County commissioners approve Parkway money, financial study

1st contracts already awarded

Steve Hawley, Jul 24, 09.

UPDATE (7/30/09, 10:11 am): The Commissioners Court approved the Grand Parkway items as listed. Commissioner Sylvia Garcia asked if the study would be ready by the time the local counties must assert primacy on September 25. Art Storey, head of the Harris County Department of Public Infrastructure, said that it would likely not be completed by the time bidding begins for the construction of Segment E in February, but that a preliminary financial analysis revealed that Segment E is the second-most toll viable section and that the county is in compliance with all the necessary steps.

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The Harris County Commissioners Court will vote on two major Grand Parkway items on Tuesday, including requesting $181 million in stimulus funds from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and considering a financial viability study of Segment E, four months after the first contracts were awarded. TxDOT approved the $181 million in early March, just a few weeks after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law, but since TxDOT is not developing the project, the agency must transfer the money to the local counties. Harris County is acting on behalf of all seven counties involved in the Grand Parkway negotiations.

Proponents of Segment E have come under fire in recent months for waiving a detailed financial analysis of the project, and the current proposal appears to be an attempt to mute that criticism. However, it comes four months after the Commissioners Court approved 30 engineering contracts worth almost $22 million, and five months after the seven counties voted to waive the market valuation process. The language of Tuesday’s agenda provides some flexibility, so it is unclear how detailed the viability study will be. The commissioners will also vote on increasing the value of one of the existing contracts, as well as purchasing two tracts of land to develop Segment E. The full agenda items are available at the bottom of this page.

Videotaped testimony from last summer’s terms and conditions negotiating process, which is no longer available online, revealed that the entire Grand Parkway is revenue-negative. Art Storey, executive director of the Harris County Public Infrastructure Department, agreed with that assessment, telling the Commissioners Court in February, “The whole highway is demonstrably a loser.” However, Storey insisted that Segments E and F, by themselves, are toll-viable.

At the same time, Storey and others hope that the $181 million for Segment E will jump-start the rest of the $5 billion, 180-mile project, including the non-toll-viable portions. Three days after saying that the Grand Parkway will lose money, Storey, who sits on the regional Transportation Policy Council (TPC), spoke in support of the Grand Parkway at a TPC meeting, saying that “the doing of it [building Segment E] will make the doing of the rest of it more likely and more feasible.” He was supported by TxDOT commissioner Ned Holmes, who does not sit on the council but made a special trip to Houston to lobby for the project and said that the stimulus money could “induce the entire Grand Parkway to be built.”

The Grand Parkway is a decades-old project designed to “open areas for development,” according to a TxDOT official, and to “get out in front of growth,” according to several local elected officials. It had been essentially stymied until the ARRA money became available. Segment E and the hoped-for development would destroy nearly half of the remaining Katy Prairie, a sensitive area that provides natural services and habitat. In total, if the existing piece of the Parkway is any indication, the whole Parkway would displace some 1,100 square miles of Big Thicket, Piney Woods, Columbia Bottomlands, Prairie Systems, and Bayou Wilderness. There has been no public discussion about this policy.

Harris County has been seeking local developers in the last week to take charge of the entire Grand Parkway development. The local counties have until September 25 to determine whether or not to proceed with the project. If they decline, which appears unlikely, TxDOT could step in as the developer.

Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, July 28, 2009 (pdf):

1.a.8. Recommendation that the court approve a resolution and order authorizing two specific tracts from Franz Road to US-290 for the Grand Parkway, Segment E project in Precinct 3, with decree of public necessity and convenience to acquire a fee interest in specific property by donation or purchase on behalf of the county, to be funded by the Toll Road Authority, and for appropriate officials to take necessary actions to complete the transactions.

1.c.1. Recommendation for approval of an amendment to an agreement with TSC Engineering Company in the additional amount of $130,070 to change the scope of services for design and plan preparation for roadway elements of Segment E, Subsection 2.3 of SH-99 Grand Parkway from Station 1770+00 to Station 1830+00 in Precinct 3, and for appropriate officials to take necessary actions to complete the transaction.

1.c.2. Recommendation for authorization to submit an application to TxDOT for federal stimulus funds in the amount of $181 million in connection with construction of Segment E of the Grand Parkway.

14.d.1. Request for approval of projects scheduled for advertisement:
c. Assess the financial viability of SH-99 Grand Parkway Segment E project, including the possibility of a comprehensive traffic and revenue study, which will be used to determine the viability of this segment from IH-10 to US-290 in west Harris County for the Toll Road Authority.