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The Texas Transportation Commission held a regular meeting to take up Commission business. The following report focuses only on the selected agenda items below.
 
 Update on the Municipal Highways Turnback Program
John Barton, Deputy Executive Director, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)

  • There is a lot of interest in this program from many of the communities
  • The City of Lubbock has already submitted a proposal to TxDOT
  • The Metroplex and San Antonio have initiated discussions regarding the program
  • Texas Municipal League has engaged TxDOT to develop a memorandum of understanding which includes the following key points:
    • This is a cooperative program between cities and TxDOT
    • Participation in the program is voluntary
    • Transferred miles will be in satisfactory condition before a transfer occurs
    • The Turnback program is available to any city within the boundaries of a metropolitan planning organization
    • No penalties will be imposed on cities who choose not to participate
    • Future savings will be used in the city on other priority highway projects
  • Financial considerations:
    • A portion of the maintenance savings will be used in a participating city in accordance with the local implementation plan developed by the city and TxDOT
    • Expenditures from the Turnback program will be capped at $100 million
    • Savings will be used by TxDOT on eligible mobility, safety and preservation projects
  • Commissioner Victor Vandergriff asked how much of the $100 million has been committed so far
    • None has been committed; no partnerships have officially been agreed to; if the City of Lubbock’s proposal is accepted it would be about $6 million of the total $100 million
  • Texas Municipal League President, Jungus Jordan thanked the commission for allowing the League to pursue the memorandum of understanding and noted that the League is voting in the next few days on the memorandum
  • Association of Texas Metropolitan Planning Organizations Executive Director, Ashby Johnson also thanked the commission and noted that the association has approved the memorandum

 
Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) Report
Brian Ragland, Director of Finance, TxDOT

  • The LAR will be due at the end of August 2014
  • There should be a draft LAR at the July commissioners meeting
  • Current biennial budget is around $21 billion
    • About ¾ of the budget goes to projects that have already been planned and initiated that are being paid out
  • There is uncertainty with federal reimbursements going forward because the Map 21 program will be coming to completion October 1 and the federal highway trust fund is projected to deplete
  • Because the constitutional amendment election will be taking place after the LAR is due, there will likely be an exceptional item requesting that funding in case the amendment does not pass
  • Other potential exceptional items include: State Highway 130 truck discount; potential rail, transit aviation and maritime projects
  • Commissioner Jeff Austin asked about the state highway trust fund; Texas has the ability to sustain operations by tapping into short term loans for around three months
    • Depending on how long the uncertainty in the trust fund continues, TxDOT may need to look into curtailing certain projects to ensure there is adequate funding for emergency needs

 
Unified Transportation Program (UTP) Report
Mark Williams, Director of Planning, TxDOT

  • New revisions include:
    • Funding level adjustments
      • Have been working on several fund transfer requests trying to ensure they align with timing and availability of project initiation
    • Initial designation of major projects
    • Project list updates
    • Transportation Development Credit balances and awards
      • These credits allow the state to use federal obligation authority without the requirement of non-federal matching dollars
      • Three metropolitan planning organizations have credits available to use on these UTP projects
    • Technical revisions and corrections
  • The candidate list for projects includes:
    • SH 183 managed lanes
    • LP 375 border highway West extension
    • US 181 harbor bridge
    • US 281
    • SH 99 (grand parkway) segments H, I-1 and I-2
    • SH 288 Harris County
  • Chairman Ted Houghton noted he was in San Antonio recently and the planning organization there met to vote on the mobility plan; they approved the plan
  • The commission unanimously approved revisions to the UTP