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TxDOT engineer details road plans
Texas Department of Transportation engineer Kelly Selman gave his report Tuesday on area roadways at the McKinney Chamber of Commerce’s luncheon. This photo and more are available through MyCapture at www.scntx.com. Photo: Kris Gonzalez | McKinney Courier-Gazette
BY KRIS GONZALEZ, McKinney Courier-Gazette
An engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation addressed the traffic woes of Collin County residents Tuesday at a transportation luncheon hosted by the McKinney Chamber of Commerce.
Kelly Selman gave an update about the status of construction along State Highway 121 and U.S. Highway 75, the two most vital roadways in the community. He also described the state's transportation funding problems, and explained why TxDOT is looking at creative ways to fund projects.
Construction to build an overpass over Ohio Drive will begin in the next two weeks, he said. The $22 million project is contracted to be complete within 10 months. Ohio Drive will be closed until then, and all traffic will be forced to turn right at SH 121. This project also includes a main lane overpass over Hillcrest Road that is expected to be complete by this time next year.
The construction of the main lanes of SH 121 over the interchange of U.S. 75 is part of a project TxDOT is currently negotiating, Selman said. The interchange is much more complex than other projects along SH 121. It will be a five-level interchange with maneuver ramps and direct connects in all directions, except southbound to eastbound, where there will be no connection.
U.S. 75 will be somewhat compressed through the interchange, he said, and the frontage roads will be continuous through the interchange to Medical Center Drive and then will go back to a non-freeway facility just before you get to SH 5, he said.
Proposals from private contractors to build the project are due by Nov. 30. The TxDOT staff will review the proposals and select a contractor to build the project in phases. Selman said he expects the $102 million project to be complete in a year or so.
Selman said TxDOT planners have identified about $188 billion in needed projects to achieve an acceptable statewide mobility by 2030. They have estimated only $102 billion is available from traditional funding sources to meet those needs, leaving a significant funding gap of $86 billion.
The reason the TxDOT is facing funding problems is that over the past 25 years, Congress has transferred massive amounts of transportation funding from high-road states to low-road states. Selman said they estimate the federal government has transferred more than $5 billion dollars of taxes paid by Texans to fund other states' transportation needs. “That's money that will never come back to Texas,” Selman said.
He also said in 1987, Texas leaders have transferred about $10.5 billion to other areas of the state budget. “That's money that will never be available again,” he said.
“We can't count on Congress or the Legislature to restore these funds,” Selman said. “Congress would have to take funds away from the other states. The Legislature would have to take funds away from other parts of the state budget. Even if they did, they could only provide another $43 billion over the next five to six years. That wouldn't be enough to cover the costs of our mobility needs let alone our statewide system, maintenance and other critical expenses.”
Selman said TxDOT estimated that the federal government, after passing the federal-aid highway program last year, will return only about 92 percent of federal gas taxes paid by Texans.
To pay for its construction needs, the state must make a return of 187 percent on gas taxes for the next 25 years, and that doesn't include maintenance and other costs. “So why not increase gasoline tax?” Selman said.
Because state gas taxes only pay for 32 percent of our current state transportation budget, he said, legislators would have to raise the gas tax by 175 percent.
Modeled after European nations that rebuilt their roadways and infrastructures after World War II, Selman said TxDOT is becoming more reliant on the private sector to help “encourage cost-effective solutions to long-term transportation projects.” TxDOT is implementing processes to encourage more competition among companies that always do business with them. He said innovations of these private organizations are critical to making these projects happen.
Contact Kris Gonzalez at kgonzalez@acnpapers.com.
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