Commissioner believes road funds will be awarded soon

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December 1, 2009

Anonymous The Zope Gazette Tue Dec 01, 2009, 08:28 AM CST

By Jim Hardin

Herald-Banner Staff

Rockwall County didn’t get funding last week for three of its major road projects, but Commissioner David Magness is confident the money will be there soon.

“That’s the way the process works,” Magness said Friday, Nov. 20, a day after Rockwall County officials learned of the Texas Transportation Commission’s funding decisions. “This is a big state and there are a lot of projects. Everybody can’t get what they want when they want it.”

Projects affected by the commission’s decision are the Erby Campbell/Interstate 30 interchange, the Farm to Market 549/I-30 interchange and the Farm to Market 740 South widening project.

The Texas Transportation Commission met Thursday, Nov. 19, to take final action on allocating Proposition 12 funding to projects. Rockwall County officials were wanting a bigger share of the funds to cover part of the costs of the local projects.

Magness said he is confident the local projects will be funded soon because Rockwall County voters approved road bonds that will pay part of the construction costs and the county has a “unified approach” of working together in a cooperative effort.

“Those are the biggest reasons we will get the funding,” Magness said.

The commissioner said there’s no date set for the next round of funding decisions.

Rockwall County needs about $28 million for the three projects. The council also plans to put in $23 million for the local work.

While waiting for sessions involving the next funding cycle, Magness said Rockwall County officials will continue to meet with representatives of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Transportation Commission through the Regional Transportation Council.

The group, he said, will focus on asking for a “fair share” allocation of Proposition 12 funds.

In 2007, the Texas Legislature created a new transportation funding source in the form of general obligation bonds. The measure went to statewide voters as Proposition 12 in 2007 and authorized $5 billion in general revenues for transportation. In 2009, the Texas Legislature appropriated $1.85 billion to this initiative.

At the Oct. 30 meeting of the Texas Transportation Committee, the TxDOT staff recommended $126 million in maintenance projects for the Dallas-Fort Worth region, which includes Rockwall County. That total represents 6.7 percent of the statewide funding total.

According to Magness, about $44 million of the $126 million was for new construction.

In a resolution, the Regional Transportation Council asked that the Dallas-Fort Worth region obtain a fair share allocation of Proposition 12 funding.

When applying a fair share allocation, according to the resolution, the Regional Transportation Council believes it is owed $309 million for preservation (maintenance) projects and $358 million for capacity (construction) projects.

The resolution also suggested that TxDOT develop a cooperative team approach with the Regional Transportation Council and TxDOT’s Dallas and Fort Worth districts to select Proposition 12 projects in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Plans for the Erby Campbell project call for the development and construction of an interchange at I-30 and Hickory Hill Road. The project was included in the county’s 2005 bond program. The county approved a $4 million contribution to the project. The balance of the estimated $27.4 million construction cost would come from state and federal funds.

The 549 plan is similar to the Erby Campbell project — the development and construction of an interchange at l-30 and FM 549. Estimated construction cost is $23 million.

The FM 740 South project is expected to cost about $10 million and will involve widening an existing two-lane road to a four-lane divided urban roadway. Construction of the first phase of this project — FM 740 North — is scheduled to begin early next year. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 4.

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