Commissioners vote to waive Grand Parkway market valuation

Project is revenue-negative

Steve Hawley, Feb 11, 09.

The Harris County commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to authorize the waiver of the market valuation process on the Grand Parkway. The authorization was approved with the rest of the agenda after a few clarifications.

The market valuation would have provided a detailed estimate of the project’s toll revenues and construction costs. However, according to Houston-Galveston Area Council meeting materials from last year, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) performed an initial financial analysis revealing that the Grand Parkway would be revenue-negative, meaning it would not generate enough toll revenue to pay for itself. The Texas Transportation Commission, TxDOT’s governing body, approved a minute order last summer indicating that market valuations should be waived on revenue-negative projects.

Commissioners Jerry Eversole (Precinct 4) and Steve Radack (Precinct 3) expressed concern that at least one unnamed transportation commissioner wanted Harris County to foot the entire $5 billion cost of the Grand Parkway. Commissioners Eversole and Radack indicated that the county could not afford such a project. However, they were told that waiving the market valuation would not commit the county to building the highway, and that the county would have the right to refuse the project.

The Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) is working with TxDOT on behalf of Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, and Montgomery Counties to implement the project. The other six counties must also approve the market valuation waiver for it to go into effect. If all seven counties approve the waiver, HCTRA would have six months to decide whether or not to proceed. If it fails to meet the deadline or refuses the project, TxDOT would have a two-month window to commit to the project. If both deadlines pass, the two sides must begin negotiations again.

The Grand Parkway, if completed, would be a 180-mile loop around Houston traversing seven counties. Since the project is so large and expensive, it has been divided into 11 segments. Segment D opened in August 1994, and Phase I of Segment I-2 opened in March 2008. HCTRA hopes to begin work on the next section, Segment E, within the next year. All remaining sections would be tolled under current plans.

Commissioner Radack spoke in defense of the Grand Parkway, saying that it took some residents in Hockley, 40 miles from Houston, two hours to drive downtown during rush hour. He said that anyone running for statewide office would be a “fool” not to support the project.