
opportunity to be here today to discuss the status and
path forward for the development of Texas' newest
interstate, I-69.
I'm Helen Walker, the county judge of Victoria
County. I'm here today as chairman of the Alliance for
I-69 Texas. This is a coalition of public and private
sector leaders from more than 34 counties from east,
northeast to through South Texas.
The group was established in 1993 with the single
goal of building I-69 to its completion. We have held
this coalition together for more than seven years, which
is perhaps an unusual feat for that many counties,
multiple cities, many chambers of commerces, economic
development corporations, as well as private sector
members.
As Representative Hawley told you earlier this
morning, the proposed route passes through eleven state
senatorial districts and 48 House districts. We didn't
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ask them all to be here today. You have heard from
several of them and we're appreciative of those efforts.
Many of the dedicated project proponents are here
with me today to demonstrate their continued support for
the project, and at this time I'd like to ask them to
stand and be recognized.
(Pause.)
JUDGE WALKER: As evidenced by this group here today
we've built tremendous grass-roots support for the
project, which will spur economic growth and facilitate
both international and interregional trade. This support
and local involvement will be critical as the alliance
works with you and other state leaders to secure
additional funding for I-69.
Our presentation today is designed to provide an
update to you of the progress of I-69 and the alliance's
plan to further advance the project at both state and
federal levels. I'd like to take a few minutes to share
with you the recent I-69 accomplishments.
The creation of the National Corridor of Planning and
Development and the Coordinated Border Infrastructure
Program in 1998 was a major milestone for the project. It
established a dedicated federal funding source for
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corridors like I-69. We're pleased that through these
federal programs and direct appropriations Texas has
received more than $25 million in federal funding for
projects along the corridor since 1999.
Furthermore, we appreciate that last year TxDOT
authorized $19.2 million for the environmental studies of
the route through Texas. The blending of state and
federal funding has enabled the state to commence the
environmental impact and routing study along the corridor
in Texas. However, we clearly need to increase funding
for the project in order to build it to completion.
Another major milestone achieved has been the
selection of Parsons Brinckerhoff as the general
engineering consultant, and eleven other engineering firms
to conduct the environmental and routing studies on each
of the 13 sections of independent utility in Texas. Now
the detailed studies can commence on each segment of I-69
in Texas.
Finally, with the assistance of the firm of Shiner
Moseley and Associates, Incorporated, the alliance has
developed a project management database that enables us to
track all projects along the corridor in Texas. We
believe that this can be an invaluable tool not only for
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members of the alliance to track individual projects in
their regions, but hopefully be of value to the consulting
engineers conducting environmental and routing studies as
well as to you and your staff.
I'd like to call on Judge John Thompson to preview
the project plans and state initiatives.
JUDGE THOMPSON: Good morning, Mr. Chairman and
commissioners. I am John Thompson, the county judge in
Polk County, and I serve the alliance as a secretary-
treasurer.
As Judge Walker mentioned, the alliance has developed
a comprehensive corridor project database which is
accessible through our alliance's website at
www.I69texas.org. While we're aware that these projects
may or may not fall on the ultimate alignment of I-69 they
do represent activity under way to improve the mobility in
the corridor, and we do realize that the environmental
clearance process will determine the preferred alignment
of I-69.
The database was developed based upon the UTP
approved by the commission in September in the subsequent
meetings with TxDOT officials in eight districts along the
corridor. The database is map driven and provides project
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detail sheets on 122 projects in the I-69 corridor that
are currently in the department's normal planning and
development process. These projects span approximately
1,100 miles and cover some 36 counties in Texas.
Without a doubt, the size and therefore the cost of
constructing I-69 presents a significant challenge. The
results from the project database demonstrates TxDOT's
commitment to improving the mobility on many of the
existing routes in the corridor, and I'd like to take just
a few moments to walk you through a sample of the database
for which we are very pleased.
First, from the state map you go and select the
district you're interested in. For example, we'll click
on the Lufkin District and bring you to that map. From
that you'll see the counties which lie within that
district, and for today's demonstration we're going to
pick Angelina County, where our previous chairman, Mayor
Louis Bronaugh, and the City of Lufkin are from.
Each county map consists of a highway and projects
along the I-69 corridor, and there are three different
symbols used to indicate the level of authority, and the
fourth being the ones that are under construction, and if
you click on one of those projects in a county you see a
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project detail sheet.
As you can see, there's a tremendous amount of
important information available about the project. For
instance you see the estimated cost, the local cost, the
status as far as the environment design and right of way
acquisition. There's also a description of the action
needed and a list of potential funding sources. This
database will enable the alliance to work with you, TxDOT
staff, and local officials to advance projects listed in
the database.
More importantly, we will use this database to
demonstrate to Congress the significant level of
commitment by the state and local jurisdictions to improve
the mobility in the corridor. The ultimate mobility
project itself will be I-69 once we've completed the
proper environmental process to locate the alignment and
begin the development process. Demonstrating this support
will be critical to the effort to secure additional
federal funding for the entire project during the
reauthorization of TEA 21 in 2003.
Now, to summarize the results of the project
database, TxDOT has 122 projects in the corridor presently
totaling $2.2 billion. While we recognize again that the
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results of the ongoing environmental and route studies
will determine the specific location of I-69, we consider
that the development of these 122 projects contributes to
the mobility improvements in the corridor.
Now, Congress has designated I-69 in Texas as a
combination of US 59 from Texarkana to Laredo, the stretch
from Nacogdoches over towards Shreveport, plus US 77 and
281 to the Rio Grande Valley. As such, the alliance
supports all work that TxDOT is doing along these routes
to meet the demands placed on the corridor from trade as
well as regional and interregional transport of people and
goods.
While clear progress is being made on I-69 today,
significant additional funding is necessary to expedite
the completion. The alliance is addressing that issue at
both the state and the federal level. The alliance is
also actively supporting statewide legislative initiatives
to increase overall state funding for transportation. We
recognize that we must increase the size of the funding
pot in order to increase the share to I-69 and other
critical projects throughout the state.
The major state funding initiatives include
reallocating road and highway user fees for road and
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highway improvements, continuing the process of reducing
the diversion of funds from State Highway Fund Six, and
permitting innovative financing, construction, and right
of way acquisition methods.
The alliance is also committed to working with the
GEC and the consulting engineers to facilitate the timely
completion of the environmental and route studies. We
hope the alliance can be a resource to you and your
engineering consultants.
In addition, the alliance will continue to increase
grass-roots support for the development of I-69, which
will establish the critical trade links across North
America, will spur economic development in Texas, and will
facilitate intergovernmental traffic movement.
Yesterday members of the I-69 delegation that you see
here today participated in I-69 Day at the capitol, and
hopefully some of you were able to make the Taste of I-69
last night, which was a real treat. The day-long event
was designed to show the alliance's support for increased
transportation funding and to reiterate to our state
officials the importance of completing I-69. We feel that
Texas cannot afford to miss the opportunities that I-69
will generate.
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The alliance, as we've talked about earlier, has
recently launched a website to house the project
management database and to disseminate information about
I-69 to all interested parties. We believe that our
website can be a powerful tool in the effort to build
grass-roots support and to keep elected officials apprised
of the project's status. We hope that you will have some
time to visit our site again at www.I69texas.org.
At this time it is indeed my privilege and pleasure
to introduce a friend and fellow alliance board member,
The Honorable Mayor Louis Bronaugh of the City of Lufkin,
and we like to refer to Mayor Bronaugh or Louis as the
father of I-69 in Texas, and he's going to talk to you a
little bit about our federal initiatives.
Mayor Bronaugh.
MAYOR BRONAUGH: Thank you, son.
(General laughter.)
MAYOR BRONAUGH: I meet the age requirements of that
father thing.
Good morning, gentlemen. I want to say that the
months ahead present a tremendous opportunity for I-69 as
the new administration establishes its priorities related
to transportation. We are fortunate to have a president
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who has his firsthand knowledge about the burden placed on
the border states' infrastructure by international
commerce.
We look forward to working with President Bush and
officials of the US Department of Transportation. This
year Congress and the administration will begin the
groundwork for the reauthorization of TEA 21. We share
the common goal with the commission to significantly
increase funding for I-69 by increasing funds available
through the corridors and borders program, limiting the
corridors that can compete for these funds or perhaps
establishing a new more narrowly defined program.
Successfully securing additional funding in the
authorization of TEA 21 is critical for the future
development of I-69 and would be a major focus of the
alliance efforts in 2001. The alliance will seek
opportunities to participate in sessions organized by DOT
and Congress to formulate priorities for the
reauthorization.
The alliance will continue to support appropriations
for I-69 development if Congress opts to earmark funding
for particular projects. Based on our efforts to date in
Washington we know that working with regions of similar
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interest is critical to advancing initiatives in
Washington. The alliance will continue to work
cooperatively with the Midcontinent Coalition, the
nation's I-69 alliance, to demonstrate the national
support for I-69 and to develop a common agenda for
reauthorization.
Please use the alliance as resources as you begin the
public involvement portion of the environmental process.
We welcome the opportunity to help disseminate information
about the progress being made on the project. To this end
the alliance would like to request the commission organize
a corridor workgroup consisting of leaders along the I-35
and I-69, the state's most established trade corridors, to
identify a common agenda to advance during the
reauthorization of TEA 21.
The intent of this effort would be a core group to
develop possible legislative and congressional issues to
present to the other interested parties in the state and
perhaps throughout the nation.
We appreciate the opportunity to be here today and we
look forward to continue to work closely with members of
the commission and the TxDOT staff. Thank you very much,
and I'll return six minutes of the time. Thank you very
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much.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
JUDGE WALKER: Maybe only five. I'd like to add our
appreciation for our ability to be before you today to
thank former Chairman Laney for his service to the
commission.
I visited with him briefly about one of the first
times I was here was to talk about courthouse funding, and
I told him that we -- Victoria County was able to do our
courthouse with private funding and we will -- it has been
completely restored for use as court space, and including
my office, which will be in the new-old building in the
same place that I started to work for Victoria County some
40 years ago.
But the Texas Transportation Commission over the
years has done many, many things for the betterment of the
state of Texas, and we appreciate the opportunity to work
with you. We hope that you will use the Alliance for I-69
Texas as a resource in the future.
Thank you, and I'd like to thank all the people who
are here with us today.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Judge.
Any questions, comments, observations, Robert?
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MR. NICHOLS: Comments. I'd like to thank all of you
for coming to last's night gathering, because a lot of you
have come a long way, and it's really interesting to see a
coalition of such magnitude of geography in this state,
which shows the significance the corridor will develop
over the years.
I think you already know that the department is very
supportive of the corridor and is putting energy into
developing the environmental steps and so on to get those
pieces locked down to exactly where they're going to be.
And also we all know there is no interstate construction
money from the federal government at this time, but we
think there's a very good chance there can be, and with
the efforts that you are putting together -- and I
encourage your continued work -- to work not only in Texas
but at the federal level to help Texas secure the funding
for the interstate construction on -- it will be TEA 22 or
whatever they're going to call it next time -- in roughly
three years.
But my hat's off to you, and thanks for all that
you're doing.
MR. JOHNSON: David.
MR. LANEY: I really have nothing to add other than
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this is a major challenge, but an enormous opportunity for
Texas, and one way or the other I think you're going to
find the support from the department and the commission.
We just need to figure out how to move the thing forward,
and the website will be an invaluable resource, and my
compliments to you.
I think it's going to be a nice model for a lot of
other corridor projects around the state, probably around
the country. Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON: I also would like to thank you for the
presentation and reiterate what my fellow commissioners
have said. Together we can be successful on this project.
There are significant challenges. Funding is the engine
that drives the train, obviously, and we do need to be
collaborative in that effort, and we do look forward to
working with you.
This is an enormously important corridor for this
entire state as a reliever to some of the congestion on I-
35, a lot of the NAFTA trade traffic, but just within our
state it's also -- has its significance too, so we do look
forward to working with you and we thank you for being
here today.
We will stand in recess for five minutes, and we will
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reconvene at that time. Thank you very much.
(Whereupon, a short recess was taken.)
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P R O C E E D I N G S R E S U M E D
MR. JOHNSON: A couple of housekeeping items before
we move on. I would like to remind anyone in the audience
who would like to address the commission to fill out a
card in the registration table in the lobby. To comment
on an agenda item we would like for you to fill out a
yellow card, and then if it is not an agenda item please
fill out a blue card and we'll take your comments at the
end of the meeting.
Before we get to the rest of our agenda, I think we
have a special presentation to make. There's a gentleman
up here who has worked for the past 40 years for the
Department of Transportation and its predecessor. Can you
figure out who that is?
MR. HEALD: By looking.
MR. JOHNSON: Wes has worked tirelessly to make our
transportation network in Texas one of the best, if not
the best, in the country. For the past three years he has
been doing that at the helm of this agency, and under his
leadership we put an increased focus on our bridges and
maintenance, core functions of our department and its
mission.
I want to personally thank Wes for his assistance
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when I came on the commission -- and I'm sure I speak for
the other commissioners whom I will offer time to express
their things, but when I say that we believe that this
agency could not be in better hands.
David, do you want to -- you've known Wes the
longest.
MR. LANEY: But not for 40 years.
I have very little to add, Johnny, other than to say,
Wes, I can't tell you how much I appreciate all you've
done long before you reached the position you're currently
in and since that time as well, and as far as I'm
concerned if there's anybody in the department that
personifies the best of the department, it's you.
MR. JOHNSON: Robert.
MR. NICHOLS: Wes, the state is a better place
because of the work that you have done over the last 40
years, and I want to tell you it has been a real pleasure
working with you for the last three years. It really has.
So congratulations on your 40 years.
MR. HEALD: Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON: I think we have a presentation and
maybe a photograph opportunity, a Kodak moment, but, Wes,
I had a silver watch to give you --
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(General applause.)
MR. JOHNSON: Wes, I think it's a great honor for
each of us up here to have joined in saluting you. I work
in a family enterprise, and we've had a few employees with
long tenure, and I can't tell you how uplifting it is and
how great as Robert said your service to this state and to
this agency have been over the last 40 years, and we're
better for it. Thank you so much.
MR. HEALD: Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm a
little bit overwhelmed right now, but it's been a very
rewarding career, and I've been very blessed in probably
as much as anything the support of my family, but also the
support of a good commission.
I don't know ever when I can ever remember that we've
had such a good quality commission to work with, so I've
been blessed, and I guess as far as the 40 years go it's
just good to be alive.
(General laughter.)
MR. JOHNSON: Our first item of the agenda -- main
part of the agenda is the approval of minutes from our
regular commission meeting in January and also the
emergency meetings before the House Transportation
Committee on February 6 and February 13. Is there a
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motion to approve those minutes?
MR. NICHOLS: So moved.
MR. JOHNSON: Is there a second?
MR. LANEY: Second, but I think I have to abstain
before the other two. I don't think I was part of the
emergency meetings.
MR. JOHNSON: Well then, I'll second the motion. All
in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: That motion carries.
Now, Wes, if you've sufficiently recovered we'll turn
over the rest of the agenda to you.
MR. HEALD: I think there's been a little deception
going on, or I need to talk to Linda as soon as this
meeting's over with.
Okay. Getting into the regular business portion of
our meeting, the first item is aviation to approve funding
for certain airport improvement projects, and Dave Fulton
will present this.
MR. FULTON: Thanks, and congratulations, Wes.
Commissioners, my name for the record is David
Fulton. I'm the director of the TxDOT Aviation Division.
Item 3 is a minute order containing a request for funding
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approval for two planning and four airport construction
projects.
Both planning projects and three of the four
construction projects are programmed to be funded with
federal and local funding. The remaining project, if
approved, is programmed to be funded with state and local
funding. Total estimated cost of all the projects on the
Exhibit A is approximately $5.4 million, approximately 4.6
million federal, 200,000 state, and approximately 500,000
in local funding.
A public hearing was held on February 5, 2001. No
comments were received. We would recommend approval of
this minute order and would attempt to answer any
questions you might have.
MR. JOHNSON: Any questions?
MR. NICHOLS: So moved.
MR. LANEY: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.
David, thank you.
MR. FULTON: Thank you.
MR. HEALD: Under administrative rules we have three
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minute orders for your consideration, all under final
adoption starting with 4a(1), finance, James Bass.
MR. BASS: Good morning. For the record I'm James
Bass, director of TxDOT's Finance Division.
This agenda item proposes amendments to Sections 5.43
and 5.44 of the Texas Administrative Code, which deal with
the payment of fees to TxDOT for goods and services.
These amendments would exempt products sold through Texas
highways to prevent any conflict with existing Section
23.27 that governs the sale of travel promotional
materials.
In December you approved the proposed amendments for
publication in the Texas Register, and no comments were
received. Staff recommends your approval.
MR. JOHNSON: Any questions?
MR. NICHOLS: So moved.
MR. LANEY: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.
MR. HEALD: Thank you, James. 4a(2) under contract
management, Robert Wilson.
MR. WILSON: Good morning. I'm Robert Wilson. I'm
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director of the Design Division.
The minute order I bring to you this morning is for
final adoption of rules modifications to Title 43, Chapter
9, Section 9.31, 9.33, 9.38, and 9.41 to 9.43 pertaining
to contracting for architectural, engineering, and
surveying services.
These amendments were originally the result of a task
force of TxDOT, Consulting Engineers Council, Texas
Society for Professional Engineers, and DBE/HUB
representatives that reviewed our process and made
suggestions to streamline it as much as possible and
arraign it in compliance with law and qualifications-based
selection.
A goal was set of not causing any unnecessary
paperwork at TxDOT or consultants, keeping the process
open and fair to all qualified firms and providing a
quality exchange of information in the process of
selecting the best firm. It is believed that these
amendments do that and are a continued move in that
direction.
The proposed amendments were first brought to you at
the December meeting and you approved publishing those for
public comment. We received two comments. These are
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outlined for you in Exhibit B attached to that minute
order along with the explanation of each amendment.
One comment was from the Consulting Engineers Council
indicating support for the amendments and commending TxDOT
for taking steps to streamline the process and improve
consistency and flexibility. The other comment was from
the City of Amarillo questioning why we were striking the
references to using past performance in the selection
process.
However, we are not striking that criteria but rather
we are moving it from being used for every firm submitting
a letter of interest to later in the process when
evaluating the firms on the short list. This will reduce
paperwork for firms and shorten review times significantly
for TxDOT reviewers, but past performance will be a key
factor in evaluating the firms on the short list to select
the most qualified firm.
We believe that the best firm will get the contract,
and we believe that these amendments are beneficial to
everyone involved in the process. Staff therefore
recommends your approval of this minute order adopting
these amendments as final rules for implementation.
I'll be glad to answer any questions.
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MR. JOHNSON: Any questions?
MR. LANEY: So moved.
MR. NICHOLS: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.
Thank you, Robert.
MR. HEALD: Item Number 4a(3), right of way, John
Campbell.
MR. CAMPBELL: Good morning. I'm John Campbell,
director of the Right of Way Division. I'd like to
present for your consideration Item 4a(3), minute order
for the final adoption of rule revisions to 43 Texas
Administrative Code Chapter 21. The eight listed sections
all pertain to the procedures and policy for accommodation
of public utility facilities on the right of way,
collectively referred to as the TxDOT utility
accommodation policy.
The substance of these rule revisions are to make
minor grammatical corrections and to reflect changes in
department organizational structure and references to
business titles no longer utilized by the department.
The Right of Way Division has reviewed the proposed
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rule revisions and recommends your approval.
MR. JOHNSON: Any questions?
MR. NICHOLS: So moved.
MR. LANEY: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.
Thank you, John.
MR. HEALD: Agenda Item 4b under rule review, Richard
Monroe.
MR. MONROE: Good morning, commissioners. In our
ongoing program of rule review as dictated by the Texas
Government Code, Chapter 17 of the Vehicle Title and
Registration Rules were duly published. No comments were
received. The division is of the opinion that the rules
are still needed, and by this order you would readopt
them.
I would recommend approval of the minute order.
MR. JOHNSON: Any questions?
MR. LANEY: So moved.
MR. NICHOLS: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
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MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries. Thank you.
MR. HEALD: Agenda Item Number 5 under traffic
operations, and this is approving some additional
environmental speed limits for the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Carlos Lopez.
MR. LOPEZ: Good morning, commissioners. My name is
Carlos Lopez and I'm director of the Traffic Operations
Division.
The minute order before you authorizes environmental
speed limits on 28 miles of State Highway 34 in Ellis and
Kaufman counties. This highway was not included in last
month's minute order because of incomplete information on
the limits of the speed zone. We're also including a
correction to a mileage calculation on US 287 in Tarrant
County.
We recommend approval of this minute order.
MR. LANEY: So moved.
MR. NICHOLS: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.
MR. LANEY: Carlos, before you leave --
MR. LOPEZ: Yes.
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MR. LANEY: -- you need to get with my successor
about speed limits, help him understand how they work.
MR. LOPEZ: Okay. We'll do that.
MR. HEALD: Okay. Under Item 6 we've got three
minute orders for your consideration, and, Al, I believe
we're going to defer 6d. Right?
MR. LUEDECKE: Yes, sir.
MR. HEALD: So just go ahead and handle all three of
them.
MR. LUEDECKE: For the record, I'm Al Luedecke,
director of Transportation Planning and Program Division.
Harris County Toll Road Authority intends to
construct and maintain a toll-free extension of the Hardy
Toll Road from Interstate 610 at Spur 548 to the central
business district of Houston, downtown at Interstate 10, a
distance of approximately three and a half miles. The
firm's been requested to facilitate the operation of this
by constructing on state system direct connectors to the
northern and southern termini of the project at Interstate
610 and Interstate 10, respectively.
The approximate cost for the entire three and a half
mile extension is approximately $70 million, which
includes $17 million for the construction of the direct
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connectors. Construction of the project and the direct
connectors to the state highway system will enhance the
level of service to Interstate 45 North, which parallels
the Hardy Toll Road, and it's estimated that approximately
25,000 vehicles a day will be drawn from the I-45
corridor.
The minute order presented for your consideration
authorizes the executive director to proceed with the
project development, including the construction of the
direct connectors of previously described limits, and that
construction cost not to exceed $17 million and to enter
into any agreements with the Harris County Toll Road
Authority necessary to carry out this order.
We recommend your approval of this minute order.
MR. JOHNSON: Any questions?
MR. NICHOLS: So moved.
MR. LANEY: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.
MR. LUEDECKE: Item 6b is minute order authorizing
replacement of a bridge in Kerr County on the Hermann Sons
Road at the Guadalupe River approximately six-tenths of a
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mile south of State Highway 27 near the Kendall County
line. The bridge was damaged due to flooding and has been
closed to traffic since October of 2000. The ten-mile
detour affects school buses and the postal service and is
the most direct route to the Hermann Sons Retirement Home
which has approximately 80 residents.
Since this bridge serves as a direct route for many
of the county residents the county has requested the
department to accelerate this project. The estimated cost
to the bridge is $450,000, which includes 10 percent local
participation by the county.
With your approval of this minute order we can
proceed with a replacement of this bridge using Category
6b Off-state Highway System Bridge Replacement and
Rehabilitation Program funds in the 2001 UTP. We
recommend your approval.
MR. JOHNSON: Questions?
MR. LANEY: So moved.
MR. NICHOLS: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.
MR. LUEDECKE: Item 6c -- we bring to you the second
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quarter program for disadvantaged counties to address
matching fund requirements. In your books is Exhibit A
that lists the projects and the staff's recommended
adjustments for each of them. The adjustments are based
on the equations approved in earlier proposals.
There are ten projects in five counties and a
reduction in the participation for these projects is
$235,117. We recommend your approval of this minute
order.
MR. JOHNSON: Questions?
MR. NICHOLS: I'll move but I also wanted to make a
comment, and I think it's important. I know a lot of
people here are our staff people. There are other people
here also that the counties have received a benefit of
about $22 million related --
MR. LUEDECKE: Yes, sir. A little over 22 million.
MR. NICHOLS: With that I move we approve it.
MR. JOHNSON: Is there a second?
MR. LANEY: Second. Let me add a comment too though.
We get to the point where we make these adjustments and I
see that the estimated local participation after the
adjustments is sometimes so minimal as to be not worth the
effort. We might want to at least consider going
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forward -- after I'm long gone, but going forward -- a
threshold below which you just don't ask for
participation, whether it's $5,000 or something, 10,000,
because it's a $252 contribution --
MR. LUEDECKE: Yes, sir. Some of the projects are
quite small. Of course, some of them are very large too.
MR. LANEY: Right.
MR. LUEDECKE: You need a threshold.
MR. LANEY: Not a percentage threshold, a dollar
threshold.
MR. LUEDECKE: Yes, sir. We'll certainly work on
that.
MR. LANEY: Anyway, second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.
MR. LUEDECKE: Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON: Thanks.
MR. HEALD: Agenda Item Number 7 -- we have one SIB
loan for your consideration, James Bass.
MR. BASS: Again, for the record, I'm James Bass,
director of the Finance Division.
This minute order seeks preliminary approval for a
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loan to the City of Bellaire in the amount of $3.18
million to pay for a portion of storm sewer management
improvements in connection with their rehabilitation of
Interstate 610 from north of Braeswood Boulevard to south
of Bellaire Boulevard.
When the application was originally submitted in
September of 2000 the city requested an interest rate of
4.75 percent over six years. I'd like to bring your
attention that since that time market rates have continued
to drop, so if approved the negotiations may result in a
lower interest rate than that, and staff would recommend
your approval.
MR. JOHNSON: Any questions?
MR. LANEY: So moved.
MR. NICHOLS: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries. Thank you.
MR. HEALD: Item Number 8, award or rejection of
highway contracts, being 8a(1) and (2), Thomas Bohuslav.
MR. BOHUSLAV: Good morning, commissioners. My name
is Thomas Bohuslav. I'm the director of the Construction
Division.
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Item 8a(1) is for the consideration of the award or
rejection of highway maintenance contracts let on February
6 and 7, 2001, whose engineers estimated costs were
$300,000 or more. We had 16 projects bid. We have three
projects we recommend for rejection.
The first project is in Coke county. We received six
bids, the lowest bid being about 80 percent over the
project. The district would like to go back and do some
redesign. We looked at that project to see if there was
any way they could get the prices down on that project.
Another project recommended for rejection is in
Matagorda County, FM 457. The project is number 4022. We
received three bids on that project of 27 percent over. On
this product we had mobilization that overran a lot
higher -- I believe it was $35,000. We estimated 5,000
would be a big impact. This is an emergency fender system
repair. It's kind of a call-out basis whenever we have a
problem with those fenders, and we'd like to go back and
rebid that project.
The last project in the maintenance contract
recommended for rejection is project number 4025 in
Victoria County, US 59. In the other projects that we
let -- this is a MO contract -- in that area we received
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much better competition and got lower prices. Even though
this is only 13 percent of it we'd like to go back and see
if we can get some more competition and get better prices
on this project.
Staff recommends approval of all projects with the
exception of those.
MR. JOHNSON: Thomas, when you have what I understood
to be an emergency situation like that and you want to
rebid it, what are the procedures? How much time are we
talking about?
MR. BOHUSLAV: When I saw that wording on there I was
concerned that -- and that's kind of a misnomer. It's a
call-out contract where if we do have something that's
hit, we can call the contractor and they can come out
there on an emergency basis, so it's what we might call an
evergreen contract where we just keep them there and we'll
call them out whenever we do have some problems out there.
So it's not an emergency right now. It will be
possibly in the future when we do have the hit to those
fenders.
MR. JOHNSON: Is there a motion to approve
recommendation on item 8a(1)?
MR. LANEY: So moved.
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MR. NICHOLS: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. BOHUSLAV: Item 8a(2) is for consideration of the
award or rejection of highway construction and building
contracts let on February 6 and 7, 2001. We had 99
products that were let. We have three projects
recommended for rejection.
The first project is in Dallas County, and this
project -- there was a requirement in the general notes
that there's a mandatory prebid, and the apparent low
bidder did not attend that mandatory prebid and therefore
they were -- should not have been qualified to bid the
contract. We did receive their proposal.
We didn't follow -- therefore we should not have
accepted their proposal. However, we didn't follow our
normal procedures for notifying contractors of mandatory
prebids, and that we normally advertise in the newspaper,
and we also send notices out to contractors that there's
mandatory prebids.
Because it was in the general notes the contractors
didn't know about it until after. In some cases for the
contractors that there was a mandatory prebid, so what we
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want to do is reject all the bids on this project and go
back and rebid it.
The next project recommended for rejection is a
project in Bexar County. It's heating, ventilation, and
air-conditioning for a facility there. We were 78 percent
over on this project. We'd like to go back and see if we
can make some changes and try to save some money on that
project and relet it.
And again, in Sabine County, project CBC 4704-00-034.
There was a project there that we're 41 percent over for a
maintenance facility in the Beaumont District, and we'd
like to go back and have the consultant rework that
product to see if we can get that cost down on the
project.
Staff recommends approval of all projects with the
exception noted.
MR. JOHNSON: On item 8a(2) we have somebody that
would like to speak, Jim Bell, from City of Rosenberg, the
director of project development.
Welcome, Mr. Bell.
MR. BELL: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the
commission.
The project that I represent the City of Rosenberg on
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is an overpass project within Fort Bend County. We've
been working on this project for over six years.
Actually, it's a dream of many of the old timers of our
city that exceeded over 50 years.
We only have three grade crossings in the city, and
we are blessed with two major railroad complexes of the
Santa Fe and the Union Pacific.
In 1993 we were doing the engineering studies for
this overpass, which will be an S curve type program four
lanes wide. At that time we determined that there was
going to be in ten years not 16 trains per day but 57
trains per day through our city, of which we only had
grade crossings.
Today we are at 33 trains a day, minimum. We already
are facing gridlock. Also, you as a commission
established an evacuation fund I think around 1994, at
which time Highway FM 723 was designated as an evacuation
route. With what we knew coming to be a gridlock of the
57 trains, we moved rapidly, working with you in
partnership to try and get a new overpass, which was
approved to take place.
Our job was we acquired 19 properties either
partially or in full. We were responsible for all the
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utility relocations, and thankfully HL&P worked closely
with us, and we have to actually transverse through a
major substation right there in the city. That has been
taken care of.
We also have been participating with your district
office, and we funded upgrading the railings and
appearance of the overpass and the lighting, all of which
will fit within the architecture of the old city.
I do wish to thank very much the cooperation we've
had with your staff. Mr. Trietsch came from this office
to be our district engineer. We never missed a heartbeat
from Mr. Dietert's retirement to Mr. Trietsch, and also
with his very able associates, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Darden.
We felt for all these projects we'd been through --
and I know, Mr. Laney, you've sat in on several of them, a
series of them -- that we respectfully thank the
commission's consideration and the citizens of Rosenberg
and Fort Bend County. This connector which will allow for
the development of the north area into the city and down
in to tie into US 59 does become more critical each day,
and we certainly thank you for your help and
consideration.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you for being here, Mr. Bell.
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We'll entertain a motion for the approval of the
recommendations under 8a(2).
MR. NICHOLS: So moved.
MR. LANEY: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.
Thomas, thank you.
MR. HEALD: Mr. Chairman, under routine minute
orders, I'll handle those as normal. We're going to move
out of 9d(1) to the front at this time. That has to do
with an aerial easement in Bexar County on FM 1535 near
Loop 1604. In other words, consider the lease or an
aerial easement for a bridge to the abutting landowner.
MR. JOHNSON: We have several speakers who have
signed up to speak on this particular agenda item.
Representing the City of Shavano Park, Thomas Peyton,
who is the mayor, Jim Bastoni, who is a councilman, Don
Wallace, who is also a councilman, and Frank Burney, who
is a city attorney -- or an attorney in the city.
Welcome. Do you want to speak for all the gentlemen
or does each want to speak?
MAYOR PEYTON: I will start. I have had a little
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cold. It's hard for me to talk too much, and I'll defer
most of it to the other two gentlemen.
MR. JOHNSON: For the record, please identify --
MAYOR PEYTON: My name is Thomas Peyton. I'm the
Mayor of the City of Shavano Park, which is in northwest
San Antonio. The 1535 is the main thoroughfare through
our city, and just north of that is where this proposed
bridge is going to go.
I'd like to -- this matter first came up I believe
back in October and you deferred it until now, and I guess
I'm at a loss as to why it's coming up now because as far
as we're concerned there's -- nothing has changed since
October. We still have lawsuits filed in this matter and
there's nothing been cleared up, and they still haven't
changed any zoning on the property, so there's no reason
to have a bridge.
I am also a little concerned because of the short
notice that we got. We weren't noticed until the end of
last week about this meeting, and this is a matter that's
high priority for our citizens. We would have had quite a
few here. In fact, we wish that we would have a hearing
in San Antonio because we feel like there's still a lot of
citizens that are concerned about this.
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Martin Marietta has applied for a tunnel permit for
this, which our citizens don't object to, but they do the
bridge because this area that -- the 1535 goes out to Camp
Bullis and out to Eisenhower Park. It's one of the main
jogging, running, and bicycling areas in our city, and to
put this 100-foot-or-so-wide bridge over this road we feel
not only will be unsightly but also dangerous. They're
proposing a two-way road, a railroad track, and a conveyor
belt to go over this bridge.
And you have to understand that this quarry is one of
the largest quarries in the United States and does have
the largest rock crusher in the United States there, and
we do get a lot of dust and truck traffic, and our
citizens are concerned. I think all we're asking for is
for this to be postponed until all of our legal problems
are settled with Martin Marietta.
I'll defer to the other members. Thank you.
MR. BASTONI: Good morning. My name is Jim Bastoni,
councilman for the City of Shavano Park. Mr. Burney is
going to review a couple of facts so I just want to pass
on one or two things.
First, I wanted to just express our appreciation when
Mr. Kelly took the opportunity to come to the city hall in
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Shavano Park and attend a city hall meeting that we had.
We had in the neighborhood of 200 people attend from our
city to speak on this issue. We don't have a very big
city hall. It kind of filled our room and spilled out
into the outside.
And then we found out subsequently that this was
going to be an agenda item, and we had arranged buses and
such. We were going to have a good group of people come
here, as Tommy mentioned. But in the interim we received
a letter from Mr. Kelly, and it was addressed to Mr. Vaio,
Martin Marietta Materials, and it looks like each of you
gentlemen received a copy as well.
At that time he told us that the Austin leadership
has decided that due to the continued controversy it would
be prudent for TxDOT to defer consideration of the lease
to allow more time for discussions to continue, and they
have continued. Once the hoped-for compromise is achieved
then TxDOT would be prepared to consider -- to act to
consider the lease, and as Tommy said, it was our
understanding of what the timetable was going to be.
We have several suits pending. One having to do more
with the zoning issues; the other is a nuisance suit.
That suit was scheduled for trial March 13 and we have
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been moving forward in that regard. Just in the last week
or so Martin Marietta has asked for an extension and
received an extension from the judge, so that case will be
going to trial in first part of June, I believe.
And that's the heart of our case with them right now,
that if in fact we go forward and we are unsuccessful in
completing our negotiations with them then we have really
no other recourse than to try this case. We believe that
we'll win this suit just as we've won the other
nonconforming rights lawsuits that we have pending against
them in the past, and that will make the -- this bridge
issue really a moot point, as what we're seeking in our
nuisance suit is a permanent injunction on quarrying on
the east side of Northwest Military Highway.
I want to hit one more issue, and it's kind of tandem
with our nuisance suit and why we have some 200 or so of
our residents that come out to one of these hearings to
discuss this, and Northwest Military, as Tommy pointed
out, is the main artery that comes through our town. Mr.
Kelly has also come and given previous presentations to us
of your plans to expand Northwest Military and widen it to
carry more traffic.
Our residents use that as our primary north-south
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ingress-egress into town. It's the way people come from
1604 and go back in and out of San Antonio. It's also for
us the path that takes us north of 1604. My children and
many of the residents in our town attend Texas Military
Institute, which is -- you go up Northwest Military
through Camp Bullis and you come back out into this area.
There's also Eisenhower Park, which is a north side of the
quarry and tucked just below Camp Bullis.
And at any given time there's pedestrians,
bicyclists, obviously now a lot of parents carting
children up and down the street. And we've expressed our
concern to Martin Marietta that despite their best
intentions -- I'll give them that -- and their assurances
that accidents don't happen, accidents do happen.
In the last year or so there was an incident where
some fly rock landed on the road from Northwest Military.
My wife's car suffered about $1,200 worth of damage from a
quarry vehicle where some aggregates flew off the front of
the truck and bounced off and literally ripped a hole in
the hood of her truck.
I've seen cement trucks that have tried to navigate
the turn from 1604 access road onto Northwest Military
going north that rolled over because of the high rate of
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speed, and I've seen the aggregate trucks blow right
through the red light, frankly. We do have and continue
to have legitimate concern about how this industrial
corridor that's developing just to our northern border
does affect our citizens and our quality of life, and
we're going to advance the discussions to the extent that
we can in this interim time between now and the beginning
of the trial, which is now just a few months away, but in
the absence of any kind of settlement then we'll have to
take whatever legal remedies are due us.
As Tommy said, we were under the impression that we
would get some consideration from this commission that
while this was still pending that this issue would be set
aside, and we believed it was going to be resolved in
March when we were scheduled for trial, but now as it's
pushed back a little bit until June we ask for your
consideration to wait just a little bit longer.
Thank you.
MR. BURNEY: Mr. Chairman, members of the commission,
my name is Frank Burney. I'm the attorney for the City of
Shavano Park. We are glad to be here to address this
issue on what we affectionately call the bridge to
nowhere, because in fact this bridge cannot be connected
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with any property because it doesn't have any of the
permits that are necessary to do so.
We appreciate your prior support, and the commission
has historically always not entered into a discretionary
decision, which is what is asked for in this case, until
there is some local resolution of the issues and the
issues have been resolved, and we appreciate that position
by the commission to not interfere with what we consider
to be a local issue until there is some kind of
resolution. And as we had stated, we thought that's where
we were at this case.
If the commission does intend to consider this issue
today I think there are four findings that the commission
has to make, and I'd like to address three of those, the
first being that this thing has to be in compliance with
all laws. There's no question that this bridge is going
to be built over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, which
is the primary drinking source for over 1.5 million
Texans, and there's been no evaluation of any impact on
that bridge and the construction going in there too.
Additionally, this property has recently been
categorized as a category four by the Department of the
Interior Fish and Wildlife Division, and it's a sensitive
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property with various endangered species. There's been no
evaluation of the impact to those species as well.
I would also point out to you that there's been no
zoning -- change in zoning for this property. The
property located on one side of the road on the east is
zoned residential R1. There's been no change in that
zoning by the City of San Antonio. No decision whatsoever
has been made.
On the left side the case is at the Supreme Court at
this point in time. As it exists today the Fourth Court
of Appeals has ruled that there are no nonconforming
rights existing to allow quarrying on that property to the
east side -- the west side of this property.
So at this point in time you have no nonconforming
rights to the west, you have no zoning to the east. This
is literally a bridge to nowhere. I think some members
have already mentioned there are six or seven different
lawsuits involved in this particular tract that are in
various stages of discovery and trial, all the way from
the state to the federal court.
A second finding that this commission has to make is
that -- to assure the safety of the area and the
beautification interests of the state of Texas. There is
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already in the files of the transportation department
evidence that this quarry has created a dangerous
condition at this location. There are reports of fly rock
from the quarry blasts that have ended up on this farm-to-
market road. Bicyclists use this road on a regular basis
as well as vehicular traffic, and I don't think there's
been any studies whatsoever to evaluate the impact to the
safety of those that use this road at this point in time.
I think it would be very difficult for this
commission to reach a finding that this beautiful,
pristine Hill Country area would be enhanced -- the beauty
of it would be enhanced by the construction of a massive
railroad conveyor belt bridge with the accompanying dust
that would go with it.
The third finding that this commission would have to
make is that it has some economic benefit. In this
particular case we're talking about $15,000 a year for a
lease that may last 15 to 20 years. The local office has
already indicated that they've spent far in excess of that
$15,000 studying this issue to date, and so there is
actually no economic benefit to the state of Texas for
this. No appraisal has been performed.
We believe that the $15,000 figure is vastly
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understated, and there's been no effort to truly determine
the market value of this bridge to this particular
industry, and we think you ought to consider the fact that
you are vastly understating the income that the state of
Texas could receive if it did market-value this bridge
itself.
Economic benefit also has a broader term, not only
for the Texas Department of Transportation, but we believe
that the construction of this bridge will severely impact
property values in this area and continue to affect
homeowners in this area.
I guess in final I'd say is this $15,000 more
important than the impact to these neighborhoods in this
area, and the impact on the recharge zone and the
environmentally sensitive properties. This bridge to
nowhere that's mired in litigation should not be approved
by this commission today. You ought to give the local
parties the chance to work through the issues if they can.
We've had ongoing discussions over the last six months on
various occasions to try to resolve our disputes.
We still are at the table trying to negotiate these
issues, and we hope to be able to work those out, and we'd
ask for you to table this motion until we have a chance to
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work through it on a local basis. Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON: Is Councilman Wallace here?
MR. BURNEY: No, he is not. He did not make the
trip.
MR. JOHNSON: There are two speakers who are here to
speak for this agenda item, and I would like for each
speaker to remain and answer any questions that any of the
commissioners might have. Representing Martin Marietta is
Bruce Vaio, and then Tony Ferraro is also here to speak on
behalf of the agenda item.
MR. FERRARO: Good morning. My name is Tony Ferraro.
I'm the president of the Rogers Ranch Crosstimber
Homeowner's Association, and I'm here representing our 350
families that live in the area that is directly east of
this new quarry and the expansion of Martin Marietta's
quarry. We will be, as we continue to develop, a thousand
feet from the eastern edge of this quarry.
Over the past six months I want to tell you that we
have worked very hard and diligently with folks at Martin
Marietta and Mr. Vaio and his staff in developing an
agreement that Martin Marietta has stepped up to make some
significant restrictions in their operations as they move
to quarry this land, and it will create an opportunity --
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it's created an opportunity for us to have a positive
quality of life.
It won't change anything as far as we're concerned in
the environment that we have in our subdivision, and we're
looking forward to their moving across Northwest Military
and mining this land. We believe it's a benefit to San
Antonio and we urge your support, and I am here to answer
any questions you may have.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.
Mr. Vaio.
MR. VAIO: Thank you, commissioners, director. My
name is Bruce Vaio. I'm the president of Martin Marietta
Materials Southwest.
Many of you have operated in the conditions in the
environment that we have in the year 2000 and beyond. We
started this quarry in 1935, and I will tell you we cannot
operate a quarry the way we did in 1935, much less the way
we did five years ago. As groups have moved closer and
closer to this significant asset to the City of San
Antonio and to the state of Texas we've had to revisit the
way we do business, and in John Kelly's letter back in
October when he said that he suggested we revisit the
neighborhood groups, the City of San Antonio where we
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reside and see how we do operate, I can tell you that we
have changed the way we've done business significantly.
We have entered into a landmark agreement with the
people of the Rogers Ranch Homeowners Group in conjunction
with the City of San Antonio that basically applies the
most restrictive conditions to any quarry in the state of
Texas. We have agreed to reduce our blasting levels
measured by peak particle velocity by almost 72 percent of
what is required by the City of San Antonio.
We've agreed to drop the amount of explosives we use
by over 50 percent. We've agreed to establish meaningful
buffers and build berms that are architecturally pleasing.
We have done things to change the way we do business.
As each and every one of you know that's representing
the Texas Department of Transportation you can't make
everyone happy, and it takes a little more time to
communicate what these real positive changes are.
You had heard the opposition mention that on
Northwest Military Highway, FM 1535, that the concern is
that basically with Camp Bullis, an Army depot, not being
used to its fullest extent anymore that it's primarily
being used by joggers and those that are using it for
recreational activities. Two years ago we pulled 1,200
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trucks a day off of there and relocated our exit route so
that we could improve the compatibility between the quarry
and the community.
The reason that we're asking for a bridge is just
that. If we were to go completely underground as we have
with the existing lease with TxDOT we would actually have
to extract the side elevations to where we would diminish
from the visual appearance of that corridor. By us going
aboveboard we can assure the communities, including
Shavano Park and the City of San Antonio where this
resides, that we can by 100 percent eliminate any of the
quarry vehicles moving across between the west and the
east side.
This is good. This is standing up and doing the
things that John Kelly requested in his letter by being a
good, compatible citizen.
I appreciate your time and your consideration of this
matter. Although there is a dispute that's ongoing, the
amendment of the lease that's in front of you today is
really just that. It's an amendment of an existing lease
that we have which we believe will be in the betterment of
all involved, and I appreciate your time and am willing to
answer any questions you may have.
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MR. JOHNSON: I have a couple of questions, and maybe
Mr. Laney and Mr. Nichols might have one or two
themselves.
Mr. Burney referred to several important issues that
I'd like for you to address. One is safety, one is the
aesthetics of the area as it pertains to this aerial
easement and the bridge, and thirdly is the environmental
considerations. Would you address those issues?
MR. VAIO: Sure. Let me address each one.
First and foremost and what's a priority in our
company is safety. We did have an unfortunate situation
in our quarry that they have referenced. It's a single
event. I've been in the company for five years and we
have never had another replication of an event like this.
Since this time we have employed the most state-of-
the-art techniques into our detonation activities. We
have employed the services of the San Antonio Police
Department to where for a period of 45 seconds we go ahead
and hold traffic and defer anyone. We clear that part of
the roadway out to make sure as the belt and suspenders
approach that there is -- that we operate under 100
percent safe conditions. By doing that we guarantee the
motoring public that we will do that.
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The second element is there have been extensive
studies on the impact. The San Antonio water system, the
Edwards Aquifer Authority have all investigated the impact
of a quarry operation on the representative eastern
portion of the Beckmann Quarry. We have had studies by
the environmentalists. That has been complete. It hasn't
been specific to a bridge linking the two, no, but the
quarry has been completely assessed.
The final thing, there was a mistake I think that Mr.
Burney had indicated. The property is not zoned R1 for
residential. It has not been zoned by the city, and when
it is not in that condition it's actually zoned -- it's in
a fallout category called R/A, residential/agricultural.
It has not been zoned, and the city council has confirmed
it in an eleven to zero vote that we have nonconforming
rights on that property to mine.
I might have missed -- did I miss one of the other --
MR. JOHNSON: Well, two further questions. One, what
about the safety of the users of the military highway? I
appreciate the safety concerns for the quarry and the
people who work within the quarry, but people who are
using the military highway. And then secondly, the
aesthetics of the area and how they might be enhanced or
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not hurt by the presence of a bridge using an aerial
easement.
MR. VAIO: If you were to take a copy of the
presentation I gave you, on the front cover is a digital
graphic representation of the bridge. What is
significant, under our existing lease, if we were to go
ahead and to mine underground we would have to remove that
elevation, the natural berm that's on each side that has
been cut by TxDOT to put -- or whoever put that road in at
the time.
Both those sides would have to be brought down to
grade level, so we would have to extract that rock, from
my perspective diminishing from the visual appearance.
The second element if you'll notice on the bridge,
the conveyer that will run across the bridge will be
completely covered so that no material could ever come off
of that conveyor and drop down below. The safety is
enhanced by people that are actually using Northwest
Military because they will never encounter any large
quarrying equipment that will be moving between the east
and the west.
By us putting the bridge up above we will be able to
shuttle equipment back and forth without ever having to do
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any add grade crossings on Northwest Military Highway,
therefore anyone that's planning to use this for
recreational purposes is not going to be hindered by our
activity.
MR. JOHNSON: David or Robert, do you have any
questions?
MR. NICHOLS: I really don't have any questions.
MR. JOHNSON: David?
MR. LANEY: I just want to make sure if John Kelly
wanted to add something.
I don't want to put you on the spot, John, but do you
have any comments you want to add one way or the other?
MR. KELLY: For the record, my name is John Kelly.
I'm the district engineer in San Antonio for TxDOT.
Commissioner Laney, I appreciate the opportunity to
come up. This has been a very difficult issue for us.
We've found ourselves caught in the middle between two
competing interests, but I feel like at this point as far
as our particular requirements as far as leasing right of
way I believe that those requirements have been met
satisfactorily, and I would suggest that it would be time
to go ahead and consider this lease. I believe that it
will be beneficial.
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I think the key benefit that I see if there is going
to be quarrying on the east side of Northwest Military
Highway the benefit of doing the aerial lease is that as
Mr. Vaio has said, the construction of the bridge will
preclude any interaction between their quarrying equipment
and any of the traffic, whether it be pedestrians,
bicyclists, or motorists on Northwest Military Highway,
and to me that's the key safety benefit that we would
derive from that bridge construction.
Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, John.
Any questions of John, Robert, or --
I have a question of Mr. Burney. The action that is
being considered here today by the commission in no way
affects your continuance in the pursuit of a legal answer
to your situation. Is that correct?
MR. BURNEY: Well, we think it would be more prudent,
I guess, from our position to let the process run its
course. We have ongoing negotiations. We have litigation
pending. Let those decisions be made rather than going
ahead and approving basically a bridge that may have other
conditions.
This commission has the authority to set additional
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conditions on your approval, and it may turn out that part
of the compromise that we reach is some additional
conditions that we might bring to you as suggestions to
enhance this particular bridge. We may be able to work
out a compromise on that, and what we're saying is let
that process run its course.
Let the parties negotiate. If not, let them resolve
it through the litigation, and at that point in time we
can come back to you that if Martin Marietta wants to
continue to do this then they can do so.
One of the conditions might be that the tunnel be
used rather than a bridge. That might be one of our
points of settlement, which would basically negate the
need for this amendment. You've already heard Mayor
Peyton say that the tunnel would be -- is okay in the
minds of the residents of the City of Shavano Park.
So we believe that you're being -- we don't need to
reach this decision today, that it would be prudent to
take the time to table the decision and wait until all the
facts are resolved.
MR. JOHNSON: David?
MR. LANEY: Let me ask Chairman Johnson's question
again. I think if you can just get right to the point.
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MR. BURNEY: Sure.
MR. LANEY: If we approve this lease today would it
have any impact on the ongoing litigation?
MR. BURNEY: Well, the litigation won't have any
impact on -- we believe that it will impact the settlement
negotiations, because every time one player has one more
advantage it makes the settlement negotiations that much
more difficult.
MR. JOHNSON: Robert, any questions?
MR. NICHOLS: No. I move we approve the lease.
MR. LANEY: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.
MR. HEALD: Okay. Back to the normal order of
routine minute orders, starting off with 9a, speed zones.
Establish or alter regulatory and construction speed zones
on various sections of highways in the state. There's a
list for your review.
And we go on with b, load zones. Revision of load
restrictions on various roads and bridges on the state
highway system. Under highway designations, 9c, in Hunt
County, remove a segment of State Highway 224 from the
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state highway system in Greenville from Lee Street north
to State Highway 34, a distance of approximately 1.24
miles; redesignates the segment of State Highway 224 as
State Highway Spur 302 in Greenville from US 69 East to
State Highway 34, a distance of approximately 1.84 miles;
and redesignates BU67-T as State Highway Spur 302 in
Greenville from State Highway 34 East to Interstate 30, a
distance of approximately 2.09 miles.
Your 9d, right of way disposition purchase and lease
with one in Bexar County -- sorry, two. Bowie County --
this minute order provides for the sale of a .16-acre
tract of surplus right of way land being appraised value
of $41,820. (3), minute order provides for the sale of a
2.905-acre surplus maintenance warehouse site and
improvements in Cochran County on State Highway 114.
Again, that was based on appraised value.
(4), minute order provides for the release of a .3035
acre surplus right of way easement in exchange for 1.197
acres of fee title right of way, and there is a difference
in value, which we receive. (5), this minute order
provides for the sale of a .412-acre tract of surplus
right of way land in Grayson County off of State Highway
11, based on appraised value.
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(6), Grayson County off of US Highway 69 -- this
minute order provides for the sale of a .183-acre tract of
surplus right of way based on appraised value. (7),
Harris County -- this minute order provides for the sale
of a surplus access rights along 610 in Houston, and
again, that's based on an appraisal, and the landowner has
agreed to pay the state $42,000 for the conveyance of
access rights as well as a state service fee.
(8), This minute order provides for the sale of 1.42-
acre tract of surplus right of way land in Montgomery
County off of US 75 at FM 2432 based on appraised value.
That takes care of that.
Moving to eminent domain proceedings, request for
eminent domain proceedings on noncontrolled -- just
noncontrolled highways, and there's a list for your
review. 9e(2), consider the condemnation of land to be
acquired for addition to the Houston District
headquarters. I believe Mr. Trietsch is here if you have
any questions on that.
Mr. Chairman, that completes the routine minute
orders.
MR. LANEY: I've got one question.
MR. JOHNSON: Any questions?
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MR. LANEY: Question. I want to ask Gary Trietsch to
come up. Since this is my last -- potentially my last act
of office, I want to get one thing really clear. I want
to make sure this new site is right next to a toll road.
(General laughter.)
MR. TRIETSCH: It's not, I don't think, but it may
change. But it is next to a railroad.
MR. HEALD: But, Gary, we do have an option, don't
we? Next to a toll road or --
MR. TRIETSCH: I've got one next to a toll road.
MR. JOHNSON: Any other questions, comments,
observations? We'll entertain a motion to approve.
MR. LANEY: So moved.
MR. NICHOLS: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. HEALD: And we're not calling for an executive
session at this time.
MR. JOHNSON: Is there any other business that needs
to come before the commission?
(No response.)
MR. JOHNSON: There being none, we'll entertain a
motion to adjourn.
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MR. LANEY: So moved.
MR. NICHOLS: Second.
MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. JOHNSON: For the record, we'll stand adjourned
at 12:17 p.m. Thank you.
(Whereupon, at 12:17 p.m., the meeting was
concluded.)
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C E R T I F I C A T E
MEETING OF: Texas Transportation Commission
LOCATION: Austin, Texas
DATE: February 22, 2001
I do hereby certify that the foregoing pages,
numbers 1 through 115 inclusive, are the true, accurate,
and complete transcript prepared from the verbal recording
made by electronic recording by Penny Bynum before the
Texas Department of Transportation.
2/27/01(Transcriber) (Date)
On the Record Reporting, Inc.3307 Northland, Suite 315
Austin, Texas 78731
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