2005.10.04
Harris County's
judgeeckels.org website has a page on the Grand
Parkway project for Houston's third beltway which
states: "The Texas Department of Transportation and
the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) are
working together to make this project a reality."
Not from Sept 19.
In a letter to HCTRA
director Mike Strech, his boss executive-director
Art Storey wrote: "Please instruct our staff and
consultants to suspend immediately all work on the
proposed Grand Parkway. That means surveying,
right-of-way definition, schematic designs,
conversations, everything. We will resume from this
point (or from some other one) if and when we have
successfully negotiated an agreement with TxDOT to
do so."
In a letter to county
commissioners Sept 21 Storey wrote:
"As I have reported
before, TxDOT has suggested that Harris County join
them in a general agreement for sharing toll road
revenues when HCTRA constructs a toll road in TxDOT
right-of-way or on an alignment within the TxDOT
highway system. With the support of county staff and
our toll road legal and investment consultants, I
have been working on such an agreement for several
months. The negotiations have been difficult, and
more time and effort is needed before we can expect
to reach agreement. Accordingly, I have instructed
HCTRA to stop work on so-called 'future' projects
until either such an agreement is in hand or the
requirement for one is eliminated. Projects affected
include the Grand Parkway and the US290 corridor
(Hempstead Road)."
At their Sept 27 meeting
the Harris County commissioners endorsed the
suspension of cooperation with TxDOT on future
projects pending formal agreements. Apparently the
collaborative project for toll lanes on the I-10
Katy Freeway will continue. That project is covered
by a formal legally binding agreement with TxDOT.
HCTRA officials say that
TxDOT wants more money and more control than they
think is warranted by the department's contribution.
There has been tension over other matters. TxDOT has
sponsored legislation in the state assembly that
would give it veto powers over regional tollroad
projects even where the department is contributing
nothing.
A would-be partner who
wants it all?
A neighbor trespassing
on the ranch?
Sometimes you have to
"get their attention"
HCTRA has found it pays
to be a little confrontational with TxDOT, officials
have said.
When the Westpark
Tollway opened in April 2004 there was a serious
merge problem at the ramp Westpark eastbound to US59
northbound - commuters heading downtown. The problem
was on the TxDOT freeway. Highspeed traffic from the
HCTRA Westpark was attempting to merge into slow
TxDOT US59 traffic, and there was a chaotic pattern
of entrants forcing their way in over a long stretch
of US59.
TxDOT wouldn't consider
a new striping plan and delineators to discipline
the merge.
"It was dangerous," a
HCTRA official told us, "We had to do something to
get their (TxDOT's) attention."
HCTRA unilaterally
closed the ramp by installing barriers at their end
forcing motorists to exit to local streets, winding
their way through to re-enter US59 or finding other
ways downtown.
The disruption was
immediate front page news, forcing TxDOT to talk.
They soon did the
restriping HCTRA had been suggesting, and the ramp
opened after a couple of weeks, and has operated
without further problems.
Caught by surprise
HCTRA's recent
suspension of work on collaborative projects clearly
caught TxDOT by surprise. Only days earlier Gary
Trietsch, TxDOT Houston district director was waxing
eloquent before the West Houston Association, a
local business group, listing all the projects that
TxDOT was doing in the region along with HCTRA.
Collaborative work on US290, he told the group was
"progressing well." (www.westhouston.org) HCTRA
suspended work on US290 days later. TOLLROADSnews
2005-10-03
EXTRA: HCTRA Director
Mike Strech says the county has made a written
counter-proposal to TxDOT on the terms for future
collaboration. He says this follows an unsuccessful
attempt to negototiate on the basis of a TxDOT
draft. He says the county has not received any
response from TxDOT to the county draft and prefers
not to discuss the issues while the matter is still
in negotiation. TOLLROADSnews 2005-10-06
