Turnpike board clears way for awarding toll road deals

Major pieces are still undecided, but the four Central Texas toll road projects are suddenly on a fairly fast track. Decisions by the Texas Turnpike Authority board on Wednesday will let contracts for designing and building Texas 130 be awarded in about eight months, while construction contracts for Texas 45 North and a northern extension of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) could be awarded in early 2002. By October, the turnpike board should decide how drivers will electronically pay tolls on each of the roads, choosing which computer software will control a transponder system that deducts from pre-paid accounts as cars pass by.

Part of Texas 130's financial future was decided Wednesday when the board approved 18 financial firms from which they will choose to sell the bonds to pay for building the road. The state should have construction designs for Texas 130, the proposed 91-mile toll road from Seguin to Georgetown to bypass congested Interstate 35, in five months after an agreement Wednesday to let four groups of engineering, design and construction firms start work on proposed designs. "That's the green light to really start focusing on the proposals," said Phil Russell, Turnpike Authority director. The four groups are competing for the Texas 130 contract, and the winner is to be chosen by next summer.

Texas 130, Texas 45 North, the MoPac extension and an extension of U.S. 183 all were approved by the federal government in about 2 1/2 years, about half the time it normally takes, said Bob Daigh, the Turnpike Authority's planning director. Only about 30 to 35 projects in the nation get federal approval each year, but Central Texas now has four approved in a single region within one year.

But the path remains difficult. No land has been purchased for Texas 130, and construction cannot begin until the state has a corridor to build the highway. Plans for the MoPac extension and Texas 45 North, often called the "T" for the shape they'll create where they connect, are in the final design stages needed before construction. Work could begin as early as the first part of 2002, "if all of the other puzzle pieces come into place," Daigh said. Those pieces are primarily the land needed for the highways. Only Williamson County has already purchased land for Texas 45 North.

Austin and Travis County governments are still deciding when and how to pay for land and move utilities for the MoPac extension or Texas 45 North. The Austin City Council will consider $6 million for Texas 45 North at its meeting today after postponing that decision Aug. 9. The council has not awarded about $21 million to MoPac's northern leg because it wants to know first how the Texas Department of Transportation will renovate or improve the Central Austin portion of MoPac. That will be at least until October, when a regional transportation committee submits its suggestions. The Central Austin portion of MoPac would likely see a traffic increase of less than 5 percent once the northern extension is finished, Daigh said. Travis County will include money for the toll road land on its November bond ballot. But the county is still haggling with Williamson County over a portion of the Texas 45 North land within Round Rock.