Texas Department of Transportation Commission Meeting

Commission Room
Dewitt Greer Building
125 East 11th Street
Austin, Texas

9:00 a.m. Thursday, May 31, 2001

COMMISSION MEMBERS:

JOHN W. JOHNSON, Chair (not present)
ROBERT L. NICHOLS presiding
RIC WILLIAMSON

STAFF:

CHARLES W. HEALD, Executive Director
RICHARD MONROE, General Counsel
HELEN HAVELKA, Executive Assistant, Engineering Operations
 

PROCEEDINGS

MR. NICHOLS: I declare this meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission open in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings laws. For the record, the agenda was filed with the Secretary of State at 12:57 p.m., May 23. Our chairman, Johnny Johnson is not here today and asked me to chair the meeting; his mother passed away a few days ago, and our prayers and concerns go with he and his family.

Our second delegation today, part of it will be in Spanish, and if anybody has any need for interpretation, we will have some listening devices for conversion later.

Before we get going too far, I'd like to ask Commission Member Williamson if you have any comments that you would like to make.

MR. WILLIAMSON: No, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: I would like to say that the session that we just completed I think was probably, from a transportation standpoint, one of the most significant; there are some issues that were passed. I know we've got a number of legislators in the room which I would like to thank for all the work they did.

There are a couple of items, particularly an item called toll equity, that was passed through the legislature that will go to the voters in November and very possibly is one of the most significant pieces of transportation legislation in the past decade from our standpoint, and I just wanted to make sure that we publicly thanked them for the work that they did on that.

EL PASO METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION

(Mayor Carlos Ramirez, Judge Dolores Briones, Rep. Joe Pickett, Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, Sen. Robert Duncan, Rep. Manny Najera, Miguel Teran, Maribel Chavez)

MR. NICHOLS: Our first delegation is El Paso. I know there's a lot of people that came a long ways. We very much appreciate the effort that you have gone to be here today, and it was a wonderful dinner last night and reception, and appreciate that. I guess I'll call on El Paso Mayor Carlos Ramirez.

MAYOR RAMIREZ: Good morning. Thank you for being with us last night; we really enjoyed the time that you spent with us. First of all, on behalf of El Pasoans, please convey our condolences to Commissioner Johnson; he's in our prayers.

It is my pleasure to be here today with you on behalf of El Paso residents. I want to thank you for the support that the Texas Transportation Commission has shown for our community's regional transportation needs. We have a delegation from El Paso to thank you for that support personally. Will the El Paso delegation please stand? Thank you.

Your support has continued to further our efforts to create a regional transportation system that can move people and commerce in a safe and efficient manner. In September of last year we brought three projects before you for funding. These projects continue to be our number one, number two, and number three priority projects. Today we are here to present our fourth and fifth priority projects.

Specifically, our requests include project number one which is FM 1109 from Caseta-Fabens International Port of Entry to the Tornillo Interchange. We are requesting Priority 1 funding for the realignment of Texas FM 1109 from the Fabens Port of Entry to State Highway 20 and the extension to Tornillo Interchange at Interstate Highway 10. The amount requested is $28.3 million.

Project number two is Vinton Road from Interstate 10 to State Highway 20. We are requesting Priority 1 funding to add Vinton Road to the Texas state system as a farm to market road from Interstate Highway 10 to State Highway 20, an upgrade to state standards. The amount requested is $2.5 million.

Both projects surfaced as community priorities through a consensus-building process that examines the growing needs of our community. As you know, we took a lot of work to revamp our MPO and I believe that that has translated into better projects and better presentations of a more unified community in support of these projects.

Commissioners, as you are aware, El Paso serves as the front door to Texas, facilitating trade and commerce that benefits the entire state's economy. In fact, our region has been a strategic transportation gateway for people and goods moving through the Americas for over 400 years. El Paso lies at the crossroads of a major east-west and north-south corridor; consequently, from the Camino Real to NAFTA, El Paso has played a key role in facilitating commerce.

Today the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico region is the largest binational metropolitan area on the U.S.-Mexico border and in the world, and it continues to grow. El Paso County experienced a 14.9 percent growth in population between 1990 and 2000. During that same period, the population of Fabens increased by 44 percent, while the Village of Vinton experienced an incredible 212 percent growth in population.

Although our region's population has increased, the persistently low income levels in our region reflect the need for an increased economic stimulus via infrastructure development. At $36,478, El Paso County's median household income for 2000 was $8,681 below the national average. The communities of Fabens and Vinton had even lower median household income levels of $22,733 and $29,680, respectively.

Regionally, we play a key role in the binational manufacturing industry. Our sister city, Ciudad Juarez, is one of the two most prominent locations in this industry in Mexico. There are currently 330 manufacturing plants in Ciudad Juarez adding 1.3 million workers to our regional economy. In El Paso there are approximately 800 manufacturing facilities.

The regional manufacturing industry relies heavily on its ability to efficiently transport goods into the U.S. markets. Exports from Mexico into the United States in 2000 totaled more than $110 million. Ninety-eight percent of this trade traffic is handled by trucks, 18 percent of which enter the U.S. through El Paso area ports of entry. The projects we bring before you facilitate the effective flow of goods and build strategic infrastructure that will grow local economic development in our region.

At this time we would like to thank you for the help you have provided to us in the past with completing Loop 375. Behind you, you will see the different projects that I'm going to mention. Thank you for helping us and putting a major investment into our loop with your support and help with the Northeast Parkway, the Montana Avenue-Loop 375 Interchange, the Montwood Drive-Zaragosa Road-Loop 375 Interchange, the construction of main lanes on Loop 375 from Zaragosa Port of Entry to Interstate Highway 10, and the Border Highway extension east.

El Paso will continue to focus on key infrastructure issues as we transition to a new city administration. Mayor-elect Ray Caballero could not be with us today, but he has pledged to continue to work with Team El Paso and in partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation.

Commissioners, at this time I would like to introduce to you our County Judge Dolores Briones.

JUDGE BRIONES: Thank you, Mayor. Good morning, commissioners. You have just heard about the importance of enhancing our region's infrastructure. I'd like to expand upon that and talk about the growing importance of our Fabens Port of Entry.

Throughout the 1990s, dramatic increases in northbound truck crossings occurred at all commercial ports of entry as a result of NAFTA. The bridge at the Fabens Port of Entry has experienced an increase of over 70,000 passenger and light commercial vehicle crossings since 1998. The proposed Fabens Port of Entry, which will be built to accommodate commercial traffic, is projected to alleviate congestion along other ports of entry in El Paso County.

In order to prepare for the increase in traffic flows, improvements must be made to this 63-year-old wooden bridge. With this in mind, the county has a presidential permit application in progress to improve the condition and efficiency of the Fabens Bridge by constructing a new bridge capable of handling the high levels of truck traffic.

Partnerships with the Mexican government at the state and federal levels are also ongoing and we continue to work closely with our TxDOT district to make this project a reality. The further we progress, the more valuable is the already excellent counsel that I've received from our district engineer, Maribel Chavez.

This brings me to our first project request for the realignment of Farm to Market 1109 with grade-separated overpasses at State Highway 20 and the Union Pacific Railroad. This road is a key connector between the Fabens Port of Entry and I-10. As you can see, the current alignment of FM 1109 routes traffic to I-10 through a series of three different roadways. The proposed alignment would create a more direct route for traffic flowing from the Fabens Bridge to I-10.

Our Mexican counterparts are providing more direct access to the Fabens Bridge by widening Por Venir Highway from two to four lanes and building an eastern bypass from the Casas Grandes Highway to the Fabens Port of Entry.

FM 1109 will also provide needed infrastructure for the future economic development of the unincorporated areas of the county. Over the past decade the population of unincorporated areas grew over 50 percent, with Fabens growing by 44 percent. Considering this large growth, the county is moving forward with an economic development plan that will promote economic growth in this rural portion of El Paso County.

The median household income in Fabens is currently $22,733. This new plan focuses on a technology and research park, along with housing and education opportunities, for individuals and families working in this new industrial park. This area is prime for development but needs additional infrastructure to capitalize upon its location.

I am proud to state that the county has committed to providing close to $6.5 million towards the Phase 1 completion of this project; we are working with TxDOT to complete Phase 2. This project will allow the county to expand its economic development initiatives in this rural area. We urge your support for this project, and we commit our partnership.

At this time I would like to introduce to you our incoming Transportation Policy Board chair, State Representative Joe Pickett.

MR. PICKETT: Gosh, you don't even have to put quarters in this thing.

MR. NICHOLS: A toll podium.

(General laughter.)

MR. PICKETT: I also share some of your thoughts about the session being over; there's a lot of good things that happened. It's only been a few days so we're all in a good mood. And before I leave, I know there's another delegation presentation. I would like to ask all the members of the House Transportation Committee that are here present to stand.

This is Representative David Swinford, Chairman David Swinford, and David, I want to publicly thank you for all your help that you gave El Paso on the Transportation Committee.

I have the dubious honor of, I hope, becoming the next chair of our MPO. I also know that, Wes and Commissioner Williamson and Commissioner Nichols, that being on Appropriations and on the Transportation Committee, I caused you guys a lot of maybe consternation over the last five months, but it's going to get worse, and one of the reasons it's going to get worse is, as Ric knows as a former House member and as a former member of Appropriations, we start earlier than everybody else, so consequently, I didn't get to meet any of our freshman class for quite some time.

And when Ric was being confirmed and they were talking about this person that used to be in the legislature and was on Appropriations, a lot of the freshman members got me confused with Commissioner Williamson, and one morning out in one of the hallways in front of the Appropriations meeting, a freshman legislator came up to me and said, I really need some help on this project in my district; could I show you the information? I said, Sure. And I looked at it and I said, I don't think this is a very good project; I'm going to have to deny it.

And they got a little upset and they had the mayor of their community and the county judge call you up, and I don't think you had been confirmed at that time, and they saw me again in the halls probably a couple of weeks later, and I said, Well, if you'll come up with 50 percent of the match, we might consider it. So I'm wondering when that request is going to come in to TxDOT, so I apologize ahead of time, Commissioner, for that, but I couldn't help it. And it wasn't the first time either, Ric.

(General laughter.)

MR. PICKETT: The second project -- is what I want to talk about that we bring before you -- is in the far northwest portion of El Paso County. We're going from one extreme to the other; this is right at just about the New Mexico border, and you know some of the work that TxDOT has been doing out there, especially with Wes's help and Kirby Pickett and Mike Behrens -- we converted an FM to a spur out there.

Here's a situation where we have a road connecting Interstate 10 to State Highway 20 that was really not designed for a connector but has become one, and the Village of Vinton happens to be in between these parallel paths, and as much as the Village of Vinton needs this, this has become a direct connect. And if the Village of Vinton did not sit between Interstate 10 and State Highway 20, TxDOT would be constructing an FM, but because the Village of Vinton is there, we looked to them for their leadership, and the Village of Vinton itself depends on this roadway as well.

Their major plan looks at commercial parks, industrial development along there, and with this, again, this direct connect to Interstate 10, this would help drastically. The last five years in the Village of Vinton we've seen the growth, as you heard the mayor say, 212 percent, almost 15 percent a year, but the traffic patterns that we have in that area have destined this road; it's going to happen. It needs to be an FM, and if not, maybe like we did in Anthony, at some point a spur, as well.

But the Village of Vinton isn't complaining and saying we have all this traffic running through our village; we see the importance and the need of working with TxDOT and the Village of Vinton is offering 100 percent of the right of way for this project, and for a town the size of the Village of Vinton, that is a major commitment on their part.

In closing, I'd like to point out that there was considerable community-wide participation in prioritization of these projects; we went through several different selection processes. The projects we've brought before you represent key areas in the needed transportation infrastructure and economic development.

This one that I'm bringing you right now, as far as the Village of Vinton -- Mayor Monrreal, are you here, Mayor? Mayor Monrreal right there in the back who you met last night, the mayor drove here from El Paso and he couldn't find a connection to Interstate 10 and he went through Ohio. Is that not true, Mayor? And he probably told you that story last night.

(General laughter.)

MR. PICKETT: The other end of the county, the Fabens-Caseta connection there, the champion in the El Paso County area is Commissioner Teran. Commissioner Teran, would you stand up so they can see who you are that will be lobbying you very briskly, and Commissioner Teran has been in your office, Wes, and I know Commissioner Nichols has visited him, and Ric, I had to, I gave him your home phone number.

(General laughter.)

MR. PICKETT: These projects target different segments of our region, bringing us closer to building an efficient and integrated regional transportation system. Both of them, we feel, will enhance El Paso's ability to grow -- and notice, we are having to go out to the extreme ends. The realignment of FM 1109 will pave the way for the relocation of the Fabens Port of Entry, and you saw from those pictures, it is a wooden bridge. We had taken a tour a couple of months back, and there is a picture of a truck up on one curb as another passes; that literally is the situation, but that's the way of the growth; that's where it's going to happen.

As the senator tells me and reminds everybody, 85 percent of the truck traffic that comes into the El Paso area goes right, hangs a right, which means it goes east, and this is the east side of our community.

Upgrading the Vinton Road to state standards will allow this community to facilitate their traffic flow and attract commercial development -- that's how important it is. And I would hope that the commission would consider these projects favorably.

That's all I have, and at this time I would like to introduce the delegation members that are here: Senator Shapleigh is here; Senator Duncan might be here because he'll also be making a presentation; Representative Najera is here. And I don't know -- is Representative Haggerty in the house? Commissioner Haggerty is here and he has his proxy, but we try to keep that till later in the day.

I would also like to thank the MPO and the chamber of commerce for putting together the presentation that you see, facilitating the dinner, and all those things behind the scene, as Wes knows -- we always hear about Wes's staff -- and again, Wes, I want to publicly thank you for all the people. Carolyn -- who is probably watching on your closed circuit upstairs in the Legislative Affairs Office -- Carolyn, thank you for letting me bug you for the last five months. And I appreciate the support from all your staff, commissioners and Wes.

Yes, sir?

MR. NICHOLS: Comment?

MR. WILLIAMSON: There are several House and Senate members with us today, and the commission will recognize each appropriately, but I think the department is unified in wanting to say to you personally thank you for your work on making Senate Bill 342 a working document that the public can benefit from for many years.

MR. PICKETT: Thank you, Commissioner.

MR. WILLIAMSON: The constitutional amendment has to be passed in November and we can't lobby from this podium, but speaking for myself personally, it's a very important piece of legislation that the state ought to consider carefully. And your work on the Senate bill, the companion statute with that resolution, was marvelous and we appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

MR. PICKETT: I thank you very much. And I have to tell you I was a little apprehensive today. For five months I was on a dais and you were on the outside; today you're on the dais and I'm on the outside, and look at that grin on Wes's face.

(General laughter.)

MR. PICKETT: Need I say any more? Thank you.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you.

We've got a number of state and elected officials from El Paso. Senator Shapleigh?

SENATOR SHAPLEIGH: Commissioners, I'm sorry the chair is not here because he did something real special in October: he came to a regional infrastructure conference, Mexico-U.S., looking at what was important and what our priorities are. I don't think any port has done that, and TxDOT's participation in that was critical in understanding what is evolving in Texas.

Fifty years ago this country embarked on an ambitious national highway system that was to connect both coasts, primarily rooted in defense, but really rooted in transportation. Today we have those corridors going north and south -- two of the presentations here today are about those corridors -- 80 percent of those are in the state of Texas.

We are blessed and challenged by having those corridors in our state. We have five NAFTA corridors in the state of Texas that will paint a picture of prosperity for this state for decades to come, but this commission has significant obligations to the state of Texas and a challenge to make sure that those corridors are developed and made the valuable properties that they can become.

This is El Paso, one of your ports, one of the four major ports that will develop on the U.S.-Mexico border in the future. What we are asking in the year 2001 is for the commercial infrastructure. One of these projects is very key, the Fabens port, which is the second highest priority for the State of Chihuahua in terms of their eastern bypass so that they can go and take commercial transportation -- as Mr. Wueste well knows -- and move it through the State of Chihuahua through the Fabens port and catch the I-10 corridor going east.

But what I want to do is thank each of you individually, particularly you, Commissioner Nichols, because I think in your plane you've visited us almost once a month and have a certified passport to the border now, El Paso County passport. And Ric, I'm hoping we're going to wear you out. These issues with Mexico, the issues of port efficiency, the issues of these corridors could not be more important to the state of Texas.

As a member of the conference committee on both bills that came through the Senate, the important toolboxes for the future, I recognize how important it is what we did with toll equity but we didn't do what we needed to do on resources, and I pledge to you that we're going to come back and back to make sure that this state does for transportation what we did in the fifties on the national level.

Texas needs to make transportation one of its priorities. I've worked on that since I've been there, as has Ric Williamson, and we're going to come back and get that job done because the resources that we need in this state to take advantage of this huge asset that we have -- which are these NAFTA corridors -- we need to make sure that they're not only at the national level but the state level.

So I thank you personally for the work that you do. At 78 cents a month from our legislative pay, after paying for health insurance, I think you are getting a good deal out of us, and we recognize the good deal that you do for the state of Texas.

MR. WILLIAMSON: To clarify, Senator -- you and I have had the opportunity to visit a few times in the last few months -- is this new bridge a logical place for a state of the art border inspection facility?

SENATOR SHAPLEIGH: I think the top three prospects for a one-stop inspection facility in the state of Texas are: number one, Anzalduas, because of the ownership on both sides and the apparent real willingness to get going on it; the Fabens-Caseta Bridge; and then the Ysleta area. There are others, not as clearly defined, in Eagle Pass and Laredo that you and I have talked about, but the top three in my opinion are those sites.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And is it your viewpoint -- personal viewpoint -- that whatever the department does, along with the rest of the federal and state agencies in El Paso, with regard to border inspection, ought not to be influenced by whatever local officials want to do or not do in, say, Laredo or Brownsville or Eagle Pass? I mean, those are separate issues. Can't the department look at that differently?

SENATOR SHAPLEIGH: What I think is it's incumbent upon you to interact with local officials daily, particularly your state delegation who happens to be assisting you with writing the checks, but I think TxDOT is charged with a unique responsibility, which is to take a look at the international view of Texas transportation, and sometimes that view is different from the local view of where items ought to be.

I'll share my personal opinion with you. As we come to these ports -- remember all these developed in the 1840s. They were rowboats; you can go to Candelaria, Texas today and see one of those rowboats still in existence -- but they started as rowboats, then became bridges, they were cattle crossings, whatever, and now they are international crossings often dead in the middle of what are large, fast-growing commercial areas of cities like Laredo, Brownsville, Pharr and El Paso.

We should endeavor, as we put in this port infrastructure at these very key ports -- these are now every bit as important to the prosperity of the state of Texas as Houston was when cotton was king -- and we ought to endeavor to move that traffic to the loops, the commercial loops so that we don't have the kind of congestion that we've seen in places like Laredo. But I will tell you, in my opinion, we ought to have that interaction with the local officials, but ultimately that decision needs to be made in the best interests of the state of Texas and the nation. These are ports, after all, for international commerce, not just local commerce.

MR. WILLIAMSON: But I want to be sure that I understand. I think our viewpoint -- I can't say that, can I, Mr. Monroe?  I want to know what your viewpoint is. Should the department, in your view, unnecessarily delay any action in El Paso because of the lack of agreement on how to deal with ports along other parts of the border? That's the question I want to ask.

SENATOR SHAPLEIGH: El Paso is a very different port than the other ports; we ought to go forward in Anzalduas, in El Paso with the most appropriate project. We are not linked as one giant port along the border; these are multiple projects that we ought to pursue.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you very much. That's what I wanted to be sure of. I don't want to be a part of asking the department's employees to move forward and then find out in two years that the department has done something that the legislature, in its wisdom, might object to. Speaking for myself personally and not for the commission, I think we would like to be aggressive in El Paso; I at least want to be sure that we're aggressing in a positive way.

SENATOR SHAPLEIGH: We want you to be aggressive; we want to interact with you daily, and one thing to realize is every one of these ports is very different.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thanks for your work this session.

SENATOR SHAPLEIGH: Thanks for yours.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And I'm still trying to figure out how to take you to dinner.

SENATOR SHAPLEIGH: Tonight's a good night.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: I wanted to thank you also for the work you did during the session; you've been a real transportation advocate all along and have been real helpful.

On the Fabens Bridge relocation, let me just ask you a question. I know in the presentation there's a particular location picked out, but there may be some other areas close. Do you support our consideration of a feasibility study on trying to identify the best area right in there, or as a community as a whole, do you feel like it's already come together on that particular location.

SENATOR SHAPLEIGH: I think we're in favor of doing the best option for commercial traffic in that area for the future, and one of the issues is obviously going to be what is Chihuahua going to do. I mean, we've seen bridges that go to nowhere built on the border before and I think we need to make sure that we're aligning with what their priority is. There's a couple of places where that could go, a couple of places where it could link up, but I think we want to pick the most obvious and best commercial location for that route.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you very much.

SENATOR SHAPLEIGH: Appreciate your work.

MR. NICHOLS: Senator Duncan, do you have some comments?

SENATOR DUNCAN: I won't take a lot of time from the delegation. I just want to say I think that since I've been representing El Paso for the last 4-1/2 years, I've seen that their MPO and I think the work within the community and the planning has really taken steps forward, and I think that the projects that they've come forward here today with are projects that they definitely have decided are priorities.

And I want to commend Joe Pickett for the work that he's done, Senator Shapleigh, and Manny for the work that they've done locally, and I certainly support their projects and what they've done, especially in the planning. I think their MPO and the work that they've done together over the last four years has been very significant.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Some House and Senate members view us possibly as adversaries or competitors, some House and Senate members view us as partners. Like Representative Pickett, Senator, the department's employees wish to thank you for viewing us as a partner all session long and helping us at every turn. Words can't express how much we relied upon you in the Senate and we appreciate it.

SENATOR DUNCAN: Well, I appreciate it. It seems like I've seen you guys a few times over this past session.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you very much.

SENATOR DUNCAN: And usually you're smiling.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you, Senator.

Manny?

MR. NAJERA: Have you ever heard a politician say three words and sit down?

(General laughter.)

MR. NAJERA: I want to thank you for everything you've done for El Paso, for being here with us; I want to thank El Paso. Again, just look at the numbers, look at the people that think that this is important enough to pay their own way, to drive over here -- even through Cincinnati.

(General laughter.)

MR. NAJERA: But anyway, when you talk about these international bridges, if the county takes over the building -- which Dr. Teran is -- I hope he talks about it. Is he here? Come on up. He's the commissioner that's been working on this. But if we stay away from the feds, then that's one thing because the feds are going to be real picky about this. I was with U.S. Customs for 31 years and I've seen this kind of stuff, and it's an old, old bridge -- I mean, I worked there when I was a junior inspector back in the '60s, and that bridge was already there and traffic was going across it.

But I commend Miguel for all the hard work that he's been doing and I wish you all the luck in the world. Thank you all very much.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you.

MR. TERAN: Nothing else to add; thank you very much for your consideration. I assure you that that is the right location; the governor of Chihuahua is totally sold on it and their plans on that highway connecting from the Pan American Highway to the bridge are well into the planning stages of actual engineering. Ironically, their approach to construction is a little bit different than ours: when they get into the project, they start engineering it before they even alert the public where the road is going to go. So that's where they're at.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Sir, one of the things I'm interested in, as a member of the commission, is making decisions about the state's resources that also provide benefit to the local community. In other words, if we could locate a highway or a bridge or do a repair job anywhere in the state that would simultaneously assist a recreation facility, a local interchange, maybe clearing out some land that's environmentally sensitive and restoring it, I'm interested in combining those approaches.

In your view, the bridge at Fabens, depending on where it's located, will it offer the state the opportunity to assist the El Paso area in improving any kind of local facility?

MR. TERAN: It will become the diversion of traffic eastward, eliminating unnecessary traffic through the city of Juarez and El Paso. This is one of the reasons the governor of Chihuahua is so interested in this location because it will divert traffic from the downtown area and eliminate the present pollution that we presently have by unnecessary trucks in the downtown area.

Number two, it will provide an opportunity for industrial development in an area that is developing with or without anybody else's help. So the question is will this support El Paso. Yes, in both ways: economically speaking, as well as environmentally, an opportunity to clean the downtown El Paso area and divert a lot of traffic from the present congested ports of entry.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: Did you have any more comments or questions for the delegation? Thank you very much, sir.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Other than to hope that Manny is on transportation along with Joe.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: In a second, before we recess this delegation, we're going to ask James Bass to come to the podium and we're going to move two agenda items, Item 7(a) and (b) which relate to the El Paso area up so we can vote on them while you're here.

And while he's coming up, I'd like to thank you again for the great work that you have done over the last number of years in the El Paso area, putting together -- the term you use "Team El Paso" has truly looked like that from where I've sat here and when I've gone out there. You've pulled together your elected officials, the county, cities, businesses, and chosen and prioritized projects, you've stepped up to the plate, you've made your hard local choices, and I think the projects that are most important for the region out there, and I commend you and your elected officials for the work that you've done.

With that, we'll have James Bass go ahead.

MR. BASS: Good morning. I'm James Bass, director of TxDOT's Finance Division, and as you mentioned, I have two agenda items to present at this time.

The first one is agenda item 7(a), and this minute order seeks preliminary approval of a loan to the Town of Anthony in the amount of $399,383 to pay for the relocation of water and sewer lines in connection with the construction of a new state highway spur and the installation of storm sewers on an existing state highway. In preliminary discussions, the city has requested terms of 15 years and an annual interest rate of 4 percent. Staff recommends your approval so that we may begin negotiations.

MR. WILLIAMSON: So moved.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor, say aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: Motion passes.

MR. BASS: Agenda item 7(b) seeks final approval of a loan to the City of El Paso in the amount of $5.288 million to pay for the structural rehabilitation of two international bridges and the construction of a toll plaza. Earlier, $3.634 million associated with this project was approved in September of 1999 for environmental studies and for the purchase and installation of an automated toll collection system. These studies have concluded and the city now seeks final approval of the remaining $5.288 million for the completion of the project.

This $5.288 million will be added to the outstanding balance of their earlier loan and will accrue interest at the rate in the earlier minute order of 4.3 percent per year and the payback period will be extended from 2009 to 2014, and staff recommends your approval.

MR. WILLIAMSON: So moved.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor, say aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: That was two to nothing instead of four to nothing that time, so that's great.

With that, the State Infrastructure Bank was established by the legislature, I think, four years ago -- five?

MR. BASS: '95.

MR. NICHOLS: '95, okay. And these are perfect examples of tools that the state has given us since I've been on the commission that have been invaluable to small communities to help with projects, and with that, we're going to take -- maybe not.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Oh, Maribel. Where are you?

MR. NICHOLS: Our district engineer, Maribel Chavez, where are you? I'd like to recognize you. Did you have any comments that you would like to make?

MR. WILLIAMSON: But I have a question for you, so could you come up?

MR. NICHOLS: He has a question. All right.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Last night was the first time that I formally made your acquaintance, and I will say for the record what I told you last night: The department speaks very highly of you and the work you do for the state and representing us in El Paso, and we're very proud of what you do.

MS. CHAVEZ: Thank you, Commissioner, and I would respond the same way I did last night: I love this agency, I really do.

MR. WILLIAMSON: So you're going to go back and help organize the El Paso Regional Mobility Authority in hopes that the amendment passes in the fall?

MS. CHAVEZ: Whatever we need to do.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you very much for everything you do.

With that, we'll take a five-minute recess. Any of you who would like to stay are certainly welcome to stay for the next presentation, but we're recessed. Thank you very much.

(Whereupon, a brief recess was taken.)

MIDLAND-ODESSA TRANSPORTATION ALLIANCE

(L.D. "Buddy" Sipes, Jr., Ing. Joaquin Barrios Cardenas, Lauren Garduno, Senator Robert Duncan)

MR. NICHOLS: We're going to go ahead and come back to order, and as a reminder, earlier I mentioned that portions of this will be in Spanish, and for those of you who would like a translating device such as this, there are some on the table over here to go from Spanish to English or the other way.

To begin with our MOTRAN, or Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance, I'd like to ask Buddy Sipes, the new chair, to begin the presentation.

MR. SIPES: Thank you very much, commissioners. Thank you for the time. I'm sorry that Commissioner Johnson could not be here; our thoughts and prayers are also with him at this time of losing his mother.

I'm Buddy Sipes, chairman of the Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance, speaking on behalf of all the delegation from Midland and Odessa that are here today, and I'd like for them to stand, if they would, to be recognized. We have a fine delegation, and for your convenience, you can read the brochures on the La Entrada al Pacifico Corridor; we will not take time to do that in your presence today.

The purpose of today's presentation is to update you on the exciting things that are happening along that corridor. Even in the last year we've seen tremendous progress along that corridor in the commitments that we see, both in the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua, toward the development of this corridor and making it become a reality.

First, let me thank TxDOT, and particularly the commissioners, for your continued commitment to the development of this corridor, and one of those has been the commitment of discretionary funds for the 349 reliever route around Midland. This is the first concrete new construction for the La Entrada route, and we are thankful for that.

An additional thank you for the study that's going on right now -- or the two studies, I guess I should say, that's going on right now. One is the bypass around Lamesa and the other is the expansion of 349 south of Lamesa toward the city of Midland.

We also want to thank you for your consideration of adding the portion of Highway 385 and US 67 from McCamey to the intersection of I-10 near Fort Stockton to the Texas Trunk System. This is important to us in the overall scheme of things. And even though it doesn't come through Midland-Odessa, we wanted to thank TxDOT for their 40-year lease to Ferro-Mex and the rehabilitation of the South Orient Railroad. I think that's going to be a key, ultimately, in the overall scheme of things.

You see, the railroad is the result of a vision that was had by Albert Kinsey Owen in Kansas City back in 1872, and he was trying to find the shortest route to bring goods from the west coast of the American continent to the mid part of the United States, and he reasoned that the Port of Topolobampo and the corridor laid out from there would be the most efficient route and the shortest route, and it was along that route that he set out to build a railroad, and the South Orient from Chihuahua over to Topolobampo was not completed until 1961.

And the history of that, you might be interested in knowing, is written up in a book. Betsy Triplett Hurt said it's the last one in existence and she is the proud purchaser of that, and you can borrow that if you're interested in the history of this particular trade corridor.

We recently rode the railroad from Topolobampo, Los Mochis, over to Copper Canyon and then into the city of Chihuahua. That was an extremely interesting time; it shows the amount of work, though, that's got to be done to build a highway paralleling that road and making it possible to have truck traffic through the entire La Entrada Corridor.

Along that line, we met with the governor of Sinaloa which is the coastal state where Los Mochis is located, and he tells us that this is his major project is finishing the highways up to their border of Sinaloa in order to make possible the truck traffic from the Port of Topolobampo up into the La Entrada Corridor. They're going to build 26 miles of highway, divided, four-lane highway, each year until that project is completed. That's a major commitment, and we were there earlier this spring and that highway is being built.

Along that line, and to underscore the commitment of the State of Sinaloa, Mr. Mario Cardenas, the president of the Sinaloa Development Council, is here to lend his support to our corridor, as well as Herman Rivera. They are both from the State of Sinaloa and I'd like for them to stand up. We appreciate the enthusiasm that we saw from the State of Sinaloa.

Chihuahua is the Mexican state that has the longest border with Texas, and as a result, they are very key players, not only in this corridor but in others, and it's my pleasure now to introduce for an update of what's going on in the State of Chihuahua, the coordinator of Projects and Studies for the Chihuahua Department of Transportation, Mr. Joaquin Barrios. He will share with you the commitment that the State of Chihuahua, as well as the Mexican federal government, has to this project.

MR. CARDENAS (BY INTERPRETER): Good morning to you all. I would like to give you warm greetings from the State of Chihuahua and our governor, Mr. Patricio Martinez. I'm going to say a few words about the work that we're carrying out in the State of Chihuahua as far as road improvements.

The State of Chihuahua is the largest state in the country of Mexico. Our intentions are to link all of the areas that up to now have been inaccessible. Right now we are building the road Camargo-Ojinaga; it's 112 kilometers in length; it was started in July 2000 and we expect it to be completed in January or February of the next year.

This road is something that shortens the present road that goes from Chihuahua City to Ojinaga, and those 112 kilometers we are running east to west, trying to avoid a mountain area that there exists. The new construction area, all those 112 kilometers, is an area that's considerably flatter. This is one of the pictures of the work that's being carried out as far as the road construction. As you can see, it's almost flat, and we're hoping to finish it towards the end of February 2002.

Also talking about the construction of this same road, which to us it represents an interstate link; it's going to link us to the State of Sinaloa and it also represents the entry to the Pacific which will be an international corridor, and that's why we're giving all our priority to this kind of construction.

The second phase will be to build the secondary ports and four lanes from one end of Chihuahua to the other, from Aldama to Kilometer 84 on the Aldama-Chihuahua Road and Kilometer 201 from the road that goes to Camargo to Ojinaga. Between both of those projects, we're talking about 96 kilometers, and the idea is for us to begin in the next year, 2002, and finish it one year after that in 2003.

Once we get to Chihuahua City from Chihuahua to the town of Cuauhtemoc, we have four lanes already for 100 kilometers, four-lane, divided highway, and the second phase would be the road that connects Camargo-Ojinaga, that would be the second phase going from Camargo to Kilometer 201. This road is 200 kilometers long and we would finish this by the end of 2004, so we are thinking of building these roads before the administration of Government Patricio Martinez is over.

Also, the road from Ojinaga to Aldama is 208 kilometers, and our state last year was going to be, the bid was going to go out for the construction on this section from Cuauhtemoc to La Junta, 40 kilometers only, but it's also being built, and what we had in mind was to build it also four lanes divided. I'm trying to point here so you can better appreciate which area I am talking about. And we are trying to also keep on building four lanes all the way.

So we're talking about all this route would be four lanes; this is only two lanes right here -- and this part that's going to take it to Sinaloa, this is the one that's being highlighted here is the one we're looking at. We have roads all the way to San Rafael and we also have a connection to Sinaloa, but it's unimproved roads.

This is the second phase of the road that goes from Cuauhtemoc to La Junta, and like I was saying, the request for bids went out this last month, and I think that towards the middle of this coming month we're going to start the administrative process to begin building it.

What we need to complete the road that goes from Ojinaga to Topolobampo is what we can see here in this graph, all the way from San Rafael -- which we have marked here in red -- all the way to the border with the State of Sinaloa. The length that Chihuahua State is going to have to build is 153 kilometers and the length that the State of Sinaloa would have to build is 49 kilometers, a total length of 202 kilometers.

This section of road is located in a mountainous area; it is a section that is going to present a lot of challenges construction-wise at higher costs, but the idea is to do it, to accomplish it in the most pleasant and most economically feasible way as we can, and we have done it on other roads and we can do it here as well.

We're talking about eight-meter lanes, eight wide, enough for two lanes each, and that would be the first phase. The roads I was talking about would be 12 meters wide, two lanes, and we have 2.5 meters of shoulder on both sides of the road, so it's fairly wide. This whole section, we're going to use asphalt for material, and in this section we are carrying out studies necessary, so the plans are not complete but we are working at it very hard. We have been working on it for approximately a year since we started work on this, and right now all the plans have been laid, all the routes have been laid, so it is fairly well organized.

So this would be the full route, as you can see here, that would be the Entrada al Pacifico Highway, and the State of Chihuahua is very interested because it is an interstate link that we don't have at the time. We have to go all the way up north almost towards half across Mexico to find a route like this, so we see this as an industrial type corridor which would definitely increase the development of old towns and older places it's going to go through. This goes all the way to Topolobampo and near Presidio, Texas, and then it goes on north from there.

We have several other projects that we're working on. One of them would take the border road that goes from Presidio to El Paso; we're also working on that; we're in the planning stage of it; it's one of many that we have but it's one of our priorities.

We are also working, as was mentioned earlier, on the shortening of the Fabens access. We have finished all the planning stages of that as well, and in this case we are highly interested in completing this road, because like I was saying, it is the shortest way to the sea for us, as well. So we're working very closely to Sinaloa; our main goal is to complete, as soon as possible, this great highway.

That's what I wanted to bring to your attention. I appreciate your time, and this is what we're doing as far as our connection to Texas.

MR. NICHOLS: I wanted to make a few comments. We wanted to thank you for the time that you've taken to come visit with us and for the courtesies that you extended to us when we took a visit to Chihuahua and drove that route. You've gone to a lot of trouble to be here today and to make this presentation. It's very valuable to us, and the interest in completing that route is of importance to the state of Texas.

I also extend our courtesies to the governor's staff down there. His staff was very open and hospitable to us and our group when we visited Chihuahua and that route about a year and a half ago, and I'm also very pleased that we were able to work out an arrangement with the state legislature approving money for the South Orient Railroad which connects to that route all the way to the Pacific; that also is very important to us.

When I was there in Chihuahua, you had discussed -- not you individually, but the discussion was to build around that mountainous range going to Ojinaga. We also visited with a number of your maquilas in there, and obviously you recognize the problem of taking those trucks through those mountains, and the only obvious course was to bypass the mountains, and I'm very impressed that your state has moved so fast in the construction of that road. Thank you very much. We look forward to the rest of the presentation.

Did you have any comments?

MR. SIPES: I hope the commissioners can see, by the presentation that was just made by Joaquin, that the State of Chihuahua is moving very quickly to upgrade the route, and it seems to us that it's a logical route and it will develop and develop very quickly. I think it will also take a lot of pressure off of at least one other port at the Texas-Mexico border, and for that I think that we need to catch the passion for pavement along this route.

And we would ask specifically -- we don't have any projects that we bring to you today to ask you for money -- what we ask for is your continued commitment to improve Highway 349 from Lubbock to Interstate 20 with reliever routes around Midland and Lamesa, and to continue your commitment to upgrade the Texas Trunk System from Interstate 10 to Presidio as the traffic merits.

We understand that you have to see something first, but we hope that our work on this side of the border will not be so slow that we'll be overwhelmed when that traffic does increase. Thank you so much for this time.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you.

Were there any state elected officials that wanted to make any comment?

VOICE: I do, Robert.

MR. NICHOLS: Okay. So did you have any comments or questions?

MR. WILLIAMSON: We appreciate the friends from Mexico coming to see us. Is Lauren around? We've got to recognize you. Do you want to come up and tell us what you think about this, or maybe you want to talk about the Midland-Odessa Regional Mobility Authority you're starting to think about creating?

MR. GARDUNO: It's obvious we're going to go back and look at that real hard.

Thank you, commissioners, for having me today and for having this delegation before you. They're very excited and passionate about this corridor. One of the first things I saw when I came out to Odessa was this passion for this corridor, and I don't think they're going to give up on it. They're real excited about it and they're doing things and working hard with our neighbors to the south in Mexico to try to improve the economic development and enhance the economics of the state of Texas and I think also this nation.

I'm just grateful to be a part of it out there in the Odessa region, grateful to be working with them, and I'm glad to be a member of TxDOT to be able to assist in that way.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Is it your view that we're giving enough attention in regards to developing these ideas to rail?

MR. GARDUNO: I like rail; I like the recent purchase, I like the recent acquisition that we did there; I like the potential that rail has; I continue to try to promote multimodal out there in that region, looking at certain collection points, so to speak; and I do believe that we do need to promote that as much as we can.

MR. WILLIAMSON: So we need to be, here at the commission and the department also, sort of sensitized to always looking at that as part and parcel of development.

MR. GARDUNO: It's a good idea.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you very much.

MR. GARDUNO: Thank you, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: Yes, sir?

MR. SIPES: I didn't know that Senator Duncan had remained in the audience. We certainly want to thank him for his help and support for this corridor also. Thank you.

MR. NICHOLS: Senator, do you have any comments you wanted to make?

SENATOR DUNCAN: I think just briefly, and I think you're going to hear more about Port to Plains later on, and I think these two corridors really do work well together. I do know that MOTRAN has been very pressing and I think they've worked hard to work with their partners in Mexico. And as we see in all of our corridors, and everything we do on the border, working with Mexico is critical and I think they've probably done as good, if not a better job, than anybody in working with that governmental structure there to get cooperation and a partnership.

And I think that's what makes that route so exciting and I think it really enhances the feasibility of the route as we see them taking action in Mexico as evidenced by the -- I didn't have the microphone on so I didn't get the full impact of the presentation, but I do think it's critical, and I know the commission has been very attentive to that and I appreciate your attention to the development and I think the forward thinking of the La Entrada Corridor.

Appreciate all of your work in continuing to develop that idea.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you, Senator.

Thank you for a very good presentation. I know a lot of you came a long number of miles to be here. I want to tell you shortly after I was sworn in in the '97 session, the bill passed to actually designate this route, La Entrada al Pacifico, and unbeknownst to me, on my very first trip to Midland-Odessa, Governor Bush -- at the time -- signed the actual bill the evening I was traveling over there, but I didn't know it. Fortunately I read the morning paper, so my meeting with your officials, I knew what had happened and I thought it was pretty neat, and they were expecting me to have a truckload of signs in the back, or something like that, but it was a lot of fun.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: So you've come a long way. Good luck on your progress. Thank you very much for coming, and welcome to Texas, come visit us more often; we look forward to coming back to Chihuahua. And with that, we'll take a shorter recess this time and then start again. Thank you very much.

(Whereupon, a brief recess was taken.)

ANDERSON COUNTY

(Judge Carey McKinney, Mayor James Gouger, Henry Bell, Mayor George Foss, Randy Hopmann)

MR. NICHOLS: We're going to go ahead and open the meeting back up. Our next delegation has made a trip all the way from Anderson County in the Tyler District, and to make the presentation is County Judge Carey McKinney, and Judge?

JUDGE McKINNEY: Good morning, commissioners. First, I'd like to ask the commissioners to convey our sympathy to Chairman Johnson for the loss of his mother. And Commissioner Nichols and Commissioner Williamson and Executive Director Heald, we appreciate you giving us the opportunity to bring the delegation and appear before you today and speak with you about a project that is very important to the citizens of Anderson County and the East Texas region.

I'm Carey McKinney, county judge for Anderson County, and I've been in county government 16 years, this being my third year as county judge. I'd like to say it's been a privilege and a pleasure working with the Texas Department of Transportation District Engineer Mary Owen, Randy Hopmann, Glenn Price, and the other staff in the Tyler District office, along with Bernie Dodd and the local staff in our Palestine office; they do a great job.

Through cooperation and communication, we're moving forward with bridge and highway improvement projects, one in Anderson County, being State Highway 155 that we're hear to speak to you about today. On behalf of the citizens of Anderson County, we're requesting three things: one, Priority 1 authorization for a ten-mile gap project on State Highway 155 between Pert and Frankston; two, a commitment to complete this project; and three, $6 million to be budgeted now to be able to start work on a portion of this highway.

This is the last section of the 46 miles of highway between Palestine and Tyler that is not four lanes of divided highway, but was some of the first right of way that was acquired. The section from the south Henderson County line through Frankston to the south city limits of Frankston is under construction right now.

In 1969 former County Judge N.R. Link and the commissioners, working with the citizens of Anderson County, recognized the importance of having a good transportation system for the safety of those traveling within and through Anderson County. A bond election was passed in the amount of $750,000 to fund highway improvements; that would be equal to $3- or $4 million today.

State Highway 155 was identified as an important project. Working with Texas Department of Transportation, the right of way acquisition for this highway began in 1970. All of the right of way has been acquired for the highway and the utilities. At that time the funding was a 50-50 agreement, with 50 percent local monies and 50 percent state and federal funds. Shortly thereafter, it changed to a 90-10 agreement.

This project is vital today based on its safety and economic development importance for Anderson County and for the East Texas region. Governor Perry recognized the importance of good highways through our region and emphasized that during his visit to Tyler earlier this year.

This ten-mile section of State Highway 155 from Frankston to Pert is two lanes with sod shoulders and has been the site of numerous fatality and injury crash cases by head-on in collision and run-off-the-road incidents. The construction of a four-lane divided facility would complete the system connectivity of State Highway 155 and further complement the transportation system for the safe and efficient movement of people and goods.

The traffic on this highway is increasing every day. Anderson County and Smith County serve as home to two of the largest distribution centers in this region of the United States, being Wal-Mart and Target. Wal-Mart’s transportation department indicates that there are 700 in and out bound trucks every day through their distribution center; also, approximately 134 trips a day, five days a week, with 47 trips a day on Saturday and Sunday, just on Highway 155 alone.

We have four prison units and one state jail facility in our county, housing 13,786 inmates. Many Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees live in the Frankston, Pert and Lake Palestine area; they travel this highway to and from work every day, late at night and in the early morning hours, along with school buses picking up children in the area. In addition, emergency response vehicles use State Highway 155 daily to and from the Frankston area as well as transfers between Palestine Regional Medical Center in Palestine and Tyler hospitals by ambulance. A four-lane divided highway would make their travel much safer, especially on foggy and bad weather days.

In the materials that we've prepared for you, you'll find letters of support and resolutions from State Senator Todd Staples, State Representative Chuck Hopson, State Representative Clyde Alexander and State Representative Leo Berman. The session was over and they've been in Austin for quite a while, so I'm sure they're glad to be home.

Along with local elected officials, we have letters of support and resolutions from city councils, commissioners courts from Anderson and Smith counties, chambers of commerce, local businesses, economic development corporations, law enforcement, the Veterans Coalition, and individual citizens.

We recognize that this is a $24 million project and you have a number of requests to budget for. We, just like you, deal with a budget. We'd like to see you approve the entire project but recognize that you may not be able to do so. We would ask that you make this a Priority 1 project and fund at least $6 million to start work on a portion of this highway now, with continued funding in phases until it is complete.

Keep in mind, this project started in 1969 with a huge commitment by the citizens of Anderson County, and a number of those citizens, when they sold their property, were facing possible condemnation, and I think that's a point to keep in mind too.

Lyndon Johnson was president when this project started over 30 years ago; eight presidents later, we still haven't completed it. I was 14 years old at the time that this thing started. There was a Texan in the White House when it started. Let's finish it with a Texan in the White House.

And I'd like to come back and make some closing statements. One thing I would like to do is introduce members of our delegation; we have several here with us today. First, two of my counterparts on the commissioners court, Commissioner Precinct 2, Rodney Howard, stand; and Commissioner Precinct 4, Randy Watkins.

Also, we have with us today Mayor George Foss from the City of Palestine, just elected mayor; and Mayor James Gouger from the City of Frankston, our Frankston mayor; and former mayor and Road Hand Jackson Hanks. Also, we have a couple of superintendents with us: Marvin Thompson from Westwood ISD and Rick Larkin from Frankston ISD. And also, we have our past commander of our DAV and our Veterans Service officer, and a number of our veterans. I’d like to recognize them. They made the trip to Austin today.

At this time I'll introduce Mayor James Gouger who will make some statements.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Where is Cliff Johnson?

JUDGE McKINNEY: He didn't make the trip today.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Where is Baskum Bentley?

JUDGE McKINNEY: I hope in court.

(General laughter.)

MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, where is Dr. McFarland? You couldn't talk those guys into coming? I mean, if they'd have come along, we'd have probably done this deal -- oh, I can't say that.

JUDGE McKINNEY: If you want to recess, I'll make a phone call, Commissioner.

(General laughter.)

MAYOR GOUGER: Commissioner Nichols, Commissioner Williamson, Executive Director Heald. I'm James Gouger; I'm mayor of the City of Frankston, and I appear here before you today on behalf of the citizens of the Frankston area to request your approval for the funding of a 10-mile stretch south of Frankston.

I've been mayor in Frankston for 14 years and our city council has continued to be supportive of the widening of State Highway 155 from Tyler to Palestine. In 1994 the citizens of Frankston voted to implement a one-half cent sales tax for economic development. The funds have first been directed to relocate city utilities and make improvements necessary to help expedite the current construction of 1.9 miles of Highway 155 through the city of Frankston.

This project began in January 2001 and will complete the four-lane widening of 155 from Tyler through the southern city limits of Frankston. Continuing southward, a ten-mile system gap will remain; this is a dangerous stretch of highway; many have lost lives along this stretch in recent years, including a resident of Frankston.

Others travel between Tyler and Palestine and regional employers, such as Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Palestine Regional Hospital in Anderson County, Trane Corporation, Brookshire's, Target Distribution Center, Carrier Corporation, Kelly-Springfield, Tyler Pipe, University of Texas Tyler and two major hospitals in the Tyler area.

Within the city limits of Frankston, US 175 and 155 intersect. Highway 155 is a connector between the two Texas Trunk System facilities, US 79 and US 175, which is currently under Phase 1 development for four-lane widening.

The increased movement of heavy equipment caused by the cattle, timber, and oil and gas industries have increased the danger along this stretch. Additionally, in April a new 18-hole public golf course opened its facility south of Frankston. It has been designed to be one of the premier courses in Texas. The entrance to Pine Dunes Golf Resort is a three-mile stretch which is being requested.

It is noted that this three-mile stretch is within the Frankston Independent School District. The Frankston Independent School District has also passed resolutions supporting this project to improve the safety of its students and buses that travel to and from school activities on Highway 155.

Highway 155 will soon provide citizens of Frankston and Anderson County with a direct connection to Interstate 20 and the Tyler Regional Airport through direct connections to Tyler Outer Loop 49. Additionally, Tyler is a regional medical hub and education center. Many of their employees come from outlying areas such as Anderson and Henderson counties, and because of the long-term strategic importance of US Highway 155 and the economic activity it carries, it would be a good candidate for future addition to the Texas Trunk System once it is widened to four lanes between Frankston and Pert.

The expedited completion of this project will allow the safer passage to regional activities such as trucks from the Wal-Mart regional distribution center in Palestine traveling to and from Interstate 20. Travel along 155 is the quickest and most direct route to connect to I-20.

Additionally, increased activity is anticipated in the county with the proposed construction of a $600 million power plant in Neches which is in northeast Anderson County. Finally, the ten-mile widening will provide for critical passing opportunities which will improve the system's overall mobility and safety for the heavy truck and commuter traffic which frequently use this facility.

I would like to thank you for your considerations and before I introduce the next speaker, I would like to, on behalf of the City of Frankston, convey our condolences to Commissioner Johnson, if you would do that for us. Now I would like to introduce Mr. Henry Bell. He's the executive vice-president of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce.

MR. BELL: Thank you, mayor, commissioners and staff. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today in this presentation. As the mayor mentioned, my name is Henry Bell and I'm the executive vice-president of the Tyler Chamber of Commerce, and I represent 1,800 businesses in the Tyler and Smith County area. I'm here today representing not only those members but the City of Tyler and the Smith County commissioners. All these private and public organizations are members of the US 79 and 155 Improvement Organization.

We support these upgrades of these important corridors to a four-lane status from I-20 north of Tyler to I-45 at Buffalo, especially this three-mile section that we're talking about today between Frankston and Palestine, to help close the system gap.

The Tyler, Smith County population now totals 174,000; we're a major regional manufacturing, distribution, retail-medical and educational center. One of the best things we have for companies and consumers to connect north and south from East Texas to our state capital is this route from points south via the Highway 155-US 79 corridor. We need to have a safe and efficient four-lane route that will move the rapidly increasing traffic through our region.

We appreciate your consideration of this request and appreciate being here today. At this point I'd like to introduce newly-elected mayor of Palestine, George Foss. Thank you.

MAYOR FOSS: Commissioners, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you. Since I am newly elected, I don't have a prepared speech. What I will attempt to do is to indicate to you that the critical nature of this project and its effect on Palestine deserves your attention.

Palestine right now serves as a regional medical hub for not only Anderson County but for the county to the south, Houston, and also Leon County. We see a lot of people who come from Buffalo, from Grapeland and from Crockett, and we serve those patients and in many cases cannot provide all of their medical care, and so they are ground transported from Palestine to Tyler. Many of these cases are critical cases, particularly the heart cases.

This bottleneck that you're looking at occurs from Pert to Frankston which is between Palestine and Frankston and it creates not only a hazard for the EMS people but for the patients they transport. So you need to recognize this isn't just an Anderson County project, this deals with the counties that we touch on: Leon, Houston, and Rusk also -- or Cherokee -- I'm sorry -- Cherokee County.

You asked about Dr. McFarland. The reason we didn't bring him was that he said that if you don't vote for the project, he will come down next and you don't want that.

(General laughter.)

MAYOR FOSS: I've worked with Dr. McFarland for 12 years, so I know him well.

As I say, not only does this bear on the quality of life for people in those counties but also this is a major thoroughfare to Lake Palestine for the recreational use of the lake for all those people who live in that area, and last of all, economically it is our lifeblood from Tyler, and we have a regional relationship with Tyler which we desperately need to consolidate by eliminating this ten-mile bottleneck.

Thank you all very much.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you. Does that complete?

MR. WILLIAMSON: Mayor?

MR. NICHOLS: Mayor, could we ask you back up?

MR. WILLIAMSON: So you consider yourself part of the Tyler region?

MAYOR FOSS: Yes, very much so.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Unabashedly so.

MAYOR FOSS: We have no problem with that. Our relationship with Tyler continues to grow. Not only do we share the lake water -- or will very shortly --

MR. WILLIAMSON: Sounds to me like the Tyler Regional Mobility Authority.

(General laughter.)

MR. WILLIAMSON: I do have a practical question, though, Mayor. Do you know, or does anybody in the delegation know, the numbers of travelers on this stretch of road that might be related to the prison system and medical care for prisoners? Is that an issue at all?

MAYOR FOSS: I can tell you that a number of the patients from the prison that are treated in Palestine for emergency conditions are then sent on by the prison to Tyler's hospitals. I think principally East Texas Medical Center provides services under contract to the prison system.

MR. WILLIAMSON: The reason I ask the question is it might be interesting for us to approach the prisons and see if they want to throw a little money in to help us out. We like partnerships.

JUDGE McKINNEY: Commissioner, I don't know any exact numbers on how many, I just know there are several that live in the Frankston area and around the lake, and I'm sure there's some that live in the Tyler area even that commute back and forth, and of course in Jacksonville. There are inmates that we have transferred at times from our county jail and I'm sure that they have inmates that are in critical condition that sometimes have to go to Tyler hospitals for cardiac care and those types of things.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: Yes, I can attest for the fact that Tyler is a regional retail and medical hub for Palestine, Anderson County, and Cherokee and the surrounding counties, and I just happen to travel on some of those routes myself. So the Frankston mayor, we're kind of getting you in both directions in Frankston on 175 and 155; hope it doesn't disrupt your community too much.

But we recognize this is an important link between Palestine and the Tyler area for a wide number of reasons, and there are, as you pointed out, two major transportation centers up there, the Target and the Sam's, which generate a lot more trucks. I think as the corridors, like the 31 and the 175, trunk system corridors are developed, the connection of that link to 79 and Palestine are going to become even more important in the next eight years.

So we appreciate you coming together, presenting the project. As you know, we do not vote on the items related to this at these times, but we might take it up for consideration at a later meeting. It's good to see people from back home. Please tell Dr. McFarland and Baskum -- Judge Bentley, excuse me -- and Cliff that we asked about them and that they were mentioned at the meeting.

JUDGE McKINNEY: We'll make sure to convey that to them.

Could I make a recognition, Commissioner?

MR. NICHOLS: Sure.

JUDGE McKINNEY: One, I wanted to ask the delegation from Anderson County to stand, please. And could I make a closing statement?

MR. NICHOLS: Sure.

JUDGE McKINNEY: I want to recognize one other, our tax assessor-collector is with us today, so we have another elected official, Lynn Palmer. Did I miss somebody? My administrative assistant and county auditor also.

In closing, I wanted to recognize Judge N.R. Link who led five delegations from 1970 to 1982 before the commission on highway improvement projects, and due to health, he wasn't able to be here today.

Judge N.R. Link and the commissioners were the court that started this project in 1969. This court would like to be the county judge and commissioners who finish it. Judge Link told me that when he spoke to the commission back then, he told Chairman DeWitt C. Greer that if any crumbs fall off the table, we'd like to have some of them. If you can say this to Chairman Johnson -- I know he's not here, but I'm going to address him anyway -- Chairman Johnson and commissioners, I know we're asking for more than crumbs, but in the words of Judge Link, if any crumbs fall off the table, we'd like to have some of them.

Thank you for your consideration, and God bless you.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you.

MR. WILLIAMSON: I know Mary is not here but I understand --

MR. NICHOLS: Randy Hopmann.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Randy Hopmann is here? How are things over in Tyler?

MR. HOPMANN: It's great.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Appreciate the job you and the staff in that part of the world are doing.

MR. HOPMANN: Thank you. We'd like to have you.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, I'm coming soon if I can just find a way to avoid Cliff.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: We're real proud of Randy. Are you the executive director in the Tyler District yet, or you're the head of planning?

MR. HOPMANN: No, sir. I'm director of Transportation Planning and Development.

MR. NICHOLS: You almost work like the vice-president of the Tyler District, I know that. We appreciate what you do.

Thank all of you for coming; I know a lot of you traveled a long way; I've driven that route many times myself, I know just the route you took.

We're going to take about a three-minute recess and then we'll go on with our normal agenda items. And also, anybody who had one of these translation devices for Spanish, if you have them, would you please return them back over here? Thank you.

(Pause.)

MR. NICHOLS: We're going to begin again and reconvene the meeting. I would ask, as a reminder, anyone who wants to speak on any item on the agenda, please fill out a yellow card; if you're here to talk in the public open comment portion, fill out a blue card. Each speaker, regardless of the color, except elected officials, will be allowed three minutes to speak.

We're going to begin with the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting in April. Any motions or changes?

MR. WILLIAMSON: I move to approve the minutes.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor, say aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: Building highways is one thing, but making them look good is something else, and this challenge was met head-on in the Houston District a few years ago on a project called the Green Ribbon Project. For this effort, TxDOT won the 2001 Lady Bird Johnson Award presented by the National Arbor Day Foundation. I'd like to ask our Houston District engineer Gary Trietsch to come up and describe all of this for us.

MR. TRIETSCH: Good morning. I appreciate the opportunity. Since we couldn't win the Lady Bird Johnson Award in Texas, we went to Nebraska to get it.

(General laughter.)

MR. TRIETSCH: But actually it is quite an honor for us in the Houston District, and I would like to recognize actually the people that really did the work, and I brought them today and I'd like for them to stand: Mike Alford, the district maintenance engineer, and Dana Cote, our district landscape architect. And actually, Dana, to be really honest with you, from the staff level is the one that's lived and breathed this thing for the last several years.

This thing started really in 1996, and I'd like to just very briefly give you a little history so maybe you can appreciate that the National Arbor Day Foundation, this is a national award. We started in 1996, and I hesitate to describe this because I know I'll get in trouble, but State Representative Garnet Coleman, who is here today, is the one that kind of talked me into with gentle persuasion and sometimes not so gentle persuasion.

And what I'll say -- and get in trouble with him -- is this is a long-term project and I say it's my 50-year project. I mean, we didn't get in the shape that we're in overnight, and it's going to take us a while to fix things up like we want to, and the way we did it was through a Green Ribbon committee, and the very first thing that we created was a report and a master plan for the Houston area. And as many plans get done, they get put on the shelf and people forget about them, but this brought key elected officials as well as private individuals together and we were able to get consensus on the concepts of what we wanted to do.

There's several concepts in this but two that are predominant was that we needed partnerships; we needed people to step us and help us out on some of these things, and whatever we did, it had to be maintainable, and so those are kind of the two key things.

Actually, the very first thing was dream first and people think of us as -- well, they think of us in a number of ways, but I consider myself an environmentalist, and this is just one small way to do that.

After this was done, we went the next step and began to develop design standards so they could truly be incorporated in the plans, and that's what this thing is right here. This begins to develop the detailed design standards from sign bridges to bridge fascia to landscaping, the architectural elements, whatever, that will be incorporated in our plans in the coming years.

I had somebody tell me something the other day that I had never thought about, and I have to pass this on. It says, "How we see our environment is generally determined by our view from the roadway." And to me that's a powerful statement, and actually, now that I think about it, it's very true. All of our customers that we have, many of the ways they view our environment is determined from their vehicle.

And so it's incumbent on us as an agency to get help from others, city, county, private individuals, and we do now have partnerships that are working with us. We need to develop more. Representative Coleman and others have continued to develop this and we're just a piece of it, and to show you how we're just a little piece of it, a coalition was created in the last year called the Quality of Life Coalition in Houston, and this is the chamber of commerce, Trees for Houston -- there are like 20 or 30 different organizations, and I would think that we were a small part of this in that we showed how to bring people with different viewpoints and different agendas together to come up with a common goal and theme.

Since 1998, this is the sixth award we have won. In '99 we won the highest honor award of the American Planners Association for our strategic planning effort; the Texas Forest Service has given us an award for this; local groups, the park people, Trees for Houston, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Texas chapter, have all recognized this. So this is our first really national award on this front, and I'm proud of that.

And I'd like to invite State Representative Coleman to come up and make a comment or two.

MR. NICHOLS: Absolutely.

MR. COLEMAN: Commissioners, excuse how I look, but I think Ric will know that if you can get in a suit after that, and I'm surprised that Senator Duncan and Representative Swinford are in suits.

Let me give you just a brief background on why I thought this was important and tell you how great of a job Gary and Dana and the folks at the TxDOT region in Houston did on this. My wife is from Los Angeles and her parents moved to Atlanta, and I kept visiting those two places and saying, Gosh, they have this great landscaping. And it really felt good; it didn't detract from the scenery around there in two different cities: one where it's known for its freeways, the other which is now known for its congestion, but at least when they expanded their system through Atlanta, they took great detail in terms of how they would ease that concrete into their very pretty environment -- which is similar to ours in many parts of our state.

And I went over to see Gary and said, Hey, you know, we ought to have some kind of plan for this. And I know that there were other projects going on around the state -- Representative Gallego was doing a lot of things in his home area -- but one of the ones that I think has really gotten a lot of attention, the Central Expressway in Dallas, as well as some of the architectural elements that are in the freeways here in Austin, as well as those in El Paso -- and those are the ones I can name. And because we have so much land and we have so much need for highways, the idea is that over time we want to make sure that those remain beautiful as the landscape they run through is beautiful.

So I'm really happy that the Scenic Act passed and I think that will be a great addition to the Green Ribbon Project, but also -- and you'll understand this, Ric -- that there's a rider in the Appropriations Bill that says that we look at expanding this concept statewide to the other regions.

It's the work of the staff at TxDOT that has made this real, and I just want you to know they deserve all of the accolades that they have received from the organizations in the state, and the American Planning Association, this is the first plan of this type ever in the country, ever, and I'm very proud that it started in the Houston region and I hope it's something that makes our state a better place for all Texans. I'll stop there.

MR. NICHOLS: Well, we're certainly pleased with your participation in it. You were obviously the spark that helped start the fire and it obviously burned quite brightly. And Gary, hats off to you and the Houston District for the work in that area, and I know it is going to make a big difference and impact down there. I know that a lot of the communities are getting very conscious of the impact of landscaping along the right of ways and things of that nature.

I remember the Central Expressway project as we were building it and under construction and that was real interesting.

Do you have some comments?

MR. WILLIAMSON: I said earlier, Representative Coleman, some House and Senate members view us as perhaps adversaries or opponents on occasion; some view us as partners. The department and its employees are deeply appreciative you were a warrior for transportation this last session. We can't thank you enough, along with some of the other members I've recognized today, for having a bigger vision of what transportation means to the state of Texas. We thank you.

MR. COLEMAN: Thank you very much, and I have to give credit where credit is due. I'm an urban member of the Texas Legislature but I decided that I ought to start acting like my rural colleagues in terms of how they view their relationship with agencies like TxDOT, and it is a partnership, and I appreciate that. And I want to give David Swinford and my good friend Robert Duncan and Pete Gallego and those that have taught me that you don't have to be rural to get involved in things that are important to your community. So thank you all very much.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you. Were we supposed to take pictures?

(Pause for photographs.)

MR. NICHOLS: At this point, Wes, I think I'm going to turn it over to you to go through the agenda items.

MR. HEALD: Thank you. Before we get started, on behalf of myself and the department, I'd like to extend our sympathies to Chairman Johnson and his family on the loss of his mother also.

And then in addition, I'd like to extend our sympathies to one of our employees who was killed in a tragic automobile accident last Friday on State Highway 71 near Llano, resulting in a fire and a really tragic situation, and he worked for the Llano maintenance office, worked for Bill Garbade here in the Austin District. So our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family also.

And then, Gary, if you're still here, thank you for a great job. Gary works under some very difficult circumstances and always does a good job.

That takes us to agenda item number 4 to present draft report on the Ports to Plains Feasibility Study, and I'll call on Jim Randall.

MR. RANDALL: Good morning, commissioners. My name is Jim Randall; I'm the deputy director for the Transportation Planning and Programming Division.

I'm here today to present the results of the Ports to Plains Feasibility Study. With the passage of TEA-21, the Ports to Plains Corridor was added as High-Priority Corridor 38. The corridor was defined as being from Denver to the Mexican border via Interstate 27. Since no further route description was provided, the department hired the consultant firm of Wilbur Smith Associates to produce a feasibility study.

The study looked at the feasibility of a four-lane route from Denver to the Mexico border. The methodology was consistent with other studies conducted on high-priority corridors. This included looking at: traffic forecasts, NAFTA trade, engineering and associated costs, economic feasibility, environmental impacts, and public involvement. The study area is approximately 1,000 miles in length encompassing four states, over 100 counties, and nine urban areas.

The analysis began with the universe of alternatives. These alternatives were identified from various sources, including public input, previous studies, and study team recommendations. There were six initial corridors screened in the north and 12 in the south. These initial 18 were screened using a fairly general analysis, evaluating their impacts on traffic mobility, engineering considerations, environmental land use, and public input.

Those with the most positive impacts were selected for a more detailed analysis. This included two alternatives to the north and three to the south.

These are the initial alternatives that were screened for the north, and again, these routes came from public suggestions, previous studies, and the study team's knowledge of the area. These are the initial alternatives that were screened for the south.

The first northern alternative that was analyzed in detail generally followed Interstate 25 from Denver to US 87 in Raton, New Mexico and into Dumas and Amarillo; it is approximately 445 miles in length. The second northern alternative runs east from Denver on Interstate 70, then south on US 287. This route is 421 miles in length.

The first southern alternative was analyzed with three different permutations: the first one, 7A, follows US 87 to San Angelo, then follows US 277 into Del Rio, for a total of 350 miles; the next one, 7B, merely extends 7A to Laredo along US 83 and IH-35 for a total of 530 miles; and finally 7C follows State Highway 349 into Midland, then State Highway 158 into San Angelo, for a total length of 570 miles.

The second southern alternative follows US 87 south from Lubbock to Eden, then on US 83 to Interstate 35 into Laredo, for a total length of 520 miles. The final southern alternative again was analyzed two different ways: 10A follows US 84 from Lubbock to Sweetwater, then State Highway 70 and US 277 into Del Rio, for a total length of 346 miles; and alternative 10B extends the previous alternative south into Laredo, for a total length of 526 miles.

All these alternatives were analyzed based on the following factors: first, traffic, in other words, are the improvements needed to meet the existing and future demands; engineering, can the alternative be constructed and at a reasonable cost; environmental, what are the environmental and socio-economic implications of the improvement; travel efficiency, are there enough user benefits to offset the cost of construction; and finally economic development, are there sufficient economic benefits to warrant the investment.

In the northern section, the vehicle miles traveled is projected to increase about 2-1/2 percent per year. The vehicle hours traveled is expected to increase at a slightly higher rate. This reflects the increased congestion in the urban areas of Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. The average speeds are projected to decrease by 12 percent from 53 miles per hour today to 46 miles per hour for the year 2025. With the improvement scenario, the VMT increases by less than 1 percent, the VHT decreases by less than 1 percent, and speeds increase by only one mile per hour.

For the southern section, the VMT and VHT are expected to increase approximately 2 percent and 2-1/2 percent per year, respectively; the average speeds are expected to decrease about 8 percent, from 55 miles per hour to 51 miles per hour by the year 2025. With any of the southern improvement alternatives, like the northern alternatives, the improvements for VMT and VHT are less than 1 percent, and speeds only increase one mile per hour.

This slide shows the projected ADT for each alternative for the year 2025, considering the entire length of the routes. While N-1 carries nearly 2-1/2 times as much traffic as N-4, the actual truck volumes are very similar. For these alternatives, the projected traffic on individual segments do not vary much from the volumes projected for the no-build alternative.

The reasons for this include: significant portions of the alternatives are in rural areas that aren't expected to experience traffic congestion; there are very few parallel routes in either corridor; and the majority of the traffic using a given alternative is destined to adjacent cities on that alternative.

Again, this slide shows the average daily traffic for the southern alternatives. Most of the northern and all the southern alternatives are projected to operate at a level of service AB -- which is free-flow -- with or without the projected improvements.

The alternatives were also analyzed based on NAFTA trade which included their attractiveness for NAFTA trucks such as: do the alternatives provide connections to three ports of entry; did it have little congestion in the corridor; and was it the shortest distance from the border. This analysis also considered connections to US locations for maquiladora product distribution, connections to the major Mexican highways, and consistency with Mexican state-national highway plans.

Based on the criteria examined, those alternatives serving all three ports, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, and Laredo, offer the most positive impact. This would include alternatives 7-B, 7-C, and 10-B.

The engineering evaluation considered items such as: how much of the improvement is not currently programmed; how much will it cost; how much additional right of way is needed; relief routes around cities over 5,000; traffic control during congestion; and terrain.

The next two slides show the differences between the various alternatives and the amount of four-lane divided or better mileage that exists or is currently programmed. As you can see, the area in green is the existing or programmed multi-lane, and the red is required widening or reconstruction to multi-lane.

The implementation costs considered included pre-construction activities such as: design, right of way acquisition, utility adjustments, construction including grading and drainage, servicing and bridges, environmental mitigation, and preservation and maintenance.

The costs shown on this slide reflect pre-construction costs of design, right of way, and utility adjustments and construction costs. As you can see, for N-1 the cost is $925 million, and for N-4 is $1.13 billion. The costs for the southern alternatives range from $486 million for 7A which is there on your left, to $845 million for 10B which is there on the far right.

Please note that Route S-7A and S-10A are the lowest cost because these two alternatives only go to Del Rio and don't include costs of upgrading US 83 into Laredo.

The objective of the environmental evaluation for any planning study is to develop a consistent baseline for future NEPA assessments. This is accomplished through the identification of preliminary environmental constraints within the corridor. In future studies, more detailed evaluations will be needed.

As such, the alternatives were evaluated based on whether the impacts were favorable, neutral, or not favorable for these categories, and this included: land use constraints, socio-economics, water resources, ecological resources, cultural resources, and noise. None of the potential environmental impacts found were considered fatal flaws. Overall, N-4 and S-7A have the fewest environmental constraints.

The final area of analysis was travel efficiency and economic development. There are two levels of looking at economic feasibility: the national perspective and the state corridor perspective. At the national level, the travel efficiency benefits are gained as a result of the improved facility. These benefits are measured in the form of travel time savings, vehicle operating cost savings, and accident cost savings. They're accrued to the nation as a whole, not merely displayed from one region of the country to another. In determining travel efficiency feasibility, a benefit-cost ratio was calculated; this is done by dividing the benefits by the cost of the construction.

The second level is at the state corridor level. These economic development benefits were a measure of the region's ability to convert the travel efficiencies into competitive advantage. The greatest economic development accrues at the local level. The REMI model, or the regional economic model, is used to forecast these impacts. A benefit-cost ratio of 1 is considered the minimum for a feasible project. This is where the benefit equals the cost. For the northern alternatives, the benefit-cost ratio was 0.82 for N-1 and 0.47 for N-4. Likewise, none of the south alternatives have B-C ratios over 1; alternatives S-7B, S-7C, and S-10B all approach 1.

In considering the statewide economic development benefits, the value added on a statewide basis through the year 2041 for N-1 is $426 million, for N-4 it was $498 million. The value added on a statewide basis through the year 2041 for the southern alternatives ranged from $248 million to $590 million. For both the north and the south, the economic development numbers are highest for those alternatives with the highest construction costs. Any of these alternatives will produce a positive economic development impact.

Public involvement played a large part in this study. Through the outreach program, 5,400 public comments were received; of those, the majority came from New Mexico. For the southern alternatives in Texas, the overwhelming support was for the combination of Alternatives S-7B and S-7C.

The purpose today was to share the study's results with you. Next month we will ask you to accept the report and designate a portion of the Ports to Plains Corridor. Now I'd like to show you the route that we will be recommending to you next month for the designation of the Ports to Plains Corridor.

Since none of the routes meet the minimum for a feasible project from a transportation efficiency perspective or a B-C ratio, we are recommending that Alternative 7B be designated as the Ports to Plains Corridor. 7B is the southern portion of the original corridor which was supported by the groups who worked to get the Ports to Plains recognized as a federal high-priority corridor.

As I'm sure you're aware, in December 2000 in an Omnibus Appropriations Act, the stipulation was made that should the commission not designate a route from Dumas south by June 30, 2001, the corridor description contained in the act would take effect. Therefore, we submit for your consideration the staff's recommendation for the southern alternative in Texas.

The northern alternative must be selected with the consensus of all four states, including New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. The states, along with the Federal Highway Administration, are meeting in Colorado at the end of July to discuss the selected alternatives for the northern corridor.

This concludes our presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

MR. NICHOLS: I had a number of questions, and then we'll get into the comments because I know there's a number of people here who came to speak on this subject.

First of all, we take no action on this item today.

MR. RANDALL: Correct. This is just a presentation.

MR. NICHOLS: This is a presentation, listen to comments.

Number two, this study was done by an outside firm, and as I understand it, you, in your recommendation cannot recommend -- as I understand from our conversation -- two parallel routes.

MR. RANDALL: Correct. From a planning perspective, we try to avoid parallel routing.

MR. NICHOLS: Okay. And in the area where the choice was between the route going more direct through Big Spring versus going through the Midland area and back down, that was a fairly close call.

MR. RANDALL: Very close.

MR. NICHOLS: Having to choose between those two. But you, in effect, can only recommend one route but the commission is not constrained by that.

MR. RANDALL: That's correct.

MR. NICHOLS: Okay. And the Ports to Plains association or group or partnership has worked for a number of years and pretty much came, as I understand, to a conclusion that showed those parallel routes.

MR. RANDALL: Yes, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: And that also, if those were parallel, would match up with the federal legislation.

MR. RANDALL: That's correct.

MR. NICHOLS: So what I would like to do is kind of unusual, and then we'll get into some of the recommendations. I'm going to come around the corner and do what some of us refer to as a Ray Stoker.

MR. RANDALL: Okay, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: So the portion from Midland on 349 to 87 and on 158 back, this red portion, is that up there?

MR. RANDALL: Yes, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: Do you want to turn it around so they can see it?

MR. RANDALL: I think we're going to put it on there.

MR. NICHOLS: If we make that adjustment, then the route matches up with the association's recommendation.

MR. RANDALL: Correct.

MR. NICHOLS: As well as the federal.

MR. RANDALL: Yes, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: I'm going to recommend that when you bring this before the commission for our consideration next month that that leg be included.

MR. RANDALL: We'll do that. Yes, sir, when we come back next month, we'll include that as part of the route.

MR. NICHOLS: Did you have any comments you wanted to make before we get into the comments?

MR. WILLIAMSON: Just one question just because I'm new in this business. I studied my books, I listened to what you said. I think what I heard, what I see the conclusion taking us and what I heard you say is if this were any other transportation project we were looking at in the state, not related to a federal law, just based purely on its own transportation implications, the economic criteria the commission would use to move forward to the next step has not been met.

MR. RANDALL: Correct. Based on the benefit-cost ratio -- which the minimum is 1 -- none of the alternatives met that requirement.

MR. WILLIAMSON: So it's incumbent, it seems to me, Mr. Commissioner -- or Mr. Nichols -- I'm not asking Jim to agree with me -- it's incumbent upon us as commission members, and it's incumbent upon some of our audience as legislative members, and it's incumbent upon local officials such as Mayor Sitton, business leaders, for all of us not to fool ourselves, that if we move forward with this, we do so for the future and not because we think it does something for the present.

And that's okay, that's what leadership is. Leadership is looking 30-40-50 years from now and saying we choose to move forward, not because we can defend our decision today but because we know that 50 years from now we will be glad -- as the people who built 35 and as the people who built 45 and 10 -- we know we're doing it for the future and not for the now. And we don't want to mislead the public or ourselves, each other. We want to all agree to what it is and go out and defend it as this is for the future, period.

MR. NICHOLS: Okay. I think I'll hold the rest of my comments until after everybody else speaks. The first person signed up is Senator Duncan. You're not constrained to three minutes, obviously.

SENATOR DUNCAN: Well, I always try to respect your time because, as you know, time is very important. First of all, this has been a long, arduous process. Your commission has worked with us and we really appreciate that. I know I've been on the cell phone in Washington calling and saying what would this do and talking to Commissioner Nichols and then-Commissioner Laney, and Commissioner Johnson, all along the line, and then with Commissioner Williamson as he was appointed, expressing our concerns and needs.

And Commissioner Williamson, I think you hit it on the head: we're looking at the future here. We know that, and Commissioner Nichols, you know as well, as you have pointed out to us, I think, that transportation needs are an investment in the future, and we feel like, and I think it's reasonable to think that in this great state of ours that we have infrastructure in other areas of the state other than in the I-35 corridor that eventually -- and I think in the very near term -- the economic development opportunities and growth that have occurred in the last 15 years along the I-35 corridor will start moving toward the west, and when they do, this corridor will be a significant feature to help that along the way.

The fact that it is in the planning and on the books and moving toward a completion at some date, certain or not certain, but some date maybe in our lifetimes, that will provide the opportunity for that area of the state to revitalize which I think it greatly needs, and this will be the spark. Your decisions as transportation planners are tough because you have critical acute needs in the heavily congested urban areas, yet you also have to recognize -- and you do so well -- the needs in the other areas of the state where we can grow and also enjoy the benefits of this great economy.

I really want to say thank you. I'm proud of the work that you've done, the way you've worked with us, and I certainly will always remember that, and I know you've had a lot of patience with me over the years. And I want to congratulate our planning group on Ports to Plains. I've never seen a better organized group, Randy Neugebauer, Mayor Sitton, Tommy Gonzalez, who is our technician and I think one of the keys to keeping this going.

But it wouldn't happen without your help and cooperation and your understanding that we look at different priorities and issues and different concepts about how to move this state forward, and your final adoption of this plan in the future, should you choose to do so -- and I hope that you do -- will be very critical to our area of the state and very much appreciated and taken notice of. Thank you very much.

MR. NICHOLS: Senator, again, thank you for all the help you gave us this session. It was, we think, a very good session; appreciate the hard work.

SENATOR DUNCAN: I agree. It’s always a pleasure. You do your job and that's what we expect of you, and we really appreciate what you do. Thank you.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.

MR. NICHOLS: Chairman Swinford.

MR. WILLIAMSON: The last warrior. One more warrior the department says thank you to; we appreciate what you do for us.

MR. SWINFORD: Thank you. I'm glad to have done it. I've also enjoyed the time in the back room with you, Ric, as you tried to explain something to one of our members. I thought that was rather amazing.

(General laughter.)

MR. SWINFORD: Robert, you have been a great friend, the best friend that rural Texas has had, and I want you to know that every time that I have asked for anything, you were available and you've come out and looked at our area, and I appreciate you very much.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you, sir.

MR. SWINFORD: And I also appreciate the fact that you had the foresight to pick up on the demise of the railroad system in Texas as far as the rural areas and have -- I don't know whether you got lucky or you're a prophet, but the federal folks now have determined that you're right, and I'm glad that we were able to pass some legislation to help that.

In rural Texas, the abandonments in the railroad over the last few years have really left us no choice but truck to move our commodities to market, and I believe the salvation of agriculture in this state will be adding value to these products and moving them, and hopefully a lot of it going to Mexico, as I have contracts with Mexico today. So I think you're certainly on the right track.

But let me tell you about my friend Ric. You haven't gotten to know him as well as some of us have.

(General laughter.)

MR. SWINFORD: I was able to serve two terms with Ric. He's one of the brightest guys I've ever met; he is aggressive; he thinks outside of the box, over the box, under the box, and all around the box, at the same time. He will be a great inspiration to TxDOT because of his ability to see into the future and think in a very positive way.

In fact, his legacy over at the pink building is that Ric was the architect that set up the present-day budgeting system for our state, and whenever you consider, I think, we're the eleventh largest economy in the world, Ric, I think that stands you in pretty good stead that this state can come and meet once every two years and do something that our people in Washington can't do up there all the time, and a lot of it is because of performance-based budgeting that Ric designed, really, for our state. So we owe Ric a great deal of gratitude.

MR. WILLIAMSON: You're too kind.

MR. SWINFORD: Some of the agencies would not say that, Ric, but as legislators we do.

(General laughter.)

MR. SWINFORD: And thank you, also, commissioners, for the awards that you're going to make for our airports later on today, and I want you to know how much we appreciate that.

This route that you have seen and the staff has recommended develops additional border crossings in Del Rio and Eagle Pass and serves as a great relief route for Laredo, and Laredo needs a relief route. This route provides relief to other heavily congested corridors and creates conductivity opportunities that will increase economic activity while creating jobs in rural communities, and we certainly need that. This is the only route that serves all of the major population centers in West Texas that are not already served by a designated corridor route, so it's super important to us.

So I am not going to take a lot of your time. I did want to convey to you that I visited with Speaker Laney this morning and he is trying to get home to see if he got his cotton hailed out and was not able to stay around, but I want you to know that he expressed how very supportive he is of this project.

And along with Senator Duncan, I want to commend all the folks along this line for having the wisdom and the foresight to get out of their little box of their individual community and see the big picture and work hand in hand together, and I've never seen our area come together any finer, and it is a real tribute to them.

And with that, commissioners, I thank you very much for your time and patience.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you, sir, for everything you did. I had a lot of fun during the session working under you; we worked on everything from rail to rubber tires.

(General laughter.)

MR. SWINFORD: We did that. Thank you, commissioners.

MR. NICHOLS: Mayor Sitton?

MAYOR SITTON: Good morning, commissioners. The disadvantage of speaking third is that everyone has already stolen your text, so what I would just like to say is thank you, thank you.

Have you noticed that we're all wearing ties this morning that have streets on them and Texas. We got this idea from Commissioner Johnson when he visited Lubbock; he had on this tie and we were intrigued by this tie. We said, "Well, what does that represent?" He said, "Well, it represents transportation for all of Texas." We wanted to wear these ties today to express to you our desire to be part of a team and to be for all of Texas. These ties represent our tying West Texas with the rest of the state.

On behalf of all elected officials in West Texas, please know that you can count on us. Because you've been so supportive to our needs and desires in rural West Texas, you can count on us to help you support all of Texas and all of Texas' needs. Thank you, TxDOT, and thank you very much for your service and for approving this idea -- we hope.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you, Mayor.

MR. NICHOLS: City of Del Rio, Mayor Alcala.

MAYOR ALCALA: Good morning, commissioners. It certainly is a pleasure for me to be here; this is my very first time.

I'm not a brand new mayor, but I've been mayor a whole year, and I must tell you that just before I became mayor, the press asked me a question, and they said, "Ms. Alcala, we would like to know what you think of the Ports to Plains Project?" And here I am, you know, just a candidate, I had read a little bit about the Ports to Plains Project. And then they said, "It is the future highway." And I didn't let them finish and I said, "Well, I support the future; as you know, my slogan says that I have a vision, and when you have a vision, you have to support the future." So when I heard you talking about the future today, I said, "That's the key."

I am here on behalf of the beautiful city of Del Rio, Texas. Our slogan says that we are the best of the border, and we are trying to prove it. I didn't wear my tie because I passed it on to one of the members of the Ports to Plains Coalition, and he's here today representing the beautiful city of Del Rio, Mr. Sid Cawthorn. Sid, show your tie.

We, of course, are a border city, and border cities are unique, very, very unique. I didn't realize how unique they were until I became mayor. I had been away from Del Rio for 12 years; I was in the Washington scene, and I changed it for my community, for Del Rio, to be back and to do something for my city. I became aware that even though the city of Del Rio has a population of only 34,000 citizens -- very disappointing; we wanted to be 50,000, of course -- we are a rural area.

And a lot of times, being a border city and a rural community, we were kind of left behind, but I am happy to tell you that since I've been back and I've been there, we have been getting a lot of attention. The border is being looked at, and I thank you and I thank the Department of Transportation and the commission for the attention that we are getting and the support that we get. I have been nothing but pleased with every time, every trip I've made here, the support that we have gotten both for our aviation -- that will happen later today -- and of course for the community.

I support the route 7B that will come through the border cities. Del Rio is 34,000 but our sister city of Ciudad Acuna is 120,000 and growing, one of the largest number of maquilas, next to El Paso -- and don't ask me the number because I didn't do the research -- but they're growing, they're growing day in and day out.

The line of trucks is over our one bridge that we have in Del Rio. We are in the process, we are trying very hard to build a second bridge; we have already gone before the cast of thousands to build bridges and international river crossings and done our presentation, and they're looking at us very, very positively. We are waiting for the exact location where we want the second bridge. We are going to build it; we're building the bridge, to see if we will get the Ports to Plains route. It is a necessity.

NAFTA has been good to us, but also we have the influx of the traffic. We bear the traffic, also, of 120,000 people across the border, and that is not taken into consideration in the numbers. We need the Ports to Plains route through Del Rio, 7B, and Acuna and on to where it starts in the City of Laredo.

Thank you for the support that we have received. I am happy to be here. I must say that I made a mistake: I wanted not to have to pay for a motel so I stayed over on Slaughter Lane with my daughter and I was having kittens when I saw the traffic this morning. I said, "ll never make it there, driving across from Slaughter Lane." And then I didn't know exactly where I was going; this is my very first time here, but I got here and I am so happy to be here.

I am very proud of our coalition, and what else can I say. We thank you, and please, please consider the border. The border is so important, environmentally, NAFTA, truck traffic, and of course, the citizens. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.

MR. NICHOLS: Mayor, thank you very much. You're welcome any time.

Randy Neugebauer.

MR. NEUGEBAUER: Good morning, Mr. Nichols, Mr. Williamson, Director Heald. First, like others, I want to extend my deepest sympathy to Chairman Johnson and his family, and our prayers and thoughts are with their family today.

After you have five or four folks in front of you like that, it really begins to limit what you're saying, and so I'm going to be very brief. First of all, I want to thank the planning staff on how they have worked with the Ports to Plains Corridor Coalition on an ongoing basis, and we appreciate that. They were receptive of our input and there was a two-way exchange of information and we feel like that's very beneficial, because I hear the word a lot, Commissioner Williamson, about partnerships and I think we have to be partners.

And I think the thing, as I was listening to and as I was anticipating this time today and this report, I was thinking about our 53 partners that are anxiously awaiting the results of this meeting and the results of your vote next month: 53 communities that have put up annually over $450,000 to move this initiative forward, 53 communities, counties and economic development entities that have realized that we are developing some of the last frontier in America.

And just like when they looked across the Mississippi River with the Louisiana Purchase and they said what are we going to do with all this land, and what they realized is if they were going to do anything with that land, they were going to have to do something about the infrastructure, and so the infrastructure began. That's the way this country was developed in the beginning and that's the way it's going to be developed in the future.

And commissioner, I thought you made a good point about the future. Lubbock, as an example, several years ago realized that water was a precious commodity and a diminishing supply, and they went out and spent over $50 million and built a lake and a dam to encumber water that they may not use for the next 20 or 25 years, but the problem with water is when you need a drink of water, you don't need it in 50 years or 25 years, you need it then. It's planning in advance.

I think the same thing about the Ports to Plains Corridor. It's time for Texas to have another major north-south corridor, and the Ports to Plains is a very logical extension of that process, complementing the other corridors that are already in place, and the route that the staff recommended makes the most sense.

And Commissioner Nichols, I appreciate your suggestion of adding in the S-7C -- I think is the correct one; I don't have that in front of me.

I think that concept is just like the Dallas-Fort Worth concept of I-35: you have two major communities there that need to be tied together. Midland-Odessa needs to be tied to Ports to Plains. You heard the La Entrada group today, the importance of what they're going to be doing developing some access to the western Mexican ports and some of the western part of Mexico which is, as you've heard, growing very rapidly.

So we think this all makes sense. We appreciate your time. We would wait anxiously for your final vote on June 30 in helping us move the Ports to Plains forward.

One of the things when I sat on the council in Lubbock, I looked at a lot of studies, and one of the things I said during my campaigns is: Let's stop studying and let's start building. And I think that's what I would like to say to you is we've studied this corridor a number of times, as you know, and let's stop studying and let's start building it. Again, thank you for your time.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you, Randy. I think this is the second time I've ever seen you make comments without your visuals. That was the thing for a while: he had bricks one year and jigsaw puzzles and train tracks. And when you did the Ports to Plains Summit, was that the puzzle or the bricks?

MR. NEUGEBAUER: Both.

MR. NICHOLS: You did both. Okay. Anyway, you did a great job. You've been a real leader on this coalition. My hat's off to the Ports to Plains Coalition, very good reception last night. I appreciate the invitation to be there and meet a number of people that I had not met before, and I was really impressed with how far apart they were all in the same room together working on the same project, from Del Rio and on down, all the way up through the Panhandle.

Yes, sir. Would you like to make another comment?

MR. NEUGEBAUER: Would you notice me?

MR. NICHOLS: Would you come to the mike?

MR. NEUGEBAUER: I would like for all of our group to just stand up. These are on the board of directors of our Ports to Plains Corridor and they've come a long way to be here.

MR. NICHOLS: Thank you very much. You have done a fabulous job.

Do you have any comments?

MR. WILLIAMSON: No.

MR. NICHOLS: And with that, we're going to take another three-minute recess so that you can leave if you want, but you're invited to stay for the rest of meeting if you'd like.

(Whereupon, a brief recess was taken.)

MR. NICHOLS: We reconvene. Wes, do you want to go ahead and go through the agenda items?

MR. HEALD: For Commissioner Williamson to know Dave Fulton -- I don't know whether you've had a chance to meet with him or not, but Dave heads up our Aviation Division and he really does a great job with a very sort of complex program; it's a grant program, and it brings a lot of credit to the department; we're very proud of the work that he does. So agenda item number 5, a minute order under Aviation, Mr. Dave Fulton.

MR. FULTON: Thank you, Wes, for those comments; I appreciate that. My name is David Fulton, director of TxDOT Aviation Division.

Agenda item 5 is a minute order containing a request for grant funding approval for 27 airport improvement projects. Twenty-two of the requested projects are programmed to be funded with federal and local funding, the other five are programmed to be funded with state and local funding. Estimated cost of all the projects, as shown in Exhibit A, is approximately $11.2 million, $6.8 million federal, approximately $3.1 million state, and $1.2 million local.

A public hearing was held on May 7, 2001; no comments were received. We would recommend approval of this minute order.

MR. NICHOLS: Question, comment, motion?

MR. WILLIAMSON: So moved.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor, say aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. HEALD: Item number 6 under Transportation Planning, Jim Randall.

MR. RANDALL: Good morning. Jim Randall, deputy director of Transportation Planning and Programming Division.

We're bringing you the third quarterly program for disadvantaged counties to adjust matching fund requirements. In your books is Exhibit A that lists the projects and staff-recommended adjustments for each of them. The adjustments are based on the equations approved in earlier proposals. There are ten projects in seven counties, and the reduction in participation for these projects is $118,853. We recommend your approval of this minute order.

MR. NICHOLS: Questions or comments? Motion?

MR. WILLIAMSON: So moved.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor, say aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: I believe you've already acted on agenda items 7(a) and (b), so we'll have one more SIB loan, James Bass.

MR. BASS: Agenda items 7(c) seeks final approval of a loan to the City of Robstown in the amount of $350,000 to pay for utility adjustments in connection with the upgrading of Farm to Market 1889. The city has requested an interest rate of 4 percent with a five-year payback period, and staff recommends your approval.

MR. NICHOLS: Question or comment?

MR. WILLIAMSON: I think I have a question, and I realize that sometimes department employees don't like questions out of left field, but I've got to ask this question since it came to me in the last few minutes. What does this project have to do with what we may or may not do in terms of I-69 down the road?

MR. BASS: I'm not certain of that; I can get you an answer, though.

MR. WILLIAMSON: It would not change how I would vote, Mr. Nichols; I just am curious about that. Perhaps staff can tell me about that later. I so move approval.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor, say aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: Motion carries.

Let me ask you a question related to the interest rates; I know it's a subject I brought up quite a few times. All of our rates are 4 percent. If I had a city and I went out and I had to borrow money from the private sector, even if it's tax exempt, for a five- or ten-year period of time, what interest rate would I be paying?

MR. BASS: It would be a little more than 4 percent right now. What we do, as each application comes in, we'll use a benchmark off of Moody's Investment Banking website, and the benchmark that we use is triple-A rated tax exempt bonds, and we'll look over the term of the bonds and compare that to the term of the loan, and we'll look at what the market rate would be, and we'll also look at the community and see if they're located in an economically disadvantaged county, and typically the State Infrastructure Bank will offer a discount to market rates, thereby leaving more funds available to the community to put towards the transportation infrastructure.

But if you look over time at the interest rates, you will see they will differ and that's because the market interest rates are also changing over time.

MR. NICHOLS: I've noticed that, but all the projects that we consider are basically the same interest rate.

MR. BASS: Today.

MR. NICHOLS: But they were different lengths of time. I mean, some were short and some were long.

MR. BASS: Correct, and we'll look at and we'll blend, basically what we do, that benchmark will list a two-year, a five-year, a seven-year, ten-year, and we'll blend those different rates to come up with a composite rate for the particular application.

MR. NICHOLS: And we haven't had this conversation. I just want to try to re-emphasize, I think it was important. The whole program is wonderful; you do a great job on it to help some of these communities move projects that would otherwise disrupt their budget, but we also want to be careful that we don't under-charge on our interest rate to make us the course -- when they shop out for a bond, if we're a lot cheaper than the banks or the private market, they're going to come to us. We're not out competing with these other entities but we're trying to provide a service to make something happen, and there's a delicate balance in there. Anyway, you do a great job.

Wes?

MR. HEALD: Award or rejection of highway improvement contracts, agenda item number 8, and Elizabeth Boswell represents the Construction Division.

MS. BOSWELL: Good afternoon. For the record, my name is Elizabeth Boswell; I currently serve as the Construction Section director within the Construction Division, and I am here today representing our division director, Mr. Thomas Bohuslav.

With regard to item 8(a)(1), authorization of this minute order will provide for the award or rejection of highway maintenance contracts let on May 1 and 2, 2001, whose engineer's estimated cost are $300,000 or more.

Staff recommends rejection of Project Number 4002 located in Harris County due to insufficient competition as only one bid was received on this contract and the bid submitted was 45.5 percent over the engineer's estimate. The district is confident that if they divide this project into two separate contracts and let locally, they will receive more competitive bids from local bidders.

Staff recommends award of all remaining projects as shown in Exhibit A.

MR. NICHOLS: Motion?

MR. WILLIAMSON: So move.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor, say aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: Motion carries.

MS. BOSWELL: With regard to item 8(a)(2), authorization of this minute order will provide for the award or rejection of highway construction and building contracts let on May 1 and 2, 2001 as shown in Exhibit A.

Staff recommends rejection of three contracts as follows. The first project recommended for rejection is Project Number 3237 located in Hardeman County. Staff recommends this contract be rejected as the bids received were inflated with the low bid coming in over 42 percent over the engineer's estimate. Furthermore, the district is confident that re-letting this project subsequent to a redesign will improve competition resulting in lower prices.

The second project recommended for rejection is Project Number 3037 located in Harris County. Staff recommends this contract be rejected due to discovery of a plan error prior to letting. Once this plan error is corrected, the apparent low bidder would change. Furthermore, we have verified that this error was not communicated to all prospective bidders, giving those bidders who were aware of this error an advantage with regard to bid submission. As the integrity of the bidding process is of utmost importance to the department, staff respectfully requests rejection of this contract.

The third project recommended for rejection is a building project located in Guadalupe County. Staff recommends this contract be rejected as the apparent low bidder made a mistake in his bid of such magnitude that it would be unconscionable for staff to recommend award of this contract. Furthermore, recommending award under such circumstances could be conceived as punitive in nature.

Finally, and in deference to this commission and Mr. Heald, staff acknowledges recommending award of five projects in which only one bid was received. Staff has investigated each situation and we are confident that award is warranted under the circumstances. Therefore, staff recommends award of all remaining contracts as shown in Exhibit A.

MR. NICHOLS: Any question or comment?

MR. WILLIAMSON: The single bid contracts that you're recommending we approve, were any of the bids unreasonably higher or lower than would be expected by the engineer?

MS. BOSWELL: I believe some of the bids were somewhat higher, but after looking at the circumstances with the projects, each criteria that the districts provided us, we felt that it was justified in that re-letting the project in the future would not provide any better outcome with regard to prices.

MR. NICHOLS: I have a question and comment. I notice in the notes that you give us related to some of these contracts you had about $30 million worth of projects that have incentives.

MS. BOSWELL: Yes, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: That's about 15 percent of this.

MS. BOSWELL: Approximately, maybe not quite that much.

MR. NICHOLS: My hat's off to you for doing it and to the districts for doing it because I think it certainly has got to speed up some of these projects, put the pressure on the contractor. Is this unusual on these to be doing this many, or is this a new direction that we're seeing?

MR. HEALD: I might try to explain that. We've been talking to our district engineers for about three years about looking at incentives, disincentives, and I guess you might say we're just tightening up the screws a little bit. We're feeling the pressure from the legislature and the public as far as accelerating construction work and we're just working with our district engineers, and so I think it's slowly been increasing as a result of our encouragement.

MR. NICHOLS: This is the first time I actually saw a list, other than a few years ago when we did some A and B, and I like to see that list. I think that's very good; it helps me. So I thank you for having it in there and I look forward to the next one.

MR. HEALD: Basically I would say we're telling the district engineers to look at those projects that involve the livelihood, or when a person has got a business out there and we're likely to affect their income, their livelihood, to take a good look at accelerating either the whole construction project or a portion thereof, to build incentives in, maybe even a portion of it, where they can get traffic back in front of that business, and also if it involves a lot of folks, their ability to travel back and forth to work.

MR. NICHOLS: Well, I noticed that on one of them it didn't discourage bidders; there were 15 bidders on one of them, so that was amazing.

MR. WILLIAMSON: I just want to echo and reinforce what you said. This is one commissioner that believes totally in incentives and disincentives, and I know the argument has been put forth in the past that if you have too many incentives the cash flow may be changing because people work harder, but that's okay with me. I like incentives and disincentives.

MR. NICHOLS: Can I hear a motion?

MR. WILLIAMSON: So moved.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor, say aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: Motion carries.

MR. HEALD: Thank you, Elizabeth.

I would mention, also, commissioners, that we track the average number of bids very carefully, and we have some cause for concern with this particular letting, and you'll notice it's 3.9 and it's been running well over 4, like 4.6. We had five projects that had one bidder, 18 had two bids, 17 had three bids, so basically out of 81 contracts, we had 40 projects that had three or less bidders. And I don't really know the reason for it, but when you look at the projects, you'll see there's a lot of them that's smaller in the far reaches of West Texas and just the nature of the work itself, I think. We really didn't have a good month as far as, I think, real good competition.

The next item is contract claims. Mike.

MR. BEHRENS: Good morning, commissioners. Mike Behrens, Engineering Operations. We have two minute orders for claim settlements this morning.

The first one involves a claim by Birchwood Construction on a project in Hamilton County in the Waco District. The contractor filed a claim for $45,882 requesting additional compensation for additional items that he's done or claimed he did. On April 24 the Contract Claims Committee met, and after considering the issues of that claim, we offered a settlement of $9,500. This was accepted by the contractor by letter to us. And this will be one minute order that we need and you can just vote on them together, and I'll go on to the next one.

The other one is a claim in Travis County here on a building project on our Riverside campus. The contractor was McGoldrick Construction, and this claim was in the amount of $32,327 requesting compensation for some additional testing and repair work. After hearing this claim on May 9, we offered the contractor a claim settlement of $20,000, and by letter he accepted that settlement amount. So both of these minute orders need your approval so we can pay off the contractors, and I recommend approval.

MR. NICHOLS: So moved.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Second.

MR. NICHOLS: All in favor?

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: Motion carries.

MR. HEALD: Under Routine Minute Orders, I'll handle those again, as usual. Agenda item 9(a) establish or alter regulatory and construction speed zones on various sections of highways in the state.

MR. NICHOLS: We'll take all these in a group, all the minute orders.

MR. HEALD: I'll just continue going until you stop me.

9(b)(1) under Right of Way Disposition, Purchase and Lease, this minute order provides for an exchange of a surplus drainage easement for a new drainage easement based on appraisals and the owner will owe us some money, a cash payment of $3,538.

9(b)(2), this minute order provides for the sale of a .084 acre tract of surplus right of way in Jack County on US 281, based on an appraisal, although it just being $400.

The next item being 9(b)(3), this minute order provides for the sale of 40 feet of surplus access rights on I-35 West just north of Fort Worth, and there's a sketch there if you have any questions.

The next one, 9(b)(4), we're deferring at this time and we'll come back with a minute order next meeting, next month.

9(b)(5), this minute order provides for the sale of a .055 acre tract of surplus right of way in Travis County along Ranch to Market 620, based on appraisals.

9(c) request for eminent domain proceedings, and there's a list there for your review. And commissioners, that ends our routine minute orders.

MR. NICHOLS: Okay. We're not going to have an executive session?

MR. HEALD: No need.

MR. NICHOLS: Is that correct?

MR. HEALD: That's correct.

MR. NICHOLS: So we're going to have the open comment period from the public.

Oh, we didn't vote. Okay. Do I hear a motion?

MR. WILLIAMSON: So moved.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: Motion carries.

Gaynelle Riffe, Stratford, north end of the state of Texas.

MS. RIFFE: That's right. I'm Gaynelle Riffe, Chamber of Commerce transportation chair from the Stratford, the tip-top town in Texas, and I thank you for this opportunity to share Texas Panhandle transportation concerns.

The Texas Panhandle supports the complete Ports to Plains border trade corridor from Laredo to Denver which includes the feasibility study that we've just heard today, inclusive of Laredo, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Sonora, San Angelo, the La Entrada-Midland section, Lamesa, Lubbock, Amarillo to Dumas.

I'm here to ask you to consider the north N-4 route, US Highway 287 from Dumas to Denver, including: Stratford and Kerrick, Texas; Boise City, Oklahoma; Loma, Colorado; I-70 into Denver. This route also crosses another high-priority corridor, the east-west Transamerica Corridor, US 54.

US 287 has been the preferred commercial route from Fort Worth to Denver for over 50 years. This corridor offers fewer miles and a gradual incline to the mile-high city of Denver, avoiding US 87/I-25 mountain passes and the metropolitan environmental concerns of air quality and congestion. Texas US 287 has only 17 miles to upgrade to four-lane divided.

The Oklahoma Transportation Commission has passed a resolution supporting the US 287 Ports to Plains designation from Dumas through Boise City, Oklahoma to Loma, Colorado. Denver Regional Council of Governments, the City of Colorado Springs, and Pike's Peak Area Council of Governments all have sent resolutions to the Colorado Department of Transportation requesting the N-1, I-25 route be eliminated as a proposed alignment for the Ports to Plains Corridor, and that the focus of the Ports to Plains feasibility study be on an alignment on the eastern plains.

Colorado Transportation Commission has passed a resolution that states: "CDOT is committed to diverting traffic from congested segments of I-25 through infrastructure improvements in eastern Colorado and views the Ports to Plains program as an opportunity to pursue such goals."

Tourists will continue to use US 87 to have access to the New Mexico and Colorado mountains, and that will not change unless we can figure out how to move those mountains 100 miles east, and I don't think that's going to happen.

So we thank you for your consideration for this complete Ports to Plains Corridor to better serve Texas, the Midwest plains and the nation. Thank you very much.

MR. NICHOLS: Gaynelle, thank you very much. I have seen you in so many different transportation places all around the state.

MS. RIFFE: Well, I figured out that's how you have to do it: you have to be there, you have to suit up for every game.

MR. NICHOLS: Well, anyway, you're welcome any time.

MS. RIFFE: Thank you.

MR. NICHOLS: Before we close, we have a celebrity in the room I wanted to recognize. We not only have one of the leading transportation advocates in the state of Texas and a Road Hand, but he is mayor and holds the distinction of being mayor longer as mayor than anyone else in the state of Texas. Is that correct?

It's either oldest mayor or the longest-term mayor, but we have Mayor Abernathy of Pittsburg, Texas, here. I just wanted to say hello and thank you for being here.

Motion to adjourn?

MR. WILLIAMSON: Not yet. May I ask a question?

MR. NICHOLS: Sure. I can't close until I get a motion anyway.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Wes, I've spent three or four months now driving three days a week back and forth between the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the Austin-San Antonio corridor and coming to understand a little bit better how the department operates and what our responsibilities are, and it's been a pleasant and rewarding experience.

However, I am watching with interest all of the reconstruction and the expansion of 35 between Austin and the split north of Hillsboro, and without being critical of department employees and planners in any way, it occurs to me that the best efforts we're putting forward to de-bottleneck that isn't going to, in the long run, make that corridor much more consumer-friendly.

I would be interested in hearing your viewpoint of what the state of Texas is going to do with that backbone corridor, that north-south corridor that links approximately 65 percent of all of our citizens together, and if you've got some thoughts, I'd like to hear them.

MR. HEALD: Okay, I'll try. I have to give you a little bit of history. Of course, being from Brownwood, I didn't travel too much on I-35, but I went to Fort Worth to work for the department in October of '93, and it was a fairly pleasant drive at that time into Austin, and one that I enjoyed because I didn't have to go through any signal lights.

But I came up here in February of '98 and between those two dates, it was obvious that we were in deep trouble on 35, and it's become more obvious since I've been here.

And we have started some initiatives on 35, but I think your assessment is very correct: we are not going to be able to ever get on top of the curve on I-35. The truck traffic that we're experiencing, alone, is in the neighborhood of 15 percent per year increase just in truck traffic. The right of way widths up and down that corridor are not such that we can expand much, certainly not as a whole; in some areas we probably could.

The current initiative that we're working on right now -- and incidentally, all of that project between Georgetown and Hillsboro is on the drawing board and we're trying to accelerate that work to add, for the most part, two more lanes in the rural areas, and we're still studying what needs to be done through Waco and Temple-Belton.

So we're doing something and I think we've got like $40 million a year set up in Category 1 which is interstate construction, but that's just a drop in the bucket of what it's going to take to address just the need to expand a little bit.

I would tell you that my recommendation is we're going to have to look at an alternate route.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, it seems to me, and one of the things I heard as a legislator, there's always sort of a little tension between the Austin-Dallas crowd and the San Antonio-Houston crowd and the West Texas Expand for the Future crowd about how limited resources are allocated and whether or not they're unfairly allocated to one part of the state or the other, and I'm sensitive to that.

But it seems to me, with the passage of the Toll Equity Constitutional Amendment and the accompanying statutes that will automatically be passed if the constitutional amendment is adopted, that the tools for us to undertake a fairly aggressive expansion of our mobility system are very close to being in our hands.

That being the case -- and I appreciate your comments -- I would really appreciate the opportunity, Commissioner Nichols, in public, to begin to understand what plans might be possible with regard to 35 or with regard to an alternate corridor. I would like the opportunity to begin to talk and hear about what we're doing now and what we might do in the future at some point at some commission meeting in the future.

MR. HEALD: I guess, to begin with, just so you become more familiar with at least what we have on the drawing board, I believe Mike is going to have the Waco District engineer prepare a brief report and we'll have him on the program next month.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, if we could, if you don't see any objection to that, Mr. Nichols.

MR. NICHOLS: If they can get it together for the next -- we're talking about just the Waco portion of it?

MR. HEALD: It would just be the Waco portion, yes, sir.

MR. NICHOLS: I think what you're referring to is more of an overall strategy.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, beginning with the Waco report, that would help me understand not only what immediate relief might be coming, but I think more importantly what the limitations that we face are, and if it be true that we face known limitations on current existing Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth, then perhaps that report is the basis or the beginning point to discuss what alternatives might exist.

Again, I'm sensitive to the need for West Texas mobility; I'm sensitive to the need between Dallas and Houston, between Houston and San Antonio and along the Gulf Coast. But we can't be sensitive to those things and completely ignore what I think -- and apparently what you think -- is an almost crisis situation in the corridor that links 65 percent of this state's population -- and it does; I mean, there's not any way around it; it's the north-south backbone of the state.

So that report will be most welcome by me and the ability to start to begin to talk about that would also be much pleasing to me. Appreciate you allowing me to comment on that.

MR. NICHOLS: Sure. Can we have a motion to adjourn?

MR. WILLIAMSON: I so move.

MR. NICHOLS: Second. All in favor, say aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. NICHOLS: We're adjourned.

(Whereupon, at 12:27 p.m., the meeting was concluded.)

C E R T I F I C A T E

MEETING OF: Texas Transportation Commission
LOCATION: Austin, Texas
DATE: May 31, 2001

I do hereby certify that the foregoing pages, numbers 1 through 125 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.

6/04/01
(Transcriber) (Date)
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