Texas Department of Transportation Commission Meeting

Commission Room
Dewitt Greer Building
125 East 11th Street
Austin, Texas 78701-2483

9:00 a.m. Thursday, September 27, 2001

COMMISSION MEMBERS:

JOHN W. JOHNSON, Chair
ROBERT L. NICHOLS
RIC WILLIAMSON

STAFF:

MIKE BEHRENS, Executive Director
RICHARD MONROE, Legal Counsel
HELEN HAVELKA, Executive Assistant, Engineering Operations
 

PROCEEDINGS

MR. JOHNSON: Good morning. Before we get started, I have an observation and a request. On September 11 and the days since then, I believe an indelible mark has been left on all of our lives and our thoughts. I thought it would be appropriate that we started the meeting with a moment of silence, a moment of silence in memory of those lost and perhaps a silent prayer of thanksgiving for those who survived the disasters, and also a moment of thanksgiving for the thousands of people who made heroic efforts to be involved in the rescue efforts. So if you will, we’ll have a moment of silence.

(Pause.)

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.

It is 9:07 a.m. and I would like to call this meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission to order. Welcome to our September meeting; it is a pleasure to have you here today. Please note for the record that public notice of this meeting, containing all items of the agenda, was filed with the Office of the Secretary of State at 2:43 p.m. on September 19.

As a usual custom, before we get started, I’d like to ask my colleagues, my fellow commissioners, if they have any observations or comments. Robert?

MR. NICHOLS: Yes. As the chairman said, the world is not the same place as it was a couple of weeks ago, and it’s amazing how much of the story relates to transportation and the importance of transportation, the uses that have gone on related to it. I can assure you that this department will do everything within its power to make sure that our transportation system operates as smoothly as safely as we can.

We are always ready for catastrophes, disasters. I think the most recent one in South Padre -- which was just an accident -- is a pretty good show of how fast the department can jump in in a tragic situation.

And other than that, I know there’s a lot of people who have come a long ways to be here today to present their transportation needs. I want you to know that we appreciate the efforts that you make to go this far, and we look at it with great seriousness and it does make an impact on what we do and the decisions we make. Other than that, just thank you for being here.

MR. JOHNSON: Ric?

Echoing and agreeing with Commissioner Nichols’ remarks, and adding the following, I think our culture has changed in ways that we yet don’t understand, and maybe will not understand for a few years, but I think certainly how the Transportation Commission reacts, not only from a security perspective but from a perspective of providing alternative methods of transportation in our state to our citizens, to the business owners of our state, will probably become more of a focal point over the next few years. And specifically I speak of rail and the prospect of taking a step back and understanding how we can perhaps lead a re-invigoration or a reinvestment in rail in the state.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.

This morning we have a very active and full agenda. We have three delegations. One note, on the agenda we will move the South Padre Island minute order consideration up to the third item immediately following the approval of the minutes, and in so in essence, it will be like a fourth delegation.

BOWIE COUNTY

(Judge James Carlow, Rep. Barry Telford, Mayor Paul Meadows, Commissioner Carl Teel.)

MR. JOHNSON: Our first delegation comes to us from Bowie County, and Judge James Carlow, I believe, will get us started. Is the good judge here? Welcome.

JUDGE CARLOW: It’s a pleasure this morning to be able to address you, and it is a long way to Austin from Texarkana or DeKalb or New Boston, but this is a worthwhile project and one that we were glad to spend our time and travel to try to help make it come to fruition.

My name is James Carlow; I’m county judge in Bowie County. I have with me today -- and I’ll start in the most important order -- I’ve got two commissioners -- even when the governor is in Bowie County, these commissioners -- they get introduced first.

(General laughter.)

JUDGE CARLOW: Commissioner Carl Teel, Commissioner Dale Barrett; our mayor from DeKalb, Paul Meadows; and I guess which should have been first, Barry Telford is here with us, he is our state representative, he’s also interested in this project because he lives in DeKalb and he has a business along this route.

MR. WILLIAMSON: We really didn’t need to say that.

(General laughter.)

JUDGE CARLOW: Well, maybe it’s a block off the route.

US 82 is a National Highway System route which traverses North Texas from Texarkana to Paris to Wichita Falls and then on to Lubbock and into New Mexico, and it’s part of the Texas Trunk System. Our project is located on a 14-mile stretch in Bowie County which connects Interstate 30 with US 259 between New Boston and DeKalb and is heavily traveled by both local and regional traffic.

An abandoned railroad corridor traverses the entire length of the project and is currently owned by the Rails to Trails Conservancy. The Rails to Trails Conservancy has rail-banked the corridor and it’s reserved for hike and bike trail use. Barry Telford and I, along with TxDOT officials, have coordinated at length with the RTC to enable a joint use of the corridor for both highway and pedestrian use.

As a result of the joint use agreement, Bowie County is willing to serve as a trail manager and has applied for Federal Enhancement Program funds to help construct the trail portion of the project. Our nomination is currently being reviewed by TxDOT. Further, Bowie County is committed to donating up to 70 feet of the railroad corridor for the highway widening improvements. This donation represents a potential savings of $10 million in right of way costs for the state.

Serving as trail manager represents a long-term commitment to the project on the part of Bowie County. Bowie County has agreed, under this process, to see that the trail is developed according to the standards of the RTC and to maintain it in perpetuity.

TxDOT has proceeded as expeditiously as possible to engage the services of engineering consultants to complete the advanced planning, environmental clearance, schematic preparation and PS&E completion of the project. We’ve been assured that this is one of the highest priorities in the Atlanta District, and if funded, this project is anticipated to let to construction by Fiscal Year 2005.

A number of parties have worked very hard to advance this project over the last several years, and we’d sure like to see it go to letting when the PS&E is complete.

This project was initiated by the department in 1979. Due to lack of funds and slow traffic growth, the project was essentially shelved until the mid ‘90s when traffic levels increased to the point where four lanes were warranted. A major hurdle has been the balancing of the cost of the right of way and environmental concerns.

The north side of the right of way is continuously developed with residential and commercial establishments. The cost of right of way from this side, the north side, exceeds $10 million, and the construction cost is only $25 million. On the south side of US 82 --

MR. WILLIAMSON: Wait, what did you say?

JUDGE CARLOW: I said if we bought the right of way on the north side of 82 -- which is what we would have had to do several years ago before they abandoned the railroad -- the cost of that right of way would have been over $10 million. By being able to move it on the right of way of the railroad to the south, we’re working that through with the Rails to Trails Conservancy.

MR. WILLIAMSON: So your right of way is going to cost less?

JUDGE CARLOW: Yes.

MR. WILLIAMSON: It’s going to cost less because it’s not developed.

JUDGE CARLOW: That’s right, and because the county already has -- almost has possession; we’ve got an agreement with them; we don’t actually have the deed yet but I’ve got a contract.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Is it your observation, as a local elected official, that right of way costs to both the state and local government is always less expensive when you’re purchasing undeveloped property?

JUDGE CARLOW: Yes, that’s for sure.

On the south side of 82 lies an abandoned railroad corridor but getting access to this property has had its hurdles as well. One of these is the fact that the corridor has been rail-banked, preserved and protected under federal law, for hike and bike trail use. A number of people, including myself and Barry Telford, have spent a number of years negotiating with RTC for a joint use agreement of this corridor. Last year we succeeded in executing an agreement with RTC and we now have this agreement with them which would allow development on the extreme south side of 30 feet for a trail and the other 70 feet can be used to widen 82 to a four lane.

Traffic has grown steadily over the last ten years and continues to grow. This section of US 82 is used by both residents and businesses along this route and also by traffic heading north into Oklahoma via 259, and northwest on to Paris.

This slide shows a school that’s adjacent to 82 on the north side. Malta School here is, like I said, right on the north side of the highway, and if we try to expand, as we did earlier, to the north it would mean removing the school. There are also five churches along this right of way on the north side.

Back in May we held a public hearing and we had it at the Malta School which would be impacted by this project. It was well attended and all of the attendees were excited about the project and eager for construction to begin. I’ve been around a long time and I’ve been to a lot of public hearings and there’s always somebody against whatever it is, no matter how good the project is, but with this particular project, I have had no one that’s been opposed to it.

As I said, the support has been overwhelming for the project and they don’t understand why we just can’t start turning dirt next week, they don’t realize the process takes time, but they are excited about the future.

As I mentioned earlier, the Malta School is there, there’s five churches along that right of way, as you saw in an earlier slide, there’s numerous businesses, residences. It would really impact the area if we had to move to the north.

We also get an added benefit, and of course, it’s the most important benefit from the RTC perspective, and that’s to construct a trail for hiking and biking along that 30 feet on the south side. This is probably the best picture we could get of that abandoned railroad; most of the places it’s grown up. It’s going to take a lot of work and it’s going to take a lot of maintenance over the years to make this a nice amenity for our area.

As you can see -- I travel this road a lot because I have a business in DeKalb -- but it’s hard to pass on this road, it’s a two-lane road with a lot of traffic, there’s a lot of hills on it, and it’s virtually impossible to pass from New Boston to DeKalb.

Our current status, the agreement with the RTC has been completed, has been signed by RTC and by the county; the engineers have already started to work on this project; we have an enhancement project that’s under review by TxDOT at this time to help with the construction of that trail.

Bowie County, as I’ve said earlier, has already entered into an agreement with RTC and we’ll have control of the 100 feet. We want to donate 70 feet of that to TxDOT to be used for the other two lanes.

We’ve had several accidents in the last ten years, even more in the last five years, with a lot of injuries and some fatalities along this route, and we feel that by making this four lane, it would make it a whole lot safer highway.

And finally, we’re excited about the opportunity to get this project funded, get it let for construction, and we’d appreciate your consideration. I’d like to thank all of you this morning for your time and attention, and I’d like to turn it over now to Representative Telford.

MR. JOHNSON: Representative Telford, it’s nice to have you here.

MR. TELFORD: Thank you. Let me straighten something out. Everybody has got to be from somewhere and I live in DeKalb and I’m proud of it. My business is located about a mile and two-tenths away from where this project would begin. By the way, Senator Fraser also has a business on US 82 but it’s even further on the opposite end of this project, so I wanted to, for the record, say that this is not my business, it’s only my business in the sense that I represent Bowie County and that I also represent my hometown and I love it and it’s part of rural Texas, big time.

Commissioner Nichols, and I think maybe Commissioner Johnson, came to some of the rural development meetings that were held during the last interim and DeKalb fits most of that mold, and I am absolutely and utterly convinced that transportation is going to play a role, a big role in the future development of rural Texas.

You’ve already started on US 82 around the Sherman area, moving on to Bonham and that area, widening 82, and we would like to see, obviously, some work started on the other end of that, linking Interstate 30 at New Boston with Interstate 35 in the Sherman-Denison area. I’m convinced when that project is completed, the entire northern tier of counties in the state of Texas will be benefited.

I only have one of those particular counties along that route; however, Red River County -- where Clarksville is located -- is one of the poorest counties in the state outside the Valley, and I’m convinced that that type of project will ultimately benefit counties like Red River County, in addition to moving traffic, providing a truly viable alternative for truck traffic along 82, and tourist traffic as well,

The last thing that I want to point out is what the county has done, just in case that you missed that. Bowie County is willing -- they, like the Texas Highway Commission, do not particularly -- aren’t that crazy about trying to manage a bike trail and a hiking trail. But I can tell you the stretch between DeKalb and where this project would end, for a hike and biking trail, in my judgment, is not something, even if left the way it is, that’s going to attract a large number of people. If you don’t believe that, just come and I’ll show you where it’s at.

The fellow from Florida came by and he was just ecstatic over what he kept calling a canopy.

MR. WILLIAMSON: A what?

MR. TELFORD: A canopy. That’s what I said and that’s what Judge Carlow said. And what he was talking about is a thicket that’s grown up beside the old railroad right of way, and he was quite ecstatic about that, but it’s just a thicket.

(General laughter.)

MR. TELFORD: There’s not any waterfalls to walk by, there’s not any pretty streams, unless you’re in a flood stage. I mean, the best thing that could happen to this is to turn it into a highway, and the county is willing to step up to the plate, assume that responsibility from one end of this project past the other end, actually, because they’ve assumed the responsibility, if I’m not mistaken, all the way across Bowie County along this hike and bike trail and along 82. By the county doing that, at some point, I’m convinced, the state of Texas is going and was going to widen US 82, and the fact of the matter is without the county doing this, you would have been forced to get on the north side of the highway, and when you did, then you’ve got a lot of developed property that we’ve got to purchase -- a school for one thing.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Where the right of way is more expensive.

MR. TELFORD: Where it’s more expensive. So they are, in effect, making this project somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million cheaper, and I want to stress that, because as Commissioner Williamson has done, I’ve served on the Appropriations Committee in the House and these things have some importance.

So any consideration you can give for this project would be appreciated. I think it’s a worthy project and it’s one that brings us that much closer, Commissioner Nichols, to having a viable rural Texas. Thank you.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And Chairman Telford, just so you know, I pointed that out to the man on the record because I knew you wouldn’t want that to be unanswered and that’s not the kind of thing that in elected life you want to be on the record, anyway.

(General laughter.)

MR. JOHNSON: Are there any other presenters with the delegation?

MR. WILLIAMSON: They get an award for quickness.

MAYOR MEADOWS: Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to appear here before you today. My name is Paul Meadows; I’m the mayor of the City of DeKalb. For many years we have seen the need for the widening of US 82 because of the increase in the traffic flow and we just wanted to appear before you today to just impress upon you the importance that we feel like is there to see this project move forward.

One of the main concerns that we have certainly is the safety of the citizens and the general public as they travel up and down this corridor between the city of DeKalb and New Boston and Interstate 30 which is a major thoroughfare through our area. We feel like that the widening of this would greatly enhance this, as it’s already been pointed out earlier that the passing zones in this are just nearly impossible.

One thing, too, that we’re looking at, as I think has also been noted, the development of rural Texas is somewhat difficult at times because of transportation problems and because of locations. We feel like with our location, the way we’re sitting right now between Highway 259 which is a major north-south corridor for us and also Interstate 30, that the connection of a four-lane highway between the two would greatly enhance our ability to grow economically.

So we just wanted to come before you today and just hopefully encourage you to support this project. As was mentioned earlier, the public support of this has been overwhelming. I suspected that we would have some opposition to some type of new construction, especially in a rural area, but the support has been exceedingly -- we’ve been ecstatic with the support that we’ve had there. So we really want to encourage you and we would appreciate any support that you might give us in this. Thank you.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.

MR. TEEL: Thank you. My name is Carl Teel; I serve as Bowie County commissioner, Precinct 4, which is impacted by this particular project, and I wanted to come and lend my voice of support to all that’s been said, our county judge, our state representative and the mayor, saying that there has been universal support from the citizens of our area.

We hope that you’ll give favorable consideration to this project. Thank you.

JUDGE CARLOW: That’s all we have.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Chairman, would perhaps one of the gentlemen address, is there any military consideration to this?

JUDGE CARLOW: Not that I can connect. We do have a military depot that just east of New Boston which would be three or four miles from this project.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And this would not enhance transport of goods and services to or from the depot?

JUDGE CARLOW: If they were traveling along 82, it would.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay, thank you.

MR. JOHNSON: Anything else, any other questions?

MR. NICHOLS: I’ve got some in a minute. I was just waiting my turn.

MR. JOHNSON: Okay. Well, go ahead.

MR. NICHOLS: I’m not sure if I’m going to be asking you a question or somebody else, but first of all, I wanted to say to Chairman Telford -- if he’s still back there -- I told him personally, and I wanted to make sure I said it also in front of you, how much we appreciate your support of transportation, sir. I know during the last few sessions, personally, every time I needed advice related to that, every time I ever called or needed to go in and talk to you, you always saw me. He was always very helpful, candid at times -- which you need -- but very supportive and helpful, and we very much appreciate it, sir.

MR. TELFORD: Well, Ric Williamson trained me on candor.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: Related to 82, I’ve got a number of comments and then I’ve got some questions. 82, as you are already aware, is a connector between 30 and the northeast corner of Texas, all the way across to US 75 heading north out of Dallas, up to that part of the state, so it’s a good connector all the way across, and as you mentioned earlier, a lot of sections of that have been built into divided four lane, so I think the state has incrementally kind of worked across a number of pieces of that.

I know that this project has what we refer to as a Priority 2 status. When it reaches a Priority 2 status, that is a commitment by the department that it will be built, and it gives the district the authority to work with the locals to acquire the right of way, to develop the plans, to move it along to the point through the environmental process and everything, to go to construction. I think it’s probably laid out now looking to that perfect point in time where it reaches a point that we can start flagging the actual construction dollars.

But at the same time, it’s also on the Texas Trunk System, and I know as we looked at the different corridors on the Texas Trunk System several years ago, going into what we refer to as Phase 1 Corridors, 82 was looked at and ranked quite well at that particular point in time because it was such a large connector across there and there are a number of sections that are built as four lanes and others that are committed, so there’s only missing gaps.

About one year from now, I think either next summer or next fall, the state is going to be having statewide hearings again on Phase 2 corridors to help begin the process of establishing which corridors in the state -- and there’s a geographic fairness around the state and balance also -- should be locked in and committed to completion to fill all the gaps. So I want to let you know, because that not only will affect you on this project but the gaps in between on the other areas of 82 that are going to be important to you as you move through the state.

So I would encourage you to keep your ear to the ground. I’m sure the district engineer will be informing you when those hearings come along, and participate in those; I think they’re going to be real important to you.

More specifically, on some of these questions I have relates to the rail-banking. How long of a section did the Rails to Trails Conservancy obtain? Did they obtain more than this, or 30 miles or 50 miles?

JUDGE CARLOW: The RTC has this old railroad rail-banked from New Boston to, I think, at least to Paris.

MR. NICHOLS: All the way to Paris? Okay. Is this the Rails to Trails Conservancy in Washington, DC?

JUDGE CARLOW: Yes.

MR. NICHOLS: So the home-based organization itself purchased it -- rail-banked it.

JUDGE CARLOW: Actually, it was donated by the railroad to get some tax credits. We tried to buy it from them before they actually donated it to RTC.

MR. NICHOLS: But it’s not controlled by any local group in the state of Texas, but by the Washington, DC organization.

JUDGE CARLOW: That’s right. They do have an office in Florida.

MR. NICHOLS: And it is rail-banked? I mean, it is under rail-banking?

JUDGE CARLOW: Yes.

MR. NICHOLS: Because rail-banking actually activates the federal eminent domain rights over state, local, county, whatever rights, so that is a taking, in effect, under the Trails Act.

Do you know in this particular section if all of that land that was taken by eminent domain under the rail-banking is fee simple land, or is some of that reversionary land, or do you know what I’m talking about?

JUDGE CARLOW: I know what you’re talking about. I think it’s fee simple; I need to make sure that that’s right.

MR. NICHOLS: Because you keep referring to two different projects. I know the Rails to Trails Conservancy is interested in one project that is submitted for the bicycle trail on the remaining portion, I assume, of the right of way, and you’re interested in the highway portion of it, but are they trying to tie in your agreement for your 70 feet for right of way, are they trying to tie one project to the other? In other words, are they saying we’ll donate the 70 feet to you for your portion of the highway expansion but we want to make sure that we’re getting a bike trail, or something like that?

JUDGE CARLOW: The way it works is that all that they’re interested in is a bike trail, all that the county is interested in is a highway.

MR. NICHOLS: I understand that.

JUDGE CARLOW: So when they came to me and wanted the county to assume the responsibilities, over time, for the construction and maintenance of that trail, I tell them I am not interested. We’ve got 1,200 miles of trails in Bowie County, we call them county roads; we’re not looking for a trail, we’re looking for a four-lane highway.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: I understand. But you cannot get the 70 feet from them unless they agree to let you have it.

JUDGE CARLOW: The deal was the county commissioners court will assume responsibility to build you a trail on the south side of this property; we get the 100 feet, we build a trail, and we donate 70 feet to TxDOT for that highway. Without that commitment, we don’t want to do this deal, we do not want this trail.

MR. NICHOLS: So you are, in effect, as a county committing to the RTC to build that trail in exchange for the donation of the 70 feet.

JUDGE CARLOW: That’s right, that’s what we’re paying for it.

MR. NICHOLS: So you are the sponsor, I’m assuming, of the application under the Transportation Enhancement Program.

JUDGE CARLOW: That’s right.

MR. NICHOLS: In our rules, you may or may not be aware, that one of our rules in Transportation Enhancement Projects -- which are normally of a recreational but should have some impact to transportation -- we are prohibited in our rules from participating in a project where land is taken by eminent domain. That’s in the rules.

Now, if that land is fee simple -- in other words, the railroad owned it outright and it was not private property with an easement that’s reversionary, then fee simple, that makes it real easy to work with. But if it’s privately owned land that the railroad had an easement over and it was taken by eminent domain, then we are prohibited from participating.

JUDGE CARLOW: The railroad voluntarily donated it to RTC.

MR. NICHOLS: I understand.

JUDGE CARLOW: They’re giving us a quitclaim deed for it.

MR. NICHOLS: If it’s rail-banking -- well, if it’s rail-banked -- well, I would advise you to seek additional legal counsel on that. The railroad can give you a quitclaim but you cannot do that under a rail-banking. A rail-banking is a temporary taking by the federal government and a lending for recreational purposes for the long-term benefit of transportation, ultimately, but it is a taking under eminent domain. And to transfer land over -- I’m not a lawyer, I’m an engineer so I’ll probably muddle this up, but I’ve seen this before -- and to be able to actually donate or transfer fee simple land, you have to abandon and reverse out the rail-banking, actually back it out and do a fee simple before you can do the other.

So it’s important, that’s why I’m concerned about the two being tied together.

JUDGE CARLOW: We had looked into this and I’ve had our attorneys work with RTC attorneys on it. I know what you’re talking about, and before we entered that agreement and we’re comfortable with it, you know, there could be something, but I feel pretty good about it.

MR. NICHOLS: Okay.

JUDGE CARLOW: Originally -- I don’t know how far to go with this; I think I’ve probably gone far enough.

MR. NICHOLS: Anyway, I appreciate the efforts you have made in supporting us, the department, related to this transportation on 82; I think it looks like a good project.

JUDGE CARLOW: We’ve appreciated our relationship with TxDOT over the years; they’ve done a great job in the Atlanta District for us.

Anything else?

MR. JOHNSON: I have a question of Bob Ratcliff. Bob, I see you back there so you can’t hide. My status report shows that the estimated cost of this project is just a little north of $26 million. For funding purposes is it possible, since $26 million is a pretty good bite, to divide this into maybe two projects?

MR. RATCLIFF: Yes, sir, we could divide this into two projects. It would probably divide at Malta.

MR. JOHNSON: Thanks.

Any other questions? Ric, did you have anything, or Robert?

Well, we appreciate your being here, and as Robert said and Ric also, it enables us when delegations are here to learn what are the important things in your part of the state, and for your appearance here we’re extremely grateful. We do not make decisions on the spot but we’ve learned quite a bit about this project that you’ve presented and hopefully we’ll find a way to get it done.

We will take a brief recess to let our friends from Bowie County get back to where they need to get to, and the next delegation will come to us from Metroport Transportation Partnership in the Metroplex. So we will take a brief recess.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Mr. Chairman?

MR. JOHNSON: Yes.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Before we take the break, might I ask of you or Mr. Nichols, with regard -- just so they’ll know, with regard to Proposition 15 on the constitutional ballot this next November, is it accurate to infer that if Proposition 15 were to pass and we were to aggressively pursue alternative financing for large urban projects in our state that we would, in effect, be releasing some funding that would flow out to the rural areas such as this? Is that an accurate inference?

MR. JOHNSON: I believe it to be accurate. My sense is that Proposition 15, the passage and subsequent funding of the Mobility Fund, is like the rising tide that all ships will benefit.

MR. WILLIAMSON: So everyone will benefit from it, including projects in Northeast Texas. Thank you.

MR. JOHNSON: We’ll take a brief recess. Thank you very much to our good friends from Northeast Texas.

(Whereupon, a brief recess was taken.)

METROPORT TRANSPORTATION PARTNERSHIP

(Trent Petty, Gary Fickes, Glen Whitley, Mayor Rick Stacy, Mayor Dave Phillips, Mayor Scott Bradley, Nancy Fleming, Rep. Vickie Truitt)

MR. JOHNSON: We will reconvene the meeting. I apologize to those of you on my right and to the left side of the auditorium where we have lost visual contact but there seems to be something that has been placed between us.

Our next delegation comes from North Texas and we would like to welcome our good friends from the Metroport Transportation Partnership to Austin. Trent Petty from Westlake I believe will commence the presentation. It’s great to have you here.

MR. PETTY: Thank you very much, commissioners. It’s our honor to be again before you today, and we do apologize for the visual obstacle; we can remove that here in just a moment.

We’re very fortunate today to represent the eight cities of the Metroport Cities Partnership. We have many of our local mayors, elected officials, our state representative, our county commissioners here today. I’ll briefly introduce those folks to you but they’ll be up in a just a moment.

State Representative Vickie Truitt is here behind me; Commissioner Glen Whitley; Southlake Mayor Rick Stacy; Keller Mayor Dave Phillips; Westlake Mayor Scott Bradley; and a number of other officials. I’d just like for the delegation that’s here today from the Metroport cities to please stand very quickly so we’ll kind of know who we have. We’ve got a big group backing us up today and we appreciate their time to come out and visit with you as well.

We’d also like to start out by first of all thanking you for the support that you’ve given to north Tarrant County, especially the Funnel Project. The effort that you’ve put in, the vision is certainly something that will help our region for years to come. We know that doesn’t happen without people like Steve Simmons and Jay Nelson, and we certainly recognize and appreciate their support as we follow through on this project, too.

The project that we are about today is a request, not for money but a request that we outline a system that will allow us to extend Farm to Market Road 1938, extend the FM extension, and to also place this on Level 2 classification for priority to get this project on the system. Looking at the map behind you, Peggy is going to outline where this project extends. If you’ll look at the pinpoint right there -- Peggy, go down to 1709 -- right there is the beginning of that project. It will simply extend all the way up, making one constant connection all the way from 183A/20 to 114.

This project has been planned by the North Texas Council of Governments all the way back in the late ‘70s; it’s been on the mobility transportation plan and updated each time that this project someday be accomplished. We believe it will be one of the most significant north-south routes that could be identified in the Metroplex. It will be the only north-south route arterial that we have between Highway 377 and State Highway 26, an area that serves approximately 200,000 people.

We don’t ever come to the commission with our hand out without bringing what we consider to be our part to the table. We have put together a group of businesses, communities, county officials that have brought essentially 50 percent, ultimately, of the funding of this project to you. The estimated construction cost of the project will be $13.7 million if it’s placed on the Level 2 Priority funding. Between the right of way designations that we’ve been able to already acquire, the engineering dollars that we’ve been able to put together, we’ve come up with $13 million in in-kind contributions and right of way ourselves.

So we appreciate the opportunity to bring that to you. We have already received over a million dollars in cash contributions from private entities, not including the cities’ money, to make this project happen. So we see ourselves as partners with the commission on projects like this. We know it’s our responsibility to bring as much as we can to the table, and on this project we bring the right of way, the engineering, and we also are offering to provide all the landscape right of way maintenance on the project for the entire 3.5-mile length.

The FM designation is important to us. Commissioner Nichols asked me yesterday if we have a lot of farmers traveling this road. We don’t anymore; I’m certain that there used to be. Representative Truitt told me she knew there was a farmers’ market down there at one point.

The fact is the FM extension of this roadway allows us to access even more local funds through Tarrant County, and Commissioner Glen Whitley is here and will address that with you in just a few minutes. By establishing the FM designation, we’re allowed to then access over $5 million worth of right of way acquisition monies from Tarrant County. Without that, it becomes a much more arduous, if not impossible, process to get that county funding, so that’s why we’re requesting the FM designation.

What does this road do for the state of Texas? If you’ll look at the map above, you can see on the right -- it’s difficult to see and I apologize for that -- on the right is the infamous area where the Funnel will occur, centered by DFW Airport, and on the far left-hand side of the map Alliance Airport.

The 3.5-mile stretch that we’re asking be connected will essentially, again, be the only north-south arterial between those two elements, an area, a corridor that’s continued to grow, and an area that TxDOT has already committed significant funds to improving, as we speak -- the Highway 114 project is moving on -- and this will essentially allow us to connect two major construction processes, that being the 820 and the 183 Loop and the 114 project currently under construction. This construction will allow us to essentially complete that loop and provide access to both of those major construction projects which we see as a big benefit for TxDOT and for the state.

This roadway will also facilitate an arterial connection, ultimately, to the Cotton Belt Rail Line, a Dallas Area Rapid Transportation Project that will provide light rail access at some point to the areas, again further relieving this congestion. That Cotton Belt Rail Line essentially runs through Grapevine down through near Highway 26. This will give us a north-south route, especially for the southbound traffic, directly to stations that occur along the Cotton Belt.

Finally, it does allow us to maximize your money, your efforts to projects currently under construction. It will provide us a significant reliever once the Funnel project begins and you consider the traffic from 121 and 360, 114, all combining and getting access to DFW Airport, this will be the major north-south reliever while that project is under construction, as well as providing up to 25,000 new employees access from the south between the Fidelity, Sabre, Solana, and new projects occurring in the Westlake-Southlake corridor right now.

I’d like to introduce to you some of our specific officials this morning that are going to come and visit with you about our efforts. First of all, Mr. Gary Fickes who is president of the Metroport Transportation Partnership, and then we’ll follow that with our local mayors. Gary.

MR. FICKES: Thank you, Trent.

I want to thank the commission and Mr. Behrens for the opportunity to visit with you here today. As you know, Metroport Cities and Metroport Transportation, we’re a public-private partnership comprised of eight cities, two counties, four school districts, numerous corporations in our area, and probably hundreds of volunteers. Our main area focus has always been between DFW Airport and the Alliance Airport. Since 1995 we’ve primarily focused on transportation and mobility in that area.

Our organization, as you know, has supported numerous projects in our area that have received favorable consideration from you. We want to thank the commission, we want to thank TxDOT and your staff, we also want to thank our district office and their staff for all their work they’ve done to help us.

Those projects that you have been, obviously, instrumental on have been State Highway 114, the Funnel project -- which I’ll just start with Highway 114, 121, 635, 26, 2499, 1709 -- that’s the Funnel; also Northwest Highway in Grapevine, 377 in Keller, 170 and also the proposed improvements along Highway 26 in Colleyville. We appreciate all the effort that the commission and the understanding that you have given us in our area.

Our economic health in our region remains tied to our ability to provide infrastructure for mobility. As you know, we’re probably one of the fastest growing areas, not just in the state of Texas but in the whole country. The extension of 1938 to us is a critical component of our transportation needs. This is going to provide a great north-south connection between 820, 183, and Highway 114.

In your packet that we passed out, you’re going to notice several letters from local corporations. These corporations employ thousands of residents of northeast Tarrant County and southern Denton County. As other members will tell you, and as Trent told you earlier, these corporations have donated literally millions of dollars’ worth of right of way and they’ve also shared in the cost of engineering and the environmental work because they all understand too that a safe and direct route to work is going to benefit everybody in our area.

This project, again, exemplifies the purpose of Metroport Cities and Metroport Transportation. We’re here in a united effort to bring you our commitment, both financially and in spirit. This coalition of cities, counties, school districts, citizens and corporations is one that we’re very proud of.

We appreciate your favorable consideration of our request, and at this time I’d like to introduce Commissioner Glen Whitley from Tarrant county. Glen.

MR. WHITLEY: Thank you, Gary. Commissioners, Mr. Behrens, I’m Tarrant County Commissioner Glen Whitley and I represent the northeast part of Tarrant County.

Tarrant County is very supportive of this project and I’m here today to request the farm to market designation as well as the Priority 2 status. We’re going to purchase the right of way on this and basically what we’re going to do is we’re going to be purchasing the right of way from the town of Westlake south to where it intersects 1709. We estimate that that’s going to take probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 24 months and will cost approximately $5 million.

In the past, if you look at this, you’ve got a big commitment already in this particular area from the standpoint that you realigned 1938 where it intersects 1709, and also you realigned the intersection up on 114 in anticipation of this road being built where we’re talking about, in the project that we’re talking about from that standpoint.

You’ll also see in your packets a resolution from Denton County. We’ve worked with our neighbors to the north on this project, and both us and Denton County are very supportive of this project going forward. We’re looking forward to again working with Steve Simmons and getting this project underway, and again, I want to thank you for your consideration on this project. And now I’m going to introduce Mayor Rick Stacy from the City of Southlake.

MAYOR STACY: Thank you, Glen. Commissioners, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Behrens, we’re so honored to be here again today. And you might ask, well, you boys don’t ever get enough because you’ve got construction going on all over your area right now. As you know, I’m the mayor of the City of Southlake and we do have major construction going on through our community. Along Highway 1709 we’re enhancing every one of those intersections right now so that people can continue to move through there, and as you know, we have tremendous construction going on on 114 through our community.

I’m real proud of my neighbors, Westlake and Keller, because about three or four years ago when we first started to bring this project forward, we frightened some people; I mean, we really alarmed a few folks. For some reason they had no idea that 1938 might extend to the north, and so we began to have prayer meetings and public meetings and planning meetings and all the different kinds of meetings, jointly with Westlake and Keller and Southlake, to inform the people, and now I can assure you that not only are the people informed -- other than maybe a couple moving in from Oklahoma in the last couple of days -- everybody knows that this road needs to go forward. So we’re quite excited about it.

Watching our community grow from 256 people to about 22- or 23,000 presently, we’ve learned one or two things. One is that most everyone moving into town would love to have a freeway to an exit -- to a frontage road, Mr. Williamson -- that’s about a mile from where they live, and then they take a three-lane or a two-lane road about a quarter of a mile and turn one time onto a cul de sac where they raise their family. That’s what everybody would like to have moving to our community.

We have learned that cul de sacs are a huge problem as we begin to back up cul de sacs to one another. Unfortunately for the state, 1938 doesn’t dead end or end in a cul de sac at Southlake Boulevard, 1709, because there is a trail there, but it almost looks like it. It would kind of be like building Central Expressway north to Northwest Highway and then stopping, not going on to LBJ because for the first time we’re about to have a freeway through our community when 114 is completed and we must build roads to get to it, so this is a very, very critical part.

We have already acquired the Sabre Group; they’ll be opening before the end of the year. We have just broken ground on Verizon Knox Center; we’re going to have thousands of people working on that corridor on 114. They need a way to get to the south, so this will open it up all the way back to Northeast Mall and that famous intersection there that I understand is now being proposed as the Wes Heald Interchange between Northeast Mall, 820, 26, all that stuff. But this is a very vital corridor and we certainly look forward to participating.

I understand through all the designs that we’re now going to have a beautiful road through there, including a trail. I want to assure you, like the man who was up here earlier, that if you ever see me out jogging, you need to call the police because there’s somebody chasing me.

(General laughter.)

MAYOR STACY: We do intend to build a nice trail along that corridor for those people who do like to jog. Thank you very much.

At this time I’d like to introduce Mayor Dave Phillips from Keller.

MAYOR PHILLIPS: Thank you, Rick. Good morning, commissioners. I’m Dave Phillips, the mayor of Keller.

And in addition to the collective effort that we’ve had with Southlake and Westlake to meet the concerns of our affected citizens along this project, we spent a considerable amount of staff time and professional time meeting with basically the 15 residents that we have along this road, and I believe the effort we’ve expended before bringing this project to you will benefit us greatly as we move forward.

The extension of FM 1938, as far as Keller is concerned, will most importantly take traffic out of our neighborhood streets. As you’ve heard about all the development along 114, that traffic now finds its way through northern Keller, and as more and more people work there, we expect more and more traffic. It also will serve as an important connection to our new town center complex which actually is located halfway between Highway 377 and this proposed extension of FM 1938.

We consider this particular project to be, as we call it, the crown jewel of Keller, and we’re committed to this project moving forward and certainly the access from FM 1938 benefits that project as well. So we have both the residential aspect of keeping the neighborhoods safer and also the commercial aspect of helping our major commercial project move forward.

As I understand, the environmental report will be clean with no significant findings of adverse conditions and this report will be forthcoming as soon as it is complete.

I want to thank you for your time, and it is my pleasure to introduce Mayor Scott Bradley, my neighbor from the town of Westlake.

MAYOR BRADLEY: Commissioners, Mr. Behrens, it’s a pleasure to be appearing before you this morning.

Every morning, at least on weekdays, thousands of cars converge in Westlake and its neighbor Southlake for the Solana complex where thousands of workers come every day. In addition, the Fidelity complex, which is just across the street from the Solana complex, draws thousands of employees. In addition, shortly, as Rick Stacy pointed out, additional employees will be converging just across 114 from where we would expect 1938 would connect to 114 at the Sabre complex.

Now, many of these employees are coming from the mid cities and since there is no direct connector, you can guess where that traffic goes: it filters down through the neighborhoods and does cause some tension with respect to the safety issues for the people who live in these communities. They’re filtering through Keller, they’re filtering through Southlake, actually Colleyville also, and of course heading in through Westlake.

If you designate this as a farm to market route, it will allow us to acquire the additional right of way. At this point in time, Westlake has acquired 100 percent of the right of way needed for this roadway, and as a part of our local contribution, our group is prepared, of course, to provide the right of way, both that that we’ve been able to acquire already and that which Glen Whitley will be able to acquire through condemnation. We’re also providing the design, the engineering and the environmental impact statements for the project.

So we think we have a project for you that would be ready to go and we would appreciate very much your consideration in forwarding this project.

MR. PETTY: Thank you, Mayor Bradley.

We’re also very blessed in our area to have fine, fine state representation. I’d like to introduce, first of all, Nancy Fleming from Senator Jane Nelson’s office, who I believe has something to read. Nancy.

MS. FLEMING: Good morning, commissioners. I’m Nancy Fleming with Senator Nelson’s office. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on her behalf. You should have in your briefing materials a letter that she wrote earlier in the month about the importance of this project. I won’t go back over that letter and I won’t restate the importance of what these individuals have already eloquently stated as the need for this project.

But if Senator Nelson was here, she would ask you as you are considering this request that you recognize three important things, and that is the cooperative efforts of this coalition -- I know you’ve seen this delegation appear many times before you; they’re always very well prepared and have thought through not only how this will help their area but how they also connect in with the other arteries in the Metroplex, but more importantly, their commitment and willingness to also come to you, as Mr. Petty said, with a commitment for funding to see this project through.

I know that the commission for many years now has talked about the importance of communities partnering with the department on projects and this group of communities I think has done that extraordinarily well over the years, and would ask that you give this your utmost consideration. Thank you.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.

MR. PETTY: Thank you, Nancy.

You’d be very hard-pressed to find a state representative that has generated the following and the support that Representative Vickie Truitt has generated in our area. She is absolutely one of us, she lives among us, she has been our leader, our friend and our supporter now for two terms, and we’re very, very honored to have Vickie with us today and she’d like to make a few comments. Representative Truitt.

MS. TRUITT: Thank you, Trent. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, commissioners, Mr. Behrens. I want to thank you again for the chance for us to be before you this morning.

In meeting my constituents here this morning and hearing what they have to say so eloquently and how well prepared they are makes you understand how proud I am to represent this fine group of people in the area of northeast Tarrant County. I grew up there. In fact, I grew up on Farm to Market 1938 on a farm south of where this project is proposed.

MR. JOHNSON: You don’t own a business on this proposed project.

(General laughter.)

MS. TRUITT: No, sir, no personal interest there, other than for the benefit of my constituents and their mobility.

You have demonstrated on numerous occasions your understanding of our region’s mobility issues and we appreciate and sincerely thank you for that.

I want to mention three things about this project. One, the characteristics of the project, the cooperation of all of the entities involved to obtain right of way, to work on the engineering, the environmental studies, the proposal to care for the future maintenance of the rights of way, et cetera.

And Commissioner Williamson, we heard you on the access issues, as we talked about some yesterday, and on this project I think you will see that these communities are planning ahead to eliminate or avoid circumstances, as we heard you talk about yesterday.

A crucial component of this project is the farm to market designation on the extension. It’s a natural extension for it to pick up there where it stops at 1709 and move north toward 114, but the FM designation is crucial because of the funding for the right of way. It would be a much more difficult project without that.

Finally, the timing. A couple of years ago, we wanted to bring this project to the commission but knowing how this commission wants all of the parties on board and all of the ducks in a row, there were a few people, as Mayor Stacy alluded to, that had some concerns about it, and we went back and the cities very actively involved the citizens and now everybody has signed off on this.

That’s why we’re back before you now. As someone stated yesterday -- I believe it was Trent Petty -- the stars are aligned now. But if we don’t act now, the universe is going to move, the stars are going to move. And right now there aren’t a lot of people living up there, but as you know, our area is experiencing dramatic and very rapid growth, and if we don’t do this now, it will be populated and it will be much more difficult to address and we’ll forever lose the opportunity to complete this missing link in a very important north-south corridor. If you see how far you have to go east or west to get north to 114, this is a very important pathway we need.

We need the farm to market road designation and we need immediate action on the project. and we very sincerely appreciate your consideration. I thank you and we thank you for Steve Simmons in our Fort Worth region.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Representative.

MR. PETTY: Thank you, Representative Truitt.

In summary, there is a reason we’ve put this gargantuan picture up here in front of you and blocked everyone’s view. One of the key components, we believe, of asking for any state assistance is to make certain that we plan according to state parameters, that we try to accomplish your goals for moving people in Texas. If you’ll look at this roadway and the way it’s lined out, you’ll see in bold yellow the intersections that have been designated as access to this roadway.

One of the things we have sought to do is through constructing and configuring these medians as we do, we have eliminated most, if any, of the driveway access properties from having full access to this roadway, rather trying them to funnel them into intersections and using arterials to get this roadway instead of having driveway after driveway after driveway enter onto it.

So the configuration of it, the planning of it has been done in concert with TxDOT recommendations and TxDOT staff, and that’s why we wanted to illustrate to you that even though it looks like a residential area on the lower portion of the map, those intersections are arterial intersections that we’ll be able to prevent access that will cause us problems down the road.

In summary, there are three points I think we’d like to leave you with. We do believe our role is a partnership with TxDOT and we take that partnership quite seriously. We bring money to this project; we bring the support not only of our local representatives, our elected officials, we bring the citizen support; we bring the North Texas Council of Governments’ support; we bring the support of businesses who have kind of put their money where their mouth is, if you will, on this project; we bring the development community’s support; and we bring the support, I think, of the state of Texas through the TxDOT staff, through the work that they have done in helping us plan this project. We feel very, very good about the project.

Three things that we are asking for again: first of all, the FM designation to be extended; secondly, we certainly need the Priority 2 classification; and we’d like for you to recognize the fact that by offering to maintain this roadway, we’ve eliminated TxDOT expenditures in the future. Restricting the access, helping with the maintenance dollars, bringing our money to the table, we believe it’s a project that deserves strong consideration.

We’re very honored to be here today before you and would be happy to answer any questions that you may have of any of the delegation.

MR. JOHNSON: Any questions or comments, Robert?

MR. NICHOLS: A couple of comments. First of all, on the FM designation, I want to pass on to the other two commissioners that Representative Truitt did assure me that among all these new glass buildings there was a produce stand.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: I got most of my questions all answered yesterday in our meeting on this, but I once again want to commend you for the work you have done in putting all the communities together. They said all the stars are aligned or it’s the moment that everybody is together on exactly what to do, and I commend you for putting it together -- that’s what you’ve done as a group -- which is very helpful to us.

The cities’ commitments to maintain basically from the curb out is very important to us also, and I know that we do now have the authority, with some recent legislation, to have an understanding and agreements with cities to do that kind of stuff, very helpful.

I have a question but I don’t think it’s to you. It’s either going to be -- is Steve Simmons -- I think he’s still here. Steve, I’m not sure if I need to ask you this question or Executive Director Mike, but in going from a non-status to a status, do you already have a CSJ number on this project?

MR. SIMMONS: No, sir, we do not, not at this time.

MR. NICHOLS: So we’re going to have to get a CSJ number, we’re going to have to at some point have a designation of a farm to market by the commission, and then we will also at some point have to get it in LRP or Priority 2 status or something like that. Which of these steps?

MR. SIMMONS: Our next step is to do a program assessment on the project to be able to get a CSJ for it and then the minute order that would designate it as an FM.

MR. NICHOLS: How long does that take?

MR. SIMMONS: We can probably have it done by the end of the week if you tell us to.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: Well, it’s not an action item on the agenda that we can tell you to, but you might want to really --

MR. SIMMONS: The priority assessment does not take very long to do; it’s about a four-page document and we can get it done fairly quickly.

MR. NICHOLS: And then once you do that, that gets you your CSJ number, and then does the FM designation come before the -- do we know the order of those two?

MR. BEHRENS: It would need to come first.

MR. NICHOLS: Which one would come first?

MR. BEHRENS: The FM designation.

MR. NICHOLS: Okay. I would personally like to see somebody at least put all that together to see what steps are needed and what that timetable could be and let us take a look at it.

MR. SIMMONS: I’d be happy to work with staff to do that.

MR. NICHOLS: Okay. That’s all I had. Thank you.

MR. JOHNSON: Steve, will that be available before the next meeting? Let’s just put this in a time reference.

MR. SIMMONS: Yes, sir, we can do that.

MR. JOHNSON: Ric, did you have anything?

MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes. I would like to, as you know I like to do, use Trent as an opportunity to share with many members of the audience that I know have expressed concerns to us about our frontage road/service road access policy, and I know in particular there are several members of the major city media here who I’m sure will want to write about this.

Tell me why you decided on your own to have limited arterial access and avoid, in effect, a service road and multiple entrance and exit ramps.

MR. PETTY: The first thing, Commissioner, that it does is it forces cities and local entities to plan correctly for growth instead of allowing the density to all run to the same spot and create 40 different intersections and 20 driveways.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Which disrupts traffic flow?

MR. PETTY: Totally.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And produces congestion?

MR. PETTY: Absolutely.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Which then contributes to pollution?

MR. PETTY: That’s correct.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.

MR. PETTY: That’s why we did it.

MR. WILLIAMSON: So without any prompting on anybody’s part, just using your own common sense and logic and sharing information from professionals who understand this stuff, you’ve reached the conclusion that controlling service and frontage roads and access on-and-off ramps is a very logical, conservative, efficient, and effective decision for a governmental body to make.

MR. PETTY: On this section of roadway it’s the best thing we could have done, no question about it.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And is there any reason why the State of Texas should look at its interstates any differently?

MR. PETTY: Thank goodness that’s your decision and not mine.

(General laughter.)

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you.

MR. PETTY: By the way, we did -- on your other note, though, Metroport Cities was one of the first organizations to pass a resolution supporting Proposition 15, so we are for it.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Oh, thank you, sir.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you. Any other observations, questions?

To everybody in the delegation, thank you so much for making the effort to be here. I think you get a sense that we value your opinion and we think very highly of what you have presented, and obviously since step one requires no expenditure of funds, I think it has a strong likelihood of moving forward. From that point, obviously the challenge becomes a little greater, but we do appreciate your illuminating the situation.

As I said to the first delegation, and will say to the third, having you here is so meaningful because it enables us to know what is important to you and your area, and we can’t get everywhere in the state. We try, but we can’t get everywhere, and that’s why these delegation presentations are so vital to the decision-making process.

We will take a very brief recess to allow our friends from the Metroport to go back to the Metroplex and the third delegation can get seated, and that one will be from Temple. So we’ll take a brief recess. Thank you.

(Whereupon, a brief recess was taken.)

CITY OF TEMPLE

(Mayor Keifer Marshall, Judge Jon Burrows, Mark S. Watson, Rep. Dianne White-Delisi),Senator Troy Fraser.)

MR. JOHNSON: Our final delegation of the day comes to us from a little bit closer by, that being from Temple, and I believe that Mayor Keifer Marshall will be the lead speaker. Mr. Mayor, I understand this is your first term.

MAYOR MARSHALL: Second term, Mr. Johnson. Thank you. We appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today, on behalf of the 55,000 citizens of Temple, to talk to you about Northwest Loop 363, and we have a group here to represent Temple. First, I want to introduce our Senator Troy Fraser from District 24, our great senator; and Representative Dianne White-Delisi from District 55; and then Judge Jon Burrows from Bell County; the Temple City Council members that are here are Councilperson Sally Myers and Councilperson Martha Tyrock; and then we also have members of the Temple Chamber of Commerce, the Temple Economic Development Committee, the Tax Increment Financing Reinvestment Zone Number 1, and the Temple Business League. And would all of you stand up, please.

We turned the lights out in Temple and everybody came down here. We’re glad to have all of them here.

At this time Judge Burrows would like to say something on behalf of the county on this project. Judge Burrows.

JUDGE BURROWS: Thank you, Mayor, members of the commission. I am Jon Burrows, Bell County judge and here representing the 238,000 citizens of the 19th largest county in Texas, Bell County. Bell County, as you undoubtedly know, is home to the largest military installation in the free world, Fort Hood; it’s home to one of the nation’s largest medical facilities, Scott & White; and home to Temple’s prosperous and growing industrial park.

Today Temple brings before you an issue that has the support of the region. We have resolutions from, of course, Bell County, from the cities of Killeen and Belton and Copperas Cove and from the Killeen-Temple Urban Planning Study on an issue that I dare say every resident in Bell County will be affected by, either currently travel or will travel on Northwest Loop 363, and especially will do so during the Temple construction phase of I-35.

During the planning discussions on I-35, I learned a new transportation phrase, and that’s: Find a Way. That’s when traffic is slowed or stopped, they will somehow find a way around the cause of the slowdown. I did that this morning coming in from Temple on I-35, hitting the north side of Round Rock, coming to a halt and looking for a way to get here. I took 1325 and came around and down Burnet Road and got here, and that’s what will happen when we have construction going through Temple, and the way that will be found will be Northwest Loop 363. It is inevitable, and despite what anyone says, Loop 363 will be the construction corridor or will be the I-35 west through Temple.

Personally, I already use this route on a regular basis. I live just off the loop and my daughter attends Baylor, and this is our route back and forth to Waco, so I’m very familiar with how critical the loop is to the flow of commerce in the industrial park, I see it on every trip. Whether it’s evidenced by the trucks of Wal-Mart or McLane’s or PFG or WilsonArt that travel on it, or the trains of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe that cut across it, the critical importance of the free flow of traffic on the loop is readily apparent.

As a regular traveler on I-35 going south where construction has already been going on, I am very familiar with the accidents and collisions that occur during construction that shut down or slow down the interstate, and it is naive to think that the same will not occur in Temple. It’s also naive to think when I-35 through Temple shuts down or slows down that the traffic will not find a way on to the loop.

During the recent rains, I saw this concept happen when parts of I-35 were closed. All of a sudden a heavy stream of heavy truck traffic came down Highway 317 through downtown Belton next to the courthouse. They had found a way to go around I-35. And so when the accidents happen along I-35 construction through Temple -- and they will -- traffic will find a way and that way will be Northwest Loop 363.

And the way it finds, unless this request from Temple is approved, will be a two-lane road, already heavy with local truck traffic, crossed twice by railroad tracks, and this way will also come to a halt, endangering lives, endangering commerce, and endangering the economic future of currently strong Temple industries. And the approval of this request doesn’t just affect Temple; it doesn’t just affect Bell County. It affects the thousands upon thousands of cars and trucks that travel I-35 every day; it affects whether or not Temple becomes a bottleneck for traffic during the estimated ten years of construction to come.

For these and many more reasons that will be more eloquently stated by those that follow me, it is essential that as an integral part of the I-35 expansion through Temple, the long-promised improvements to Northwest Loop 363 must be completed before the expansion begins so that Temple has an adequate way and place for those who will be driving on it whether it is adequate or not.

The economic well-being of Temple and Temple’s industrial park and Bell County will be dramatically affected by your decision. I strongly encourage your approval of Temple’s request here today. Thank you very much.

MAYOR MARSHALL: Thank you, Judge. And I think you can tell from that we do great partnering in Bell County, and I think Commissioner Nichols knows that at some of the meetings at the airport over in Killeen, we’ve been there and we’ve supported them and they support us in everything that we do.

Over the years, the city has worked with TxDOT on the development of the Northwest Loop 363 from State Highway 36 to State Highway 53 northeast to Interstate Highway 35. The key elements of this project are four lanes with a depressed median, continuous frontage roads, grade separations for the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe main line, and reinvestment zone spurs, and interchanges at State Highway 36 and State Highway 53 and Industrial Boulevard.

The City of Temple delegation, this project has received resolutions of support from the following entities: from Bell County -- as you just heard the judge; from the City of Belton; from the City of Killeen; the City of Copperas Cove; from the Killeen-Temple Urban Transportation Study, KTUTS; and CTCOG.

And Northwest Loop 363 is a vital link to the city’s northwest industrial park. The northwest industrial park is home to over 70 manufacturing or distribution facilities which use Northwest Loop 363 to import raw materials and transport finished products. It’s the gateway to the Scott & White Hospital where 137-some-odd million dollars is about to be spent on new facilities there; and it’s also the gateway to other things on the southeast part of Temple, our college and the VA center.

Northwest Loop 363 we think links the industry to the world. If you look at that map there, we’ve got 70 industries that are marked in yellow out there that use that loop for their distribution and their truck operations. Over the years, the Wal-Mart Distribution Center, WilsonArt, PFG, and any number of other firms, Acer and the McLane Corporation, Doan Products, Performance Food Group, all use this right of way to move their products. And the last one on that map up there is PACTIIV. PACTIIV has over 1,000 employees and truck a lot of material out of Temple.

Now I’d like to call on our city manager, Mark Watson, to give you kind of a historical background on this project. Mark.

MR. WATSON: Thank you, Mayor. Good morning, commissioners. On behalf of the city, we certainly are pleased to make this proposal to you this morning.

Historically, the City of Temple has been in a partnership relationship with the Texas Department of Transportation on this project going way back to 1985 when we began to establish a scope of construction and right of way. In 1987 we actually allocated $2.6 million in present value for the acquisition of those rights of way. It’s been planned since the inception of our reinvestment zone -- which is a very large area of our community -- with Loop 363 bisecting that reinvestment zone and being the most critical transportation component of that. We’ve been anticipating this eagerly for many years as a complement for our total reinvestment zone area.

As we move on up in the years, in 1987 the city sold bonds in the amount of $4.7 million, in present-day dollars, for the relocation of utilities and interim construction.

MR. JOHNSON: How much was that in 1987 dollars?

MR. WATSON: In 1987 dollars, $2.6 million.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.

MR. WATSON: In late 1987 we began the construction of the existing two-lane roadway through the industrial park, which is the present roadway configuration that we have today.

The city saw a need for this road and conducted the planning associated with it, funded it and built it in advance of the needs that we have today. We noticed that this was quickly funded and it was also built to TxDOT standards at the time that that roadway was built.

In 1994, as the years progressed and on the advice of then Governor Ann Richards, the cities of Temple and Belton made an additional delegation appearance and discussed the upgrade of the Northwest Loop, and that was to develop the four-lane road with a depressed median, continuous frontage roads, develop grade separations for the roadways, and develop an interchange at State Highway 36 and 53.

Since 1994 there have been several partnership activities that have occurred with TxDOT. We have undertaken studies on the Northwest Loop from Hopi Drive northwesterly to its intersection with Interstate 35; we’ve also studied the Southeast Loop 363 project up to Hopi Drive which also integrates with this project, and just later this week, as a matter of fact, we have a value engineering study on the Northwest Loop 363 project that will be discussed. Designs have been forthcoming for many years and I think we are now in the discussion stages to really determine what the final configurations of these roadways will look like.

Commitments have continued and the studies have continued and at this point in time we’re here today to request movement toward higher priority status.

As we look at the overall importance of Northwest Loop 363, we’ve identified previously through some of the slides and the maps the industries, and these are just a representative sample of some of the industries that are available, and as we have talked with them and their activities, we have seen ourselves become involved with greater groups and organizations, such as the Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council and the activities that they bring as far as moving trucks and traffic throughout the state of Texas.

Recently we’ve been getting involved with some of the security issues associated with Fort Hood and looking at impacts over in our areas and with the airport.

If we look at the next slide there, the Northwest Industrial Park is part of our tax reinvestment zone; it’s only one of two in the state that were originally configured. Today it has a taxable value of $209 million, over 12,500 acres. It represents roughly 29 percent of the total area of our 70 square miles of Temple city limits, and we are in the 18th year of development.

To give you an idea of some of the expansions that have occurred, the PACTIIV Corporation recently conducted a $75 million expansion and these are major improvements, and we’ve been involved with some other projects that have involved hundreds of millions of dollars.

This reinvestment zone also involves a resurgence in the downtown which TxDOT has invested in in the railroad depot and other facilities. So as a concept, the reinvestment zone becomes very important, and Loop 363, as identified there on the map, goes right through the middle of it and is quite important to us.

The master plan for the reinvestment zone also calls for the redevelopment of our airport as a business and freight and corporate style facility. It also calls for the development of an intermodal rail yard with the B&SF on the north side, and we have gone through some of the planning process to that.

At this time we could thank TxDOT for their investment in the Draughon-Miller Airport located in Temple, and we’ve been involved with runway construction, general terminal rehabilitation, runway lighting, and a major master plan that calls for major industrial facilities, and just in the last two weeks we’ve been called by major freight haulers that are beginning to look at that airport. So this continues to add to the needs of our region.

The city council and the board of directors of Reinvestment Zone 1 are utilizing zone funding and are currently planning the construction of arterial roadways and corridors to open up many, many new acres in this area. We call for an estimated $85 million in infrastructure improvements that involve water, sewer, telecommunications, and least of not which is Loop 363. It will become the central corridor for that area, and as Temple is so located, we are central to serving all of the rest of Texas with our activities and businesses.

The expansion of the Northwest Loop is also vital to Texas as a whole and the expansion will provide a potential needed alternative route for Interstate 35, should it be required during construction, and we’ve gone through significant planning processes, both locally and regionally in planning how do we improve Interstate 35 through Temple and this project, under the leadership of Richard Skopik, is moving forward quite nicely and we’re very pleased with that progress and we’ll be moving forward with that.

Within the expected ten-year time frame of construction for Interstate 35 and the improvements in there, we believe the Northwest Loop will become a critical element of making this whole project work during the next decade.

As far as costs concerns and community concerns, we bring to your attention that Temple is already committed as a partner to this project. We are into this and we would like to see it come to a successful conclusion. The city recognizes the needs by the highway department to make it a complete loop and there have been costs added in for that completion through the Hopi Trail area.

The total estimated costs are $35.2 million. Of that cost at the present time we’ve expended -- again in today’s dollars -- approximately $7.5 million, and we would like to come back and consider additional assistance a year from now as required.

For community concerns, the frontage road element. It’s our understanding that the Transportation Commission is considering a policy that would eliminate the construction of parallel frontage and access roads. We’re affected by many years of planning on this project and certainly some prior commitment. We believe that your policy is in its infant stages, and as we begin to do it, we are pleased to work with you in looking at how this policy affects this project and how it can best be implemented.

On the positive aspects for eliminating the roads or reducing those roads, it reduces widths of right of way that are required, it reduces initial construction costs, future maintenance costs, and preserves capacity for future traffic. On the negative side, we already have the right of way purchased for the necessary roadways that we’re talking about and the elimination of frontage roads would be inconsistent with the pattern that we have planned for so many years, over the last 18 years, for this particular project. We will work with the commission, certainly, for fair solutions.

I’d like to turn it back over to Mayor Marshall for our final request and summary.

MAYOR MARSHALL: Thank you, Mark. We want you to know that we appreciate what you have done for Temple -- and our partnership with TxDOT has been great for a long, long time -- what you are doing now for Temple, and what you will do for Temple. What we’re requesting is that the City of Temple is requesting that the Texas Transportation commission consider Priority 2 status authorization for the improvements to the Northwest Loop 363 from State Highway 36 to State Highway 53 northeasterly to Interstate 35, and the City of Temple is also asking for the opportunity to appear before the commission in the summer of 2002 to request Priority 1 status for this project.

We appreciate so much your time and we’d like at this time to introduce who we think is the most effective member of the House of Representatives that we’ve got in the state and that’s Dianne White-Delisi. Dianne.

MS. WHITE-DELISI: Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Nichols, my colleague from the House, Commissioner Williamson.

These are indeed serious times. After September 11, the American public took to the highways instead of the airways, and mobility by roads suddenly became more of an important issue in America and certainly in Texas than it was last month. Now our own President Bush has challenged us as a nation to get to work and to keep America moving and to keep goods and services flowing. We in Temple, Texas want to do our part and we’re committed to do so.

We’re blessed in Temple to have the diverse economy that we do, and it’s undergirded by some extraordinary businesses that have decided to locate in Temple over the last several decades, and these services provide essential services to Texas and to America, and I would just like to tell you three small stories.

As most of you all know, I’m a grandmother and so Wal-Mart is my favorite store.

(General laughter.)

MS. WHITE-DELISI: Now, those goods that are provided when I need those extra diapers, I go to Wal-Mart. We have a huge Wal-Mart distribution center that is located along this area that we’ve been discussing. Bob, I was in Jacksonville not long ago and you have a Wal-Mart Super Center in Jacksonville, Texas -- it’s incredible. So the services that are provided are essential not only for rural Texas but for cities. So these Wal-Mart Super Centers are supplied by the distribution center and those trucks are leaving from the location feeding off of the Northwest Loop and onto interstates and across America.

The next story that I want to tell you is about WilsonArt. Amazingly enough, we sometimes think that Formica is the large supplier of laminate across America, but it’s not, it’s WilsonArt. WilsonArt has more than one-half of the market share for the whole United States, so when you go home tonight and you tap your countertop in your kitchen, more than likely that is WilsonArt laminate. WilsonArt moves its good through the Northwest Loop on to your interstate system and across America for those goods.

And lastly, PACTIIV, the molded food containers when you leave Austin and you travel up I-35, we know that you’re going to stop at Las Casas Restaurant and get Ralph Sheffield’s white wings, and when you take those home with you, that Mexican food will be in a molded food container. Those molded containers come out of this facility that’s on the Northwest Loop and they are shipped all across America.

So all being said, mobility, I know, is your chief responsibility, but please remember that we as Temple taxpayers have already committed, already paid out of our own pockets, 21 percent of this project. We’re committed, too, to stand shoulder to shoulder with the president to keep America strong and to keep goods and services moving.

It’s our commitment to you, we stand ready to work with you, any time of night or day, as you undertake this extraordinary continued task that you have for mobility. Thank you very much.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.

MAYOR MARSHALL: Thank you, Dianne.

And now I’d like to introduce the outstanding state senator from the State of Texas, Mr. Troy Fraser. Troy.

SENATOR FRASER: Thank you, Mayor. Good to be before the commission today, Chairman Johnnie, good to see you, and Robert, Ric. For the record, my name is Troy Fraser; I’m the state senator for District 24, and also for the record, it should be noted that I have served in a body of the legislature with at least one member of this commission.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Very true.

MR. NICHOLS: Is that good?

(General laughter.)

SENATOR FRASER: It was for the record, Robert, just a matter of fact.

I appreciate you allowing me to come before you today. Johnnie and Robert, you know, we’ve been before you many times, and I tell you, I’m excited to have Commissioner Williamson on the commission; he’s going to be a great addition to the commission. We appreciate you being willing to serve.

I’m not going to repeat any of the things that have been said but will try to make a couple of points. I’m actually here wearing three hats today: not only am I representing this area as their state senator, I also come as a member of the Senate Finance Committee that looks at making sure that we’re doing things that are good for the state as a whole, but also a member of the former interim committee looking at transportation needs in the state.

The third hat I would wear -- and I would make this point to Commissioner Williamson -- I do not own a business today on the loop but I’m a former owner of a business. I’ve got a lot of experience in moving trucks up and down this route, and I would note that this group from Temple this morning almost was late for the hearing because they got detained on the interstate, tried to come in for over 30 minutes and couldn’t get through. I’m also very aware -- as when we came forward to you and asked you for funding to upgrade that section between Waco and all the way up to past Salado and you agreed to do that as this project progressed -- that we realized that there’s three segments in the Temple area that are going to be some of the most difficult that we’ve got along that section, and it’s evidenced by the fact that they’re kind of at the back of the line and one of the later ones we’ll do.

I’ve always had a concern as someone that not only travels that but also has moved a lot of trucks up and down that route, what happens when we start working on those real tight sections with those bridges and where are those trucks going to go, and I think the answer is going to be easy to realize that those trucks will find an easier route. They’re already starting to move along that 363 route. I’ve seen it change drastically in the last four or five years, and as we move forward with this construction on 35, the traffic will find a place to go, and whether we designate it a reliever route, it will become a reliever route.

So from a standpoint of the good of the people of the state trying to move along a north-south routing and to move traffic in an orderly fashion, we almost don’t have a choice except to find a route around some of that construction. This is a natural route to go. I would stop short of suggesting that we declare this a reliever route because I don’t think we have the authority to do that, but I think the public will declare it a reliever route just because that’s going to be the easiest way to go.

The other thing that I would make a point about is the fact that the decision we’re making right now on frontage roads on the projects we’re funding, I support both your and the governor’s position on that because I think it’s probably a good policy in most areas. But I would say in this particular area that that in itself may end up causing more congestion than helping because if those trucks are in fact coming through and if they’re going to be stopping at these 70 facilities that are there, they’ve got to get off the highway in an orderly fashion, and if we don’t consider during this period of having the frontage road as a reliever to get them off, I think we’d be making a severe mistake. So I think this is one case that an exception to the rule probably should be considered because it’s one, I think, in the full scheme of the development of 35 that should be looked at.

The last point I would make -- and Dianne touched on it slightly -- was that in ‘93 that the City of Temple was encouraged by then Governor Ann Richards. She helped in the recruiting of Wal-Mart into this area and the promise was made through Wal-Mart/Drayton McLane, the McLane Corporation that if they would relocate here that the state would come in and assist in this project, and it was a promise made that we still need to continue our state commitment of honoring that.

The last thing I would add -- and I will bring back to the attention the chart that was shown of the total project cost of $35 million -- every time we talk when we’re talking about a project, Robert, when you come to the legislature, the question I always ask: How much is the other party putting in, what is the community putting in? They’ve got 21 percent of their money in right now and appear very willing to be a partner in this project throughout. So for a bang for our buck, from a state perspective, I can’t imagine this being a better opportunity for us to do something for not only the people of Temple but I think this is really good for the state of Texas.

Thank you for allowing me to visit with you today.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.

MAYOR MARSHALL: Thank you, Senator.

The other day I was watching a news program on sports -- I’m a sports fan; I know all of you are -- and I was watching them interview Mack Brown and they were asking Mack Brown, the sports writer: How do you pick between these fine players you have down here? And Mack Brown thought about it and he said, Well, I asked Darrell Royal how you do that. And he said, Well, what did Darrell say? He said, Darrell said some players have "it" and some players don’t have "it." And he said, Well, how do you determine what that is? And Darrell says, I don’t know that, but some have "it" and others don’t have "it."

I hope as a community we have "it" in your estimation, and we appreciate your time and look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you so much.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you. Comments or questions?

MR. WILLIAMSON: Robert, do you have any?

MR. NICHOLS: I didn’t have any questions. I had previously spent time with the mayor on this project, we spent one afternoon or several hours going over it in pretty great detail, and I appreciate that. So that pretty much answered all my questions with regards to it.

On the frontage road thing, I know we need to work together to try to find something. Our primary concern is to build things in the future that will continue having usable flow of traffic, and in that light, that’s the direction we’re trying to go.

So I don’t really have any questions on the project. I did want to say, Senator Fraser, we appreciate all the work that you do in helping us during the session, the support you’ve done, and the same thing for Representative Delisi. I did not know that you came to Jacksonville and shopped at our Wal-Mart. I knew Martha Tyrock had connections with Jacksonville but I didn’t realize you did.

SENATOR FRASER: All of us come over and shop at Jacksonville.

(General laughter.)

MR. NICHOLS: That must have been that day. But we really do appreciate what you have done for supporting transportation during the legislature.

MAYOR MARSHALL: And we’d like you to know that the City of Temple and all the people there are supportive of Proposition 15 this November.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Don’t get too far away, Mayor.

Mr. Chairman, did I see Mr. Skopik in the audience someplace?

MR. JOHNSON: Richard?

MR. WILLIAMSON: Could we ask him to come forward for a minute.

MR. JOHNSON: I thought you ought to get him up here.

MR. WILLIAMSON: I do, I like this guy. He works hard; I like people who work hard. I want to ask him a couple of questions in a moment but I want to be sure I have my facts correct. We are at some point scheduled to rework Interstate 35 through the city of Temple. Is that correct?

MR. SKOPIK: Yes, sir, that’s correct.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And will we be adding lanes, main lanes?

MR. SKOPIK: Yes, sir.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Will we be doing that by expanding to the middle, or are we going to be expanding to the outside edges?

MR. SKOPIK: That’s under study right now.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And if we expand to the outside edges, will we have to make a decision between capturing the frontage road and calling it a main lane, or building a new frontage road and moving it out? That’s the decision we’ll have to make?

MR. SKOPIK: Absolutely, and right now, as we stand, I can envision that throughout the corridor through the Temple area that there will be areas where we’ll stay along the existing center line and expand equally on each side, there will be areas where we’ll shift to one side to flatten some horizontal curves, and because of the businesses in there or the non-development on one side and businesses on the other, trying to minimize impacts, we’ll be shifting to one side or the other. So I think we’re going to see a mixed bag in terms of what we do with the alignment and its effects on either both or one frontage road or the other.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Is it probable that we will have to purchase right of way and relocate some of the businesses along that route?

MR. SKOPIK: Yes.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And do you have any projection that you could share with us as to what the probable cost to the State of Texas would be to do that for Temple alone? And if you don’t have it, that’s okay.

MR. SKOPIK: I really didn’t come with that information.

MR. WILLIAMSON: But it is generally true that it’s logarithmically more expensive to relocate businesses that have built up on the edge of the frontage road than it is to build a road or to buy right of way where there’s no businesses. Correct?

MR. SKOPIK: Absolutely, especially if they’re flourishing businesses at this point.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you so much. And just hang on a second, Mayor, there’s a question I want to ask you, but I want to ask of our department do we have any employees present that have any familiarity with the right of way purchase program we’ve got going in San Antonio right now?

(No response.)

MR. WILLIAMSON: Perhaps the chairman would know. Is it accurate -- or perhaps our new executive director would know, maybe I ought to ask him -- is it accurate that I have been told we may be paying as much as $15 million for about a quarter of an acre right of way on an existing interstate in the very near future?

MR. BEHRENS: You’re correct, Commissioner. In our financial planning meetings we’ve discussed the $15 million parcel purchase in San Antonio.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And Mr. Executive Director, without holding you to the penny, how many main lane miles could we build of new interstate anywhere in the state for $15 million where we didn’t have right of way considerations?

MR. BEHRENS: Probably four to five miles.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Four to file miles. So for one quarter acre parcel of right of way we’re going to have buy of a business located adjacent to a frontage road, we are sacrificing four to five miles of main lane construction in, say, Bell County, Texas?

MR. BEHRENS: That is correct.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Mayor, how would you feel about us -- after we get through rebuilding your interstate through your city, how would you feel about us moving, say, 20 miles west or 20 miles east and just building a whole new highway?

MAYOR MARSHALL: Well, I think sometime in the future that’s going to be needed, and so we would support it; we always support what TxDOT does.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And other than -- and I understand the senator’s concerns about the frontage roads and its impact on existing businesses, and a deal is a deal and we honor that -- but do you, as a guy that’s been in public service a lot, do you understand where the commission is in terms of trying to get a grasp of the frontage road and the on/off ramp business?

MAYOR MARSHALL: Absolutely, I do.

MR. WILLIAMSON: And without putting you in a bad spot, Mayor, is it your belief that this commission is trying to approach it in a conservative logical way?

MAYOR MARSHALL: I think that you’re doing a great job. I think you’re doing it in a logical way and I know you’re all conservative, so yes, I think you’re doing a good job.

MR. WILLIAMSON: I want to tell you how much I appreciate you dialoguing with me about it, and while you’re at the microphone, let me just add to Mr. Nichols, Senator Fraser and Representative Delisi, we have no more two better friends in the world of transportation than you two, and we are deeply appreciative of all the hard work you give to promote transportation in the state. Thank you.

MR. JOHNSON: I have one question and it’s ultimately that the desire is that Loop 363 be a four-lane divided loop around the entire community.

MAYOR MARSHALL: Yes, sir.

MR. JOHNSON: Currently how much is four-lane divided?

MAYOR MARSHALL: Five miles, which is on the southeast.

SENATOR FRASER: Approximately 50 to 60 percent of the loop; it’s a little over half, I believe, now in four-lane.

MR. JOHNSON: So in essence, we’re trying to finish what we’ve started a long time ago.

MAYOR MARSHALL: Right.

MR. JOHNSON: Mr. Behrens, I’ve got a question. Do you know who Mack Brown and Darrell Royal are?

MAYOR MARSHALL: He probably knows Darrell well and he’s going to learn about Mack Brown.

(General laughter.)

MR. JOHNSON: We are delighted that you’ve come to share this information. As I’ve mentioned to the delegations, it’s so important for these types of visits because they illuminate the needs of the communities around the state, and we’re all well traveled but this is a large state and it helps to have these sessions where we can understand what are the priorities of Central Texas or Northeast Texas or the Metroplex. And so I cannot thank you enough, and we look forward to working with you and Richard Skopik -- who does a marvelous job -- on this project and many others in your area.

MAYOR MARSHALL: One little more thing that’s good about Temple. All of you know Drayton McLane who is our outstanding citizen that’s done so many things, been such a success, bought the Astros and now they’re going to get them in the World Series -- we’re planning on that -- and Drayton spent a tremendous amount of money on the Astros and the coaches and on the managers and all, but he and I use the same barber and this barber is 80 years old and he used to play in the Texas League, and most of Drayton’s good advice comes from that barber and he’s helped make that team what it is. So it’s another little mark of the Temple community that does real well for all of us. Thank you.

(General laughter and applause.)

MR. JOHNSON: We will take a short recess so our friends from Temple can get back up I-35 in hopefully a less congested way. I would like to remind the good people from South Texas who want to address the commission on the South Padre Island Causeway that that will be the next item on our agenda, and we will take a short recess to let one arrive and one depart. Thank you.

(Off the record.)

P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S (Cont’d)

MR. JOHNSON: The meeting is reconvened. Anyone who would like to address the commission should fill out a card at the registration lobby, and we would ask that should you want to comment on an agenda item, that you fill out a yellow card, and if it is not an agenda item, we will take your comments at the open comment period at the end of the meeting and for that we would ask that you fill out a blue card. And regardless of the color of the card, we would please request, especially given the number of speakers on 7(c), that each speaker take a maximum of three minutes.

The formal part of the meeting begins with the approval of the minutes of commission meeting held in August. Is there a motion to that effect?

MR. WILLIAMSON: So moved.

MR. NICHOLS: Second.

MR. JOHNSON: All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(A chorus of ayes.)

MR. JOHNSON: Motion carries.

We will now move to item 7(c) on the agenda, and I’m informed that there are a number of speakers, and hopefully we’ll have you in the right order. Speaking first on Item 7(c) is Mayor Patrick Marchan. If I mess up anybody’s name, please forgive me.

MR. BEHRENS: Johnnie, could we get Jim to introduce that?

MR. JOHNSON: I apologize. Jim Randall with TP&P.

MAYOR MARCHAN: And then could we ask Mayor Cyganiewicz to go first?

MR. JOHNSON: If it’s all right with Mayor Cyganiewicz.

MAYOR MARCHAN: He has asked, and that’s okay by me. He’s got an earlier flight to catch, and we’d like to oblige if we can.

MR. JOHNSON: Well, we’ll work with you. You were number one on the list that I had.

MAYOR MARCHAN: Okay, thank you.

MR. RANDALL: Good morning. I’m Jim Randall, director of the Transportation Planning and Programming Division. This minute order authorizes long-range product status for a proposal to consider a second causeway crossing the Laguna Madre to South Padre Island. This proposal was initiated by Rider 65 to the Department’s appropriations for Fiscal Years 2002-2003.

LRP status allows the department to evaluate all alternatives, conduct environmental impact studies, hold public meetings and hearings, and draft right of way maps. During this initial phase of the project development, the department will examine the social, economic and environmental impacts of this proposed project. Projects with LRP status are not listed in the department’s Unified Transportation Program and are not approved for construction or right of way acquisition.

With approval of this minute order, the executive director is authorized to proceed in the most feasible and economical manner with LRP activities. The final decision to authorize or not to authorize development of the proposed project will occur after the completion of the LRP activities. Staff recommends approval of this minute order.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Jim.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Before we take witnesses, Mr. Chairman, could I ask Jim a couple of quick technical questions?

MR. JOHNSON: Yes.

MR. WILLIAMSON: All of us have received or I assume all of us have received letters -- I know I’ve received a tremendous amount of mail about this project, and I’ve tried to sort through what the largest concerns are, and they all seem to kind of come down to the economic impact on one area of the state.

As part of our research, if the minute order is approved, would we contract with an outside consultant, for example, to give us sort of an independent assessment of the economic impact on this one area plus the entire area, or would we attempt to do that internally, or do you have an idea?

MR. RANDALL: We have that capability. We’d leave it up to the district engineer in the Pharr District to make that decision.

MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Jim.

MR. JOHNSON: I believe the first speaker is Mayor Ed Cyganiewicz, and I’m glad that your colleague, Mayor Marchan, said your name because I think I would have butchered it. Please take the dais.

MAYOR CYGANIEWICZ: Thank you, commissioners, and thank you, Mayor Marchan.

First, let me thank those commissioners and Mike who attended that very important briefing yesterday regarding the collapse of the Queen Isabella Causeway. It was a very uplifting meeting for me and I know my residents are going to be very encouraged when I get back down there to communicate some of the good news regarding TxDOT’s actions, and it was a wonderful press conference and I appreciate your concerns and taking the time to attend that briefing.

Also, Commissioner Nichols, at the commencement of this meeting mentioned the September 11 incident and a moment of silence, and of course we’ve had our own little disaster on September 15 and we’ve lost lives in that incident, and I would hope that we could all throughout the day at least remember those people that lost their loved ones. South Padre Island and Port Isabel will not be the same until this bridge is constructed, so there’s a lot of parallels between those two disasters, of course ours being a much minor scale.

I also need to thank our district engineer, Amadeo Saenz, and I saw him today and I’ve been talking with him six or seven times a day since this tragedy occurred on September 15, but he and his staff have been wonderful. He’s very competent and he’s attending to all our needs as best as he can, and we’re very much appreciative of that.

Obviously the causeway collapse has heightened the awareness for a need for a second causeway. We’re running these ferries at this time and I believe Mayor Marchan is probably in agreement that we hope that that could also be considered as a third option. But I’m of the opinion that there’s no alternative except for a second bridge, and I’m not sure if today is the time and place to debate the location. What I am urging you all to do is -- and I think Mayor Marchan will come up here and say the same thing, to a certain degree, and Mayor Marchan has been a good friend of mine and he’s a good mayor, and no matter what happens regarding this project and how this project progresses, South Padre Island and Port Isabel will remain partners in many, many, many endeavors.

We’re urging you -- or I am urging you to proceed to this designation of long-range plan. My understanding is that the next step that is essential for this project, no matter where the site may be, would be the environmental impact study. We think that that should be done immediately.

Again, Amadeo and some of these other officials have indicated that that type of designation and that type of study would unnecessarily involve all different potential sites and all different potential locations, and Port Isabel’s position in many of those letters Commissioner Williamson and everyone else has received is really a debate about the location.

I urge you let’s go forward now. I know that location area of concern will be addressed through the environmental impact and any other studies that may be necessary. I’m asking that that be done immediately; there’s funding in place. Again, that type of study is necessary before any additional progress is made on this project as a whole. That process would provide ample opportunity for public hearings, ample opportunity for people to voice their concerns about the environmental impact, economic impact, and location concerns.

So I think this step would take care of Port Isabel’s concerns regarding location and their hesitation about the proposed Holly Beach location. Again, gentlemen, please, we’re in an emergency situation, and I know that you can’t take care of that now regarding the second causeway, but we hope that this has heightened the awareness of the need for a second link, and I’m again urging you to proceed immediately to this next step which would be the environmental impact study.

That’s all I have. I’m trying to make an emergency meeting with my staff at four o’clock, and what I’d like to do again, thank Mayor Marchan and his delegation, and also introduce Mr. Richard Franke who will address you briefly regarding -- he’s the chairman of our economic development corporation.

Any questions?

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you for being here.

MAYOR CYGANIEWICZ: Gentlemen, I appreciate it very much. Thank you.

MR. FRANKE: Thank you, Ed.

Commissioners, I’m pleased to be with you this afternoon.

MR. JOHNSON: Would you state your name for the record?

MR. FRANKE: Yes, sir. I’m Richard Franke, president of the South Padre Island Economic Development Corporation. I’m here, along with Ed Cyganiewicz and others, to urge you to move forward on the next phase of the project.

We came before the Texas Turnpike Authority -- and Commissioner Nichols was at that meeting, and perhaps others were -- about six months