H-GAC wraps up quarterly transportation public meetings

Parkway, stimulus discussed

Steve Hawley, Mar 27, 09.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) concluded a series of three transportation public meetings Thursday evening. The meetings concerned local stimulus projects, Segments E, F-1, F-2, and G of the Grand Parkway, and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The first meeting was held Tuesday evening in Conroe, the second on Wednesday morning in Spring, and the third on Thursday evening in Greenspoint. Pat Waskowiak conducted the meetings.

Waskowiak noted that Texas has been allocated $2.25 billion in transportation stimulus funding, of which about $488 million will go to the Houston region. The state has 120 days to obligate the first half of its funds and one year to distribute the remainder, while H-GAC has one year to obligate the entirety of its funds. In order to qualify for stimulus funding, Waskowiak said, each project must have gone through the federal environmental process, which can take years. Locally-funded projects, which do not require federal clearance, did not qualify for stimulus funding, which upset many local leaders.

On the transit side, Waskowiak said that many transit agencies are looking at bus replacements, which can be implemented quickly. However, since so many transit providers want new buses, some officials are concerned there will not be enough to go around. She said the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) thinks it will be able to use its entire $90 million allocation for the North and Southeast light rail lines, not just $29 million as reported earlier. The FTA is expected to make a ruling next week.

Waskowiak said that METRO has previously applied for federal funding under the New Starts program, but that the agency’s stimulus funds came from a different pot of money, prompting the conflict. She said many local leaders were unhappy with the FTA decision, prompting the reversal earlier this week.

As for the Grand Parkway, Waskowiak said that that Segment E would likely not be shovel-ready in 120 days, and that some people were concerned it might not make the one-year deadline. She noted that Segment F-1 received a Record of Decision (ROD) in November, and that Segments F-2 and G are awaiting RODs. The public comment period for Segment F-2 ended in November, and the public comments for Segment G wrapped up on March 16. Several people spoke against the Grand Parkway on Wednesday and Thursday, saying that the road would do nothing to relieve traffic and would instead promote urban sprawl.

“What we know in our region is that development follows transportation investments,” said Robin Holzer, chair of the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition. “Fundamentally, this project is about subsidizing sprawl.”

Waskowiak also provided an update on the 2008-2011 TIP. She noted that several air quality programs will likely be removed from the TIP because the programs have excess money from previous years. Removing the projects from the 2008-2011 TIP will have no impact on those projects, since they do not need additional funding, but instead will free up money for other programs.